To our friends and
neighbors:
Thank you for your persistence in fighting
back as the Mass Gaming Commission seeks to silence our voices and move ahead
with an illegitimate process. As you may know, Mayor Marty Walsh asked the gaming commission for one month to allow
his legal team to review the lengthy host community agreement to determine if
Boston is a host community (as, in the case of the proposed Revere casino, we
believe research will prove it is) or a surrounding community (as Mohegan Sun
argues).
The
Gaming Commission -- which granted the extension to Suffolk Downs to allow them
to rework this proposal and have a new vote -- denied Mayor Walsh's request. They gave him until
Monday to agree to begin negotiations as a surrounding community. THIS IS
UNACCEPTABLE!
Mayor Walsh and his legal team have taken the
right approach to date. The decision and statement they make today, Monday, is a
critical one. We must ask them to speak out against the unfair ruling of the
Mass Gaming Commission--and to put the Commission on notice that the city of
Boston will not tolerate this. Mayor Walsh is our new mayor; he promised in his
inaugural address to listen to the people of Boston and to have open and
transparent government. We applaud this commitment. He must listen to the people
of East Boston and do everything in his power to ensure the vote we took is
respected.
Message to share
immediately:
Targeted Tweet: @marty_walsh; Please meet with
@noeastiecasino this week! Here from Eastie people.
#RevereCasinoIsIllegal
Targeted Tweet:
@SalLaMattina; #EastBostonIsHostCommunity. Boston must
#SayItPublicly now! #RevereCasinoIsIllegal
Important, but lower
priority
Generic Tweet: [Insert
Elected Handle] Stand with Eastie, uphold the law, respect democracy #RevereCasinoIsIlleg al #SayItPublicly
Whenever they fit, use
#macasinos or #bospoli as tags in your tweets to officials so they are seen by
more people!
We need emails and
phone calls too.
Top priority
Mayor Marty
Walsh
617-635-4500
Lower
priority
State Senator Anthony
Petruccelli
617-722-1634
(scroll down for a
suggested phone call/email script)
Contact info for
other Boston Elected Officials:
Mayor-Elect Marty
Walsh
1st Suffolk & Middlesex
District State Senator Anthony Petruccelli
1st Suffolk District State
Representative Carlo Basile
City Council At
Large
Michelle Wu
617.635.3115
Ayanna Pressley
617.635.4217
Michael Flaherty
617.635.4205
617.635.4376
District
Councilors
D1 Sal LaMattina
D2 Bill Linehan
D3 Frank Baker
D4 Charles
Yancey
D5 Tim McCarthy
D6 Matt O'Malley
D7 Tito Jackson
D8 Josh Zakim
D9 Mark Ciommo
If you are calling or
emailing, please use or adapt this open letter:
Subject line: Revere Casino is Illegal; East Boston is a
Host Community
Dear Mayor
Walsh:
I am contacting you on
behalf of the people of East Boston--and Boston more broadly.
We stand with you in
opposition to the Mass Gaming Commission's arbitrary deadline of today for
Boston to begin negotiating surrounding community agreements. The Gaming
Commission has repeatedly bent and broken rules for casino applicants--most
notably with allowing this last minute Mohegan Sun application to move forward
despite there not having been an affirmative vote for it before the deadline.
Certainly, the Gaming Commission should also recognize the rights of the people
in affected communities to make informed decisions--and should recognize that
more time is needed for a new administration to make an informed decision after
a last minute applicant files a messy application with many pieces not publicly
available.
For example, Mohegan Sun's
application acknowledges that 80% of casino traffic will come from 1A, but tries
to argue that the current main entrance in East Boston will only be used by
"existing users" and that access from East Boston will "not be signed or
encouraged for use to access the site." If the application is to be believed,
Furlong Drive (the current entrance to a major shopping center in Revere) will
be expanded to accommodate incoming 1A traffic. Given the 12,000+ new vehicles
that the casino is expected to attract every day, it is beyond belief that
visitors would not continue to rely upon the main entrance in East Boston.
Regardless, it is reasonable to believe that Boston will remain a host community
so long as any casino-related traffic enters the casino property via East
Boston.
The Expanded Gaming Act
required affirmative votes in both host communities (East Boston and Revere) for
any casino development at Suffolk Downs. Given the significant known impacts
that this development will continue to impose upon the city of Boston, there is
truly no such thing as a "Revere-only" plan for any construction at Suffolk
Downs. The current situation--in which one community strongly favors
construction on a shared parcel of land while the other opposes it--is exactly
the result that this legal provision was designed to avoid.
Please continue to stand up
and continue the city of Boston's fight for full recognition as a host
community. Do not stop there. If we are recognized as a host community, we ask
you to please recognize the vote of the people of East Boston and refuse to
negotiate. That would stop this proposal in its tracks. If Boston is not
recognized as a host community, we ask you to hire outside counsel to support
the great work of the city's internal counsel and fight against this illegal
Mohegan Sun proposal--on the many grounds by which it is illegal--and to stop
the proposal in its tracks.
We voted for a safer
community, a better community for families and small businesses, a community
with better jobs. We applaud your inaugural pledge to fight to reduce violence
in Boston and your public statements about personally fighting against addiction
and winning. Given that there is a direct research-proven link between casinos
and gun violence, and that problem gaming doubles within 15 miles of a casino,
we know that your goals will best be advanced by your standing with the people
of East Boston and pledging to keep Boston casino-free.
We commend your pledge to
listen and to have a transparent city government. The people of East Boston have
spoken. Please meet with No Eastie Casino this week and hear more about our
arguments. Please stand with us and fight against the illegal, unethical
approach Mohegan Sun and Suffolk Downs are taking and announce publicly today
how you will continue to fight on our behalf. Thank you for your
support!
Sincerely,
INSERT NAME
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