Walsh seeks delay on casino decision

REPEAL THE CASINO DEAL

 

 

 

 

Walsh seeks delay on casino decision

Wants state panel to wait until after November elections

By Meghan E. Irons

| Globe staff June 27, 2014

Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff

Mayor Martin J. Walsh (left) said deciding on a casino plan before the elections could mean a waste of time and money.


Mayor Martin J. Walsh appealed Thursday to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to delay a decision on a Greater Boston casino license until voters have their say on gambling in November.
Following a Supreme Judicial Court ruling this week that allowed a referendum on casino gambling, Walsh said that delaying a license decision would prevent needless expenditure of time, money, and effort when the future of casinos is uncertain.

 

If the gambling commission “chooses to go forward with granting a license and the voters choose to repeal the law, all parties involved will risk losing significant time and millions of dollars for nothing,’’ said Walsh, who notified the panel of his request in a letter.

The commission received Walsh’s letter, but had not an opportunity to review it, a spokeswoman said.

Elaine Driscoll, the gambling commission’s spokeswoman, said the panel has been steadfast in trying to meet deadlines, but has been accommodating of schedule adjustments when appropriate.

“At this time, as the commission has previously stated and shown, we retain the ability to deal with the contingencies of the licensing process in a manner that serves the best interest of the public,’’ Driscoll said.

The gambling panel is preparing to award the Greater Boston resort casino license to either a Mohegan Sun casino proposal in Revere, near East Boston, or a Wynn Resorts proposal in Everett, near Charlestown.

 

But prospects grew murky Tuesday with the Supreme Judicial Court ruling.

The high court’s unanimous decision singled out Attorney General Martha Coakley, saying she made a mistake last year when she ruled that the repeal measure was unconstitutional. Coakley had said the repeal would illegally take the implied contract rights of casino developers without compensation.

Rejecting that argument, the court concluded that “the Legislature and, through initiative, the voters of Massachusetts may choose to abolish casino and slot parlor gambling and parimutuel wagering on simulcast greyhound racing, and doing so would not constitute a taking of property without compensation,” the court said in a lengthy decision written by Justice Ralph D. Gants.

The ruling signaled the start of a contentious referendum campaign over one of the most charged issues in a generation and put at peril the future of the billion-dollar industry in Massachusetts.

Walsh, who lost his bid to make Boston a host community for a casino near its borders, said he has formally requested that the commission defer its decision, which is expected in early September.

“We are facing an unprecedented situation in Massachusetts right now, particularly given the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision earlier this week,’’ Walsh said. “From day one, I have constantly advocated to have the voices of the people of East Boston and Charlestown be heard. The residents in those communities deserve the right to vote, and the Supreme Judicial Court granted them that right.”

Walsh’s letter to the commission comes one day after gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker declared on WGBH Radio that the commission should wait until after the November vote to award additional casino licenses.

Baker reiterated his call for a casino license freeze Thursday, saying he shares Walsh’s view.
“As I said [Wednesday], while I will be voting against repeal, I don’t think the awarding of any additional licenses during this time of uncertainty makes sense,’’ Baker said in a statement. “I continue to believe that the best way forward for gaming in Massachusetts is to start with a single casino and go from there.”

Walsh’s pitch was also welcome news for John Ribeiro, who directs the citizens-led repeal effort. Ribeiro lauded Walsh for seeing the “wisdom in slowing the Gaming Commission’s rush to the slots table.”

“The economy is growing, cranes are up in every skyline in Massachusetts, jobs are coming back,’’ said Ribeiro, chairman of the Repeal the Casino Deal coalition. “The people of Massachusetts know we can do better, and the people should be heard before any decisions are made.”

But Walsh drew swift criticism from casino supporters, including executives at Suffolk Downs, a thoroughbred racetrack in East Boston and Revere and the site of the proposed Mohegan Sun casino.

“We have made a significant investment over the last several years to preserve jobs and to create opportunities for new ones while operating at a substantial deficit,’’ said Bill Mulrow, chairman of the board at Suffolk Downs. “Additional delays in the Gaming Commission’s licensing decision will put our operation and our workforce at risk, and we urge the commission to stick to its announced timeline.”

