Marzelli offer
The controversy over the CFO yard sale led to this conversation on Adam Bond’s Coffee Shop Talk radio show. It includes a surprising offer from Bill Marzelli – who’s taken a few lumps in the blogosphere and press recently. Mr. Marzelli is a prominent local casino proponent.
Here is the audio. Click the mustache to play.
Themocracy
Sounds good to me! But will anti-casino folks be allowed to put up signs, hand out literature, bumperstickers, sign petitions etc – and not end up being joined by a crowd of people in orange shirts and giant ‘casino yes’ signs protesting during the sale. So, it’s a great location and a great offer, but that’s the caveat for me. I’d personally like to see the yard sale in another town where people might not have heard of the website, etc. Thanks for taking the time to publish that, um, interesting sound byte.
I believe that Mr. Mazelli made an admirable, good faith offer and it is certainly worth consideration. His willingness to extend himself despite holding a different point of view is admirable.
I’ll refrain from commenting…although I would like to say that Mr. Marzelli has one of the brightest offspring I know.
Sounds like an admirable offer. Maybe some pro folks have finally realized that opposition to the casino actually puts us in a better place visavi any future negotiations. The sign-now, just roll over and take what they give you crowd, has put us in a real pickle. Having a healthy CFO is important to everybody in town, wether they want to admit it or not.
The one thing I worry about is folks being intimidated by the location, kind of in the “Lions Den” as it where. There has been some serious name calling by pro casino folks, which could affect the success of a sale at that locaton.
On the other hand, a successfull sale and a well behaved opposition, could be a healthy endeavor for everybody.
Indeed. I maintain that the “sign now” crowd probably cost the town millions of dollars.
The pro-casino people could have supported the idea of a casino but only if there was an equitable agreement. An agreement that pays us less than half of what a commercial facility would pay is not what I would call equitable.
More resistance would not have been futile, it would have been lucrative.
If I could throw my 2 cents here, I would like to advise CasinoFacts.org to take my Dad up on his offer. He is right, he has the best location in town for a yard sale, and wouldn’t make this offer if he did not intend to be a gracious host.
Signed,
Tracy Marzelli
I’d agree Tracy – unless CFO really wants to do this in a town other than Middleboro – which might be a wise move.
Mr. Marzelli’s offer was quite a pleasant surprise. The original intent of having a yard sale in Lakeville was to involve other communities in our efforts. We have other fundraisers planned in other communities as well. With that said, it was very gracious of him to offer up primo real estate for our fundraiser, and I thank him. I have to agree with Tracy here, I think he made his offer in kind and would make a gracious host if we do decide to take him up on his offer and hold the yardsale in Middleboro.
Thanks Bill — and I too must say you have an extremely intelligent and wonderful daughter. You should be proud of her, which I am sure you are.