Those of us who have been involved with educating voters about the failure of Beacon Hill to conduct an INDEPENDENT COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS and explain that costs and impacts outweigh the phony revenue promises are fully aware of the one-sided media.
Frankly, most elected officials actually voting on this issue seem un-educable or blinded by promises of campaign contributions, chairmenships, bigger staffs, larger offices, or maybe some cushy no-show SLOT BARN jobs in the future atop a taxpayer funded pension. [In fairness, we have some pretty stellar officials to be proud of, who know the issue, have done their research and spoken out, but their voices are drowned out by the Bobble Heads.]
One might make a few guesses about whether it's threats, promises or fantasies of advertising revenues to a dying industry, but the coverage has been conspicuously one-sided and factually inaccurate.
The Fall River Herald News fails to print letters to the editor that indicate a growing opposition.
The Fall River Herald News might create the impression that there is no opposition, when facts prove there is growing opposition nationwide. Who wants a SLOT BARN in their neighborhood?
http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x336131318/Mayor-urges-Interior-Dept-to-take-proposed-casino-land-into-Indian-trust
Mayor urges
Interior Dept. to take proposed casino land into Indian trust
By Michael Holtzman
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Aug 29, 2010 @
09:40 PM
Last update Aug 30, 2010 @ 12:24 AM
FALL RIVER —
Mayor Will
Flanagan is stepping up efforts to support the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe’s
application for federal land sovereignty for the 300-acre tract the city agreed
to sell the tribe if the state legalized gambling this year.
He’s calling the Mashpee’s proposed destination casino the city’s “No. 1
development priority” and one that warrants taking bold steps.
“This is not a bridge to nowhere or a folly. This is a $500 million project,”
Flanagan said.
Now Willie [If I may call you that. Feel free to call me MR], for $500 million, you just get a SLOT BARN, not some euphemistically labeled facility.
Flanagan is taking this tact while the City Council has called for reviewing
the use of the undeveloped 300 acres in the northern sector off a new Route 24
interchange after the Legislature and Gov. Deval Patrick failed to agree upon
legalized gambling during its 2010 session that ended a month ago.
With legalization not appearing imminent, Flanagan formalized the alternative route he’s backing for what he says is the best chance to add thousands of jobs and boost the local economy.
“I ask that you expeditiously and favorably review the tribe’s land in trust application,” Flanagan wrote U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.
Willie,
As an American, you can certainly send a letter to Ken [please put in a good word for me because I've written to Ken about his policies of allowing DIRTY ENERGY and BIG CORPORATIONS to trash our environment and haven't heard from him.].
You may have heard about that little SCOTUS decision, Carcieri v Salazar. Theodore Olson argued that before SCOTUS and the Massachusetts Attorney General joined. That's pretty confusing because you have to read detailed stuff, but the Hawaii decision? That's a hum-dinger!
Now Senator Rosenberg wants to pretend it's a simple 'difference of opinion,' but Willie, you have to understand, this one is simple.
In the 9-0 decision on Hawaii
v. the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Justice
Alito wrote, "It would
raise grave constitutional concerns"
Congress
sought to "cloud Hawaii's
title to its sovereign lands" after
it had
joined the Union.
"We have emphasized that Congress
cannot, after
statehood reserve or
convey....lands that have already been
bestowed
upon a state".
Willie, I won't fog your brain by suggesting you might want to also read the Trade & Intercourse Acts [there were 2 and No! It's not that kind of intercourse!], although if counsel is unfamiliar with those, the adequacy of counsel might be re-considered. One even includes a list of Tribes! [Hint: Mashpee Wampanoags are not included.]
One might be inclined to say a "Snow ball's chance in hell!"
He noted the Mashpee tribe amended its 2007 land trust application to
include Fall River. The tribe did that in mid-July.
There is no desire to hurt your feelings, Willie, but you simply can't 'amend' an application. Them's the rules!
It is unclear what the Tribe may or may not have 'filed,' but it has not yet been posted in the federal register - which would officially record 'acceptance' [not approval, but acknowledgement that they have received an application].
FOIA requests have been submitted and a response is anticipated - we'll be sure to let you know or you might want to submit a request yourself. You can even do it on-line.
You need to know, Willie, that after Jack Abramoff, there were certain pesky little amendments made to prevent 'CASINO SHOPPING," which this is. [Remember that this pre-dated Carcieri and Hawaii.] There is a requirement that the INITIAL RESERVATION can't be anymore than 30 miles from any 'secondary' site. Middleboro would not have qualified for that reason, so how far are you?
