We have been working almost around the clock
to process what we know about Caesars Entertainment's exit from the Suffolk
Downs casino application. While dozens of amazing, smiling volunteers fanned out
across the neighborhood this morning to knock on doors and engage neighbors, our
policy and communications teams were hard at work analyzing what this stunning
news means for our campaign moving forward. Below, you'll find the press release
we sent to the media, which contains a number of our top takeaways from last
night's turn of events. Please make no mistake: our campaign is pushing full-steam ahead with
its get-out-the-vote efforts, as we have every reason to believe a vote will
still take place on Nov. 5.
In this vein, we invite you to join us
TOMORROW as we partner with the faith community and the Friends of East Boston
for a neighborhood-wide Day of Unity and Action. We will join
our friends from Friends of East Boston outside the Most Holy Redeemer Catholic
Church (72 Maverick St.) at 1 p.m. From there, groups will spread out
into the neighborhood to hand out materials door to door.
We're also pleased to announce an event this
coming Thursday designed specifically with our undecided neighbors in mind.
In this forum, experts and community
residents will have an opportunity to share their perspectives on ways a casino
at Suffolk Downs will impact traffic, our local economy (jobs and small
businesses), health, and community. Special guests will include former
Congressman Bob Steele (CT) who will be reflecting on casinos' impact in his
home state, as well as former Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation James
Aloisi speaking about traffic impacts and Suffolk Downs' transportation plan.
Here are the details:
"A Community
Dialogue: What Does a Neighborhood Casino Mean for You?"
Thursday,
October 24, 6-8 p.m.
Sacred Heart Church,
303 Paris Street
(refreshments and Spanish translation will be
provided)
Let's take the
excitement from the last 24 hours and allow it to light a fire under us to
finish the job and defeat this casino at the polls on Nov. 5!
Thank you all for your support,
and we look forward to seeing you tomorrow.
Best,
- Your No Eastie Casino
leadership team
Here's what we
sent to the press today:
Caesars' Exit from Casino Application Reflects
Suffolk Downs' Poor Judgment and a Faulty
Process
EAST BOSTON, MA -
Oct. 19, 2013 - For more than a year, No Eastie Casino has pushed
the City of Boston and Suffolk Downs to share more information about Suffolk
Downs' proposed Caesars Entertainment Resort. After ignoring repeated calls for
greater transparency and concerns about Caesars' solvency raised by East Boston
residents, on Friday Suffolk Downs dropped the operations partner
it chose in 2011 to run a casino in East Boston, Caesars Entertainment, only
after state investigators informed them that Suffolk Downs likely would not pass
the background check if Caesars stayed on.
The Boston Globe reported that a
number of concerns were brought to Suffolk Downs' attention, including Caesars'
alleged business ties to organized crime.
But East Boston casino
opponents say the stunning news late Friday demonstrates that
residents cannot trust Suffolk Downs when it comes to whom they choose to bring
into the neighborhood, said
No Eastie Casino
co-chair Celeste Myers.
"As recently as two months
ago, Suffolk Downs owner Joe O'Donnell stated that Caesars was '
as professional as they come,'" Myers said, pointing out
Suffolk Downs' frequent assertion that it shares Caesars' values. "Clearly, they
did not do due diligence in vetting Caesars - a company with which they have had
a relationship since 2011 - and only ended the relationship when forced to do
so."
She added that Suffolk
Downs has now picked two corporations, Caesars and Vornado Realty Trust, that
have been unable or unwilling to pass background checks. In March, Vornado put
its 19 percent stake in the casino plan into a blind trust after the majority of
its executive team
refused the state's mandatory background
checks. To our knowledge, Vornado has not divested completely from the
casino partnership and voters remain in the dark about who will pick up its
nearly one-fifth share in the project.
Caesars' sudden departure
also raises serious questions about the value of the City's and Suffolk Downs'
host community agreement and shows that the promises in the mitigation agreement
were made to be broken. Many key elements of the mitigation agreement-including
key components of the jobs and small business plans-were tied to Caesars'
employee practices and Total Rewards programs. (
Download our 16-page mitigation analysis
here)
No Eastie Casino leaders
on Saturday formally called on Suffolk Downs to withdraw its casino
application, in light of the information that emerged late Friday,
and to share full details about their casino plans - including what they knew
about Caesars and when they knew it - with the community at large.
"Now, more than ever, our
neighbors and voters are seeing the glaring problems in the Suffolk Downs casino
plans and the flaws in transparency that have plagued this fight from the
start," Myers said. "We hope Suffolk Downs and the City of Boston do the right
thing and withdraw their support of this project. Until they do, our campaign
will continue to reach out to and educate voters until we are victorious on
Nov. 5."
* * * * *
We've got the casino on the run! Would you consider making a
donation to help us defeat it once and for all at the polls on Nov. 5? Thank
you!
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