Dear Representative Basile:

From: John Dudley --

Dear Representative Basile:

In response to your recent Globe.com editorial, here are some points you may consider considering:
#1: “It will create jobs…They need [jobs] now.”  

 For whom? Every single out-of-work East Bostonian? Or, for a few newly casino-burdened Eastie residents, and for so many others who don’t live anywhere near the new complex? And yes, there are many people who need jobs now. Today. We completely agree. So what good is it going to do these same people, to wait for the Gaming Commission to justly and prudently go through this brand-new industry-creating process, then accept applications, then fully vet them, and then make construction arrangements. How will we pay our out-of-work friends’ and neighbors’ bills until 2014-2015? It’s also important to note Boston currently has an unemployment rate below that of Massachusetts as a whole, and far below the national average. And watch the news: there are several multi-million and even billion dollar development projects already underway or on the verge of happening in the Greater Boston area, as we speak. And they all have more noble and economically-promising purposes than gambling.

 A casino resort will strip existing jobs from the community. For every dollar spent in a slot machine (or anywhere else, really, inside the casino walls) by an Eastie resident, that’s one less dollar being spent at one of Eastie’s fine small restaurants, shops, and nightspots. Actually, it’s one less dollar going into local churchs’ collection plates, Bingo nights, and non-profit organizations’ fundraising efforts, too. [You may argue that there are East Boston residents already getting on buses weekly and heading to Connecticut with their money, so why not keep the dollars here? That might be a valid point, if the number of trips they made to a new community casino remained constant. But this would be a “convenience casino,” allowing not one trip a week or month, but upwards of multiple times per week or month – each time, sucking new money out of an already struggling small business economy.]

 Eastie’s restaurants and small businesses – the pride of Eastie – will lose business, lay off workers, and perhaps even close their doors altogether. Which Eastie restaurants, bars, artistic spaces, and nightspots can offer 24-hour-a-day entertainment, and free alcohol beverages to boot? How will they compete? How many small business owners who we’ve all come to know and love would prefer to go out of business and instead take a new job making beds or cleaning trash bins at a casino? You must also know that many of the better-paying casino jobs are usually filled by out-of-state or even out-of-country workers already trained by and working at other casinos.

 #2: “It will pay for local road improvements…Based on what I’ve seen, I think [Suffolk Downs has] heard [my message about needed infrastructure improvements] loud and clear.”

 If that is true, why are Suffolk Downs developers offering only one-tenth of the funds needed to bring the Rt. 1-A corridor up to speed, at pre-casino traffic levels? Better yet, why are you (and the Senator) satisfied with such a measly offer? Don’t East Boston residents deserve more than just transportation Band-Aids?

 #3: “Suffolk Downs is required to have host community agreements […] to make sure that the needs of the host communities are appropriately addressed…Senator Petruccelli and I fought hard in the legislative process to ensure that the residents of East Boston, the people who would be most affected by the development, are the ones who get to decide.”

 The host community agreement actually would serve to try to deal with “mitigating” negative casino impacts on the East Boston neighborhood. The definition of mitigation: “To lessen in intensity, as wrath, grief, harshness, or pain.” So, the plan is to supply Eastie residents with additional grief and pain by way of a casino, and then try our best to offset it? Sounds like a wash. So, why go through all the trouble to begin with?

 And would the neighborhood of East Boston get 100% of the mitigation monies, for being, as you stated, “most affected by the development”? No, it won’t. A hefty chunk would flow to each and every other neighborhood in the City of Boston. Is that fair? And Mayor Menino just appointed a Host Community Advisory Committee of five individuals, only one of whom is a resident of East Boston. Did you and the Senator try to persuade him to appoint a Committee that was far more representative of, and fair to, East Boston?

 Finally, the Mayor’s chief gambling advisor Fr. Richard McGowan of B.C. called the neighborhood you represent, “no problem politically.” You certainly don’t agree with that statement, do you? Is that the real reason most elected officials – and the developers themselves -- want to keep the vote Eastie-only? People are beginning to talk…

John Dudley's comments were in response to this editorial:

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/east_boston/2012/05/opinion_a_resort_casino_will_b.html