Track casino is a horse
of a different color
To the editor:
Opponents of slots at Plainridge are certainly concerned about traffic ("Mall at Plainridge worse than slot parlor" Aug. 19). We're concerned about speeding and overcrowding on neighborhood roads not intended for a huge increase in cars. We will still have those concerns - and we will voice those concerns - when the next business opens at the Plainridge site.
But, we know that no other business will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, selling and giving away alcohol for 18 of those 24 hours, accounting for an inevitable increase in DUI injuries and fatalities.
However, Mr. Ferrario misses the other concerns we have: the loss of local discretionary funds to the out-of-state owners of Plainridge, impacting local families and businesses in Plainville and surrounding communities; we believe Mr. Trump when he says, "People will spend a tremendous amount of money in casinos, money that they would normally spend on buying a refrigerator or a new car. Local businesses will suffer because they lose customer dollars to the casinos."
We're concerned that the National Association of Realtors calls the impact of casinos on a town's property values "unambiguously negative."
We are extremely worried about the likely 44 percent increase in gambling addiction within 10 miles of the facility, increasing domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, embezzlement, theft, bankruptcies, financial disaster, and other social ills in our community. We know that the greatest profit in casinos comes from 4-10 percent of the people who lose their money there - those people are generally the "problem gamblers." And we will have 44 percent more of them in the first three years of operation of a racetrack casino.
We're worried about collateral damage to the area when payday loan stores, pawn shops,and other less-than-savory businesses move in, including prostitution and hot-bedding (when two, or even three people who work different shifts share the same bed at different times).
And our list of concerns goes on and on. Traffic? Sure, we're worried, especially those of us who live closest to the site. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. A mall we can live with. A racetrack casino is - if you'll pardon the expression - a horse of a different color.
Mary-Ann Greanier
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