Mayor Joe Curtatone of Somerville has officially thrown in the towel in his David and Goliath battle to stop or slow the Wynn Boston Harbor. This time David lost, after spending 0,000 in legal fees.
The mayor announced that the city would be dropping several lawsuits against the casino resort that is starting to grow next to the Mystic River in Everett. He emailed a statement to the media declaring that several changes that the state attached to the waterfront permit—which had been appended to the permit following his challenge—satisfied his complaints.
He said he was also satisfied that the city’s complaint reduced the term of the license from 85 years to 50 and the requirement that Wynn be required to operate a ferry and to include more open space in his plans.
The city could have further challenged the permit in court, but Curtatone said it would not exercise that option. He wrote: “The city of Somerville successfully resolved a number of our community’s core concerns regarding the Wynn casino project through our recent appeal of the casino’s [waterfront] license.”
Curtatone added, “For this reason, we will not pursue further appeal of the license via the courts. I want to be clear, our appeal was never about stopping the casino but rather about our civic duty to protect the health, safety, and quality of life of our residents. While we did not get everything we asked for, the appeal did yield significant and meaningful results for our residents, so we feel the process worked.”
Curtatone has fought casinos all along. He campaigned to repeal the 2011 gaming expansion law that allowed casinos to happen. In 2014 he filed a lawsuit to try to stop the Wynn casino in neighboring Everett and was later joined by Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, whose lawsuits would also prove futile.
Both were concerned about the traffic impacts on their cities of the $2.1 billion casino resort—as well as environmental issues. Walsh declared repeatedly that Sullivan Square in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood would be impacted heavily by traffic to and from the casino.
Defending the city’s expenditures, Curtatone last week told an interviewer for Boston Herald Radio. “Our goal was to address these issues. We fought the fight in the process we are allowed … and I think we have taken it as far as we can.”
He also criticized the process that allows the host city the lion’s share of the say in whether a casino is sited. “The failure here is allowing any one community to make a decision that impacts the entire reason,” he said, calling it “blind leadership, a lack of leadership.”
Reportedly Curtatone and Wynn have been in contact, a contrast to back in February when the gaming magnate declared he would probably never talk to the mayor.
He also didn’t come up with additional funding to the $650,000 annual mitigation he is already obligated to pay to Somerville. However, in his statement Curtatone said that he and Wynn “have entered into an agreement that commits both parties to jointly working” to work on traffic mitigation.
The mayor added, “This is not a financial settlement, but rather a commitment to be good neighbors and to work together to solve the issues that impact both the people and the economy of our region,” he said.
Wynn Boston Harbor President Robert DeSalvio told the Massachusetts Gaming Commission last week that the 24-story casino resort would now open in 2019. The number of workers on the project will now begin to escalate, with 250 expected to be at work by the end of this year.
“For the first time, today I say before the Gaming Commission that casino construction is under way,” he said. Some construction work had already begun after the Department of Environmental Protection announced several weeks ago that it was denying Curtatone’s appeal of its issuing of the waterfront permit.
DeSalvio greeted the news of Somerville’s acceptance with satisfaction: “With all legal challenges behind us, we can now focus entirely on making Wynn Boston Harbor one of the most powerful job generators and economic catalysts to ever benefit the Commonwealth. We are pleased to be joined with all our neighboring communities in making this a historic development for all.”
