Barnstable's Lynch to developers: Forget about local casino
BARNSTABLE — If the Massachusetts Gaming Commission eventually opens Southeastern Massachusetts up to commercial casino bids, Barnstable Town Manager Thomas Lynch has a message: not here.
In a letter to the commission Tuesday, Lynch said he has "grave concerns" about the potential impact that a casino would have on Barnstable.
The Cape and Islands are included in Region C in the state legislation that authorizes three casinos and one slot parlor in the Bay State, but no one has publicly proposed locating one of the gambling halls on the Cape. "The impacts inherent with the large-scale development contemplated for gaming in Region C cannot be supported in Barnstable — not by our environment, not by our infrastructure and not by our economy," Lynch wrote.
In a phone interview Wednesday, Lynch said he's not concerned about the tribe seeking to build on the Cape. He is worried that a commercial developer could find the Cape desirable, he said.
"If it's going to be open up to other bidders and someone starts looking from afar at Cape Cod, we wanted to say for our type of environment, infrastructure and economy, we would rather not see it in Barnstable," Lynch said.
A developer might see Barnstable and particularly Hyannis as being attractive because there is a regional transportation system and an available workforce, he said.
"Barnstable being the largest town, it often gets targeted," he said.
Lynch sent the letter on his own and expects to fill in Barnstable Town Council at tonight's meeting, he said.
In a statement Wednesday, the tribe reiterated that its focus is across the bridges and not on Cape Cod where leaders have promised not to build.
"Our plan for a destination resort casino is in the City of Taunton, which has been a great partner in our efforts," tribal council Chairman Cedric Cromwell said in a statement.
The tribe is seeking to build a $500 million Indian casino in Taunton that still faces significant hurdles. On Tuesday, the gaming commission agreed to give the Wampanoag three months to make progress on a compact with Gov. Deval Patrick. In March, the commission will reevaluate whether to open up the region to commercial bidders.
Clyde Barrow, a casino expert at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, Center for Policy Analysis, said Lynch and others on Cape Cod need not worry about a casino developer looking at the Cape.
The narrow roads can't handle the 12,000 to 20,000 car trips per day and the Cape Cod Commission remains a major deterrent for potential developers, he said. Class III gaming, which includes slot machines and Las Vegas-style table games, is prohibited on the Cape under the commission's regional policy plan because of the "stresses it places on the region's environment, transportation infrastructure, and economy."
Meanwhile, polls done by UMass consistently show that the majority of Cape Codders do not favor casinos, which makes getting a positive vote by the host community unlikely, he said.
"It's a bad location, the access is horrible," Barrow said of the Cape. "If you're a developer, you're going to walk away from that in a couple of minutes."
Test of letter: http://www.capecodonline.com/static/pdf/lynchcasino.pdf
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