Letter to the editor on the proposed casino in Foxborough

Letter to the editor on the proposed casino in Foxborough submitted by a Foxborough resident.

Dear Selectmen, I've been a long time resident of Foxboro (over 11 years) and a registered voter. I would like to voice my opinion and concern based on the meeting I attended yesterday and overall on the proposed casino in Foxboro...

First of all when the meeting was called to have a public participation why didn't the board of selectmen allow the residents to speak up? Last week at the planning board meeting residents and neighbors too (Walpole, Norfolk) were allowed to speak before the zoning decision was made

This board unanimously agreed not to allow gambling of any type in Foxboro on Sep 6 2011. Then why did majority of the board (3 Y, 2 N) agree last night to hear the proposal from Wynn. It is very crystal clear whatever the so called proposal is going to include Casino gambling. How the board can still think that proposal will not include casino? Wynn doesn't know any other business than Casino gambling. He also has clearly indicated already that the resort will include Gaming room.

On Dec 4th a group of selectmen (1 or many) along with few residents attended private meeting with Kraft, Wynn at the Gillette Stadium. What exactly happened during that meeting? This seem to have a changed the position of the 3 selectmen who voted Y in the meeting last night.

Why the 3 selectmen flip flopped from their position on no gambling in 3 months?

Even if we all agree to the point of hearing what they have to propose on Jan 10, let me bring some of my thoughts on this:

1.Of course the proposal is going to include JOBS. 10000 JOBS. These are low paying jobs serving the resort and especially casino industry.
2.We need professional jobs in Foxboro to grow the town into more elite category not low paying jobs.
3.Will the proposal divulge the min salary, max salary and avg salary of the resort? It is a very common sense to understand what these are and the salary surveys already states these.
4.The professional jobs i refer to are Engineering, R&D, Management and IT jobs
5.I appreciate what Kraft organization has done so far to the town and the community in general. If Kraft continues to have the affinity towards this town let him use that facility to build a technology office park (Bio, Software, Pharma R&D, etc.). This can invite elite companies like Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, BioGen, Microsoft, Oracle, Google, Facebook, etc. who are looking to expand in the Boston region. These bring professional jobs and not to overlook the initial construction jobs which many of the proponents of casino anyway want. With the easy interstate highway access (I-95, I-495), Route 1 and also proposed commuter rail to the area this is definitely possible. I'm very ambitious that this is what can bring the town into a more elite category not casinos. I do appreciate heartily all the great work being done by the board of selectmen voluntarily without accepting any remuneration. But I strongly condemn the 3 selectmen that changed their position last night. Even if we want to give everyone a fair chance of hearing the proposal we could do it provided the proposal is only about the resort, entertainment and does not include Casino. But that's not the case here.
I sincerely appreciate selectman James J. DeVellis and Lorraine A. Brue for standing by their position from Sep and also Town Manager Kevin Paicos for reminding the board about it.

In closing, now that it has been agreed by majority to have the meeting on Jan 10 and hear the developer proposal, we will as a town will entertain the proposal only if it does not include Casino. If the proposal has any keywords like gaming, casino, game room, slot machines, etc. we will REJECT it then and there.

Regards,

Srini