Revere set for casino discussion

REVERE – Kathi Anne Reinstein hopes the people she grew up with and sees every day will get to talk about the pros and cons of bringing casinos to Massachusetts next Tuesday along with the politicians, union leaders and casino moguls scheduled to testify before a legislative committee.The Revere legislator said her neighbors and friends will benefit directly from a plan, if it materializes, to introduce slot machines at racetracks.But she also knows they could lose out if, as critics suggest, a Boston area resort casino adds traffic to local highways and draws diners and patrons from bars and restaurants.”I’d like to see local people come up and testify,” said Reinstein, who along with colleague Robert DeLeo supports bringing slot machines to Wonderland Greyhound Park and other tracks.Gov. Deval Patrick opposes slots at tracks. He will formally ask legislators, beginning Tuesday, to endorse his plan to build three resort casinos in the state.Patrick’s plan faces legislative opposition with House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi as the leading critic. But a coalition of business and union representatives, as well as municipal officials, back the governor’s plan.The Massachusetts Coalition for Jobs and Growth this week endorsed a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce study claiming three casinos “would generate over $2 billion in economic activity.””The report confirms the governor’s estimates on permanent jobs, and significant revenues to the state and cities and towns. That is good news for those in our state who need good jobs with good benefits, and good news for homeowners and local officials in our state who are looking for ways to ease the local property tax burden,” said Salem Mayor Kimberly Driscoll.Revere Mayor Thomas Ambrosino is a Coalition member who also supports efforts to bring slots to Wonderland and other tracks. He thinks any infusion of gambling money will benefit cities like Revere facing potential shortages of state aid and property tax revenue this year.Ambrosino has not discounted the necessity of city employee layoffs to hold the line on city spending. The mayor and Police Chief Terence Reardon want to increase Police Department ranks from 92 to 100 officers, but Reardon this week said Ambrosino’s fiscal worries may mean only four officers are added to the department.”It’s tough, as always,” Reardon said in assessing police funding prospects Tuesday.DeLeo thinks bringing slots to Wonderland, even as Suffolk Downs pushes to become one of Patrick’s resort casinos, will add money to the city and state budgets.Wonderland President Richard Dalton agreed and said slots could be operational at the track in six months after receiving legislative approval.By contrast, he warned that litigation and other objections at the local level could stall casino projects for years.Suffolk owners estimate a casino at the Revere-Boston track could generate 5,600 full-time good-paying jobs with benefits, 10,000 construction jobs, and 5,600 indirect jobs, as well as provide $1 billion in gross revenues, a large percentage of which, they said, would flow to cities and towns in Massachusetts, if selected for one of the casino licenses.”We estimate that our proposal would create more than 11,000 direct and indirect good-paying jobs with benefits and provide hundreds of millions of dollars in new public revenues,” Suffolk President John Hall said in a statement last December.