To the Editor:
Having lived on an island in the Caribbean before gambling casinos were allowed, I can tell you that the whole demographics of the island was negatively impacted once they were built. The transformation started with the infrastructure — roads, traffic, garbage, water, and sewage — to the safety factor (gambling casinos have a tendency to attract a different, and sometimes dangerous, element) instigating an increase in police enforcement.
If we think the traffic is bad now in the summer, wait until the airplane junkets start to arrive, and the charter buses not only take up your space on the ferries, but clog all the roads leading to Aquinnah.
For the above reasons, I would urge the MVC insist that they have a say in the construction of the Aquinnah Cliffs Casino. If that’s not possible, then I make the suggestion that the Aquinnah Cliffs Casino figure out a way to get their patrons from one end of the Island to the other without completely destroying the character of this extraordinary place in the process. Perhaps building a helipad or a harbor landing so that excursion boats could come directly from the mainland without impacting the rest of the Island? Just a thought, as ludicrous as it may seem.
June Parker
Vineyard Haven
Don’t worry Ms Parker. The casino if even built will be a bust. No one will come and it will stand essentially vacant.
Slot machine/bingo halls attract the ‘joe six-pack lottery scratch ticket” crowd. Big spenders/high rollers go to Las Vegas. It may get a few locals who are too cheap to drive to foxwoods, but eventually it will fail since the population base here is insufficient to support this pipe dream.
Just a little math here. The tribe claims it will generate 100 full or part time jobs. If half were part time, and half were full time, paying an average of $15 per hour, on the books, it would take 180 people per day dropping $50 each just to cover labor cost. I agree with Andrew on this one— it has virtually no chance of being a profitable business.