Glenn Marshall, chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council, has said he won’t build a casino in Middleborough if the town’s residents vote in opposition to the project.
The tribal leader of the Mashpee Wampanoags says he won’t build a controversial casino in Middleborough if the town votes against it.
“We don’t want to build in a community that doesn’t want us,” Glenn Marshall, chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council, told Banker & Tradesman. “There are other communities that want us. If the casino plan were defeated in a referendum, why would we choose an uphill battle when New Bedford, Brockton and Revere would accept a facility and the jobs?”
But it’s unclear whether a vote will ever take place. Activists who oppose a casino in Middleborough are urging the Board of Selectmen to hold a referendum on the question. Officials insist a vote would cost money at a time when budgets are cash-strapped and that such a vote is forbidden by the state’s election law until April.
John Healey, town manager, said he has no idea if a vote is under consideration.
“There’s been some discussion about an election but nothing has been determined,” Healey said. “If a ballot question were to be held, an overwhelming number of voters would be in favor, based on polling we’ve done. Opponents are a small but vocal minority.”
Healey did not provide details about the polling that was done. He expressed concern that an election would be expensive. Town officials estimate an election would cost about $10,000 – a fraction of the $140 million the casino could bring to the town over the next 20 years, say casino opponents.
Eileen Gates, Middleborough’s town clerk, said state law prohibits a referendum vote prior to next April’s regularly scheduled election. “A nonbinding vote can only be held at the next municipal election and that won’t come until next spring,” Gates said.
Casino opponents want a vote as soon as possible because town officials and the tribe are prepared to sign an agreement with the tribe in two weeks. Under the terms of a draft accord, the Mashpee Wampanoags would provide Middleborough with an annual payment of $7 million for having the casino in their community. In addition, up to $160 million would be made available to pay for infrastructure improvements to handle the increased traffic.
While the details are still being worked out, the upgrades could include the widening of Route 44 and the creation of a series of overpasses that would eliminate lights and intersections along the busy road so residents can travel across town without getting onto the highway. The plan under discussion also would guarantee a so-called flyover road system above the rotary that would connect Route 44 with Interstate 495 and keep gamblers off already-congested roads.
‘Lots of Unknowns’
Marsha L. Brunelle, chairwoman of the Board of Selectman, said the panel is investigating the possibility of holding a special Town Meeting that could include a referendum on the casino. But she did not appear confident that such an election would occur.
“We’re looking into it,” she said. “Unfortunately, our venues are not large enough to hold 12,000 voters. We would want a large enough venue so as many people could attend as possible. We want to do that.”
James Reynolds who owns a home and a flower shop near the proposed site, said Brunelle’s explanation is absurd.
“That’s laughable,” he said. “We could hold it outdoors or we could hold it in the high school auditorium, where we’ve held the last few Town Meetings, with a spillover into the gym with an audiovisual hookup.”
Jessie Powell, a longtime resident, is coordinating the effort to recall three of the selectmen: Brunelle, Steven P. Spataro and Wayne C. Perkins. So far, more than 1,200 signatures have been collected to place a recall vote on the ballot for Sept. 22 or Sept. 29, she said.
“My opinion about the casino is irrelevant,” said Powell. “Supporters and opponents of the casino have signed the recall petition because voter participation on this issue has been stifled. I will say that the rising opposition to the casino has motivated and energized people.”
If the recall vote is scheduled for September, it is unclear whether a nonbinding question on the casino would be included. Meanwhile, opponents do not know whether a vote by the town to reject the casino would end the agreement between the town and the tribe.
“There are lots of unknowns,” Powell said.
Marshall, the tribal chairman, said he has met with opponents at public forums and estimated the number to be about 50.
“There are NIMBY [not in my backyard] opponents, but most people we have talked to tell us to build it as soon as possible and ask how they can help,” he said. “I will respectfully do whatever it takes within reason to get this casino built. I’ve heard people say they don’t want their children to learn about gambling, so I tell them to keep out of 7-Eleven because they will see people scratching tickets and playing Keno.”
More than three decades after the Mashpee Wampanoags applied for federal recognition from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the 1,558-member tribe was granted official status in May. The designation could clear the way for the tribe to build a casino in a Middleborough forest, one hour south of Boston.
Herbert Strather, a Detroit-based casino developer who underwrote the tribe’s $8 million legal costs for federal recognition, has financed the purchase of 128 acres off Route 44 for $1.76 million. The Wampanoags also have an option to buy an adjacent 225-acre parcel, according to town officials.
Marshall said he plays blackjack several times a year at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Conn. He envisions construction of a 150,000-square-foot gambling hall and a 1,200- room hotel in the middle of the 353-acre site buffered by the KOA Kampground and conservation land with access off the highway.
But in order to have slot machines and table games, the tribe needs approval from Beacon Hill. Gov. Deval Patrick is awaiting a report from a study commission that is examining the possibility of casinos in Massachusetts and whether expanded gambling would improve the state’s economy.
Daniel O’Connell, the state’s secretary of housing and economic development, and a member of the panel, told Banker & Tradesman that the group will not determine whether the state should legalize gambling.
“The governor asked us to gather information, not make recommendations,” he said. “This is a very difficult public policy question, one which will take additional review and thought.”
O’Connell said he is torn on the issue. “I don’t have any moral aversion to gambling,” he noted. “But I am concerned about whether a genuine economic benefit would be derived for the commonwealth. Neither the governor nor the task force is leaning one way or another.”
