“I am so angry, like Glenn Beck would say, the blood is shooting out of my eyes,” said Selectman Andrea Soucy, who can see no rhyme or reason to deny slot machines to the racetracks.
Andrea Soucy displayed her ignorance in the statement above almost 2 years ago.
In the intervening 2 years, it seems that no town official, including Ms. Soucy, has conducted any due diligence, no research, no exploration of the industry, studies, NOTHING!
They were suddenly frazzled, sputtering and confused about conducting their own cost analysis.
Horse racing is a DEAD industry. That can't be amended with window dressing or slot machines.
No one goes!
Has anyone read these? :
Massachusetts: 53 horses dead, 14 drug positive
Animal Cruelty
Racing Commission's 2010 report does not include deaths of horses:
http://www.mass.gov/ocabr/docs/src/annual-report2010.pdf
Town officials livid over stalled casino bill, worried about track
Country Gazette
Posted Aug 12, 2010
PLAINVILLE —
When it looked like the state Legislature might pass a casino bill that included slot machines at the state’s racetracks, the management at Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville took a gamble.
“We started out with site work and some architectural plans (to expand),” said racecourse General Manager Steve O’Toole, noting the Rte. 1 business wanted to “be ready to jump on this thing, because everything looked so promising.”
But after Gov. Deval Patrick last week refused to budge on the issue of slot machines, and the casino bill stalled, the track has been forced to lay-off 54 of its full- and part-time employees, and has cancelled 103 subcontracts.
“We’ve never made layoffs here, and we probably should have because our handle has gone down 23 percent,” said O’Toole. “But we really didn’t want to hurt our workforce and wanted to keep them employed as long as we could.”
Last week the stakes were raised on the track’s game of survival, O’Toole said, and the only chips management had to throw down were the lay-offs and contract cancellations.
“We took the necessary steps to make it to the end of our live season,” he said.
The season finishes in early December. O’Toole said the business does plan to apply for racing dates for next year, “but we will actually make a decision about what we’re going to do next year depending on the political landscape.”
The situation has left local officials seeing red, and a little worried about the future of a significant revenue source for the town. About $500,000 in tax revenue and host community funds from the track goes into the town’s coffers every year.
“I am so angry, like Glenn Beck would say, the blood is shooting out of my eyes,” said Selectman Andrea Soucy, who can see no rhyme or reason to deny slot machines to the racetracks.
The way she and fellow selectmen see it, allowing slot machines would keep the businesses competitive and maintain existing jobs.
“I’m disappointed at the governor’s decision not to sign the casino bill,” said Board of Selectmen Chairman Robert Fennessy. “It would have meant jobs for people in the Commonwealth, especially in areas where the slots would go, such as Plainville.”
Selectman Rob Rose said town officials “are concerned about Plainridge on numerous levels.” He is certain that, some day, casino gambling will become a reality in Massachusetts, as the debate has been recurring for more than eight years now. But whether or not provisions will be made for the racetracks is another question.
“The issue will be back in January and if it doesn’t become a reality in that session it will emerge again and again until some form of gambling is enacted,” Rose predicted. “Of course, Plainridge may not be (in business) when that occurs.”
He pointed out that, beyond the revenue, “people don’t realize that they are very community oriented and provide a lot of support to town organizations.”
Losing the revenue would be a significant blow to the town, Soucy said, noting that, as it is, Plainville operates on a “knife thin edge.”
“I don’t know where the cuts would come from (if the town lost the track revenue),” she said. “There is no fat in our budget. We are amputating limbs at this point. And they don’t give a damn in Boston. They really don’t care. Patrick has never even been down here to see Plainridge and see what it’s about.”
“We’ve made major cuts over the last several years and this (the slot machine provision) was the hope that an influx of both property taxes on the facility, as well as host community fees, would help the town and the area to rebound from the recession that we’re in,” Fennessy added.
Meanwhile, Soucy said, she is livid about the loss of jobs that have already resulted from Patrick’s refusal to sign the casino bill because he doesn’t agree with the slot provisions.
“There are 54 jobs, and those are all local people. Plainville, North Attleboro, Wrentham, Foxborough. And there are 103 companies that the track does business with, for grain, for feed, for hay and machinery and everything … they’ve had to contact them and tell them for the immediate future they can’t keep their contracts,” Soucy said.
She called the lay-offs, which were announced last week, “a heartbreaker.”
“I know these people. One of the girls who was working up there for a while, it was her third job. She was just trying to make ends meet,” Soucy said. “Now you can’t tell me she’s lazy, because she’s working three jobs and she’s still not making it in Massachusetts. These aren’t people who are looking for a handout. They’re just trying to make it.”
And town officials, she said, “have done everything. We have sent letters, we have gone to Boston, we have lobbied, everything we could possibly do.”
While racecourse executives are also anxious, O’Toole said they are not preparing to color in their bets just yet.
“We do remain hopeful maybe something could get worked out,” he said. “Maybe we’re still in the game. We don’t think we’re dead just yet … but it’s not the brightest it’s looked.”
Read more: Town officials livid over stalled casino bill, worried about track - Plainville, MA - Wicked Local Plainville http://www.wickedlocal.com/plainville/news/x905707661/Town-officials-livid-over-stalled-casino-bill-worried-about-track#ixzz1tziHjQqs
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