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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
 Posted - 12/03/2012 : 4:48:17 PM
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A Guest Op- Ed by Alderman Robert Van Campen
There has been much talk and publicity recently about a proposed casino development on an industrial parcel along Lower Broadway. Many members of the City Council first learned about this potential development in a Boston Herald article highlighting Mayor DeMaria who appeared to be reviewing plans for this project.
Some in positions of leadership in our community have referred to this as a “windfall” opportunity for the City of Everett. But before residents of our community can realistically say that the “Wynn Plan” is such a windfall, they will need detailed information to make that decision and they will need answers to the questions that will most certainly be asked once those details are made public.
A destination resort casino development could potentially bring jobs to a community that desperately needs them; commercial development and investment to a community that has seen little in the past 5 to 6 years; and – depending on the ultimate design – could transform the face of one of Everett’s heavily industrial and undeveloped areas. Assuming that such a development could be accomplished with the best interests of Everett in mind, these are some of the potential positive attributes of a casino development.
On the negative side, such a development could increase crime in a community that already has a crime and gang problem; could increase drug use in a community that already struggles with a rampant illegal drug culture; and could usher into Everett all of the social ills that have been well-documented in numerous studies surrounding the impacts of casino developments on their host community. For all of these reasons, the people of Everett should tread very carefully before buying into the idea of a casino development in our community.
The plan proposed by Wynn Development is entirely conceptual and speculative at this point. The people of Everett have no idea what these buildings look like; they have no information as to how traffic impacts would be mitigated; how increased crime and other problems will be mitigated; or frankly, whether, if at all, a casino development would be the right development for Everett with a net benefit to its residents.
For years, the City has had no vision for the industrial parcels along Lower Broadway that are now being considered. Some in positions of leadership in Everett have even publicly stated that nobody would ever want to meaningfully develop these parcels. At that time I disagreed with such a statement, and I disagree today. Some community leaders previously advocated for the relocation of Wood Waste of Boston to this site (which would have effectively ended any chance to develop this area). The fact that Wynn Development may be interested in this site is positive news in an area that has had virtually no economic development vision for years.
In the final analysis – and in light of all of the uncertainty associated with this potential development – it would be wise for the people of Everett to reserve judgment as to whether such a development would be a positive or a negative for our community. Although Mayor DeMaria has told the Boston Herald that “the people of Everett would probably say yes” to a casino development, I believe it is far too early to determine whether we should be advocating for a casino or opposing it. There are too many unanswered questions, and the people of Everett – who will have the ultimate say – should demand much more information before rushing to judgment.
An initial public meeting to discuss this proposal has been scheduled for December 11th at 6:30p.m. at the Connolly Center. I urge all Everett residents to attend, and to ask any questions they may have.
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 12/04/2012 : 09:08:17 AM
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Everett site has better use than a casino
By Paul McMorrow
December 04, 2012
The Mystic River and a pair of rail lines are all that separate Assembly Square in Somerville from the wasteland in Everett that casino magnate Steve Wynn wants to transform into a resort casino. The two properties are so close that a decent golfer could tee off on one and hit the other. They share a common industrial heritage. Until work crews began clearing Assembly Square for construction, the land on the Somerville side of the Mystic looked just as forlorn as it does now in Everett.
Assembly Square and the old riverfront Monsanto plant in Everett are, in many ways, two sides of the same coin. Now, however, they’re on sharply divergent development paths. One builds a new economy, and the other builds an elaborate structure for siphoning cash into the hands of one wealthy corporation. Somerville is creating a new neighborhood, while Everett’s mayor is parading Steve Wynn through City Hall. Everett’s is a considerably less ambitious and less constructive en-deavor, and it’s one the city doesn’t have to settle for. Somerville could have had what Everett now has (a less than certain shot at one of three state casino licenses), and turned that offer down. That alone should give Everett pause — especially because the city could easily replicate what is hap-pening at Assembly Square.
Steel beams are now rising — forming space for new shops, and for hundreds of apartments. The four new city blocks currently under construction will eventually mushroom into a mixed-use neighborhood with 2,100 new residences and well over 2 million square feet of office and retail space, all sitting on a new Orange Line subway stop. And there’s more coming, as the decision by the furniture retailer IKEA to sell its 12 acres in Assembly Square opens the door for a significant expansion of the new neighborhood Federal Realty Investment Trust is currently building.
Assembly Square is booming now, but its success was far from a foregone conclusion. The site was once a forgotten, isolated corner of Somerville, left behind by industry and cut off from the rest of the city by Interstate 93. It was the site of an old auto plant and a failed mall, and not much else. It didn’t look like much, but Assembly Square’s neighbors had vision. They saw the immense potential in a large parcel of open land sitting on the river and on a subway line, and they fought for de-velopment that would live up to the site’s unique location.
The 37-acre former Monsanto site Wynn toured last week isn’t quite Assembly Square’s twin — it’s on a commuter rail line, not the subway, and it faces a more intensive environmental cleanup — but it’s a close relative. Both have transit links. Both sit on the water. Both are sizeable open parcels sitting close to Boston. The fundamentals are baked into the real estate. They’re just waiting for the vision to catch up.
Assembly Square and the old riverfront Monsanto plant in Everett are, in many ways, two sides of the same coin.
Those fundamentals are why Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone told a Globe reporter last week that he’d repeatedly rebuffed developers looking to build in Assembly Square what Wynn wants to build across the river. “Over my dead body would a casino come to Assembly Square or any part of Somerville,” Curtatone said.
Somerville activists pushed for a mix of offices, retail, and new homes laid out in city blocks — because this mix will allow Assembly Square to become a building block in a broader economic development strategy. The neighborhood’s builders are hoping to capture development overflow from red-hot Cambridge. The Orange Line links the neighborhood to Boston, and to the Station Landing development near Wellington station in Medford. The new residences, new office space, and new restaurants are additive. They grow the economy organically.
The Everett casino, on the other hand, would be an end unto itself. And worse, it would squander the location that’s enabling Assembly Square’s transformation. Casinos, like IKEA furniture stores, come in pre-cut boxes. These boxes are designed to maximize profit wherever they’re plunked down. They are indifferent, if not hostile, to their surroundings. They can go anywhere, which means they’re awful fits for waterfront, transit-adjacent real estate, of which there’s a limited sup-ply. A site like Assembly Square, or like the Monsanto site, needs to live up to its full potential. There are too few of them to waste.
Paul McMorrow is an associate editor at Commonwealth Magazine. His column appears regularly in the Globe.
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Casino Op-Ed