Wynn Resorts executives strenuously objected to altering the selection schedule.

“We have diligently adhered to the current timeline laid out by the Gaming Commission,” a statement from the company said. “Any changes to that timeline would be unfair and burdensome to the applicants, the host communities, and to taxpayers.”

Mayor Daniel Rizzo of Revere also voiced concern over Walsh’s new push.

“Voters in Revere have come out twice in support of jobs, economic development, and new sources of revenue,’’ he said.

“We have complied with all laws as set forth in the legislation and have adhered to all rules of the commission. A timeline has been announced and they should stick with it.”


http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/06/26/mayor-martin-walsh-asks-gaming-commission-delay-decision-casino/hD4qAOn6weH1SXSz3lp2JN/story.html

 

Gambling panel needs assurances to award license

By Andrea Estes

| Globe staff May 03, 2014

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission said Friday it will not issue a gambling license to Steve Wynn until all three owners of the land in Everett where he wants to build a $1.6 billion casino sign sworn statements that no secret owners will profit from the sale.

Two of the three owners have signed the promise but one of them, reported by the Globe to be Anthony Gattineri, has not, a gambling commission lawyer told the panel.

 

 

The lawyer, Catherine Blue, told commissioners that Wynn Resorts officials are “working diligently to bring this to resolution” and said she is optimistic they will succeed.

Gattineri’s refusal to sign has raised concerns that a convicted felon with a long rap sheet named Charles A. Lightbody could still be involved in the land deal despite assurances from the landowners that he has pulled out. The gambling commission has said it will not permit a casino that benefits criminals financially.

The commission’s chief investigator, Karen Wells, said Friday that she is still concerned about “the cast of characters” involved in FBT Everett Realty, the holding company for Gattineri and his partners.

Wells, director of the commission’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau, said she has referred her findings about the land deal to the district attorney, the attorney general, and the US attorney’s office.
“It is obvious that the [commission investigators have] serious concerns, and we continue to be concerned,” she said.

 

Commissioner James F. McHugh, who presided over Friday’s meeting, said the panel regards obtaining the sworn statements as “a simple, straightforward matter” to reassure the public that the planned $35 million sale is legitimate.

“Our remedy is for a statement to be signed, and we expect that statement to be signed,” he said. “Obviously, it has to be signed before any license is awarded.”

Gattineri has refused to sign the statement on the advice of his lawyer, Brad Bailey, who has declined to comment.

Federal and state investigators have been working to determine whether anyone other than Gattineri, Paul Lohnes, and Dustin DeNunzio could directly or indirectly profit from the sale of the former industrial land to Wynn. The owners now receive $100,000 a month from Wynn Resorts.

Gambling commission investigators determined that FBT Everett Realty failed to disclose that Lightbody had an interest in the land. Investigators found that one FBT partner, DeNunzio, backdated documents to make it look as though Lightbody left the group before Wynn offered to buy the property in late 2012.

In addition, they found that Lightbody “took affirmative steps to conceal his role to avoid jeopardizing the sale.” Lightbody has served prison time for assault and was convicted in connection with a massive identity theft ring.

After Lightbody’s secret role was discovered by commission investigators last July, Wynn Resorts lowered its proposed purchase price from $75 million to $35 million in hope of making the sale less lucrative. The commission called for Lohnes, DeNunzio, and Gattineri to sign pledges that no other partners are involved.

Mayor Carlo DeMaria, who has said that he and Lightbody are longtime friends, devised a plan to eliminate the need for Gattineri’s sworn statement.

DeMaria has proposed having the city acquire the FBT parcel and seven other nearby properties as part of an urban renewal program and then resell them to Wynn. Everett’s City Council approved an urban renewal plan Monday by a 10-to-1 vote, the first step toward allowing the city to use eminent domain authority to buy the land for Wynn.

But Council President Michael Marchese, the only no vote, wrote to the gambling commission this week, calling the eminent domain plan an apparent effort “to circumvent the commission rules and regulations” and possibly “allow convicted felons to profit.”

Mayor Daniel Rizzo of Revere, whose city is competing with Everett to host the Boston area’s only casino, also wrote to the gambling commission urging the panel to address questions about the Everett land.

“The commission appears ready to rely on the signatures of individuals who [investigators] found unreliable, in lieu of conducting its own public fact finding to answer important questions that go to the integrity of the introduction of expanded gaming in Massachusetts,” Rizzo wrote.

He asked the commission to order the landowners “to appear in public and actually allow the public to understand in a transparent way what is going on,” said Rizzo, who is advocating for a Mohegan Sun casino in his city.

Commissioners did not debate the land ownership questions at Friday’s meeting.

McHugh said the commission would not address “hypotheticals,” an indirect reference to the urban renewal plan approved by Everett’s City Council.

“We are not . . . going to respond or otherwise deal with in a concrete fashion hypotheticals and plans that may be contingent,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense. We’ll deal with concrete issues.”


http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/05/02/gaming-commission-says-wynn-resorts-can-build-everett-casino-without-land-owner-promise/vleDYM9jQps1FHsxsotlXK/story.html

 

Bait & Switch: Subversion of the Democratic Process......yet again.....

The information below highlights why REPEAL THE CASINO DEAL is the only reasonable solution....

NoPlainvilleRacino

No Eastie Casino's new video to the gambling commission is incredible. PLEASE watch to see how far off course the process of licensing casinos is in Massachusetts:

Proof the Mohegan Sun Casino Proposal is Not What Revere Voters Approved on Nov. 5

Name Calling & Gambling Commission making their own rules

The Name Calling by the Mashpee Wampanoag/Genting Tribe deserves dishonorable mention again....

Name calling out of hand at Mashpee Wampanoag casino hearing in Taunton

How Baker-Polito stacks up - Commission delays ruling on Suffolk Downs - Ballot question would mandate nurse-patient ratios - Tiny cut in state income tax next year

Article | Politics, Etc. | December 4, 2013 - 9:00pm | By Mike Deehan, State House News Service

 

And this is only one of today's top stories.

• STICKS AND STONES: According to Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Vice Chairwoman Jessie "Little Doe" Baird, there were certain kinds of people at last night's Bureau of Indian Affairs hearing about the tribe's plan to build a casino in Taunton: tribal members and their allies - okay, fine - "NIMBYs" - as you would expect - "xenophobes" and "skinheads" - hey now! You can image that casino opponents weren't thrilled with the characterization and some casino opponents said they found Baird’s comments unfair.. - The Taunton Gazette.

CROSBY FLABBERGASTED: Mass. gaming commission delays ruling on Suffolk Downs plan. The new proposal makes Suffolk Downs the landlord and Mohegan Sun a tenant. Both will be operating, technically, as stand-alone entities. - Boston Business Journal.


http://www.capecodtoday.com/article/2013/12/04/23044-name-calling-out-hand-mashpee-wampanoag-casino-hearing-taunton


Dec 4, 2013, 6:06am EST

Mass. gaming commission delays ruling on Suffolk Downs plan

Garrett Quinn, MassLive.com

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has delayed for another week its ruling on whether a casino can open at the Suffolk Downs Racetrack in Revere, citing new and significant revisions to the proposal since it was first presented.

The commission was scheduled to make a decision yesterday on the project involving Suffolk Downs and Mohegan Sun.

The new proposal makes Suffolk Downs the landlord and Mohegan Sun a tenant. Both will be operating, technically, as stand-alone entities. The original proposal called for a joint project at the Suffolk Downs racetrack primarily in East Boston, not Revere.

Also, the original application for a gaming license on Suffolk Downs property was submitted by Suffolk Downs itself and not its casino partner at the time, Caesars Entertainment. This time Mohegan Sun is the sole applicant for a resort casino license.

"I am troubled by the dramatic change in the content of the agreement, from the agreement that was before the voters when they voted," said Commissioner John McHugh inside room 151 at the Boston Convention Center.

McHugh spoke highly of the proposed project in Revere but continued to express concern about allowing the process for awarding Suffolk Downs a gaming license to go forward at all.

Commissioner Gayle Cameron noted that the only one person from Revere contacted the commission in opposition to the project because of the post-vote change. She called this a sign of support, not opposition, to the proposed changes. Commission Chair Stephen Crosby agreed.

