So many hurdles to overcome before we can ever possibly get a casino in Fall River. I recently heard Mayor Flanagan state that people "just don't understand how close to getting a casino we really are." Today, another hurdle was put in our path to casino-topia. Previously it was "hoped" by our powers-that-be that Fall River would have the advantage in getting one of the three casino permits, because Fall River's casino plan was for indian gaming and one of the permits would "hopefully" be dedicated to an indian plan.
This afternoon, the Senate introduced a casino bill and it gives no preference to indian casino plans. This means Fall River will not have any advantage in the race to get a permit. This means we are now in direct competition with numerous other cities and towns vying for the
1 coveted permit for the region (the region is norfolk, bristol, plymouth, nantucket, dukes and barnstable counties). New Bedford is one of these cities. And lets be honest, they have their $hit together over there much more than Fall River does; governmentally, economically, planning wise, and in the area of economic development.
The recent decisions by Mayor Flanagan and Atty Torres to forego the BioPark and gamble on the slight chance of getting a casino are capricious and will likely have a detrimental impact on our city long after they are voted out of office.
Extorting the state with a threat he can never follow through on seems like such a bad idea. I am pretty sure with these remarks, Cedric Cromwell just bumped the Fall River Casino plans to the bottom of the list.
