Trump Casinos Proposes Building Over School

The Philadelphia School District is currently pondering an offer from Trump Casinos.  In their determination to build a new slots parlor, Trump Casinos has offered to purchase the land where Randolph Skill Center currently stands in Nicetown.

Randolph Skill Center is a vocational-technical high school currently educating some 400 students.  It is located on the corner of Roberts and Henry Avenue.  The amount offered by Trump Casinos is currently undisclosed. 

District spokesman, Fernando Gallard, made it known that any decisions on selling the school’s land will not be made in the near future.  “Any decision to close or sell a property, an active school, has to go through our mandated procedures of notification to the community.”

Trump Casinos is not asking the district to obliterate the school.  As a matter of fact, according to Trump spokesman Tom Hickey, the district will be offered $17.5 million to replace the Randolph Skill Center with a new, state-of-the-art, technical school. 

Plans for the casino would require removing the school building to construct an outdoor pedestrian area for the casino.  Trump Casinos believes that the casino project will revive the community.

Trump Casinos is of course headed by none other than Donald J. Trump.  They are currently vying against four other gaming companies for the right to one of Philadelphia’s two slots parlor licenses. 

The casino that Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. is proposing has an estimated price tag of $350 million.  They plan to build it on an 80-acre site in Nicetown between Hunting Park Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard.  The site used to be home to the Budd Co. Factory, it is currently owned by Real Estate Investments of Conshohocken.

Nicetown has not exactly welcomed the Trump Casino project.  Everything from community protests to lawn signs have expressed Nicetown’s distaste for the slot parlor in their community.  Today’s School Reform Commission meeting is expected to hear the protests of speakers opposing the possible sale of the school. 

Daniel Massey, Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ’s communication coordinator, says his union represents “5,000 workers in the Philadelphia area, many of whom live in the Nicetown area.”  Massey says, “We’re concerned about the scope of the project.  We want to make sure the best interests of children are considered.”

Massey is not convinced that $17.5 million can build a school that will replace Randolph, let alone surpass it.  Local 32BJ plans to register objections as a part of a community alliance. 

+ Return to Max Jordan Reports...