Turnout was pretty good(222) and retention even better – it was short, quick meeting.
The meeting opened with former moderator Jim Thomas taking current moderator Wayne Perkins to the moderator’s woodshed for a whippin’ with his hickory switch. Thomas thought the first meeting was not properly opened and closed and so could not legally be continued. Town counsel disagreed citing past conventions and various folderol.
I thought FinCom member Glenn Macpherson made some very good points about our failure to follow DOR advice by continuing to spend one-time revenues and raiding the stabilization fund. The points were covered in my last blog post. I agreed with him and was one of a small number of people wo voted against article three – the big daddy article to balance this year’s budget – which is required to send the tax bills out.
I was very pleased to see Article 14 pass overwhelmingly. This open space purchase was also covered in last blog post. Town planner Rugh Geoffroy and Conservation Agent Trisha Cassidy both made compelling arguments in support of the article. About the only issue people had was a concern that the purchase would be done with water department money – a concern that was allayed after discussion.
As much as I usually criticize the town, Article 14 had multiple town departments and boards(including the BOS) firing on all cyclinders to do a great thing for Middleboro with minimal cost.
This post contains links and supplemental information for my Bumpkin’s Corner column for 2009-05-06. That’s May 6, 2009 for people attached to dates that don’t naturally sort themselves.
This column discusses career changing. Here are a few links with related information:
One of the discussions happening in the casino debate is whether or not Congress can take land into trust(fee-to-trust) in the original thirteen colonies. Carl’s Casino Quotes and Commentary discusses this in a recent post.
The idea is that Congress can only take federal lands into trust, there are no federal lands in the original thirteen colonies(except for federal enclaves) and thus no land can be taken into trust. Also that the Articles of Confederation bestow special sovereignty on these states – a position that seems to be strengthened by a recent case in Hawaii.
Being the anti-casino traitor that I am, I’ve been discussing this with Adam Bond. I think he basically agrees with this premise or at least admits it is possible. Ever hopeful, he has suggested that Congress could take land by eminent domain for the public good, thereby creating federal land for taking into trust.
I’m still investigating all this. While there are some indian reservations in the original thirteen colonies, (CT, NY, NC) the case cited in Carl’s post seems to set a strong precedence against future LIT. Just to confuse this all a bit more, there is a bill pending in Congress that would recognize the Lumbee tribe in North Carolina(original thirteen) and provides for LIT. It seems to me that any state that wanted to mount a legal challenge to LIT has a strong position.
I’m continuing to investigate all this but for the sake of argument, here are all the federal lands in the original thirteen colonies. They mostly fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, and the National Park Service.
I’ll be reading up on this more and welcome comment.
Why is it that whenever a study shows magic benefits and no costs for casinos, it is always funded by an entity that stands to gain from them?
Sounds great until you get to this paragraph buried at the end:
A read of this study shows a lot of very obvious problems.
The premise of the study is that casino workers with less than a college education earn more and have better benefits than similarly educated workers in other industries. Here’s the obvious problem: No one is denying that casinos earn lots of money. Comparing workers in a highly profitable industry to the aggregate of all other workers is a stacked comparison. A more relevant comparison would be between casino/hotel workers and non-gaming resorts such as Disney. Comparing the pay and benefits of a hotel worker in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to a Motel 6 in Corndog, Iowa is meaningless. I would maintain that if you compared uneducated casino workers to similarly educated workers in other highly successful companies you would get a very different result.
The study also includes a section that basically says that unionized casino workers in Las Vegas fare better than their non-unionized counterparts in Reno. Interesting but meaningless since the differing economies skew the results. This section stuck out like a sore pro-union thumb.
There is a section that concludes that Patrick’s commercial casino plan is wonderful when compared to Indian casinos in CT and NY. Well duh.
This study came off as a real rah-rah for Patrick’s casino legislation with pro-union overtones. The basic mechanism of comparing workers in a highly profitable industry to all other workers was bound to produce the overly rosy results. Coupled with the funding from construction industry interests, let’s just say I’m not convinced especially when, as usual, the socio-economic costs are completely ignored.
There is something fundamentally wrong with this discussion that took place at a recent Middleboro BOS meeting. The discussion followed a routine hearing to grant a license for a new business – Ragz – a secondhand women’s clothing store.
I’ll say no more and leave it to the viewer to decide for themselves.
I reported yesterday that Shawn Hendricks and Desire Hendricks-Moreno were placed on administrative leave following a vote an an emergency meeting of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council and budding Bingo Hall/Casino managers.
Seems that Mr. Hendricks doesn’t like that idea. Man, this is like watching a train wreck in slow motion:
What word or phrase means the opposite of “capable self-governance”?
While Hendrick’s status seems uncertain, there is as yet no one challenging the un-shunning .. err … de-shunning … err .. unshunification of Amelia Bingham etal.
The front page of the Gazette featured this article and photo about the fledgling effort to pass CPA in Middleboro. The article was fair and accurate
Help wanted We have over 900 signatures to collect and less than a month remaining to do it. I have to admit that so far I’m disappointed in the number of people that are willing to work on this. We are in desperate need of people willing to gather signatures. Few of the people that came out to oppose(or support) the casino seem willing to do something proactive to prevent future development that could be just as bad.
