Milford: Opponents working to remain organized

Casino-Free Milford

BOSTON GLOBE ARTICLE - TWO MONTHS POST REFERENDUM:

Casino-Free Milford is working to stay engaged in the community, focusing on local issues. Steve Trettel, Co-Chair of the group, knows that keeping people engaged is a challenge.

Per Trettel, “If we can convince people to stay involved, what a difference we could make.”

 

Tensions fading after casino vote

Opponents working to remain organized

By Ellen Ishkanian

| Globe Correspondent January 23, 2014

Nine weeks after Milford voters overwhelmingly told Foxwoods that the town would not welcome a proposed $1 billion casino, those on both sides of the issue say things appear to be back to normal after the election many feared would leave lasting scars.

Selectman Dino DeBartolomeis, who supported the casino, said he got a lot of angry e-mails, but once the votes were counted, and the results so overwhelmingly one-sided, the animosity subsided.

“On my street there were three families for the casino and three families against it,” he said. “During the recent snowstorm, everyone was out helping everyone. That’s the spirit of Milford.”

But just beneath that community spirit may be a new political reality.

 

It is a reality that Selectman Brian Buckley, the lone casino opponent on the three-member board, said he is ready to push an agenda that was not always heard in the past.

‘Two thirds of the community agreed with me. With that comes some political strength.’

“Two thirds of the community agreed with me,” he said. “With that comes some political strength.”

That strength, if it lasts, will come from the core group of people who banded together over the course of several years to fight the gaming project, he said. Casino-Free Milford, led by chairmen John Seaver and Steve Trettel, was made up of people from different political backgrounds, different neighborhoods across town, and various ethnic groups and professions, as well as lifelong residents and those newer to town.

Not only are they diverse, but they have contact information for a network of town residents who are feeling a newfound sense of power in having a voice in local government, members say.

“We all came together and put our personal political views aside to work for a common cause,” said Jose Costa, a former School Committee member. “We want to take that same thing, and try to work for the greater good of the town.”

The core group of about a dozen people is still meeting, with one of its first priorities getting Buckley reelected. He is the first of the three selectmen to come up for reelection since the casino vote, and as of a recent check was running unopposed with no rumblings of anyone interested in challenging him.

Nomination papers for this spring’s annual election must be filed with the town clerk by Feb. 11.

But that’s not the group’s only goal. While members shy away from talking about backing specific candidates in the future, or drafting candidates to oppose DeBartolomeis or Selectman Brian Murray if they decide to run for reelection when their terms expire, they are clear that their aim is to have their considerable clout felt in local affairs.

Armed with lists of like-minded voters and hundreds of volunteers who proved willing to knock on doors, make phone calls, hold signs, and donate money and expertise to a cause they believe in, the group is setting its sights on improving downtown and improving traffic through town.

“This town came to the conclusion that this was not a good thing,’’ Buckley said of the casino. “We decided what we don’t want to be, now we have to decide what we want to be.”

At a recent Board of Selectmen’s meeting, casino opponent Peter Scandone talked about ideas for improving the appearance of Main Street, and suggested that attractive signs, beautifying traffic islands, and better enforcement to keep bicycles off sidewalks could be easy first steps toward revitalizing the area.

Buckley is also setting his sights on the town’s Industrial Development Commission, which he said he has not seen anything of substance from “in a very long time.”

DeBartolomeis and Murray voiced support for coming up with a plan to make Main Street more vital, attractive, and commercially viable, but also pointed out that this is not a new conversation, and that much has already been done.

“We’ve already spent probably $15 million from various grants to improve things,” DeBartolomeis said. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t listen to people who have good ideas.”

DeBartolomeis, who is in his 32nd year on the Board of Selectmen, was an early and steady supporter of the casino. He said the November vote surprised him only in the magnitude of the opposition.

He said he has not decided whether he will run for another term next year, but his support of the casino will not weigh into his decision.

“I’ll do what I always do, I’ll sit down with my family and close friends and make a decision,” he said.

He also has no regrets about his casino votes.

“I thought it was a good opportunity for the town,” he said. “But whether you agree or disagree, it was a good thing for the town to let the people vote.”

Murray, who also supported the casino, agreed that the right course was putting the decision in the hands of town voters.

“I really do remain convinced it was the right thing to do,” he said. “It put the issue to rest.”
Murray and DeBartolomeis say the community involvement brought out by the casino vote is a good thing for the town, but as veterans of local government they question whether the momentum can continue with more mundane matters.

“The casino was lightning-in-a-bottle type stuff,” Murray said.

The test, he said, will be whether the anticasino group can find people willing to put in the work, week after week, to keep local government working well.

“An election cycle is a light year,” he said. “There are so many factors in an election, we’ll have to see what the next year brings.”

Casino-Free Milford official Trettel agrees that keeping people engaged is the challenge.

“If we can convince people to stay involved, what a difference we could make,” he said.

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