A Middleborough developer who pays $29,000 a year in taxes to the town wants some of his money back. The reason? The proposed casino is croaking his business. Eileen Reece reports in the Brockton Enterprise:
The developer, whose units are located near the site of the proposed casino, has had problems selling the units as prospective buyers are unsure how close their homes will be to the casino, explained [Selectman Adam] Bond.
“This is a true, dead center, right-on negative impact,” said Bond, who was instrumental in negotiating the casino contract with the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe.
It’s impossible to judge the veracity of this claim, since Bond wouldn’t identify the name of the developer. The selectmen, naturally, are already trying to figure out whether they can deal with the developer in secret.
But Bond, who wants to be town manager despite lacking the minimum qualifications for the job, isn’t exactly known for saying a discouraging word about the proposed casino. So this seems pretty credible, at least on the surface.
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I am not sure what was so difficult to understand here. I responded to a letter that I alone received on the Board, and tried to bring the issue to light, without creating any further potential damage to the developer. Obviously, if I mentioned the development, I could damage any current sales that might bwe pending or any potential future sales. The current Town Manager believed it should be sent to counsel. I do not believe that the issue is eligible for executive session, I just did not want to exacerbate the situation.Unlike what the Enterprise editorial said, it was not a slip to say that this is a dead center impact, it was simply a candid statement of fact, since I have always acknowledged that impacts will occur. So now I am shot at when I bring up those impacts and see if there is a way to do something for the developer.People, try not always letting your hatred of me color the way you look at absolutely every step I take. Maybe I am a rank opportunist by answering this blog, and this is somehow a conspiracy…to do something untoward. On the other hand, thank you for at least the benefit of a jaded doubt Mr. Kennedy, maybe I am trying to help the developer have a voice and some access.Adam M. Bond
Thanks for checking in, Adam. By the way, no casino = no mitigation necessary.
Any time, and you are correct.
Dan,I live next to the proposed casino site. I couldn’t sell my house if I wanted to. Does that mean I should seek tax relief? Should my property be reassessed so my property taxes will now accurately reflect the value of my house? Please answer those questions Adam.
When/IF the casino is built, your house WOULD be reassessed. But no reassesing will be done in response to hypotheticals. Ironically, you might find you house is MORE valuable, despite your own feelings, as worker housing, etc.
Perhaps you could have your home rezoned as an almshouse for people who lost everything at the casino.
Or a day care center for those losing their paychecks next door! (Have you ever SEEN the grim cement room at Foxwoods? It looks like Lord of the Flies…)
In reply to Adam Bond’s comment ” maybe I am trying to help the developer have a voice and some access”. Please Adam…don’t placate us… is your own guilt getting to you? I am a resident of Middleboro, and the thought that you were honestly trying to give someone a voice (without any personal gain involved) is laughable…let’s rewind the past six months….actions speak louder than words (although you have many…..words, that is..)
‘try not always letting your hatred of me color the way you look at absolutely every step I take.’Adam, pretending hurt feelings every time you’re criticized is getting old fast. It might have been a good tactic initially, but your arrogance is showing. When you and your wife spent the last 6 months insulting SIMPLY EVERYONE who disagreed with you, can you expect otherwise? You could have handled much of what you did differently. Sad! There’s nothing worse than a sore winner!