And I almost forgot, Willie. There's another pesky little detail. Even though the Tribe doesn't qualify because of all the above information, they have no historical ties to Middleboro. You can't just pretend and make up fanciful stories or change your web site. They tell me this kind of stuff needs some serious documentation.
“Development of that land that the tribe is seeking to have placed in trust
will provide the good jobs that are so desperately needed in this area. In
addition, revenue that will be provided to the city through an intergovernmental
agreement will allow us to fund the public safety, education and infrastructure
projects that are so important to the health of this city and the surrounding
region,” reads the letter Flanagan wrote Aug. 17 and shared last week.
Willie, this is just to silly to comment on! You really don't believe that. Do you?
The issue eliciting the most questioning has been Flanagan’s continued
prioritization of the 300-acre site for gambling instead of as a biotechnology
and life sciences park with the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth building
an anchor test facility with state-approved funding.
Willie, I'm not going to get into what you think you're doing except to point out that along with SLOT BARNS, you get increased crime. Fortune 500 companies take crime into consideration when making substantial investments. [check the right side of this blog and click on one of those categories for information]
Instead of using that state forest land sold to the RDA for industry — after
compromises with environmental groups — the administration has negotiated with
the university for an alternative bio-park site.
UMass officials said they plan in early September to decide on a location
between the Flanagan administration’s alternative Riverfront Business Park in
Freetown and a second SouthCoast proposal at the New Bedford Business Park in
that city.
Each plan provides 4 acres and a $3 million loan for the
anchor facility, with another 50 acres for biomanufacturing expansion.
FROED
would purchase and take title to the nearby Freetown acreage, Flanagan said.
According to RDA Chairman William Kenney, his authority received a legal
recommendation that it cannot buy land outside the city, such as the adjacent
Freetown acreage.
“Once UMass makes their announcement to locate in Greater Fall River,” Flanagan
said, “it may prompt the RDA to amend their vote, which would allow for the
infusion of $6 million to purchase the land in Freetown.”
That 325-acre
undeveloped property is owned by controversial Rhode Island land developer
Churchill & Banks, headed by Richard Baccari.
The RDA voted 3-2 on July 22 to sell the 300 acres of the former biopark to the
Mashpees for $21 million pending legalization of gambling in Massachusetts this
year and other conditions.
In order for FROED to purchase the acreage in
the Freetown park, Flanagan said, “We would seek $6 million from a separate
entity, more than likely the Mashpee Wampanoags. The $6 million is very critical
to complete this transaction,” he said.
“Lurking in the background is
what’s UMass going to do?” said Kenney, who has been contacted by concerned city
councilors after voting against the RDA sale in July.
“If they say, ‘We’d like to go to New Bedford,’ what does the mayor do then?
He says they’re both going to happen,” Kenney said of Flanagan’s
continued pronouncement the Mashpees will build a casino in Fall River and the
university will build in Freetown through a multiparty transaction.
Flanagan and FROED’s director, Kenneth Fiola Jr., said the city would not lose
significant tax revenue by shifting the biopark to Freetown because the
university does not pay taxes and the level of companies agreeing to locate to
such a park would require longterm tax breaks.
Also, Fall River would supply the water and sewer to the riverfront park, they
said.
While the City Council has requested that Kenney, Fiola and the
Flanagan administration update the status of the casino and land sale to the
tribe at its next meeting Sept. 14, councilors recently considered issuing a
resolution to change courses.
“It may be time to reshuffle again,” said
council Vice President Linda Pereira. She called on Flanagan, whom she’s often
at odds with, “to put all the cards on the table.”
This lady sounds like the only elected official with a brain. If anyone is at odds with you, Willie, she sounds like she's done her homework.
The resolution proposed by Councilor Eric Poulin was signed onto by four
councilors but never filed. It “encouraged the Fall River Redevelopment
Authority to convene a meeting as soon as possible and that they consider
voting to offer the 300 acres (off Route 24) back to UMass before the university
reaches its final decision.”
“My fear is to lose both,” Poulin said. Councilors Brad Kilby, Leo Pelletier and
Pereira agreed, but Poulin fell short obtaining the unanimous council support he
sought.
Poulin said when Flanagan in May announced the tentative casino
agreement with the tribe, it was with the prospect the state would legalize
gambling by the end of July.
That put the prior plan of developing a
prestigious and state-backed biopark on the back burner.
The objective, Poulin said, was to find needed short-term casino jobs with city
unemployment in the mid-teens, and the longer-term jobs coming from
biotechnology. “Now we could be chasing after a casino for three years or more,”
Poulin said.
