Failing to appoint a study committee to consider the costs or provide factual consideration of a NEW Industry coming to town, well....shouldn't Plainville insist on BETTER?
FREE Alcohol will increase DUIs. It's not debatable because widely available statistics prove it. That means more DRUNKS. How simple is that? That means more motor vehicle accidents. That means more public safety personnel. What will that cost you? And the lost property values?
Gambling Addiction increases within a 50 mile radius, crime along with it.
Its cost?
Another issue is whether the police and fire departments would have to be expanded.
When will the Plainville Board of Selectmen assess those costs? After they sign an agreement? Maybe it doesn't make economic sense. Who is asking?
A LOOK AHEAD: Slots the hot topic in Plainville, too
BY JIM HAND SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
PLAINVILLE - Town officials don't hesitate when asked what will be the big issue in Plainville during the new year.
Without a pause to think, they reply: "Slot machines."
But, unlike their neighbors just up the road in Foxboro, Plainville officials, and apparently Plainville residents, seem a lot less apprehensive about the prospects of expanded gambling coming to their town.
Foxboro residents have formed groups to oppose a casino proposal there and selectmen have voted 3-2 against the plan by Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn to lease land across from Gillette Stadium owned by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft for a resort casino.
In Plainville, selectmen say they are open minded on a proposal by Plainridge Racecourse to bring 1,250 slot machines to the Route 1 facility. Making the track a so-called racino, or slot-machine parlor, will bring badly needed jobs and revenue to the town, they said.
Of course, there is always a but when change is proposed.
The but in Plainville is that officials want assurance that if Plainridge wins a Class 2 gambling license from the state that the racino will be properly developed with protections for the town.
Selectman Chairman Rob Rose said the board is considering hiring a consultant to help them sort through the process and advise them on how to negotiate with Plainridge.
He said the process is new to everyone and there are a lot of unanswered questions in the new state legislation allowing for more gambling.
For instance, the legislation leaves it up to a yet-to-be-appointed state gaming commission to determine what constitutes neighboring communities and what benefits or protections they should get from gambling. Rose said as far as he can determine, it also isn't spelled out in the casino bill how much, if any, gambling revenue would go to a host community.
He said he is also unclear what comes first: A town referendum on gambling, a negotiated agreement between Plainridge and selectmen, or a gambling license from the state.
"We're not sure exactly where all the pieces go," he said.
The process is going to be so involved that he speculates it will be summer before a deal is struck.
What is clear is that the slot-machine issue is going to dominate talk in the town this year.
"That will definitely be the big issue. It's going to be the hot topic," he said.
Rose and other town officials said they believe the town tends to look favorably on the slot machine idea.
Selectman Robert Fennessy said he has not heard of any opposition yet, but there also isn't a formal proposal yet.
He said he wants to study all the details before taking a definitive position, but he leans toward approval.
Rose said he believes the town wants the revenue and jobs the slot machines - and a planned $125 million expansion of Plainridge - would bring.
The racetrack's location is somewhat isolated from the rest of the town, situated off Route 1 near Route 152 and Interstate 495, so it shouldn't cause a problem for neighborhoods.
"I think it would fit seamlessly. It's in a corner of the town. It's almost not in Plainville," he said.
One area of concern, he said, is traffic mitigation. He said Plainridge would have to come up with a plan to handle the additional traffic, especially at the intersection of routes 1 and 152.
Another issue is whether the police and fire departments would have to be expanded.
But, overall, he said, Plainville seems open to the idea of expanding the gambling on horse races that currently goes on at the track to slot machines.
"I think there is general acceptance," he said.
From an abutter of the Plainridge Race Track Bailout:
It seems the Plainville selectmen are champing at the bit for expanded gambling at Plainridge ("Slots the hot topic in Plainville, too" January 2, 2012). I can assure you, not everyone in Plainville supports the idea of allowing the most regressive tax on the working poor and the elderly — the crack-cocaine of gambling — into our town.
In the article, Chairman Rose said, "I think it would fit seamlessly. It's in a corner of the town. It's almost not in Plainville."
How insulting! I can assure Mr. Rose that my neighborhood is very much “in Plainville.” We live and pay taxes here. Our neighborhood already "hosts" the landfill, big box stores, a sewer pumping station, extremely busy intersections, and a tiny rural road with a dilapidated bridge that is now used as a shortcut to avoid Route One, especially during games and concerts at Gillette Stadium. We still face the threat of an asphalt plant, and our neighborhood was passed over for sewer, even though the drinking water in Lake Mirimichi is surrounded by cesspools and septic systems on postage-stamp lots that can't support septic. The town's "adult entertainment" district and the racecourse abut our neighborhood. In other words, we have become Plainville's dumping ground.
My opposition to slots at Plainridge goes beyond any NIMBY concerns, however. I am opposed to expanded gambling anywhere in the Commonwealth, and I have asked for the opportunity to speak with the selectmen at their meeting on January 9th. I will ask what research has been done by the board (beyond pie-in-the-sky economic projections), and I will share information that speaks against expanded gambling in general, and slots in particular.
Join me in disabusing the board of the notion that "Plainville seems open to the idea of ... slot machines." Their number is 695-3010; email
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment