Truth to Vegas

It looks like things aren't all glitter in tinsle town.

MGM Mirage and Chief Executive Officer Terry Lanni told the gathering at the Nevada Development Authority's annual luncheon that,

Nevada's economy is in disarray because the tax structure,
which relies heavily on gaming and sales taxes, is broken.

http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2007/11/23/news/iq_18027972.txt

Flip that coin and we find the Adminstration has submitted legislation to allow casinos in Massachusetts to fix the problems created by inadequate tax and spending policies in the Commonwealth.

When I was a teenager my mother used to say to me, "you're a smart girl but you don't have any common sense." She considered common sense a highly desirable virtue. With gray hairs some of us do obtain a measure of common sense. It appears evident that the global and regional competition for casino build-out will reach market saturation. This is a hint that Massachusetts would be better to stay out of the game of implosion and explosion of an industry that is insatiable.

Revel casino in Atlantic City received approval this week to build a 2 Billion dollar enterprise on the Boardwalk as part of the recently launched concerted effort to pull-back the New England market to it's gambling roots in pristine, virtuous Atlantic City.

Giving Thanks

That we live in a society that still has a enough freedoms available to citizens to voice our opinions. Those freedoms are worth protecting with the mighty pen, and keystrokes.
Blessings to all, blog-on.

Palmer anti-casino standout

Several local anti-casino activists held signs and spoke with members of the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee as it met this evening at Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School in Palmer.

The response from many DSC members was positive with members from various communities throughout the Commonwealth including Stoughton, Framingham, Gloucester, Amherst and Wales expressing opposition to casinos in Massachusetts.

As people learn more about the negative impacts of casinos, concern is growing locally and statewide. The impact area is a 50 mile radius from a proposed casino site.

"NORC (National Opinion Research Center)found that the presence of a gambling facility within 50 miles roughly doubles the prevalence of problem and
pathological gamblers."

This leaves few communities that would not be negatively affected by the Adminstration's casino bill. For more information see, The National Gambling Impact Study Commission http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/ngisc/reports/fullrpt.html

Jobs, Unions and Casinos

A dear friend from Palmer mentioned that she and her husband have been reading this blog and they noticed that I had nothing positive written about casinos. An interesting observation, and one to which I feel compelled to respond. The Republican newspaper recorded my statements last week that the upside of casinos is certainly the construction jobs that are created when a large enterprise is built.

This is particularly true in Massachusetts where prevailing-wage union jobs are lucrative.

I was raised in a union family and thank God that my father had the security offered to him and his family that the Plumbers and Gasfitters Local 12 provided. The union has continued to be very good to him during the past 15 years while he has struggled with debiliatating health issues and I am eternally grateful.



Now, I have no idea what people like the casino investors get for a retirement gift, but the certificate above was a highlight for my father.

Going back a little deeper into my family roots with unions my grandfather Albert D. Huckins (ninth or tenth generation English immigrant, 1640) is seen in this picture taken in Medford, MA during the Division 6 Salem Street Station strike in 1912 of the Carmen's Union. He drove the "El" and is the handsome gent with the double breasted suit just under the flag.



Studying the question of gambling is not new to me. As a Health Educator and Counselor I have researched issues of gambling addiction and witnessed devastating consequences for families impacted by compulsive gambling. More recently studying the Administration's proposal and the acknowlegements that there will be increased domestic violence, child neglect, drunk driving and bankruptcies as well as serious questions about the projected revenues , no contingencies for market saturation and downturns, or local aid, I have come to the conclusion that I cannot stand with my union brothers and sisters in supporting expanded gambling in Massachusetts. It is not without regret, nor without sadness that I have reached that conclusion. So to answer my friends query, casinos are positive for the creation of temporary union construction jobs.

Recipe for Failure

Have you ever noticed that when you try to do too much, little gets done well? It's one of those persistent human condition things, that annoyingly leads to flaws and failure. When one's plate is too full, things get dropped and heartburn often follows.

The powerful contingent of four Republican senators in the state legislature has thrown another ingredient into the casino mix with a proposal to privatize the Lottery.

Things are looking pretty gooey.
From today's Globe:

"We shouldn't be running casinos, and we certainly shouldn't be running a
lottery," he went on. "It isn't a core mission of the government. The state
should be licensing and regulating the lottery like the governor has proposed
for the casinos." http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/10/22/group_pushes_to_privatize_lottery/

This presents a serious dilemma; one that surely is a core mission of government according to many loyal Red Sox fans and Treasurer Cahill...who will bring the trophy around when we win the World Series?

Voice on Casinos to Power

Wednesday evening's successful Monson Voice on Casino meeting highlighted the need to expand the group to a regional citizen's vs. a Monson centric committee, a recommendation with which I concur.

http://www.masslive.com/metroeast/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-9/119277842776170.xml&coll=1

Meanwhile, the Middleborough Selectmen who unveiled their agreement with the Wampanoag tribe four days before a town vote are balking at the Patrick Bill that cedes local control. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/10/18/questions_loom_over_casino_plan/

Bond agreed. "Right now, the agreement calls the tune, but with the commercial license, it would be the state calling the tune, so the state could impact what we get," Bond said.

Bond warned that the town could get far less if the deal with the Wampanoag is scrapped, and a casino is built as a commercially licensed establishment.

If it ain't good for the pro-casino guys one needn't wonder why the rest of us don't like it.

"DRAFTING ERROR"

"When Governor Deval Patrick unveiled his casino plan last month, he said three destination resort casinos would generate $100 million to help host communities and their neighbors ease traffic and fight crime, and to pay for public health programs like compulsive gambling treatment and prevention.

But when the bill appeared last week, the amount of money earmarked for community mitigation and public health programs was only a fraction of what the governor promised: $27 million."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/10/17/programs_face_gap_in_casino_payouts/


Even if the "DRAFTING ERROR" is corrected to a $50 million split between at least three sites, it would still be only a speck of what is needed.