Rizzo: I hope to see new Suffolk plan

REVERE – Ward 1 City Councilor Richard Penta held court in Torretta?s Wednesday morning, but the discussion among the six men sitting in the Beachmont bakery focused on the race track bordering Beachmont, not Penta?s Tuesday night election victory.?It?s a desert – no one goes there,” said Vittorio Gioacchini.Tuesday?s vote in East Boston to reject a proposed casino at Suffolk Downs racetrack surprised Gioacchini and the other men sipping coffee in Torretta?s – especially since Revere voters approved the casino 6,566-4,232. Ward 1 voters came out strong for the casino, said Penta, and he supports Mayor Daniel Rizzo?s bid to get Suffolk executives to re-configure their plans to make Revere the casino?s proposed site.?I think the mayor, as we speak, is trying to put it in Revere,” Penta said.Penta is worried about the “few hundred” Suffolk jobs now employing Revere residents if the track cannot secure a casino license or if its owners decide to shut down.Rizzo on Wednesday said he met this week with Suffolk representatives to refocus the casino plan from the East Boston side of the 163-acre racetrack to the 52 acres located in Revere, now dominated by Suffolk?s stable complex.?My goal is to see if they can re-configure and then work with the (state) Gaming Commission to gain their confidence. I feel like I owe it to our residents to pursue any and all options to keep Suffolk there,” Rizzo said.Suffolk Chief Operating Officer Chip Tuttle in a statement Wednesday said Suffolk will “explore options in Revere” without providing additional details on a possible redrafted casino plan.Stephen Crosby, chairman of the gambling commission, in a Tuesday radio interview quoted by the State House News Service, called the East Boston vote definitive, adding, “that?s the end of it.”Suffolk has until Dec. 31 to draw up a new casino plan for commission review.He is aware of the year-end deadline, but Rizzo said he will do all he can to support a new Suffolk casino plan if track executives draft one.?Right now, the burden is on them. I do not believe it?s insurmountable,” he said.Suffolk in June 2012 unveiled a billion-dollar plan to compete for one of the three regional casino licenses the commission will issue early next year with a casino built around the 78-year-old horse track and employing 4,000 workers. Track executives negotiated host agreements with Revere and Boston city officials, including an agreement Rizzo said is worth $225 million over 15 years to Revere. Suffolk?s plan faces competition from an Everett casino proponent who has won the support of that city?s residents.Penta said shifting Suffolk?s plan to the track?s Revere side makes sense. He said available land for a casino in Revere is double the 26 acres staked out for the proposed Everett gambling complex.Suffolk?s rejection by East Boston voters caught Torretta?s frequenter Tony Russo by surprise. He thinks casino opponents distracted East Boston residents from the job benefits associated with a Suffolk casino.?I was astonished. If people would stand and think by themselves they could weigh out the value of the jobs – the jobs are right here,” he said.East Boston native and Peabody resident Mary Lou Screnci agreed, but she knows East Boston voters considered potential traffic congestion generated by a casino when they went to the polls. She thinks a well-thought-out traffic plan can make a re-configured Suffolk plan a success.?I think Revere is going to take a shot,” Screnci said.