Mr Bond, I would sincerely like to engage you in a dialogue, not because we are all out to get you, I’m not. As a matter of fact I am totally ambivalent toward you. With the exception that when you make a public statement you really should expect to get a response. When that response is positive you preen and smile and that is to be expected. However when it is negative what you should do is learn from the experience not immediately cry out that you are being persecuted. Your behavior is akin to the surgeon who thinks he is God. In the past you have determined who is righteous and good and were you ever wrong? As a matter of law and the practice thereof, I believe we can all agree that the principle of innocent until proven guilty is held dear by us all. However, once someone’s guilt has been determined by a jury of his peers, he is guilty, sir and not a good man an honest man. He is what he is a convicted felon even if he has served his time, which in this case is a clouded issue as well. There is the possibility of rehabilitation, I’ll give you that. Now how guilty or rehabilitated is an individual who hides his conviction? How guilty or complicit is an individual who attempts to aid in that endeavor to cover up? Now add to the fact that the individual who sans benefit of proof or sound judgement makes the defensive statement on behalf of the felon is an elected individual whose duty it is to represent all the citizens of a community, not to mislead them and what do you have? Mr Bond, sir, Middleboro is not New York City, however to underestimate all of it’s citizens by grouping them under the title of “not all that intelligent” is an error. We have many strong capable and intelligent individuals who are not diverted by smoke screens and drama. While some of our town fathers, so to speak, are engaged in Peyton Place like behavior there are those that watch from afar rather bemused until they are challenged and you sir are challenging and looking for the notoriety.You invite the attacks, which I agree are at times improper, but you pushed the button, no one else did. I could even suggest that Midddleboro’s innocence never was what you thought it was. It was those that were wise enough to keep quiet when it was best for the community and raise the ire of many. Poke a sleeping dog sir, but use a big long stick so as to distance yourself from the responses you do not wish to hear.
Perhaps Mr. Bond was banking on his belief that the people of Middleboro are “not all that intelligent” when he blindsided us with the casino agreement. He was hoping that a majority wouldn’t be intelligent.The fact that the casino agreement was approved at Town Meeting proves his point. Apparently, unfortunately, not all of us are as intelligent we like to think.
I’m a Middleboro resident and maybe I’m not all that intelligent. But just maybe Mr. Bond is ignorant of the level of intelligence in our town. A thought keeps going through my unintelligent mind and I know I’ve read and heard of few comments along the same lines.Now, keep in mind, this is not by any means an accusation but something about Adam Bond bothers me.This guy moves to town from New York, I think after originating from Detroit. Strange he should choose to move to an area where a Native American tribe is on the verge of federal recognition. Strange he is originally from Detroit, the home of one of the Tribe’s backers and casino developers.Strange he should seek political office in a small town undergoing a fiscal crises almost immediately after his arrival.Strange he should approach the above mentioned Tribe in regards to purchasing town land.Stranger even, that he should promote and foster a financial agreement with the Tribe in regards to the development of a billion dollar resort casino. Strange again that the Tribe’s chief negotiator is disgraced and is facing questions about missing funds that were aquired by the Tribe.Stranger still is the fact the IRS and FBI are investigating most of the players involved in the Tribe’s federal recognition process.But what is most strange is that Adam Bond is not subject to that same investigation, given his “back room” dealings with characters that it turns out have little character.Now admittedly, I may not be as intelligent as say, Mr. Bond himself, but has anyone asked the question, where did this guy come from in the first place and who is he to come here and screw up my town?Has the thought entered anybody’s mind that maybe he was working with the casino developers long before his arrival in Middleboro?Has any of the unaccounted for funds that Glenn Marshall is responsible for ended up in Mr. Bond’s pockets?Who is to say he wasn’t part of the casino developer’s strategy in the first place. Considering the shady characters he’s been dealing with, I can imagine a strategy being discussed in his New York office along these lines… Casino developers know the tribe is on the verge of Federal recognition. They approach Mr. Bond, known perhaps by his roots in Detroit. They offer him a handsome payout to move to a small town in Southeastern MA, ancestral home to the Tribe in question. They instruct him to get elected to political office by dazzling the local bumpkins with his “Big City” intelligence and experience. When the Tribe gains Federal recognition, the developers have a man on the inside to expedite the land acquisition, force an ill conceived “agreement” on the unintelligent locals, and suppress any local opposition.Now granted, these are only thoughts I’ve been having since July and are no means accusations.But being as unintelligent as I am, I can’t stop thinking about it.