"I am flabbergasted that we haven't heard from anybody," said Crosby.

Opponents of the proposed project did not speak before the commission at Tuesday's hearing.

"There's nothing fair about this any way you cut it. Somebody is going to feel like the outcome isn't fair here," said Crosby.

The move of the project from the East Boston side of Suffolk Downs to the Revere side is not the only hurdle the casino faces. Mohegan Sun was vetted by the commission as a potential operator in Palmer not Revere. Supporters of the Palmer casino, in attendance today, were miffed by what they feel was a strategic maneuver by Mohegan Sun to block a casino from their region in order to protect their establishment nearby in Connecticut.

"They sold Palmer, the gaming commission, a bill of goods so they could be found suitable so they could actually come out to Boston where they want to be and bypass western Massachusetts," said Robert Young, spokesman for Palmer Businesses for a Palmer Casino.

Another hurdle Suffolk Downs is facing is the divide between the racing operation and the casino operation now that the two entities are split operationally as well as financially on paper. "Our commitment to racing remains. With Mohegan Sun as the applicant that doesn't change our commitment to racing. We've been working hard, we've invested millions and millions of dollars in racing over the last six years and if there is gaming development on the property we're going to continue to invest in racing," said Chip Tuttle, COO of Suffolk Downs.

Suffolk Downs and Mohegan Sun have only provided renderings of the proposed project in Revere. Mitchell Etess of Mohegan Sun said that more specific details like gaming space, hotel rooms, and more will be released in the coming weeks. "We're encouraged today by what happened and we're going to keep the pedal to metal and keep going," said Etess.

Revere Mayor Dan Rizzo echoed the optimism expressed by Etess and Tuttle. "I am very hopeful that the commission will rule to allow us to go forward and get into the phase 2 application process," said Rizzo.

Former Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly, acting as the outside counsel from Cooley Manion Jones for Suffolk Downs, said it is important the commission gets the ruling on the project right.

"It's important to you, it's important to us, and it's certainly important to the state," said Reilly.
Reilly was brought on to look at Mohegan Sun by Suffolk Downs in the days after the November election.

The date for the ruling on the Suffolk Downs casino project is not set but the committee is slated to meet on Dec. 12 at the Boston Convention Center.


http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/mass_roundup/2013/12/mass-gaming-commission-delays-ruling.html?utm_source=ML+13%2F12%2F04&utm_campaign=20131204ML&utm_medium=email&page=all

 

Soaking taxpayers for WEALTHY Investors

Ohio taxpayers will only be soaked for $80 MILLION while Massachusetts taxpayers
will be soaked for + $500 Million thanks to Boston Mayor Menino, Senator Petrucelli, Governor Slot Barns, Mayor Rizzo and other clowns elected officials justify taxpayer subsidies for Suffolk Downs/Caesars/Richard Fields.

$500 MILLION? Senator Anthony Petrucelli Porks Us With the BILL!

Casino ready, but not I-270

Enlarge Image

Tom Dodge | DISPATCH

The barrels are gone from the intersection of W. Broad Street and Georgesville Road as the Hollywood Casino opening is less than a week away. Penn National Gaming contributed $3.5 million to the road improvements, with more on the schedule.

By Robert Vitale

The Columbus DispatchTuesday October 2, 2012

Streets around the Hollywood Casino Columbus have been widened and repaved, but visitors will have to endure two more years of work on nearby I-270.

Reconstruction of the Outerbelt between Rts. 3/62 and Roberts Road is to continue through late 2014, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation. However, crews will move away from the Broad Street exit — the casinogoers’ most likely route — until opening crowds thin out.

“We have 7 miles to reconstruct,” said Nancy Burton, spokeswoman for the ODOT district that includes Franklin County. “It doesn’t have to be done at that location during that time.”
Casino spokesman Bob Tenenbaum said a Wednesday invitation-only opening will give the casino, law-enforcement agencies and ODOT a chance to gauge traffic before the public opening on Monday.

About 13,000 people have been invited, and casino general manager Ameet Patel has said he expects 20,000 people on Monday. After the initial buzz, Tenenbaum said, he expects about 10,000 visitors daily to the casino at W. Broad Street and Georgesville Road.

