I’ve spent my professional career developing and analyzing budgets, policies
and legislation and much prefer to have something (factual information)
I can wrap my hands around and digest … to be "looking under the hood” like
Ross Perot (I never thought I’d quote him).
What we do know is that a scant week after the Town Board unanimously adopted "65-2014
A Resolution In Support of Proposals for Casino Sites within the Town of East
Greenbush":
·
An applicant, Saratoga Casino and Raceway, has
stepped forward with a plan (which can be seen at http://www.saratogian.com/general-news/20140422/details-of-racinos-east-greenbush-gaming-proposal-released);
·
Numerous articles have appeared in the local newspapers
and segments in broadcast news;
·
Residents appear to be up in arms at the prospect
of a casino in East Greenbush ... residents have expressed concerns that include, at the very least, lack of transparency, openness and information, infrastructure needs (roadways, sewer, water), traffic, quality of life, neighborhood degradation, policing, crime, property values, etc.; and
·
A Casino Protest Rally has been announced for 6:00PM on May 21, 2014 (http://eastgreenbushgadfly.blogspot.com/).
Still, the unfortunate fact is that we residents know
precious little about Saratoga Casino and Raceway’s proposal other than the above referenced plan.
Are residents more upset over the prospect of a
casino in East Greenbush or the process that has kept us completely in the dark?
It's said that "information is power" but we are not powerless for the lack of information!
Should the Supervisor/Majority/Town Board have handled this differently?
Absolutely!
The Town Board should immediately schedule and hold a Special Meeting where representatives of Saratoga Casino and Raceway present its proposal! Such Informational Meetings should be held frequently thereafter (at least monthly). Mr. Supervisor, two days notice is all it takes!
Let’s look what we do know ... the NYS Gaming Commission’s Gaming Facility Location Board's published process (http://www.gaming.ny.gov/gaming/casinos.php):
·
Applicants are required to make a $1 million
Application Fee payment on or before April 23, 2014 (yesterday) - it is unclear
whether a Host Municipality must be identified with the payment.
·
Applicants must also attend a Mandatory Applicant
Conference on April 30, 2014 - This 10:00 AM conference
will be open to the public and will be streamed live on the NYS Gaming
Commission’s Web site (www.gaming.ny.gov).
·
Applicants must submit Applications* prior to
4:00PM June 30, 2014
·
The NYS Gaming Commission’s Gaming Facility
Location Board is scheduled to select Gaming Facility Operators in Early Fall
2014.
In the event East
Greenbush is selected by the Facility Location Board:
·
The casino development project must undergo the complete
and transparent scrutiny of our Planning, Zoning and Town Boards. These meetings are open to the public and we
should attend.
·
We residents must be vigilant in tracking
development progress and demand frequent Public Information Meetings.
·
Will the renovated Waste Water Treatment Plant,
expected to be completed by year-end, support a project of this magnitude along
with other projects in the queue?
·
Will the developer or NYS support any other infrastructure
needs?
·
Significant Mitigation Fees would accrue to the
Town per the July 2009 Western East Greenbush Final Generic Environmental
Impact Statement (might be a good time to review the fees).
·
Perhaps a Citizens’ Casino Committee could be constituted.
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that last November’s Proposal Number One, An Amendment Authorizing Casino Gaming** could be viewed as one of Governor Cuomo’s signature accomplishments and he will do all he can to make its implementation a success. I am sure this will include someone, perhaps the NYS Gaming Commission or its Gaming Facility Location Board, closely monitoring each casino development project regardless of the venue. I sincerely doubt that Governor Cuomo will tolerate failure at any point.
Pete Stenson
= = = = =
* Applications must contain, among other things, the following:
· Designs for the proposed gaming facility
· Number of employees to be employed at the proposed gaming facility, including detailed information on the pay rate and benefits
· Completed studies and reports including:
o Economic benefits to the region and the state
o Local and regional social, environmental, traffic and infrastructure impacts
o Impact on the local and regional economy, cultural institutions and small businesses
o Cost to the host municipality, nearby municipalities and the state for the proposed gaming facility to be located at the proposed location
** Proposal Number One, An Amendment Authorizing Casino Gaming received 18,386 “Yes” votes in Rensselaer County (47.10%) compared to 17,443 “No” votes (44.69%), 3,203 “Blanks” (8.21%) and 3 “Voids” (0.01%) according to the NYS Board of Elections (http://www.elections.ny.gov/NYSBOE/elections/2013/proposals/2013GeneralElection-Prop1.pdf)
Nice - very informative !
ReplyDeleteHow 'bout MAM's self serving drivel in todays Advertiser !
Note to Ms. Matters: its hard to put the puzzle back together when your bosses are intentionally hiding the pieces !
"the problem was well over a decade in the making"
ReplyDeleteSnap! Spanks the hell outta Rick Matters who was on the Board from 2008 - 2013 or 6 years of that decade.
She's as clueless as he was! SWF indeed!
MAM fancies herself as the EGB political satirist !
ReplyDeleteShe's as much a political failure as her husband. Grossly inadequate and ignorant are what immediately comes to mind when her name is mentioned.
Oh and btw: Deb Dimartino - do you exist ?!
Dear Talks,
ReplyDeleteThere's a very informative article in today's Times-Union written by Chris Churchill under the headline of "Tricky act could do trick" on page C-1 of the print edition. The article features a number of interesting quotes from Supervisor Langley regarding the recent East Greenbush Town Board Casino Siting Resolution.
All the best,
Tom
copied from Gadfly:
DeleteThanks, Tom
"very interesting quotes" is quite an understatement
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Churchill-East-Greenbush-board-sneaked-a-casino-5425696.php
Excerpts from "East Greenbush board sneaked a casino vote" by Chris Churchill the article cited above:
Delete"We had conversations of interest, nothing more than that, with Saratoga Casino and Raceway," Langley said. "That's what led this resolution to be put together."
"The resolution speaks for itself," he said. "It says what it says."
"The resolution is the resolution," Langley said. "It points out the position of the town at this point."
"The intention of the resolution was to give the developer an opportunity to file an application by the deadline on June 30th," Langley said.
So there you have it, East Greenbush residents. Your supervisor and at least some on the board intended to give approval for a casino — without advance notice, without public comment, without knowing if residents support the idea.
Pete -
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent assessment and an important public service. All I'm looking for is a public conversation about what would be the most critical planning and development issue in this town's history. Do the people of East Greenbush support siting a casino here? Seems like a critical question and one we need to answer. But first things first.
We need the supervisor to explain what happened. He owed us the chance to discuss this issue before that resolution was passed so now at the very least he should outline developments from his point of view. His quotes in today's TU, "it says what it says" and "the resolution is the resolution" can't possibly be all he knows on the subject. It seems there are two possibilities: (1) he knew and purposely kept the public out of the conversation; or (2) he truly didn't know which means he let the most important issue in the history of this town slip past him while he was asleep at the switch. No serious business buys 72 acres and puts down $1 million without having been assured that local approval was a done deal. Saratoga, Albany and Bethlehem knew and said no. I guess East Greenbush was an easy mark.
You're absolutely right that a special meeting should be called immediately. We had one to sneak the ethics board past us, now we should have one to explain the sneaking of a casino past us. The critical question of whether we support a casino must be answered but first we need to know how we ended up in such a position.
Thanks for framing the discussion in such a sober and comprehensive way.
In Section C of today's TU there is a piece on the history of the land transfers. I'd be interested to see the names of the people behind the corporate labels. Apparently the Village at Thompson Hill loaned the Casino $3,000,000 to purchase its property.
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