4/11/98 -- CORRECTION: Because of an error by The Associated Press, a story in Thursday's Review-Journal Business section about racial conflicts over a proposal to bring casino gambling to Detroit incorrectly attributed a critical remark about Mayor Dennis Archer. It was made, according to The Detroit Free Press which first published the quote, by Cardinal Olu Ufom of the Shrines of the Black Madonna.

Detroit gaming faces critical council vote

By David Goodman
Associated Press

      DETROIT -- A $1.8 billion plan to bring casino gambling to Detroit and revitalize its economy has come under fire from those who say the black mayor of this overwhelmingly black city is giving away the store to outside white interests.
      The City Council is expected to vote today on Mayor Dennis Archer's plan to make Detroit the largest city in the country with legalized gambling.
      Archer has given the nine-member council a Friday deadline to pass the plan or risk torpedoing the project, which promises 11,000 full-time jobs and tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue for the struggling city of 1 million people.
      "Detroit cannot continue to be a boom-or-bust economy," Archer told the council Tuesday. "There is no other economic development initiative that provides that kind of opportunity."
      He said the timetable to present a plan to the Michigan Gaming Control Board is "extremely tight" and a failure to act this week would endanger financing and embolden casino opponents statewide.
      Some of those opponents fear casinos will breed crime and feed gambling addictions, while others object to putting the casinos so close to precious waterfront property. The proposed 57-acre site is in a warehouse district near downtown on the Detroit River.
      But race has emerged as the most contentious issue.
      Detroit's second black mayor has faced accusations that he is ignoring the needs of black residents, who make up 80 percent of the city's population.
      They fault Archer for passing over black applicants in awarding all three available casino franchises to the MGM Grand, Atwater/Circus Circus and Greektown/Chippewa Indians groups.
      "Imagine a city that's 80 percent white and a white mayor and 80 percent white council chose three African-American casinos for their city," former Rep. Barbara-Rose Collins said at a council hearing. "Can you imagine that in these United States?"
      Businessman Don Barden, a former cable TV magnate whose casino application was one of those rejected, was blunter. In remarks at a church Friday, Barden called Archer "a mis-educated Negro," adding, "We've got to get that sucker out of office," the Detroit Free Press reported.
      Archer pointed out that blacks and Indians together hold a majority stake in the Greektown casino group, and blacks will be involved with contracts and hiring.
      "Making one African-American richer does not constitute black empowerment," Archer said.
      A ballot initiative in August seeks to force the city to create a black-owned casino.
      As evidence that's he is looking out for all of the city's residents, Archer points to estimates that casinos will generate $130 million in gambling tax revenue and $50 million in property taxes and become the city's sixth-largest employer, just behind General Motors Corp.
      Archer won election by promising to build bridges to the city's mostly white suburbs, in contrast to the confrontational style of his predecessor, the late Coleman Young.