Three Massachusetts Towns Asking for Greater Participation in Gambling Decision

In the state of Massachusetts, three towns are pressing for a say in making yet another town be the host of a planned casino.   The towns of Ashland, Holliston, and Hopkinton are making sure their voices heard by letting their top-level management team send a joint letter to the state, asking the latter to include them in the decision-making process of legalizing expanded gaming. This letter was drafted by Holliston Town Administrator and selectmen Chairman Andy Porter and was later submitted after a meeting was held among selectmen chairmen and the executive assistants of the three towns involved.  The letter is actually addressed to a conference committee composed of six members, who are considering the legislation on gambling.   State legislators, including Gov.  Deval Patrick, Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo, Senate President Therese Murray, Sen.  Karen Spilka (D), Rep.  Tom Sannicandro (D), Rep.  Carolyn Dykema (D), among other local and state officials, were furnished copies as well. Other towns not included? The committee is composed of senators Stanley Rosenberg (D), Steven Panagiotakos (D), and Richard Ross (R), along with Reps.  Kathi-Anne Reinstein (D), Brian Dempsey (D) and David Frost (R), legislators of the towns of Lowell, Wrenthan, Reinstein, Revere, Auburn, and Haverhill. The committee, whose goal is also to reach a compromise between the House and Senate, must do so by the end of the formal session on July 31, after only which the bill can move forward.   Officials from Holliston made the meeting possible after talking about the need to make the issue of expanded gaming a regional one, and therefore should be tackled regionally.   The issue of expanded gambling includes a plan of developing a casino that is said to rise in the town of Milford.   According to Ashland selectmen Chairman Jon Fetherston, they placed in the letter their concern that the casino may actually do more damage than good to Milford’s neighboring towns, and for only one city or town decide on the issue “is flawed from the outset.” An eager developer goes public Developed David Nunes has divulged his plans to build a 300,000-square-foot casino in Milford, located between the east side of Interstate 495 and the north side of Rte.  16.   The casino complex is said to house gambling tables, slot machines, a hotel with 300 rooms and four restaurants.   Traffic is planned to go through a freeway ramp, which will also be newly constructed along with the rest of the facilities.   This development has been made known to the public despite the fact that a gaming law has yet to be approved by the state.