The first group that I will go through is the Harrahs/ Forest City casino group. According to the press release dated 1-23-06, Forest City Enterprises which owns Station Square plans to put about $1 billion dollars of investment capital into the popular South Side shopping and entertainment complex. Among the very ambitious projects encompassed into their plan are: ground floor retail space, sidewalk dining, and cafes, a 400,000 square foot $512 million dollar Harrahs casino with 3000 slots, an additional 200 rooms in the Station Square Sheraton Hotel, and 1,250 condos. There is also the possibility of expansion of the casino to 5,000 slots. as well as the building of a new 300-500 room hotel tower. Forest City has enlisted the help of former Steeler great Franco Harris to pitch this plan to the commission and the public as well as run a charitable foundation that will make funds available to support minority communities. All very laudable and ambitious. The opponents of this plan state that Harrah's traffic projections are off, and they(Harrah's) also claim that their daily per slot machine income is much higher than can be reasonably projected. Also, there are objections to the casino and subsquent development on the grounds that Carson Street which runs along Station Square and is one of the most crowded streets in the city on Saturday nights will become even more jammed up as casino patrons and Station Square shoppers mix and mingle with the bar crowds that hit clubs further down Carson, thereby increasing the number of accidents and drunk drivers that will be out on the streets.