My Vision for Signal Hill's Future - No Casinos

By Carol Churchill

City Staff looks at plans for Casino/Hotel in City to bring in revenues...

I see green schools where kids are educated in classroom with solar panels that create electricity instead of the school district paying for it. Shared facilities to share open green spaces for team sports. I see recycling programs and storm water run off capture on the large green play grounds. I see nutrition programs for families living on the fringe. I see after school programs to keep kids off the street. I see expanded library hours and a new library.

I see a responsive police department that does not have to be concerned that the year it needs to add new police officers the Council's response will be...let's appoint a committee to study that request. I see a new police facility/jail that has been needed for at least 10 years.

I see nice, quiet neighborhoods, not worried about walking in the evening along trails that surround their homes.

I see a Council that will encourage participation in government and not discourage people for speaking their minds or challenging their policy.

I see the formation of a North End Neighborhood Improvement Committee which will recommend ideas to keep their neighborhood from being overrun with commercial traffic and expanded airport noise from development on Wardlow and Spring Streets.

I see a policy shift away from housing growth on the West side of town, to revenue growth so all these programs can be funded.

I see a town that is more like Palos Verdes and Beverly Hills than Hawaiian Gardens and Bell with casinos as its major funding source because there are no other ways to raise the money necessary to maintain the city's finances in light of all the population growth.

I hope you have my vision too.

For more information on why a casino is a bad idea, see below:

http://www.stopmoskowitz.org/gamble.pdf