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Selectmen's Meeting presents Agreement 7/24/2007

The Middleboro Selectmen's meeting last night was surprisingly sparsely attended, but maybe folks watched it on TV. If you missed it outright, I'll try here to give a quick synopsis.

First, I was very annoyed by the "anti-casino" side last night. Not because they are anti-casino - as I have said before, there are reasons not to want a casino in Middleboro or even in Massachusetts. I even had a pleasant and intelligent conversation with one person who is actively opposed. No, the problem was with the folks that were only there to push their agenda. Watching them in the crowd, you could easily see that they weren't listening to anything being said; and that became obvious when it came time for audience questions: several of them asked questions that had already been fully answered during the presentation. There was also very evident anger from the anti side; they are angry at the tribe, angry at the Selectman (unaminously in favor of this now, by the way) and angry at the rest of us.

But enough of that. The full Intergovernmental Agreement can be found at http://www.middleborough.com/General/Agreement.pdf - that's a big PDF file, you need a computer with lots of RAM for this.

The agreement spells out what we get if we vote "Yes" on Article Two. What the presenting Selectmen talked about was that, but also what we get if we vote "No": more deficits, and the very real possibility of the casino being built anyway.

"Being built anyway" is the important point here. The people who have actually sat and talked with the Wampanoags are unanimous in saying that it is their opinion that the casino is coming to Middleboro, with or without this vote. Yes, I know that CasinoFacts insists otherwise and keeps pointing to this video which supposedly proves their point: http://casinofacts.org/video/marshall_no_casino.php. Please go LISTEN to that video rather than letting CasinoFacts tell you what it means. Notice the words "probably" and the vagueness. Also understand that a lot has changed since then: the process is now much farther down the road.

Selectman Adam Bond displayed a "decision matrix" which showed the only possible outcomes: they build it, or they do not build it. If, despite CasinoFacts insistence that they will not, they in fact act as Adam and the other negotiators believe they will, the Town of Middleboro obviously needs to accept this agreement now. It guarantees us payments EVEN IF THEY DO DECIDE NOT TO COME OR ARE BLOCKED FROM COMING BY OTHER PROBLEMS.

Therefore, your choice is blindingly simple: vote "Yes" on Article Two so that we are covered for any eventuality and then if you must, feel free to work as hard as you can to stop them from coming in any way you can. Lobby your State and Federal legislators, write letters to the Bureau of Indian Affairs: do whatever your heart tells you to do, but FIRST ensure Middleboro's stake by voting "Yes" on Article Two.

Now for some important highlights from the agreement. This part is for those of us who realize this is a GOOD thing - many of the anti's don't care how much money is at stake here, but I sure do.

First, Rte 44 is going to become a limited access highway here in Middleboro. The lights at our intersections will be gone. Rte 105 will pass over Rte 44, and Rte 44 will pass over the other intersections. This will improve local traffic. People coming to the casino will NOT travel on any local roads - they will have their own exit from Rte 44 that will take them directly there. There will be NO ACCESS from local roads!

By the way, for those who complain that the road construction is objectionable: that's going to happen sooner or later anyway, casino or not. We need it fixed, and the State has known that for years: they just haven't had the money to do it. This agreement fixes it now.

Those who keep harping that the project can't be done for the stated amount of money need to understand that we are NOT being given money to fix these roads. The roads are being fixed and the agreement merely acknowledges the estimated cost. It says (page 6) "The Tribe agrees to be responsible for the actual costs of construction, whether more or less than the Town's estimate".

That same language is used again when discussing the improvements to our Electrical, Natural Gas and Water systems: "The Tribe agrees to be responsible for the actual costs of construction, whether more or less than the Town's estimate".

Other concerns people have had are also addressed. On page 2, "Future Land Acquisition", if they buy more land, the agreement is reopened and renegotiated: they aren't going to grow like a cancer and thereby diminish the value of these payments.

Oh yeah, the payments. You probably already know about the $7 million per year, adjusted for inflation up to a cap of 2% of net gaming revenues. You probably know about the 4% room tax (which the opponents insist is meaningless because of free rooms given by casinos to big gamblers). There's another part though: if the State allows us to charge local sales tax, meals tax or anything like that, we'll get that from the project also.

Also don't forget that it's very likely other hotels will be built because of the casino - we get 4% of their revenue even if it is comped!

Quick other points: we'll be able to start our own ambulance service, which is another profit center for the town. We will get payments in lieu of property tax while this is being built and "planning payments" of 250K per year. We'll be getting money for extra fire and police during the construction phase. By the way, the agreement also states their commitment to "green construction". The agreement talks about mitigating noise and light pollution and "visually screening" buildings and parking areas.

At least two people I talked to earlier were worried about "Vegas Shows" with nudity. That won't happen here; the agreement specifically prohibits that and any sexually oriented business activities.

This agreement is reported to be the richest agreement ever negotiated between a tribe and a host town. It gives us a base we can grow from: many other projects (like the shopping center on Rte 44 at the old outdoor movie theater) will be able to happen once Rte 44 is fixed. Local business will be given preference for goods and services the resort will purchase.

Vote "Yes" on the 28th. Don't throw away money we desperately need.

- Tony Lawrence

Send comments and new posts to tony@aplawrence.com

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