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Wynn plays hardball: Stops all construction hiring and blames Joe Curtatone
By adamg on Wed, 02/24/2016 - 4:49pm
Wynn said it's put is $1.7-billion Everett casino on hold until after state officials rule on environmental objections filed by the city of Somerville.
This includes canceling plans for hiring 4,000 construction workers and a formal April groundbreaking, Wynn says.
The company took no similar actions while fighting the city of Boston's federal lawsuit, which, granted grew increasingly unlikely to succeed the more a judge read Boston's legal pleadings.
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Comments
Google what a
Phase 1 (ESA) Environmental Site Assessment is. This is what they are more than likely fighting over, and the financial ramifications are extensive.
No - Somerville is appealing
No - Somerville is appealing the Chapter 91 license, which is a permitting process overseen by the state Department of Environmental Protection and is intended to ensure public access to the waterfront and former tidelands. As permitting goes, it is one of the more bureaucratic processes. I suspect the issue here is more about time/delay than out-of-pocket cost (though obviously they are related). The appeal process can take six months to a year.
Question
When the project was going through the environmental review process, did Curtatone raise any objections or offer any comments at that time?
If not, he doesn't deserve a 'do-over' of the environmental review.
And that's the whole problem with our process - this concept that anyone can appeal a finding for any reason (and they don't even have to publically state what their reasoning is) and require the review process to go back to Step One.
"But it's necessary to protect the environment." - BS
Great, less pollution in
Great, less pollution in Somerville for a little while longer. Still crazy the state is allowing so much parking and not siting the Boston area casino near a subway stop. Hopefully at least Mayor Curatone's appeals will reduce the parking. That area does not need thousands more cars/trucks from either a traffic or air pollution standpoint. How about Wynn builds a spur of the orange line (or the state with all the cash its getting) from Sullivan to Everett. Win-Wynn.
It is near a subway stop
But for a pedestrian bridge, the casino site is spitting distance from the Assembly Square station. Strange that Curtatone opposes such a bridge, wouldn't you say?
No, I don't think its strange
No, I don't think its strange that Curatone doesn't want a bridge from Assembly Squares free parking lots (that are meant for shoppers of Assembly Sq) to Wynn's Casino. I can see how that would run counter to what they are trying to do there, the garages being used for people going to the casino.
The developers at Assembly paid for the new stop, why doesn't Wynn build one near his casino. I know a bridge from Assemblys stop is cheaper, but the guy has a government enforced monopoly on gambling in Boston area, he will be earning plenty of money.
Not for nothing
An extra stop adds a few minutes to the orange line commute for a stop that would only be used by Wynn. I understand the parking aspect but as a Put Public Transit First proponent a footbridge makes more sense.
I think he meant a making a
I think he meant a making a spur per he using that word and the area's layout. But a spur would be even worse as it will split the trains.
Like it or not, a pedestrian bridge make the most sense in service, price, and engineering. Weighing parking over all of that is tunnel vision.
You don't spend much time at Assembly I take it
The bridge would be for the MBTA link. LESS TRAFFIC not more.
I'm guessing that you haven't been to Assembly lately - the parking lots are patrolled and you have to pay for day parking.
Curtatone is on a personal vendetta mission, damn the greater good of the city.
Free for me
I've only parked outside at the Assembly Sq shopping center but the lots had all been free with no verification of shopping. There are a few metered spots near the river. Maybe the deck spots are validated but currently there is ample free parking outside.
I'm all in favor of the footbridge regardless. Anyone going to Wynn isn't going to want to park at Assembly and walk regardless.
Erm, every time I've ever
Erm, every time I've ever parked at Assembly, including as recently as last week, both in the garages and in the surface lots, it's been free. I don't even know where they would expect you to pay. The garages don't have gates, nor do the lots. And there aren't any meters or anything, except along the 'streets'.
Some of the garages are reserved for office workers until 5 pm though.
My understanding based on
My understanding based on discussion on railroad forums is that an OL stop at the proposed site would never fly due to issues with approach angles, start/stop speed, etc. It's not safe without significant reengineering of the bridge.
Also strange...
That Curtatone allowed the development of Assembly Square with acres and acres of parking. Wonder if Everett voiced a concern about pollution then...
those prking lots are slated
those prking lots are slated for development too.
It surprises you that a
It surprises you that a politician only claims to operate on principle when the principle is indirectly self-serving?
hahah
thats amazing
That would make entirely too
That would make entirely too much sense.
no
he doesn't want the type of people that take public transit in his casino
You just confused Curatone with Wynn
HenryAlan claimed Somerville mayor Curtatone opposes the pedestrian bridge, not casino-owner Wynn.
Other than that, your reading comprehension (and that of your upvoters') was top notch!
(But to be fair, this Boston.com article quotes both as supporting the idea of a footbridge from Assembly Square, so maybe HenryAlan needs to bone up on his reading skills as well).
Sweet
You sound like a real cool dude, i bet you got nice and hard when you saw a chance to swoop in and correct me
Here, take this towel
Any chance you can count to 10?
Does somebody correcting something really warrant that kind of reply?
you can correct somebody
without sounding like a bag of douche
if you dont like my response, ban me
You can correct someone
When was the last time you read one of your own comments out loud, bud?
Article is not so clear as you say
I hadn't read that article previously, but I don't think it's quite as explicit a bridge endorsement as you suggest. My understanding is that Curtatone has always wanted a bridge, but not if there is a casino at the other end of it. There was an article in the Globe last fall presenting that position. Unfortunately, I can't find a link, although I did find this blog post referencing the article:
http://pretiminahan.blogspot.com/2015/11/somerville-mayors-first-impress...
If Curtatone has changed his mind, that's great, but I am somewhat doubtful that he has before the law suit is settled.
Why is the re-working of the
Why is the re-working of the developments of Assembly Mall not factored for the air pollution?All that pollution blows west right into Everett.
I have a hard time believing
I have a hard time believing this is truly about the environment for Curtatone.
Objections that are claimed to be based on
environmental grounds are seldom about actually protecting the environment.
It hasn't really hit me until
It hasn't really hit me until now that this project is going forward. I know this opinion is more relevent years ago...The website's image of the final product is handsome enough, however I'm honestly somewhat skeptical of not only of the benefits, but if the resort will generate enough interest to sustain it long term. The last thing that area needs is a less-than-stellar resort with a casino in it. I could be wrong, or I could just not be able to visualize it well enough, but if they want drivers coming in, I don't see it competing very well against a Foxwoods or Mohegan.
I don't know if Wynn will
I don't know if Wynn will generate enough revenue to sustain itself either, but it's going to crush Foxwoods and Mohegan. I go down to Foxwoods once a month or so to play poker and that place is already dying. They even added on an outlet mall recently to try to bring some more people in. A pretty large chunk of the people I've talked to there (in the poker room anyway) are from the Boston area and I can't see many of them driving all the way down to Connecticut to gamble when there's a nice casino right in town (and if there's one thing you can say about Steve Wynn it's that he builds really nice casinos). Foxwoods and Mohegan have even proposed teaming up to build a new joint casino closer to the Massachusetts border in an effort to not lose as much business (good luck with that).