Former local tribal planners advising Mass. town
By Brian HallenbeckPublication: The Day
Published 05/15/2013
Robert Birmingham witnessed Foxwoods Resort Casino's growth from a ringside seat as the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe's top planner until 2010.
Now, he's putting that experience to use in a consulting role, teaming with another former tribal planner, David Schweid, to help the town of Raynham, Mass., evaluate developers' plans to turn a former dog track into a slots parlor.
Birmingham began consulting for the Mashantuckets in the late 1980s when he was Stonington's town planner. At the end of his nearly 20-year career with the tribe, he was director of community development and property management. Schweid worked eight years as an assistant planner for the tribe in the 1990s and is the part-time planner in Exeter, R.I.
"We think we know some things," Birmingham said.
The consultants' backgrounds were key factors in the town's decision to hire them, according to Joseph Pacheco, chairman of the Raynham Board of Selectmen.
Birmingham and Schweid made a presentation in Raynham last month and expect to finish their report on the slots parlor proposal next week. Birmingham said they've been studying how the project, which calls for 1,250 slot machines and major renovations, would affect traffic, roads, police and fire protection and water and sewer service.
"We're looking at the marketplace, too," he said, "How much slot revenue can they expect, what the experience has been in Rhode Island and at the Indian casinos (in Connecticut)."
B&S Consulting's work will help frame a "host community agreement" the developers must reach with the town's Board of Selectmen. The plan would then have to be approved by residents in a referendum.
Proposed by the property's owner, George Carney, and Greenwood Racing, which owns Parx Casino in Bensalem, Pa., the Raynham Park plan is one of up to four vying for the single slots license the Massachusetts Gaming Commission expects to award by the end of the year. Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville is seeking the license, and projects have been proposed in Worcester and Boxborough, too.
"The Raynham plan is as good as anyone's," said Clyde Barrow, a gaming expert and director of the Center for Policy Analysis at UMass Dartmouth. "All of them are good locations for intercepting traffic to Rhode Island and Connecticut, though I think the commission's aiming primarily at Twin River (in Rhode Island) ... I don't see the slots parlor having a major impact on Foxwoods; it's really aimed at the convenience gambler."
Birmingham said he believes the Raynham Park proposal has broad public support in the town where the facility offered live greyhound racing for decades until the state banned the practice several years ago. Since then, it's continued to offer wagering on simulcast racing.
Would Ledyard residents have approved Foxwoods if a referendum been required at the time?
"That's an interesting question," Birmingham said. "If you think back to what was going on (when Foxwoods was built), with the cutbacks in defense spending, the casino was a savior. Over time, it's proved to be an economic engine ... Now that things are declining - the business is not so lucrative, there are layoffs at the casinos - not everybody likes it so much.”
As for Foxwoods' impact, he said, "It's totally a mixed bag."
http://www.theday.com/article/20130515/BIZ02/305159967/1044
Now, he's putting that experience to use in a consulting role, teaming with another former tribal planner, David Schweid, to help the town of Raynham, Mass., evaluate developers' plans to turn a former dog track into a slots parlor.
Birmingham began consulting for the Mashantuckets in the late 1980s when he was Stonington's town planner. At the end of his nearly 20-year career with the tribe, he was director of community development and property management. Schweid worked eight years as an assistant planner for the tribe in the 1990s and is the part-time planner in Exeter, R.I.
"We think we know some things," Birmingham said.
The consultants' backgrounds were key factors in the town's decision to hire them, according to Joseph Pacheco, chairman of the Raynham Board of Selectmen.
Birmingham and Schweid made a presentation in Raynham last month and expect to finish their report on the slots parlor proposal next week. Birmingham said they've been studying how the project, which calls for 1,250 slot machines and major renovations, would affect traffic, roads, police and fire protection and water and sewer service.
"We're looking at the marketplace, too," he said, "How much slot revenue can they expect, what the experience has been in Rhode Island and at the Indian casinos (in Connecticut)."
B&S Consulting's work will help frame a "host community agreement" the developers must reach with the town's Board of Selectmen. The plan would then have to be approved by residents in a referendum.
Proposed by the property's owner, George Carney, and Greenwood Racing, which owns Parx Casino in Bensalem, Pa., the Raynham Park plan is one of up to four vying for the single slots license the Massachusetts Gaming Commission expects to award by the end of the year. Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville is seeking the license, and projects have been proposed in Worcester and Boxborough, too.
"The Raynham plan is as good as anyone's," said Clyde Barrow, a gaming expert and director of the Center for Policy Analysis at UMass Dartmouth. "All of them are good locations for intercepting traffic to Rhode Island and Connecticut, though I think the commission's aiming primarily at Twin River (in Rhode Island) ... I don't see the slots parlor having a major impact on Foxwoods; it's really aimed at the convenience gambler."
Birmingham said he believes the Raynham Park proposal has broad public support in the town where the facility offered live greyhound racing for decades until the state banned the practice several years ago. Since then, it's continued to offer wagering on simulcast racing.
Would Ledyard residents have approved Foxwoods if a referendum been required at the time?
"That's an interesting question," Birmingham said. "If you think back to what was going on (when Foxwoods was built), with the cutbacks in defense spending, the casino was a savior. Over time, it's proved to be an economic engine ... Now that things are declining - the business is not so lucrative, there are layoffs at the casinos - not everybody likes it so much.”
As for Foxwoods' impact, he said, "It's totally a mixed bag."
http://www.theday.com/article/20130515/BIZ02/305159967/1044
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