Foxboro, why risk it all?

YOUR LETTERS: Florida transplant chose Easton over Foxboro because of casino uncertainty
Published: Thursday, March 15, 2012 6:21 AM EDT

To the editor: Foxboro, why risk it all?

Foxboro, what don't you currently have that makes you willing to risk it all? I would say, nothing!

Just last year, I moved to Massachusetts from Florida with my husband and children. I have some close friends living in Foxboro and had heard a lot of good things about its schools and sense of community. Our first choice, and plan, was to buy a home in Foxboro and raise our family here because it seemed like the perfect little New England town where our children would be happy and grow up among friends. But after hearing about the proposed casino, with regret, I just stopped considering Foxboro. For people like me, buying a house means choosing a home for my family, and it is a lifetime investment.

The first concerns that came to mind were: Do I want to live in a casino town that never sleeps; deals with more drunk drivers than other towns; has 24/7 traffic issues; has a higher crime rate and depends on uncertain mitigation payments to provide town services? I also wondered how a casino development would affect the future property value of my house. In today's market there are plenty of homes available in other towns, so why would I want to buy a home in Foxboro, and put my investment at risk? Having a casino in town may or may not turn out well.

My other concern was about schools since I have two children who will start school next year. I read and heard from my friends that Foxboro schools provide an excellent education and many families with children choose Foxboro because of its school system. The school system is strong not only because it is well-managed, but also because of dedicated professionals and strong community leaders who support the schools. The schools are something Foxboro is proud of and frankly, I was really excited about.

As I followed casino news, several of the school related questions I asked myself were: Will the schools be able to provide a secure and stable environment for my children under these new circumstances? Will there be an influx of new children into the school system? Will that change the number of students per class and student-teacher ratio? Will schools be able to handle these pressures without disrupting the current school system? How effectively and expediently will the schools be able to implement corrective measures in response to these issues? Most importantly, will the issues arising from having a casino in town divert schools and teachers' attention from what really matters, which is educating my children?

I realized that if a casino is in fact built in Foxboro, no one can answer these questions today, or in the near future. It will take time to learn and understand the true impact on the town caused by a casino project, even if certain initial measures are put in place through a mitigation plan. It will take even more years to find the right balance, if at all. In the meantime my family and my children will have to live through these uncertain times without the knowledge that everything will work out as it should. Unfortunately, this is a risk I simply cannot afford to take.

At the end of the day I realized that my dream of moving to Foxboro, living near my friends and raising our children together was not going to become reality, because of the possibility of a Foxboro casino development. I just wish that this proposal never came to Foxboro and the town is just left the way it is, as there is nothing really missing. You know what I mean, it is why you and my friends choose to call Foxboro home.

Sylwia Nowakowski

N. Easton