Citizen Staff Writer
Our Opinion
The most heartening economic news to come out of Arizona this week might be that the Tohono O’odham Nation intends to build a huge casino-hotel near Glendale.
The project would be the largest in Arizona and would draw an estimated 1.2 million visits a year.
Ideally, we’d like to hear that a cutting-edge high-tech giant is coming here, bringing with it the cutting-edge, high-paying knowledge-industry jobs that we’ve all heard exist but that very few have actually seen. (Call them Loch Ness jobs.) But it’s unlikely that Apple Inc. plans to move lock, stock and iPod to Tucson soon.
The new casino won’t require an Apple-type work force, unfortunately. But it will create a need for 6,000 skilled construction jobs and bring more than 3,000 permanent jobs to Arizona.
Given the, uh, challenging economic climate chilling the state, if a new casino is the best we can get, so be it. Deal us in.
Our Opinion