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We told you so!

It's over! .... for Middleboro

It gives me great pleasure today to thank all the dedicated members and friends of Casino Facts who have been fighting and supporting us to maintain the quality of life that we so well deserve. For almost three years we have been trying to drive a message home that a Casino in Middleboro was "not inevitable". Many will say it was the SCOTUS decition to not allow land to trust, or the high cost of the infrastructure, or the environmental impacts, or one of the many other road blocks that put an end to the Tribe's ill-fated plan, but in my heart I truly believe it was the culmination of dedicated research, and the tireless effort to educate and help people understand the logic and the basic principle that there is no price tag for an exchange of "quality of life". Today is not only a victory for Middleboro, but for the area as a whole, but the war is far from over, for now is the time to fight for the rest of the residents of Ma. and help them understand the dark and hidden secrets of predatory gambling.

Thank you,

Frank Dunphy
President Casino Facts Committee




Requested Docs

In the weeks leading up to the July 28 town meeting, I requested several documents from Middleboro Town Hall: The Whittlesey Agreement, Departmental impact analysis documents, and an accounting of the monies paid to Whittlesey.

After not receiving them and not even getting a phone call returned, I put in a "request for public documents" - which is the state equivalent of a Freedom Of Information Act request.

I received these documents on Tuesday, July 31st - too late to affect the Town Meeting vote. Too bad. We got ripped off folks.

Documents

  1. Letter To Larry Deitch - this letter apparently accompanyied the Whittlesey agreement. Notable is an apology for a leak of the document to the Globe. Also this telling statement: "The second issue is that the Town is legally obligated to serve as first responder for police and fire/EMS calls, and that obligation cannot be passed on to the Tribe. And police service is particularly critical since the tribal police cannot arrest non-Indians, which means that the Town police have to take custody of non-Indian detainees within a reasonable time period." I seem to recall describing the Tribal police/fire/ems section of the first agreement as a "ruse designed to make us think that there won't be any increase in police fire or emergency services". I'll take this letter as validation of that analysis. This is also the document that refers to the "political realities of a strong anti-casino sentiment".
  2. The Whittlesey agreement - this is the one that would have gotten us all the money we need to address the impacts and is tied to a percentage of the net gambling revenue.
  3. Departmental Impact Analysis
Whittlesey Agreement Summary This agreement would have given us somewhere around $31M dollars by the time the project got as big as Mohegun Sun is now. It included a base payment of $7M and 2 percent of the net win. It included various taxes on cars, possibly meals, and other things. The deal we have accepted is giving us less than half of what we should have gotten. We were taken to the cleaners folks. To those who wanted us to sign at any cost,,, well,,, that's just what we did - with "any cost" being less than half of what we should have gotten. Congratulations to the "SIGN NOW" crowd. Departmental Impact Analysis I have to admit to being shocked at the lack of analysis done by most department heads. The planning department being an exception. In particular the Police, Fire, and School departments merely provided numbers to bring us up to current staffing requirements and provide no projection of what will be required after this facility comes on line. We are currently understaffed and do not have the money to meet current staffing needs. When the casino comes on line, will be in exactly the same boat. The facility will create a demand for police, fire, schools, etc. The money we will get will barely bring us up to current needs and does not at all address needs such as new police/fire stations, new schools, and so forth.

Does someone from the BOS, Police, Fire, or School department care to explain the lack of impact analysis - or on what basis they endorsed the casino?




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