Tag: Middleborough

Laura Crimaldi’s story in the Sunday Herald says that the casino was “overwhelmingly defeated” when it was finally put to a vote. This despite the fact that Middleborough officials were so disrespectful of the process that they staged a signing ceremony after the agreement with the Wampanoags was approved, but before the non-binding advisory question on the casino itself was put to the voters. No wonder people left early.

Sabutai’s account says that the show-of-hands vote on the casino was “much closer” than an earlier vote to cut off debate, but he doesn’t say how close. No doubt accounts will differ. I hope we see something more definitive. Not that the margin matters, but, symbolically, it would be helpful if everyone understands that people voted against the casino.

“When they got to vote their conscience, they did that,” casino opponent Richard Young is quoted as saying in Crimaldi’s account.

I love the way Sabutai ends: “The ball is in the General Court. May they prove to have more wisdom than the selectmen of Middleboro, more patience than its people, and more temperance than its moderator.”

Just caught the top of the 11 p.m. news on Channels 4, 5 and 7. I was flipping around, so it’s possible that I missed it. But it didn’t appear that any of the three reported on the second, anti-casino vote. Shoddy.

On the other hand, kudos to Channel 5 for doing a sidebar on people who couldn’t make it to the town meeting today — not just elderly voters, but folks with respiratory problems, people who had to work and parents who couldn’t arrange for child care (kids weren’t allowed).

This is democracy? No. It isn’t.

Despite all the propaganda, despite the loathsome efforts of casino supporters to cast opponents as friends of the Ku Klux Klan, Middleborough residents today did the right thing and said “no.” Keep that in mind when you hear that folks who attended the town meeting approved the selectmen’s proposed deal with the Wampanoags. To wit:

• The Enterprise: “After a grueling four-hour town meeting in more than 90 degree weather, more than 3,000 voters at today’s historic town meeting voted overwhelmingly to accept the agreement to put a casino in town.”
• The Globe: “Voters in Middleborough today approved a historic agreement to bring a casino to the semi-rural town 40 miles south of Boston.”
• The Herald: “Middleboro OKs casino by 2,387 to 1,335.”

So, is Media Nation hallucinating? Not at all. Here is the key, explained farther down in the Globe story:

The voters, however, sent a mixed message. In a separate, non-binding question before the town meeting, the residents voted no on a proposal to have a casino in the town. Town officials insisted that the open ended question — approved by a voice vote — had no impact on the agreement with the Wampanoags. But casino opponents were nonetheless cheered by that result.

That is not a mixed message at all. That is a clear message that though the voters believed the proposed deal was the best they could get, their preference is no casino at all. Over and over, the townspeople have been told that if they rejected the deal, the casino would be built anyway, and the town would get far less than it would by signing the agreement. Thus the “yes” vote on the agreement was entirely predictable.

But they rejected the casino itself, and that ought to be the end of it. It will be interesting to see how the pro-casino forces spin this one. I just hope the media catch on better than they have so far.

Update: Here is the warrant for today’s town meeting. As you can see, Article 2 was on the agreement, and Article 3 was on the casino itself. Here’s what voters said “no” to in Article 3: “To see if the Town approves of the creation of a Gambling Casino Resort Complex within the Corporate Boundaries of the Town, or act anything thereon.” Clear as a bell.

Update II: Great report from Sabutai at Blue Mass Group. Check out his description of orange-shirted, pro-casino union forces, who pushed their way into the crowd and apparently even managed to cast some voice and hand votes. The “yes” vote should be challenged immediately because of this shocking breach of protocol. Remember, town police took some pains to keep the media at bay — why couldn’t they do the same to the IBEW?

Middleborough officials have decided to keep the media far, far away from tomorrow’s fiasco of a town meeting, which is expected to draw as many as 10,000 people to the high school. Here is the complete text of a media advisory issued yesterday by the Middleborough Police Department:

MEDIA ADVISORY:

July 26, 2007

CONTACT:

Middleborough Police Department

Attn: Lt. David Mackiewicz

Fax Number: (508) 947-1009

Middleborough Special Town Meeting – Casino Decision

On, Saturday July 28, 2007 at 11:00 a.m. the town of Middleborough will be conducting a Special Town Meeting at the Middleborough High School at 71 East Grove Street in Middleborough (Route 28). The purpose of the meeting is to determine the residents’ position regarding the recently negotiated Wampanoag Casino agreement.

To ensure the event receives proper media coverage and only registered voters are allowed to vote specific control measures will be in effect for all media outlets attending the event.

Press Rules

1. Venue: The Town of Middleborough will be conducting a Special Town Meeting for the purpose of deciding the residents’ position regarding the recently negotiated Wampanoag Casino agreement.

2. The meeting will occur at the Middleborough High School on Rt. 28, at 71 East Gove Street, Middleborough, Ma.

3. The meeting area will be restricted to only Middleborough registered voters. Invited guests will be authorized only as specified by the Town Moderator.

4. Media personnel will be authorized access to view the event from a designated media area.

5. Application for Media Parking Passes: Fax all requests for media vehicle parking passes to the Middleborough Police Department, 508-947-1009, Attn: Lt. David Mackiewicz NOT LATER THAN 3:00 PM on FRIDAY, July 27, 2007. Space is limited and Media Parking Passes will be limited to two passes per media outlet. Media Parking Passes will be returned by fax to your media outlet and must be presented to gain access to the designated media area.

6. Media will be required to arrive between 06:00 AM and 07:30 AM on Saturday, July 28, 2007. No new media personnel will be allowed entrance after 7:30 AM on Saturday, July 28.

7. Voting residents will begin arriving at 08:00 AM. Media will be allowed an interview area where they can conduct interviews with voting residents inside the designated media area between 08:00 AM and the start of the meeting. The meeting will begin at 11:00 AM.

