By Paul Gable
The announcement that Myrtle Beach City Council approved city staff to move ahead with plans to reroute U.S. 501 brings a possible complete change to downtown closer.
With the widening project on Third Avenue South and the sidewalk project on South Kings Highway well along, rerouting U.S. 501 to essentially come straight up Seventh Avenue North would complete the trifecta of changes needed for the boundaries of the casino district.
I know the city and the Downtown Redevelopment Corporation like to call the area the South Mixed Use District, but I think casino district is more accurate.
We know that talks between casino interests and local area officials have been going on since last year and the South Mixed Use District has been one of the possible sites mentioned.
Mayor John Rhodes claims to have a Chinese development corporation ready to spend up to $800 million in a resort development in Myrtle Beach.
Is it illogical to anticipate that a casino is part of that resort planning?
A word of caution here – do we really know who we are dealing with in Chinese corporate ventures?
It is well known that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army is heavily involved in Chinese commercial ventures, somewhere around 30,000 corporations at last estimate by western intelligence analysts.
According to western intelligence analysts, in addition to traditional army investment in farms, mines and industry, the PLA owns hotels, telephone companies and airlines.
The corporate ownership situation in China is murky at best, but wouldn’t it be interesting if a portion of tourist funds spent in Myrtle Beach find their way into the Chinese defense budget?
Just something to consider.
Speak Up…