If traffic backs up on I-270, Burton said, ODOT is prepared to limit highway access at other on-ramps. That’s how the agency manages Rt. 315 traffic before Ohio State University football games.

ODOT also shut down ramps along I-71 to I-270 on the South Side when a recent $25 giveaway promotion at Scioto Downs caused backups of several miles.

The state began planning the $80 million reconstruction project on I-270 long before Penn National Gaming announced that it would open a casino on the site of a shuttered Franklin Township auto plant. Contractors are rebuilding all lanes and widening shoulders in both directions of I-270. Ramps also are being rebuilt at Georgesville Road, Broad Street and I-70.

Closer to the casino, crews have finished roadwork.

“A month ago, we probably had more orange barrels per capita than anywhere else,” said Chris Haydocy, the owner of Haydocy Buick GMC, which sits in front of the casino on W. Broad Street. “What that is, is a sign of progress.”

Franklin County wrapped up an $8.1 million project last week that added two turning lanes from Georgesville Road into the casino site. The county also added curbs, streetlights and sidewalks.
The deadline was a moving target tied to Penn National’s opening date for the casino, County Engineer Dean Ringle said. Work was completed almost two weeks early.

Franklin County also has finished improvements at W. Broad Street and Georgesville Road, adding a right-turn lane from eastbound Broad Street onto Georgesville Road.

Penn National contributed $3.5 million toward the county work. Burton said the casino owner also is paying for I-270 signs telling motorists to use the Broad Street exit to get to the site.Next year, the state plans to widen and make other improvements to W. Broad Street east of the I-270 exit. ODOT said yesterday that 22 property owners along the street have donated land to the state to accommodate the project.

Haydocy said he doesn’t think traffic will get too heavy on the West Side. Thousands of workers used to come and go daily from the Delphi Corp. plant where the casino now is located and from a White-Westinghouse factory north of Broad Street.

The casino will be open 24 hours a day, so traffic will be spread out, he said.

“Twenty years ago, we used to complain about traffic around Christmas at Westland Mall, then we had none,” Haydocy said. “It’s 180 degrees again. We won’t complain now.”

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/10/02/casino-ready-but-not-i-270.html

Mayor Rizzo ushers in Halloween early

An additional 20,000 cars on gridlocked roadways?

Where is Mayor Rizzo's head?

Mayor hopes to bring Revolution to Revere

Plans a stadium for Revolution

By Mark Arsenault

Globe Staff / October 1, 2012

 

REVERE — Mayor Dan Rizzo will try to acquire the Wonderland Greyhound Park property for the city in his casino negotiations with nearby Suffolk Downs, as the first piece of an ambitious plan to bring the New England Revolution professional soccer team to Revere.

“It’s a very important property to the future of the city of Revere,” said Rizzo, speaking of the shuttered dog racing track near Revere Beach. “It’s definitely something I’d like to see in play as we consider mitigation.”
 

Rizzo is negotiating mitigation payments with Suffolk Downs over plans to build a $1 billion gambling resort at the thoroughbred track, which straddles the city line between East Boston and Revere. As the mayor of one of the host cities, Rizzo has tremendous leverage under state law to demand compensation from Suffolk Downs for accepting casino gambling in the community.
 

The partnership that owns Suffolk Downs also controls Wonderland, a 34-acre parcel entirely in Revere and assessed at about $10.8 million, according to Suffolk Downs and city records.
 

Enter New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who also owns the Revolution Major League Soccer team. Kraft has been looking for several years for an urban location to build a new soccer-specific stadium, with the intention of moving the Revolution from cavernous Gillette Stadium in suburban Foxborough. Kraft explored building in Somerville as recently as 2010.

The team has been talking with Rizzo about building at Wonderland if the city gets control of the land. “We are in discussions with the City of Revere, which offers the proximity to urban centers and access to transit that we are seeking for a future Revolution stadium, but talks are preliminary at this stage,” said New England Revolution president Brian Bilello, in a statement to the Globe.
 

Revolution games in 2012 have drawn an average of 13,281 fans, who tend to get swallowed up in an NFL football stadium that seats nearly 70,000. Team officials believe they could draw 20,000 a game in an urban area. Revere fits the bill as a densely populated community close to Boston, with the added attraction of a large number of immigrants from soccer-crazed Latin America and Brazil.

