It's Called a Crap Shoot for a REASON!

I didn't see the paper yesterday as Nassau Executive Ed Mangano discussed a proposal with the Shinnecocks to build a casino on the Coliseum property site. I was too busy preparing for my end-of-season meeting with GM Garth Snow. I didn't know what I had missed until I arrived at the Islanders Executive Offices and someone stopped me asking if I was there to discuss the morning news.

My reaction was tempered by my surroundings, but as this is a blog and not the one that I am paid to do, I can speak my mind a little more freely. (Although not as freely as I would like as there really is no such thing as free speech if you have press creds.)

Dear Ed: Please tell me you're joking, right? This is just a clever ploy to light a fire under the butt of your fellow Republican, Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray, right? You can't possibly be serious thinking that bringing a casino to the area will be GOOD for Nassau County.

We all know how cash strapped Nassau is. Hell, all of New York State is going down the drain financially and they are looking to tax everything and anything in order to close the gap. But a casino will only benefit the Indian Nation ownership that will be tax exempt and Federally protected.

Casino is such a pretty word. It brings to mind glitter and glamour and free-wheeling good times. But let's call it what it really is: GAMBLING. That addictive activity that has ruined people's lives equally as often as giving them pleasure. It's false hope of getting out of a financial hole.

That's what I think you're looking at it as: A false hope of getting out of Nassau's financial hole. If you think that gambling is the answer to a state's financial crisis, please look at New Jersey. I do believe they are in the same mess as New York and they have had gambling for years.

So really, you think that slot machines and hookers are going to be better for the area than a convention center, a sports medical technology center and a theater? It will be better to have a casino to offer jobs to the colleges within walking distance than it is the high tech centers?

Are the Hofstra students going to take internships in Blackjack and Roulette? Is the traffic situation not going to be effected by buses of blue haired seniors with sack lunches spending their social security checks on quarter machines? Do you think the Garden City Hotel will be giving special rates for overnight stays and a shuttle to the Shinnecock casino? I doubt it, but the Day-Rate motels down the strip probably will.

Really, what kind of jobs do you think will be available to the community when the Shinnecocks themselves need jobs. Do you seriously think they won't be happy to send a caravan of buses from the east end with workers?

These are the jobs that the Lighthouse Project (without the NHL team) is projected to bring to the area:
26,250 construction jobs
48,750 construction related jobs
450 waiters,busboys & bartenders
312 sales clerks and retail professionals
124 sports technology professionals
102 interns
47 chefs
450 pee wee hockey players & staff
685 engineers, lawyers and accountants
16,780 additional permanent jobs

What do you have in your employment estimates?

Also, please look at change in crime rates in areas that already have casinos. Just a suggestion. I'm thinking there is a reason they are built away from residential areas. And when they are built in residential neighborhoods, while they pay a chunk of the local tax burden, I imagine they bring residential property value DOWN not up. Certainly I could be wrong as I haven't fully researched the statistics of Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Yonkers.

But still, seriously, Mr. Mangano -- WTF are you THINKING?

Dee Karl