Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton last week ruled that the extensive traffic and environmental impact plan drawn up by Wynn Resorts on its .7 billion casino resort project in Everett “adequately and properly complies” with the state Environmental Policy Act. The approval will allow the project to go forward, with groundbreaking just steps away.
The approval came just days after Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack sent a letter to the Massachusetts Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs last week saying that Wynn Everett has adequately addressed the traffic issues that it will create in and around the city of Everett. She called on Beaton to issue a permit for the project to go forward.
Pollack’s letter followed one by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy urging Beaton to deny the permit to Wynn. Healy, a longtime anti-gaming proponent, lives in one of the towns affected by the Wynn project.
The decision was hailed by Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria, who said that the ruling is “validation of the planning, hard work and perseverance of everyone involved.”
In a statement issued by Wynn Resorts, Chairman Steve Wynn said the 10,000-page document was “open and fair.”
“The process has been meticulous and hard fought and undoubtedly will continue to be so,” he said in a statement. “At moments like this, there is certainly a feeling of gratification and forward movement. It lifts our spirits and energizes us.”
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, who has been engaged in a battle with Wynn over payments that he feels should be made to Boston, said he would fight on. The city will “continue to fight for the best interests and public safety,” he said.
Both Beaton and Pollack said Wynn’s contributions to mass transit, including his promise to spend $7 million to upgrade subway operations, would address short-term issues created by the casino. Beaton said the commitment was “unprecedented” by a private developer.
The fact that it would take longer to address the issues of Sullivan Square, located in Boston, should not delay the project, said Pollack. She noted that Sullivan Square is already congested and has been for years.
She wrote, “As you know, this area has been subject to extensive planning over the past decade, and the long-term issues there go well beyond those posed by the proponent’s development. We believe that these longer-term issues are best addressed through a regional working group.”
This recommendation is in direct opposition to Attorney General Maura Healey, a casino opponent, and resident of the area, who asked environmental officials to delay issuing a permit until Sullivan Square is addressed.
Healy wrote, “If you approve the casino without a long-term traffic mitigation plan, we may never get one. This dangerous and congested set of roadways may be unfamiliar to many state residents, but it serves as a major regional transit hub and access point.”
The cities of Boston, Revere and Somerville, which are all suing the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to stop the Everett casino, also filed letters asking for no permit to be issued. Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone wrote, “No long-term planning was involved, and the proposed casino will not be phased. Rather, the casino and all of its impacts will hit quick and will hit hard.”
The Wynn Everett would be one of the largest private developments in the history of the Bay State. It would be built on a 33-acre former Monsanto chemical plant site, running adjacent to the Mystic River.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission awarded Wynn the license last September. This prompted Boston Mayor Walsh, whose city lost out to Everett, to do everything he can to stop the project.
This has included opposing the sale of 1.75 acres to Wynn by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which Walsh claims was done without proper review. He also claims that despite the fact that his city voted not to have a casino at Suffolk Downs, that it is being forced to be a de facto host city by having one across the Mystic River. It will, claims Walsh, employ roads and public transportation routes the city owns.
Walsh, who asserts that the commission unfairly favored Wynn, has been consistent in insisting that the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown should be allowed to vote on the casino, although state law limits that to actual host communities, not adjacent ones.
Wynn’s lack of popularity in Boston contrasts with his positive reputation in Las Vegas, where he built some of the most successful casinos resorts in the city. If the casino were approved, it would be the first American Wynn casino outside of Las Vegas.
Wynn has once or twice indicated how shocked he has been that his proposal has been greeted with so much hostility in his home state. During a recent conference call Wynn mused, “The table seemed to be set; the welcome mat seemed to be out. We just haven’t found the welcome mat yet. But I’m an eternal optimist, and I’m hoping it’ll feel good when they stop hitting us.”
Earlier this month Wynn said he had “had enough of Mayor Walsh,” which prompted the mayor to retort that that meant he “had enough of the people of Boston.”
Slots Parlor
In its first month of operation the Plainridge Park Casino turned away 259 minors from entering, according to a report by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, which keeps track of such statistics. The slots only parlor opened in June.
According to Bruce Band, assistant director of the commission’s investigations and enforcement bureau, “It’s a constant battle.”
Some people under the age of 21 evaded security at the entrance and headed for the slot machines, where they were found and escorted out. Because the casino is always open, constant vigilance is maintained.
Commissioner Gayle Cameron commented, “I think overall, those are good numbers but any time anyone gets in, it’s a breach of security and we need to address it.”
He added that statistics would probably improve because the casino’s security personnel are “learning their jobs,” and the state’s gaming industry is still in its infancy. Security routinely scans the ID’s of anyone who might be under age 30. Those who are over 21 but look younger are given wristbands to indicate that they have been passed through security.
The State Police, casino security and the Plainville police department cooperate in maintaining security at the casino.
The Commission is still working on what fines to charge casinos that allow minors onto the floors. In Atlantic City those fines range are as high as $50,000.
The Plainridge Park Casino, which has 1,250 slot machines, has so far generated economic activity outside of its gaming floor by spending $2.4 million so far with outside vendors, for such commodities and food and beverages.
Figures released by the commissioner showed which communities and counties benefited the most from the spending.
The casino has 600 full and part-time employees, who are paid a total of $14 million annually. When Plainridge was just a racetrack it employed 100.
If the trend established by the first month in business were to hold true, the casino would collect $220 million by the end of its first year. That would exceed projections by the gaming commission but would be less than the $248 million that Penn National Gaming predicted.
Indian Casino
Meanwhile the entire gaming market of the Bay State could suddenly be set on its head. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced that it will issue a ruling on the Mashpee Wampanoag’s request to put land into trust in Taunton within 30 days.
The tribe has no hope to build its proposed $500 million Project First Light until the BIA approves of the transfer to make the 321 acre Taunton property Indian land.
The BIA sent a letter last week to the Taunton City Council President Estele Borges announcing that a decision was imminent. It asked for comments from the city on the looming decision.
The letter, by Acting Regional Director Johanna Blackhair, didn’t give away the game as to what that decision might be. “These lands are currently pending a decision by the Secretary to accept title in the name of the United States to be held in trust for the use and benefit of the tribe,” wrote Blackhair.
Because this decision has been delayed so long the Massachusetts Gaming Commission two years ago opened the bidding for the southeastern license to commercial developers. The license was always intended to go to the tribe. That’s how the 2011 gaming expansion law was written, to virtually set aside the license for the Mashpees, but only if they met several conditions. They met all of them save one: putting the land into trust.
During the process so far the BIA has remained largely silent as to what it has been doing. This is very normal, according to experts familiar with the BIA. The fact that they are now asking municipal officials could be seen as encouraging for the tribe, they say.
What many see as the main roadblock to the land into trust decision is a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Carcieri v. Salazar that ruled that tribes recognized after 1934 could not put land into trust. The tribe argues that it maintained a continuous relationship with the federal government, the state government and the British crown before that. The tribe is traditionally credited with being the tribe that met the Pilgrims when they first arrived at Plymouth.
