Alex, I am your faaah-thaa...
Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse: 'It's possible' no city casino proposal will meet criteria
By
on December 11, 2012
HOLYOKE — The process to consider casino proposals Mayor Alex B. Morse has laid out calls for developers to present casino proposals here Dec. 20 or 21, but it was unclear late Monday whether the process will last that long.
Morse didn't appoint an advisory committee, to which developers are supposed to present their casino proposals, as planned on Monday. With 21 people having submitted letters of interest by Friday to be on the panel, Morse said, he instead will need until late this week to decide on 12 to 14 people for the committee.
In discussing the Dec. 20 or 21 deadline, Morse also said that there might not be a casino proposal that meets the standards he has stipulated. A 14-point set of city-level criteria was outlined in a Nov. 28 letter to potential casino developers.
The decision could be not to go forward with a gaming resort plan and not seek the one Western Massachusetts casino license that the state Gaming Commission will issue, he said.
"It's possible," Morse said.
Morse made similar remarks about the possibility that no casino plan will go forward here at a Nov. 26 press conference on his change of heart on the casino process.
Asked Monday if he would be continuing with the casino evaluation process at all, Morse wrote in an email, "I haven't made any decisions at this time."
"On the 26th (of November), I announced that I was considering this issue, and that is what I am doing," Morse wrote.
Morse has sustained a torrent of criticism for his Nov. 26 announcement that he had changed course and would consider casino plans. Supporters who said they voted for him in November 2011 specifically because he wouldn't approve of a casino, particularly in Ward 7, were angry. They jeered Morse at a press conference and in later MassLive.com reader comments and letters to the editor with cries he betrayed and lied to them.
Morse said changing from not wanting to consider casino proposals to welcoming them was an acceptance of reality. A major impact on the city from a casino is inevitable, with two casino proposals in Springfield and one in Palmer being considered. That means it makes sense for Holyoke to have an active say in the process, he said.
"At the moment we are vetting the candidates who expressed interest in being on my community committee," Morse wrote in an email. "I will keep you posted on the process and our decisions, but at the moment we are still considering all options."
Marcos A. Marrero, director of the city Office of Planning and Economic Development, is still compiling findings from a trip Morse, Marrero and other officials took to Bethlehem, Pa., to see the impact of a casino on that area, Morse said.
Also, Marrero met last week with groups proposing casinos here, he said.
"We are still deliberating the facts," Morse said.
Paper City Development, a limited liability company, has proposed a casino at Wyckoff Country Club, which is along Interstate 91 and on the Mount Tom Range.
Also on the Mount Tom Range, entertainment venue owner Eric Suher wants to put a gaming resort at Mountain Park, which he owns.
Wyckoff and Mountain Park are in Ward 7, and the possibility of a casino opening on the mountain has prompted backlash against Morse from casino foes.
Morse made clear at the Nov. 26 press conference that he would prefer that a casino not be an issue that must be addressed.
"My views on casinos have not changed and neither has my belief that the casino is unequivocally not our saving grace," he said then.
Also, he said, if developers fail to meet his criteria for a casino resort, "no deal will be signed."
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/12/holyoke_mayor_alex_morses_casi.html
Criteria here:
Holyoke casino documents: Deadline looms for prospective developers to deliver $25,000 'grant' to city; Mayor Alex Morse calls for 'Community Committee'
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