It's the same old song

Casinos: It's the same old song
March 23, 2012

We started talking about casino gambling in Southeastern Massachusetts back in 1993 when it was still called Southeastern Massachusetts and not SouthCoast, and still called gambling and not gaming. [And we had the sense to say NO! in all of those years.]

In 1995, Clyde Barrow of the UMass Dartmouth Center for Policy Analysis did his first analysis of the casino market in the region. "I thought it would take a couple of weeks and we could go on to other things," he told me Thursday. [And at no time, has Mr. Barrow ever reported on the COSTS.]

So, after almost two decades of debate and delay and disillusionment, it was a big deal when we finally saw the appointments to the five-member state Gaming Commission.

Appointments soon turned to disappointment when it became known that not one of these fine individuals happens to be from anywhere near the nucleus of the casino debate, by which I mean here.

The closest is Gayle Cameron, a former lieutenant in the New Jersey State Police, who has a summer place in Plymouth that she says will become her permanent residence. (She is the only one of the five who has experience dealing with casinos, as it happens.)

How many times have we seen this movie? How many more times will this region have to endure third-class treatment by the Beacon Hill power brokers? How many times will we be told to wait while others are served (think Big Dig), be patient and, if something turns out to be a good thing, our grandchildren might be able to have some leftovers?

Steve Urbon is senior correspondent for the Standard-Times. His column is published Wednesdays and Fridays.