Virginia Official Shares Criticism of Tysons Casino Plan Ahead of Legislative Session

Members of the Tysons, Virginia community are continuing to show opposition to a new casino proposal. 

A Fairfax County supervisor spoke out against a proposal that a labor union representative said would create at least 5,000 new jobs, stating that the arrival of the casino would scare other businesses out of the area.

The debates are heating up ahead of Virginia's legislative session, during which the topic of the casino will at some point inevitably become the center of discussion.

Pushing back on a casino

Virginia legislators earlier this year shoved aside the topic of a casino in the state’s affluent northern area. However, mounting pressure and more detailed proposals have put pressure on them to revisit the idea, potentially with more reception than they previously showed.

Jimmy Bierman (D-Dranesville) said at No Fairfax Casinos’ community forum at McLean High School in Fairfax on Sunday, where he said that building a casino is not as attractive of an option as it’s been made out to be.

“Since we put in place the Tysons Plan, we have seen extraordinary job growth in Tysons,” said Bierman. “We have seen mixed-use development in Tysons. We have seen huge companies come and relocate in Tysons.”

A rally was organized by the Fairfax County Jobs Coalition, a group of labor and community groups, in Fairfax last week. They rallied around the idea of the creation of both temporary and long-term jobs and the economic benefits that the facility would bring.

Bierman contended that those additions would be counterbalanced by the loss of jobs at businesses already established in the high-income area.

“There are lots of opportunities for us to continue job growth in Tysons, and I'll continue to support that type of development,” Bierman said. “If some of those companies decide they don't actually want to be located in Tysons anymore, that's going to hurt us.”

Constant back and forth 

Approval from Virginia lawmakers would not guarantee that the casino is built. It would still need to go before a public vote, where locals would decide if they want a gaming facility in their neighborhood.

Sen. Jennifer Boysko (D-District 38), who represents parts of Fairfax County, is of the belief that the casino would be unattractive to Fortune 500 companies that relocated or were considering moving to Tysons. 

“[Tysons Corner] is where Fortune 500 companies have come to make their home,” Boysko said during the previous legislative session. “[A casino] is not something that Fortune 500s would like to have in their community.”

On the contrary, Virginia Diamond, president of The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), stated that a casino would have an immediate positive impact on the area.

“We have agreements in place that will allow more than 5,000 workers to be able to choose freely, to become part of a union,” said Diamond. And having a union job is life-changing.”

The Virginia Senate earlier this year assigned a casino bill to the Finance and Appropriations Committee, where it received no action and was passed to next year’s session.