Pittsburgh Casino Supporters End Up in Court
To tilt the scales of American justice, evidence is required, and Mr. Eaves provided little yesterday to buttress his claim that the Rev. James Simms, head of a community group created to push for a casino and new arena in the Lower Hill, had backed out of a deal to pay housing tenants $15 each to attend a casino pep rally.
District Judge Oscar Petite Jr., who ruled that Mr. Eaves failed to make his case, appeared to be exhausted after refereeing the two-hour civil dispute between the two men.
As a result, Mr. Simms won the first round of what could be a series of court battles with Mr. Eaves. Mr. Simms says he feels vindicated Mr. Eaves, who had been seeking $4,000 in damages, says he feels cheated and defamed.
On April 18, three buses filled with about 80 people, mostly Hill residents from the Bedford Dwellings public housing community, were taken from the Hill to a Downtown pep rally at Mellon Square. The rally, attended by hundreds, was organized by a group called Pittsburgh First partly to demonstrate the neighborhood's purported enthusiasm for the casino plan.
Mr. Eaves said he was hired because Mr. Simms wanted lots of black people at the rally, to make it appear that the Hill, whose population is largely black, supported the casino proposal.
Mr. Simms is the public face of Pittsburgh First, which was created by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Isle of Capri to gather support for a proposed Lower Hill casino and a $290 million arena for the Penguins. He said he hired Mr. Eaves, at a rate of $100 a day over a full week, to distribute fliers, pass out T-shirts and tell people about the rally.
On April 17, the Monday before the rally, Mr. Eaves says he contacted Mr. Simms by cell phone, at which time Mr. Simms said, "We're a go with the $15." Mr. Eaves argued that this phone call constituted a verbal contract. But Mr. Simms said he didn't recall such a conversation taking place or a phone call being made.
In the race for Pittsburgh's single available casino license, Isle of Capri is competing against Forest City Enterprises, which wants to build a casino at Station Square, and Detroit casino magnate Don Barden, who favors the North Shore. The campaign has already been an ugly one, with the three opponents trashing each other's proposals and revenue projections in public hearings, newspaper reports and paid advertisements.
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