Date: Wednesday, May 18, 1994
Source: Diane L. Schirf.
Section: PERSPECTIVE
Column: Voice of the people (letter).
Dateline: CHICAGO
Copyright Chicago Tribune

LOOK AT THE PRODUCT

In the ongoing debate about riverboat casino gambling, one key point has been ignored by both supporters and opponents. The real issue is not the morality of gambling; it is not organized crime. It is the value of the product of this industry.

Manufacturing produces items people believe they need, just as the service industry provides services that people require. Aside from redistribution of wealth, I cannot think of one positive product of gambling.

To save the city from sliding further into the economic and social abyss, the mayor and his administration should be pursuing businesses that require all levels of skill and provide goods and services of enduring value. Do we want Chicago remembered for its cultural icons, its vibrant artistic and intellectual life, its ethnic diversity and its many invaluable industries and services? Or do we want it memorialized as another place where people came to lose money?

GRAPHIC: Richard Milholland.