Wow. As someone who has family in the immediate area, this casino will make a huge impact on their lives. I truly hope it is for the better, but I doubt it.
I understand that casinos brings jobs to towns; that they pump lots of money into the local economy; and, hopefully, they give money to Native American tribes, money I think they deserve.
But, I walked through Mohegan Sun last weekend and was struck by a few things. First, in a busy hour on a Saturday night, I heard no one yelling out that they had struck it big. Then, it was standing-room only at many of the tables, tables which were commanding $25 and $50 minimums per hand. Finally, as beautiful as the decor is around the gaming rooms, essentially people were just throwing their hard-earned money into machines or on tables, all in the hopes of beating the odds.
So, now we wait to see what will happen next. And hope that this casino doesn't swallow up an entire region full of quiet beauty and open spaces.
I'm scared of how this will affect our little town. Only recently did our officials start meeting with casino reps to develop an "impact study". Um, this is less than 10 miles from our house, so there's bound to be impact on housing, retail and especially our pitifully old roadways, like routes 105, 28 and 18, which are sure to be clogged with traffic by residents of neighboring towns trying to bypass 44 and casino traffic. It's a shame that only Middleboro, which is in dire financial straits and looks to the casino as a cash cow, it eligible to vote on this, as the impact will certainly go beyond the town line. I think grandma would roll over in her grave to think of what will happen to her sleepy little retirement community. I remember when the only 'traffic' on route 18 was caused by a tractor...
ReplyDeleteMy Mom grew up in Lakeville, and went to school in your town. I grew up in the area as well, and wonder how the powers that be think they will be able to control this beast of an idea. It should be up to the county to decide whether it wants a casino.
ReplyDeleteIt would be a shame to see all that quiet beauty disappear.
We have a bunch of "HUGE" Indian casino's out here (California) - you'd think you were in Las Vegas.
ReplyDeleteExcept no volcano's or pyramids.
The bad side to them is normally people who "shouldn't be gambling the family rent" go there and loose it. They have a huge impact on those people and the community.
Having casino in an area has lots of bad impacts to our community,,It's actually depends on the situation,,,but casino helps people to make some money though..so Hope casino won't harm to anybodies in the community.
ReplyDeleteCasino traffic