8. A MALT box [“a piece of equipment that allows reporters to plug in audio equipment to record directly from the sound system”] will be available in the designated media area for media use.

9. Media will not be allowed to leave the designated media area until the meeting is adjourned.

This is going to be a zoo (albeit an unnecessary zoo, and one of town officials’ devising), and obviously some measures are needed to keep things under control. But these restrictions are so tight that you have to wonder if reporters are going to be able to tell what’s going on, or will instead have to try to reconstruct events after the fact.

Will the sound system truly be audible? Will speakers from the floor (excuse me, the grass) be properly patched in to the sound system? Will some provision be made to identify speakers (a notorious problem in covering any town meeting)? Why on earth do all reporters — even lowly print reporters carrying nothing but a pen and a notebook — have to arrive by 7:30 a.m. if the meeting doesn’t start for another three and a half hours? What is #9 about? Surely folks can leave, can’t they? What about a photographer with an early deadline?

For that matter, why does Middleborough need more security than the Democratic and Republican national conventions?

Meanwhile, in today’s Globe, Sean Murphy and Christine Wallgren report that town officials’ dreams of $4 million a year in hotel-tax revenue are just that — dreams. And here is the text (PDF) of the study-committee report the Herald mentioned yesterday — the one that found suicide rates will increase, but, overall, the casino will be a good thing. You can’t make this stuff up.

Finally, NECN has posted the video of our discussion on “NewsNight” last night.

Is State Treasurer Tim Cahill a friend of the Ku Klux Klan? No doubt his opposition to the casino in Middleborough will be cast by proponents as biased, given that Cahill wants the state to build its own casino. But Cahill’s assessment that the casino would be a bad deal for the town — reported in today’s Globe by Andrea Estes — should be taken seriously. Cahill tells Estes:

It will change the entire fabric of the community, but it’s the tribe and the investors who will make the lion’s share of the money. There are a lot of holes in the agreement. I don’t see where it helps the town financially.

Is the Middleboro Casino Gambling Study Committee a friend of the Ku Klux Klan? According to the Herald’s Mike Underwood, the committee has concluded that a casino could “increase suicides, bankruptcies and trigger an exodus of residents,” as well as lead to choking traffic increases on Route 44.

Oh, but there’s good news, too — there would likely be no “direct” increase in crime as a result of the casino’s being built. Never mind that there would be a huge indirect increase, as documented by the Globe last Sunday in a report on what happened to the communities around Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.

Are officials from 15 cities and towns surrounding Middleborough friends of the Ku Klux Klan? Theresa Knapp Enos reports in the Enterprise of Brockton that those officials will meet tonight in Lakeville to discuss the impact of the casino in their communities. Of course, they don’t get to vote in the Saturday town meeting. Enos writes:

[Bridgewater] Selectman Mark Oliari, Bridgewater’s liaison with the town of Middleboro, reported to fellow board members at the selectmen’s meeting on Tuesday that there are “serious issues,” such as traffic, decreased local aid from Lottery receipts and additional school resources.

Think about it. The Lottery is going to take a terrible hit if casino gambling comes to Massachusetts (which is why Cahill wants the state to grab a piece of the action). Traffic will become a nightmare throughout the region, but the Wampanoags propose only to upgrade roads in Middleborough. And, of course, the low-paid casino workers who would move to the area will put a strain on school systems throughout the region, not just in Middleborough.

This is a disaster in the making. As Sabutai writes at Blue Mass Group: “I’m not sure if I’m naive to hope that the state government would not greenlight a massive project within a town where the residents offered a resounding ‘no’, but I’d hope that a ‘no’ on Saturday will end the debate in this town at least. New Bedford and Boston would looooove a casino. Wouldn’t you rather work with people who want you?”

I’ll be debating the casino today at 7 p.m. on New England Cable News’ “NewsNight.”

D’oh! The Enterprise was previewing a meeting that has already taken place. Here’s an account in today’s Globe, by Christine Wallgren. Great quote from Halifax Selectman John Bruno about Middleborough Selectman Adam Bond, a casino supporter: “I appreciate Mr. Bond’s attempt to help his community, but I also appreciate that selling your soul for money is never a good idea. This does not belong in Southeastern Massachusetts.”

One of the very first things you see when you visit Casino-friend.com — a Web site started by supporters of the proposed Middleborough casino — is an insinuation that casino opponents are in league with the Ku Klux Klan. The site touts an “editorial” calling on an anti-casino group, Casinofacts.org, “to repudiate bigotry, prejudce and hate and any connection with a national group called by a major Indian magazine ‘The Ku Klux Klan of Indian country.'”

Guilt by association, a demand to repudiate something that has nothing to do with the honest efforts of folks who don’t want to see their town destroyed — oh, yes. It’s obvious that the pro-casino forces will stop at nothing. Money doesn’t talk, it screams.

I grew up in Middleborough. I moved away many years ago, and thus cannot claim to be a stakeholder in this debate. But there’s really no question about what the impact will be if this monstrosity ever gets built:

• The rural character of the town will be destroyed forever.
• The highways and roads will be choked with traffic.
• Crime and police activity will increase significantly, as the Globe reported on Sunday.

I hope the casino gets voted down at the special outdoor town meeting that’s been called for this weekend. But if it passes, I hope Gov. Deval Patrick slams on the brakes. A casino would severely harm the quality of life in Middleborough for generations to come. A chaotic public gathering, held just a few days after the agreement between town officials and the Wampanoags was made public, is no way to resolve this. I also question whether even a majority should have the right to do this to fellow townspeople.

The best way to resolve this is to kill it now.