Breaking News: Arrests Today at Sugar House Casino in Philadelphia

Today at 6 am about 50 protesters assembled at the intersection of Frankford Avenue and Columbus Boulevard, which is the site of the approved Sugar House Casino. The protest was organized by Casino Free Philadelphia, which is a coalition of Philadelphia citizens opposed to the building of casinos in Philadelphia.

Protestors argued that the construction of this casino, which is located in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia, will create more economic and social losses for Philly citizens/taxpayers than benefits. They cite a study conducted by the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority. For a brief summary of that report, click here. At the action, this morning 15 people blocked the construction site gate by linking arms. Nearby, there was a rally of about 40 people.

Fourteen people were arrested at 6:45 am this morning, including 3 clergy. As of 1 pm today, they are still being held. Casino Free Philadelphia has reported there is no word about their status.

For more information on this breaking story, here are some of the stories that have been released from Casino Free Philadelphia and the media:

Casino Free Philadelphia photographs of protest.

Fox news video of the arrests.

There are many more stories out there. Feel free to post links in the comments section of this blog post.

Spontaneous Dance Party

So I did it- went to the spontaneous dance party. I made it out to 22nd and the Ben Franklin Parkway at 1 pm for rehearsal of the spontaneous dance party.

When I arranged about twenty women were practicing the choreography for the five minute dance. A couple of guys did meander in a bit later. Two interns from NPR were there to do a segment on the event for NPR.

In talking with the other participants, many of them didn't know the organizer Laura, but came out because of the Facebook invite.

The spontaneous dance party (SDP) emerged from the viral videos of choreographed dances in Europe done by flash mobs. Laura had attracted the interest of the Philadelphia Visitor's Bureau who decided to film the event to attract people to our city.

The event was choreographed where groups of 5-10 would jump in and join the original three dancers, Laura and her two sisters. There was a PA set up with clips of about 5 different songs.

In all about 50 people were dancing, but several others were at the Art Museum to watch. For me, it was an exhiliarating five minutes. It was a great deal of fun and many of us were chattering afterward.

When more video and pictures become available, I'll post them up. In the meantime, here are my stabs at action photography. The top shot is us practicing and the second shot is the beginning of the dance when only a handful people were doing it.