City Councilman Sala Udin remembers the sign he saw outside a riverboat casino he visited in Vicksburg, Miss.: "Social Security and Welfare checks cashed inside."

"That's one way to run a casino," he said yesterday. "That doesn't have to be the way we run casinos here in this city."

Udin is one of 23 people who has been appointed by Mayor Tom Murphy to serve on an advisory board that will study the impact of a proposed slots parlor to be built in the city, interview potential operators, and be the "voice of Pittsburgh" before the state panel that will award the license.

Co-chairing the Pittsburgh Citizens Gaming Advisory Panel will be Ronald Porter, an adjunct instructor at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School of Public Policy and Management, and Anne J. Swager, executive director of the American Institute of Architects Pittsburgh.

"This committee will by the force of its personality, I believe, be able to put Pittsburgh at the table so that we will get the very best development that we can get, the one that will reflect Pittsburgh's values, will create and expand the opportunities for tourism in Pittsburgh, and will create jobs for residents of Pittsburgh," Murphy said.

The mayor said he decided to create the panel in part because of his concerns about the lack of public dialogue locally about what a slots casino will mean to the city, what it will offer in terms of development and jobs, and just how it will affect the fabric of life.

Among the questions Murphy has asked the panel to study is who should get the license, where should the casino be located, how will it be designed, what are the community, economic and job benefits, and what will be the effect on Pittsburgh's work ethic.

Murphy said he wants to make sure bidders know what issues are important to the city, and that the process used in evaluating and selecting an operator is very public and transparent and that no "particular group is seen as getting the license at the expense of others."

Murphy said he expects the panel to work with the state gaming control board, which could issue the license for the city casino by early next year, and will represent the city's interest before that body. He has asked the group to issue its report and recommendations by fall.

He also is thinking about making the panel permanent to oversee casino operations in Pittsburgh once a license has been awarded.

Murphy estimated the cost of the panel's operation at $100,000, with a portion of the funding coming from the Heinz Endowments. City planning will provide staff and technical help.