Suffolk officials hear Revere residents’ casino concerns

REVERE – Jobs were on the minds of many Revere-area residents among the 200-plus people to attend the first public meeting Wednesday night for a proposed resort-style casino at Suffolk Downs race track.”I’m concerned about people in Revere who can’t pay their rent or their bills,” said Revere resident James Leonard, who took the opportunity to ask Chip Tuttle, Suffolk Downs’ chief operating officer, exactly how many jobs a casino could bring to the area.Tuttle told Leonard that if the racetrack, which straddles the Revere-East Boston border, received a gaming license from the state, it could reasonably expect to hire 2,500 union construction jobs and 4,000 more full-time union jobs after the casino and hotel were built.That pleased Leonard, who said afterward that the word “union” was what he wanted to hear: It will allow potential workers to negotiate fair pay, he said.”I don’t want to hear about jobs, I want to hear about jobs that can pay someone’s rent,” he said.Chris and Tom Lowe, both Lynn residents who work in labor, said they’re thrilled about the potential for more work in the area.”I like to think that there will be more out there for future generations,” Tom Lowe said of the project.Tuttle told the crowd that one of the casino’s priorities would be to hire local residents, who would come second in line only to current Suffolk Downs employees and former employees of the nearby, now-defunct Wonderland dog-racing track.”I know there’s lots of people in the community that would like a crack at those jobs,” he said, to applause.Wednesday’s town meeting, held at Revere High School, came exactly a week after Suffolk Downs executives announced a $1 billion plan to expand the track into a resort-style casino on the current 163 acres. On Friday, they also announced a $40 million traffic plan aimed at improving Revere and East Boston roads and mitigating casino traffic which, Tuttle said, would average about 10,000 extra cars on the road every weekday.That number concerned residents like Dave Bryson, who drives his son from their home in Revere to school in Somerville and Cambridge every day.”There’s already enough traffic on 1A in the morning and afternoon without adding casino traffic,” he said.But longtime Revere resident Anthony Ciulla and his wife, Rita Ciulla, liked Suffolk Downs’ preliminary plans to divert traffic away from the congested Route 60 and Bell Circle, among other suggested intersection projects in Revere.”The whole area is going to be better off with those roads being fixed,” he said.But improving traffic won’t be enough for some Revere residents. Nicholas DeLena is a spokesman for a newly formed advocacy group called Revere’s Fair Share, which calls for making sure Revere sees proportionate revenue from the project.DeLena said members of his group would like to ensure that Revere receives a portion of the annual tax revenue, which he and Suffolk Downs executives said sits at $200 million.That money currently goes directly to the state, and that’s the way it will continue to be, Tuttle told the crowd. He said any additional revenue for Revere and Boston is still up for debate.That worried DeLena”We deserve a larger slice of the pie than the zero we’re essentially getting right now,” he said.But residents’ overall reaction to the casino plan seemed positive.Anthony Ciulla summed up many attendees’ feelings when he said he trusts Suffolk Downs officials to operate with integrity.”They’ve always had interest in the community, not just asking for money,” he said.Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected].