Casino glitter doesn't look golden to Eastie
Suffolk Downs honchos Richard Fields and Joe O'Donnell saw dollar signs when they pictured a huge casino rising on the grounds of the East Boston racetrack. State Representative Carlo Basile and state Senator Anthony Petruccelli saw hordes of cars jamming already congested roads and a threat to local businesses that families have nurtured for decades.
The views of the two state lawmakers representing East Boston go a long way toward explaining why, long before the House last week effectively killed Governor Deval Patrick's casino dream, the plan stood on shaky ground. While the governor and his minions kept pointing to what they said was broad statewide support for casinos, elected officials and residents of communities touted as prime locations for the gambling palaces were considerably less enthused about the idea.
"You come here today at 4 o'clock and McClellan Highway is backed up all the way into the airport," said Basile, the neighborhood's newly elected state representative, questioning how the main road leading to Suffolk Downs could handle the added traffic of a casino. Meanwhile, rather than seeing casinos as an economic engine that might lead to spillover business in the neighborhood, the freshman lawmaker worries about local establishments being sucked dry.
"What happens to all the mom-and-pop shops that have been around for years?" he said. "Normally, somebody would take their wife out to dinner on a Saturday night. Now they're going to a casino. So it's not new money. It's money that would have gone to local restaurants. "
Petruccelli, who appeared with Basile at a recent meeting of the Orient Heights Neighborhood Association to discuss the casino proposal, said opinion in the community was overwhelmingly opposed to the plan.
"There's a lot of strenuous opposition and small pockets of support," said Petruccelli, who does back the idea of allowing slot machines at Suffolk and the state's other racetracks.
The governor's bill proposed splitting state revenue from casinos between transportation infrastructure spending and tax relief for homeowners.
The casino plan has had a big booster in Mayor Tom Menino, who was part of a coalition of municipal leaders who joined with unions, including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, to push the casino proposal.
But exactly how cities or schools would benefit was always unclear.
"You hear municipal leaders saying cities and towns need casinos because they need more local aid," said Petruccelli. "I read the bill four or five times and there's no money in there for local aid." And there's "not one cent for schools."
A recently released poll of 446 Massachusetts adults by Western New England College showed that residents were fairly evenly split on whether they supported Patrick's plan. But by a 2-1 margin, they opposed the idea of a casino being built in their community.
For all the glitz casino promoters have tried to attach to their operations, it's an industry Massachusetts residents seem more receptive to when it's going in someone else's backyard. Can anyone blame those in East Boston, of all places, already saddled with fumes and flights from Logan Airport, for feeling that way?
Michael Jonas can be reached at jonas@globe.com. 