The city “has to be right in the wheelhouse in terms of soccer fans,” said Rizzo. “I’d love to see a full-blown professional soccer team here.”

The negotiations between Revere and Suffolk Downs could be another test of the clout of local officials under the state’s 2011 casino law.
 

Municipal officials have become extraordinarily powerful figures in the early months of the development of the Massachusetts casino industry. In Holyoke, for instance, Mayor Alex Morse was elected on an anticasino platform and promptly persuaded Hard Rock International to give up plans for a gambling resort in the city. In Foxborough, the part-time Board of Selectmen stonewalled a casino proposal from Las Vegas billionaire Steve Wynn. When the May town election strengthened the anticasino tilt of the board, Wynn gave up.
 

In Springfield, Mayor Domenic Sarno took the opposite path, by inviting gambling companies to his city. Sarno will have as many as four proposals from which to choose, as wealthy casino operators eagerly tailor their projects to fit the city’s every whim, in their rush to win Sarno’s favor.
 

Suffolk Downs, the only applicant to date for the sole casino resort license in Greater Boston, cannot complete its application to the state gambling commission until it reaches a negotiated deal with Rizzo on compensation. It must reach a separate agreement with Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston.

State Senator Stanley Rosenberg, an Amherst Democrat and one of the architects of the casino law, said lawmakers gave cities and towns leverage over developers to ensure that the communities are made whole for any negative effects from casino developments or for any added drain on services.
 

The compensation can come in just about any form: cash payments, new equipment, services, or local preferences in hiring. “We wanted to provide that flexibility,” Rosenberg said.




Attack of the 50 foot Egos
 

Wonderland, a former dog racing and simulcast track, fell on hard times and closed in 2010, hurt by a state ban on live dog racing.

Suffolk Downs secured an option to buy Wonderland in 2008 and took title of the property last spring.

The owners are open to different options for redeveloping the parcel, said Chip Tuttle, chief operating officer for Suffolk Downs.

“We want to develop Wonderland in a manner that complements the ongoing revitalization of the Revere Beach area,” Tuttle said. “We don’t have specific plans for Wonderland yet.” He said the negotiations with Revere are in their early stages and that the city has not yet asked for the property.

“That concept hasn’t been broached,” he said.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2012/09/30/revere-sees-wonderland-site-for-major-league-soccer-stadium/idIejy2JuqjI0LZ4iQsvWN/story.html

Senator Patrucelli 'commissioned' an infrastructure report he doesn't remember, can't find or has hidden indicating the cost of infrastructure improvements would be + $500 MILLION - a cost Massachusetts taxpayers would fund --

“I want to look at the big picture–whether there is a casino or not–and see if its feasible to make some of the changes first suggested in the 2000 study,” said Petruccelli.

In his study, Vitagliano suggested widening Route 1A from Curtis Street in East Boston to Mahoney Circle in Revere. This would include property taking and cost $40 million; widen Revere Beach Parkway in Revere, Everett and Medford at a cost of $90 million; perform a Copeland Circle grade separation in Revere that would cost $75 million; perform a Mahoney Circle grade separation in Revere that would cost $30 million; perform a Brown Circle grade separation in Revere that would cost $25 million; install a Route 1A to Route 16 connector on Railroad Ave. in Revere at a cost of $45 million; construct a haul road in East Boston at a cost of $20 million; build a Route 1A-Chelsea Street Bridge connector in East Boston that would cost $40 million; perform a Route 1A/Boardman Street grade separation in East Boston that would cost $10 million; build a Route 1A-Route 16 interchange that would cost $15 million; perform a Revere Street grade separation in Revere that would cost $10 million; improve traffic signalization along the Route 1A corridor at a cost of $5 million; and finally mitigation for traffic impacts on the local communities would be $15 million.
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/10/senator-petrucelli-sticks-taxpayers.html

The report below was paid for by Governor Slot Barns with hard-earned taxpayers' dollars. Page 23 addresses the cost of infrastructure:
COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS: Projecting and Preparing for Potential Impact of Expanded Gaming on Commonwealth of Massachusetts