As I’ve said before I am pro resort casino…not necessarily pro slots, I’m against slot parlors. If we have to accept a room or two of slots to get a hotel, retail stores, restaurants, etc, I’m willing to make the compromise. And I will visit the slots from time to time to hand over my $20 bucks.
I find this to be a stunning display of determination.
The group is hoping to get at least 200 motorists – more if possible – who will drive routes through Palmer. Each car will have a sign clearly indicating it is part of the effort, [Emma Ladd] Shepard said.
……They are hoping that trucks and maybe even some recreational vehicles will participate, and one elderly member of the group is planning to walk slowly across the street, Shepard said.
All vehicles will travel at the speed limit, she said.
I also find this all to be a little dangerous, especially for the poor little old lady. But the results will be interesting and I am quite curious about what will happen.
Palmer Casino Traffic Simulation
Saturday, June 13
10:30am-12noon
Drive in a circuit around the center of Palmer
to illustrate the increased traffic
http://www.casinofacts.org/pal…
Anyone interested in going let me know, if not I’ll update you on the happenings after the fact.
She’s a hell of a lady.
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p>Thank goodness there’s still some people left who understand why casinos aren’t what the Foxwood’s commercials and some of our leadership say they are – and are willing to put their backbones into it.
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p>Thanks for posting this.
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p>You know, I pretty much felt as you did about this whole issue until a casino was going to be built in the next town – right down the street from me. I was a total NIMBY – but I did what I always do – research.
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p>You know what I found out about casinos and slots?
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p>To quote the Twilight Zone… “It’s a cookbook!”
I’m pretty close to where you are on this issue. I push back because I object to the militancy of the anti-casino crowd as demonstrated by their planned traffic jam.
Where would anyone get the notion that a planned traffic simulation is militancy?
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p>Should people who live in small rural towns not have a voice in the siting of a mega-corporation that operates 24/7/365 in their region? The mega-corporation would base it’s operation on vehicles transporting people to the site expending fuel and producing air pollution while changing the entire ecosystem and infrastructure in mature communities?
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p>From what I have read the planned simulation has been developed by local taxpayers and approved by law enforcement. It may not change the votes of far away legislators as long as it is not in their district, but it may be fuel for thought for those who only see the issue as “bringing jobs” and “revenues” to the Commonwealth.
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p>The Democratic party that I believe in does not support large scale corporations that leave intense environmentally negative footprints over local small and family owned businesses. Something is seriously awry in the priorities of elected leadership. The conclusion I have to draw is that greed and desperation fueled by fear have overtaken common sense and values.
so yes militant. They are using a vehicle which can be used to kill. It will have a much greater impact that 200 people standing in a sectioned off area, where they can do no harm. If you think about, it really is militant in nature. They are trying to be forceful with tons of steel and fiberglass. I hope they have a good lawyer handy.
I think the pre-judging is happening in some of these posts toward the local individuals who want to demonstrate what increased traffic might look like should a class III casino be sited in an established town (versus say a desert or an urban center) of 13,000 residents. The projections are 9,000 daily visitors, 12,000 on weekends. One of the problems with print media and blogging is that the tone of the group’s intentions cannot be conveyed. I don’t know but it seems to me that the finger pointing is coming from some posts here not the activist group.
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p>-adjective
1. vigorously active and aggressive, esp. in support of a cause: militant reformers.
2. engaged in warfare; fighting.
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p>Is that what the group told you?
Making real change happen in America has always included four elements: education, litigation, legislation and demonstration (or what Christopher describes as “militancy”).
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p>America’s most noted historian of the Civil Rights Movement Taylor Branch – who also happens to be one of the country’s most outspoken voices against state-sponsored predatory gambling – tells a story about how as a young boy, he was fascinated by what made young black school girls stand in front of powerful police water hoses during the movement for civil rights.
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p>Much later, he came to understand it. He understood that those black school girls were committed to the principle that there is no royal blood in America. We don’t have any Kings or Queens. In America, ALL blood is royal. Those school girls had the sense that they owned this country and they realized that what they owned was broken and it was up to them to fix it.
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p>When it comes to predatory gambling, our government is broken. And those people in the Quabog Valley recognize it’s up to them to fix it.
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p>Les Bernal
Demonstrations per se are not militancy, though I’m not a big fan of the type that physically obstructs and gets in the way of others going about their business. It is the attitude among many (which I commend you for mostly not stooping to) that they are absolutely 100% correct and treating opposing arguments as so completely and obviously misguided, possibly maliciously intended, and hardly worth responding to. These are the people who raise hysterical and hyperbolic arguments that insist the sky is going to fall if we allow a single slot machine, but in my mind serve to weaken their case. You personally have generally been better at laying out your arguments in a way that I can take more seriously. The debate is fine, and I’m not chomping at the bit to introduce casinos myself; it’s the attitude I object to.
I give this group credit for being gutsy, ORGANIZED, and motivated. BUT I disagree with what they are fighting for. It may or may not make a difference, we will have to see.
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p>I do think it’s a little dangerous, and I hope no-one gets hurt. I am rather surprised the Town of Palmer is allowing it. It could really have some devastating consequences. But I will not be launching an anti-“dangerous protest” effort. I will probably be standing on Main St waving at you.
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p>More importantly though, in response to your comment, I think equating gambling to civil rights is a little insulting to the civil rights movement. Those people went through hell, literally risked their lives to fight for what was right.
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p>If you honestly believe your fight is in any way equal to the civil rights movement, you need to do some serious research into that entire era. It was an ugly part of American History, one with grave and deadly consequences for those who stood strong against those who abused and suppressed them.
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p>I am on the other end of your fight for what you believe in, I am tired of the righteous among us in this world who always feel they know what is best for everyone. Anti abortion, anti gay, anti casino, anti anti anti etc etc. Where is the live and let live?
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p>Have you ever considered fighting to prevent kids from dropping out of school, or some other such purposeful effort. You could do amazing things if you fought just as hard for that.
makes a good point that Palmer handles the Brimfield Antique show OK. Those events draw huge crowds and cars. Many travel through Palmer to get there. But they don’t all arrive in town at 10:30am.
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I’ve had my share of experiences with the traffic around the Brimfield shows…there are three ways to get there: for the Ct and the NYC crowd, most go up ’84 and the Boston folks take the Pike to Sturbridge. That leaves the Western MA and Upstate NY folks getting off in Palmer (yes, SOME CT/NYC folks will go up 91 to WSpfld and over to Palmer on the Pike…but why). So Palmer gets the least of the Brimfield traffic.
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p>Plus, Brinfield is 3 times a year (or has it been reduced down to Two). Can you imagine Brimfield traffic 52 weeks a year!!! You’ve got to be kidding me.
Citizen Casino Impact Study Committee
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p>Includes FINAL REPORT TO THE TOWN COUNCIL April 13, 2009