Milking the Cobra

(This is part one of a four part post to be published over the next few weeks. Part one - this post - is an attempt to establish a premise or two on which the following posts will build. Please do not assume that this post alone reveals where I stand on the issue addressed.)

I am nothing if not a searcher. Always have been.

And so I find myself searching again. This time I’m searching to discover two things – what is best for Fort Smith and what is possible for Fort Smith. Where those two circles intersect is, I believe, where Fort Smith must find its future and make it real. And what happens if those two circles do not intersect? One must then redefine what is best or what is possible - or both. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First, let’s start with a fundamental premise. The entire complex business organism called Fort Smith, Arkansas must change dramatically or it will soon – very soon – enter a downward economic spiral from which it cannot recover. If you have not accepted that premise don’t waste your time reading this post. If you have accepted that premise, consider this idea on loan from former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis...

The logic of words should yield to the logic of realities.

I want to use that statement as a framework to examine the issue of the proposed casino complex in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Logic of Words: Gambling does not exist in Fort Smith, Arkansas
Logic of Reality: Gambling is almost everywhere in Fort Smith and, although largely underground, is easily accessible. Don’t believe me? Ask around. If you want to gamble in Fort Smith - especially on sports - it is incredibly easy to do so. The majority of the negative side effects created by the presence of gambling are already in Fort Smith - and have been for a long, long time. In fact, we’ve already learned to cope with those effects. And the reality is that we're already equipped to deal with the downside of casino gambling because, for all practical purposes, casino gambling already exists in Fort Smith.

Logic of Words: Casino gambling does not exist in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Logic of Reality: Any able bodied resident of Fort Smith can literally walk to two different casinos. I live within the city limits of Fort Smith and my kids can be in the parking lot of an Indian Casino in 10 minutes – riding their bikes. And those casinos are filled with cars belonging to residents of the Greater Fort Smith Region. In fact, my neighborhood casino just tripled the size of its parking lot and it's still full more often than not. In reality, preventing the building of a casino on the Fort Smith riverfront will at best only slow – not reduce or eliminate - the increase in the negative effects created by existing local casinos and gambling.

Logic of Words: Casinos are always completely bad for a community.
Logic of Reality: Let me be clear - I oppose the entire idea of a stand-alone casino. I would campaign against the construction of a typical Indian casino in Fort Smith. If the proposed casino operation in Fort Smith does not include carefully planned and expertly managed development of a first class hotel/casino resort facility along with the associated businesses and amenities designed to draw out the significant potential benefits of such an operation to the host city, I will actively campaign against it. But what the Westphal Group has designed cannot be even remotely described as a stand-alone casino. It is a complex of interrelated business activities designed to enhance the potential positive economic impact and community benefits of the casino/hotel that anchors it. That, in turn, would provide a counterbalance to the negative effects Fort Smith already experiences due to existing underground gambling and nearby stand-alone casinos. Why? Because a professionally operated casino/hotel is an economic engine which can – I emphasize the word “can” - drive elaborate and wisely designed networks of surrounding business concerns, community enhancements, and tourist attractions. Are there negative effects from hosting a casino of any kind in our community? Of course! But the majority of those negative effects are already present in our city. The increase in those effects created by the casino/hotel proposal would be offset by the increase in the positive results of building it – if it is operated on terms favorable to Fort Smith. The reality is that a well planned business and community complex developed around a tightly integrated and professionally managed casino operation can provide positive benefits that outweigh the negative effects already present. Two examples of how this can happen are Davenport, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska. Check it out.

OK - I’m hung up on that word, “can.” Again, the logic of words will yield to the logic of reality and what can happen in a situation like this and what actually does happen are rarely the same. I think building and hosting a casino/hotel in Fort Smith would be like milking a cobra – the snake must never be in control of the situation, the handler must know exactly what he’s doing, and you need antivenom in the Frigidaire - uh - I mean, the Whirlpool side-by-side.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not averse to danger. I love watching Steve Irwin wrangle a deadly snake. Man Versus Wild is must-see-TV in my house. And once upon a time I was a steely-eyed-fighter-pilot sitting on a 300 kiloton thermo-nuclear weapon staring down the bad guys (who then became the good guys and are now becoming the bad guys again). In fact, Danger is my middle name. But I digress...

It occurs to me that the story of Steve Irwin might have a moral within it from which Fort Smith should learn. Irwin did all sorts of crazy things that were incredibly risky. I'll never forget the first time I watched The Crocodile Hunter and saw this insane Aussie climb into a tree with an angry Black Mamba. Even thinking of it now gives me the willies! But as I watched him I realized that whenever Irwin caught a snake or wrestled a croc he was incredibly careful because he knew there was great "danger, danger, danger" in those situations. But in the end it was something Irwin didn't expect that killed him. And I suspect that the greatest risk of building and hosting a casino in Fort Smith lies not in what we expect - but in the unexpected.

Does the Westphal Group offer a genuine solution to the un-retouched picture of Fort Smith’s doubtful future?

And because what can happen is so rarely what actually does happen, can we milk the casino cobra without getting bit?

And what do we not expect - but better plan for - before we go swimming with the stingrays?

Glad you asked...