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All bets are off: Boston goes to court to try to quash Everett casino, or, at least, get more money out of it
By adamg on Mon, 01/05/2015 - 6:14pm
In a lawsuit filed today, Boston seeks to have the state's award of a casino license to Wynn for a site in Everett tossed out as illegal, charging the planned Everett casino will be built on a foundation of criminal acts and legal bungling that will destroy efforts to improve Sullivan Square and deny the city its rightful amount of mitigation money.
The suit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, claims that eight acres of the Wynn property sit in Boston and that its sole egress will be through Charlestown. This, the city charges, means Charlestown residents were deprived of their right to vote on the casino plan - and that Boston was improperly denied the "host community" status that would require Wynn to agree to put up much larger sums of money for Boston than it has so far.
And then there are all the shenanigans related to the guys Wynn bought the land from - guys who were indicted in October by both state and federal grand juries. Letting the deal go through would "allow those who have committed unlawful acts to defraud the Commission and the Commonwealth to earn substantial illicit profits," not to mention harm Boston and other nearby communities, the suit charges.
Even if the casino is legal, Boston is still being wronged, the city alleges, because:
(1) Boston provides the only existing access to and egress from Wynn’s proposed casino; (2) the voters in Everett approved the development of a casino on property located in Boston; and (3) many of the proposed casino’s “amenities” are located in Boston. Wynn’s proposed “gaming establishment” is located, in part, in Boston, rendering Boston a host community.
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| Attachment | Size |
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 Complete copy of Boston's lawsuit | 278.02 KB |
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Comments
ugh
At the rate we're going we may see a Pot Dispensary in the city of Boston or the Olympics before we ever see any ground broken at a Casino site. This has just moved to beyond silly now.
At this rate, freebasing coke
At this rate, freebasing coke on the steps of the State House is going to be legal before this casino gets built.
Maybe the administration
Maybe the administration is still ticked off about the Globe's editorial of Jan 1:
"Walsh’s most flat-footed moment came in September during the awarding of the Greater Boston casino license to Wynn resorts in Everett, which borders the congested Charlestown section of Boston. Walsh lost his grip on the process, failing to sign a surrounding-community agreement with Wynn and refusing to engage in arbitration. Instead, the mayor went on the attack against the state gambling commission, accusing it of skirting state gaming laws. But Walsh and his hapless legal department weren’t ready to make that case in court. And the same gambling commission had to step in and negotiate an agreement on behalf of Boston taxpayers that would require Wynn to pay $56 million toward traffic and other improvements in Charlestown’s Sullivan Square. The entire affair made the mayor look like a novice."
Now that you have new
Now that you have new Governor elect Baker in office in a week , he's going to push for a Casino in Everett, former right hand man to Ex Gov and multi millionaire William Weld who happens to be an attorney for Steve Wynn, I would worry to, If I was Mayor of Boston.
Well
The Patrick-appointed gaming commission awarded Everett the gaming license, so why wouldn't Baker push for the casino to actually be built there?