He said Flanagan has not identified how casino construction
could start quickly. “I have some questions and concerns about developing the
site with sovereign nation status.”
Senator Rosenberg has publicly stated that it would take the Commonwealth 18-19 months to get that BLOATED REGULATORY BUREAUCRACY in place before the first license might be issued. [That's the BLOATED BUREAUCRACY that will be filled with political hacks and relatives to replace the Probation Dept. jobs.]
Hint: If you have "questions and concerns" about a sovereign nation, how about doing your homework?
That’s what prompted Kenney to vote against the RDA sale. It’s yet to be
signed because the state has not legalized casino gaming.
Flanagan,
through talks with tribal leaders and the Department of Interior, said final
documents to designate the RDA-owned park as sovereign land could take “a few months.”
In the 'good old days,' [pre-Carcieri and Hawaii] it took 5-7 years to gain approval.
And then there's NIGC [National Indian Gaming Commission] that would have to approve the management agreement to avoid this and would take 5-7 years as well. [BTW, you might consider submitting a FOIA request to them as well.]
But according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs web site, there are more than
1,900 land trust applications, of which “over 95 percent are for non-gaming
purposes.”
Salazar said this summer he’s prioritized restoring tribal
lands for non-gaming applications, such as to provide housing, health care and
education to improve tribal members’ self-sufficiency.
“He’s put a lot
of eggs into this basket,” Poulin said of Flanagan’s secondary option for the
tribe to build a casino.
“That’s a heck of risk the mayor took,” Pereira said. “I don’t buy that the
pay-off is what he says it’s going to be.”
From materials Flanagan circulates from the Mashpees, he estimates the phased
project would include: 1,000 to 1,200 construction jobs building the casino and
first hotel and 3,500 to 5,000 permanent jobs; they’d pay $30,000 to $45,000
with tips; and would spur 5,000 to 6,000 “indirect jobs,” he said.
Willie, frankly, you blew it on this one!
Check out jobs or Wow! 15,000 Jobs? NOT! for starters. If you're still confused, send an email. There's more, I'm just getting tired of explaining away your delusions. [Psst! You won't get all those other promises and I can prove it.]
With funding by the Malaysian group that financed Foxwoods, the project would
include two more hotels, a golf course, spa and retail/entertainment complex,
the tribe stated.
Poulin said timing was a prime reason he did not file the council resolution. He
said he tried unsuccessfully to have a special meeting before their regular
session on Sept. 14. “At that point UMass would probably have made a decision,”
he said.
Councilor Michael Lund, however, is among council members that believe the
Flanagan administration should be given more time to bring a casino.
“I think Flanagan is looking at the casino as a way to bridge the gap for jobs for
people in the 30-50-year-old age group who could be retrained. And I think
there’s merit to that,” Lund said.
He said by the Legislature apparently not passing gaming this year, “We’re not
under the gun. Let’s take our time and get this right … I think Flanagan is
trying to do the right thing, and I think we have a unique opportunity.”
Lund said he also believes the city needs to be careful if the RDA
property goes into sovereign land trust with the tribe. “What happens if the
casino doesn’t come and the Indians own it and there’s no reverter clause (back
to city ownership)?” he asked.
Flanagan said the tribe’s financial backers would invest to build a casino.
Also, having the park in land trust would not lift the prohibition against using
it for a landfill, Flanagan said. “It would never happen,” he said, stating the
city and state would sue the tribe for such a use that would be tied up for years.So, Willie, you seem to be saying it's perfectly OK to leave of legacy of expensive lawsuits [in federal court because they're 'Sovereign']because you're too lazy to conduct your due diligence?
Let me share: Indians. This struck me: It All Sounds Familiar
Our land is pockmarked with disasters and toxic waste dumps on "Reservations."
“If I believed this project had no life in it, I would never
pursue it,” Flanagan said. He’s convinced Massachusetts soon will legalize
gambling. “There’s been too much of an investment for this not to occur.”
Willie, dear, you might say the same of Middleboro!
Now, Willie, I know I've given you a lot of bedtime reading, but it might be kinda nice if you'd mosey on over to the United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts
web site that's got some pretty comprehensive information on it. The Spectrum Gaming Report prepared for the CT DOSR is there and bunches of reports about the impacts and costs of SLOT BARNS you might want to consider.
I know I haven't corrected ALL of your misunderstandings, but that's a good beginning. When you've finished with that, please send an email and I'll send you some more.
There are a few good books worth reading as well.
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