Williams: In backing the Urban One casino project in South Richmond, Stoney is poised to ‘build it over there’ after all.

But for North Side residents and a Scott’s Addition business community that approached the project with noncommittal wariness, the Cordish casino was too close for comfort.

Even the presentation of Live! seemed off. Their project’s generic glitz was unlikely to be embraced in the heart of a gritty area characterized by repurposed warehouses and industrial chic. The threat it presented to the existing Movieland at Boulevard Square, fashioned from a 19th century locomotive factory, alone was enough to dim popular support. 

So Urban One — Richmond voters willing — is the winner. The city’s Resort Casino Evaluation Panel endorsed the ONE Casino + Resort at the proposed site on Walmsley Boulevard in South Richmond — a recommendation supported by the mayor.  Stoney will introduce the project to City Council on Monday, the first step in setting up a Nov. 2 referendum on casino gaming in Richmond.

In March, an anonymous flyer opposing the Movieland site seemed to be foisting gaming — and the African American led Urban One proposal — on the largely Black and Latino 8th District. “More traffic. Higher crime. Lower quality of life for us. Tell them to build it over there,” its unsubtle message read. 

Stoney, at the time, felt compelled to call out the “derogatory, disrespectful and even blatantly racist rhetoric used by some, not all, in our affluent communities to distance themselves from fellow Richmonders who, because of their skin color, socioeconomic status, they consider less important, less consequential and less worthy of respect.”