For anyone that is willing you could download this petition, print it, sign it, and drop it off at my house (29 Moulton) or at the offices of Adam Bond – downtown Middleboro(across from Maria’s on Rt. 105). Drop it in the mailbox/slot if no one is there.
With little effort, anyone can get a few signatures. You, your spouse, a few neighbors – or even just yourself. I don’t care if I have to turn in 900 petitions with one signature each. Ideally, you would make a bit of effort to get a few signatures – but even one will be helpful.
Gathering signatures For anyone that wants to go the extra mile and collect a few signatures, I’ll tell you that it’s tough to get over the hump, but not bad once you do it. Most people are friendly and interested. It’s also good just to meet new people if you can get yourself in the right mindset. Try it – it ain’t that bad.
Apathy is tough to overcome. CPA is a good thing but it won’t pass based on my star power. It’s going to require a group of dedicated people who are willing to get out there and press the flesh.
Here is how I’ll be voting. Y’all do what you want.
President: – Obama
All other races: – Democrat
Question 1: – No to a repeal of the income tax though I’m not sure that I won’t vote “Yes” to send a message. Pass or fail I think the legislature will not allow this to go through.
Question 2: – Yes to decriminalizing small quantities of marijuana(less than 1 oz.). Possesion would be subject to a civil penalty($100 fine) vs. a criminal penalty
Question 3: – Yes to a ban on dog racing to take effect Jan. 1 2010
There has been a bit of discussion in pro/anti casino circles about the effect on gambling for a McCain versus Obama presidency. On the one hand, McCain has gotten a lot more money from commercial casino interests. On the other, Indian country has endorsed Obama. So if you are against the Mashpee Wampanoag casino as I am, that means vote McCain … right?
I hold out hope that Obama will bring fresh eyes to the issue and do the right thing. There is also the Deval factor. Deval and Massachusetts state government has shown a decided disdain for an Indian casino, and even commercial ones. The state submitted a lengthy letter to the BIA listing it’s objections to taking the Middleboro land into trust. Deval and Obama are very close and I have to believe that Deval would have some influence with Obama. For all I know, Deval could become the Secretary of the Interior. Wouldn’t that be funny?
In any event, there are larger issues than a casino in Middleoboro facing this county, and I am quite sure that Obama is the better choice.
While watching the debate tonight – I was initially amused and ultimately disgusted that Palin repeatedly pronounced “nuclear” as “nuculer” – just like Bush. I googled for Palin and nuculer and found these funny vids:
Don’t forget to support the CFO yard sale today at the Lakeville old town hall from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
On a completely unrelated topic, there is a good column in The Day that argues that the current downturn in revenue at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun are more than just temporary results of the current economic situation. Columnist David Collins makes a good case that the market is saturated. I also found the comments on the article to be worth reading.
The Norwich Bulletin has a good article about Mohegan Sun’s announcement to suspend expansion. There’s been a lot of articles on this topic recently but this one sums it up quite nicely. Bottom line – it seems that we are some years away from an economy that will support more casinos – regardless of any other factors.
If the quoted economist is right, we have fewere day trippers from Massachusetts which takes some wind out of the argument that we must recapture lost reveneue. This argument is nonsense anyway until someone shows me the money – that recapturing the revenue will lead to a net economic gain after all costs are figured in.
Here’s an article from one of my favorite non-Gazette papers about the worsening financial woes of Twin Rivers
Now here’s a quote that makes no sense. On the one hand, the article calls them the “financial backers”. In this quote, Barrows tries to make the case that this will have no effect on the Mashpee Wampanaoag Ultra Bingo Hall since they are “brokers” not “investors”. I find that argument to be largely semantics. There is no doubt that the credit-worthiness of Kerzner etal will be a key factor in securing financing.
Hmm,, Ferson must have been at the spa getting his inevitablility waxed.
This Wicked Local article raises an interesting point about how communities can cash in on smart growth. Just so we’re all on the same page, smart growth is defined by Wikipedia, the ultimate source of all irrefutable knowledge this way:
Now back to our regularly scheduled article.
Growth is coming whether we want it or not. And it may come a lot faster than we want. Are we ready? Have we looked at zoning changes? Do we have a open space preservation plan and are we adhering it to it?
In theory, Middleboro has been planning for the arrival of the Mashpee Wampanoag casino for over a year now. Have we tackled any of these issues – particularly zoning changes? If we have it is a well kept secret.
In the last year, what impacts have we identified and what is the mitigation plan? Time is short and must make sure we make good use of it.
Another in my ongoing series on CPA, this article reports on a historic preservation effort in Kingston to restore the Major John Bradford Homestead.
Using a grant from the town’s CPA fund, a structural assessment was conducted on the property. At some later date, the local history preservation society will try to obtain another CPA grant to make repairs on the proprety.
Here in Middleboro, we’re sitting idly by while the Green School slowly rots away – adding more cost to any future repairs. Sooner or later, probably later, we will spend money to repair, maintain, or tear down this building. CPA would give us access to money that we will eventually have to spend anyway. The benefit of CPA money is that we wouldn’t have to borrow money for the extras – it would have already been set aside. An additionaly benefit is that some portion of the money would come from the state CPA fund. CPA money is matched by the state at 70% this year and as much as 100% in the past.
Please join me 
Recent Comments