Residents debate all or nothing casino deal

Many support casinos based on need for jobs

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

MONTICELLO, NY — Thick patches of fog billowed across Sullivan County as legislators inside the Monticello High School prepared for a storm of opinions on Native America casinos, which have an unclear future in the Catskills.

On January 13, some 500 people filed into the high school auditorium for the public comment session before the county’s nine-member legislature. Over 100 comments from the public extended the meeting from 5:00 to 10:00 p.m.

Early in January Governor George Pataki asked the legislature to approve a new law that would allow five Indian casinos in Sullivan County. The decision has been overshadowed by the possibility that all casinos proposed for Sullivan, including those authorized by legislation signed in 2001, could be denied by the federal government if the county votes against Pataki’s package deal.

Judging from comments made at the session, the governor’s all-or-nothing proposition has galvanized the debate over whether Sullivan County should allow casinos at all.

Casino opponents stressed the negative impacts on traffic, population, education, law enforcement and the county’s overall fiscal balance should casinos be built. Several speakers demanded a countywide referendum, saying they had never been asked about three casinos, let alone five.

Paula Medley of Westbrookville said Sullivan County is already on the road to successful economic recovery.

“Let’s not allow the governor to disrupt things and erode the health of our towns with this disastrous casino deal,” she said.

Pastor Bob Paquette of Callicoon Center criticized the very nature of gambling: “When you gamble or encourage gambling, you don’t love your neighbor as yourself. You take something from him. And you gain something in return and he gets nothing. For a gambler to win, others must lose,” he said.

A few casino supporters said the gambling industry could bring back the glory days of Sullivan County’s resort era. David Rosenberger of Monticello said the county’s resort history “was that great luscious filling at center of a Danish.” He said that over time, the county became “a stale old bagel” that “didn’t have a heart anymore.”

“If the racetrack becomes a casino and the Concord comes back to life and Kutshers becomes all it can be, is the Delaware going to be any less beautiful? Will Neversink be any less lovely? Will Jeffersonville and Grahamsville and Narrowsburg be any less lovely than they are?” Rosenberger asked.

Other supporters stressed over and over the need for jobs in the county and repeatedly asked legislators to solve the unemployment problem by approving five casinos.

“If you bring casinos in here and you give somebody something to shoot for, then you got a chance,” said Duane Walker of Monticello.

“Let’s say you don’t get casinos. You don’t got nothing. Let’s say you do get casinos and they fail. So what, you don’t got nothing. At least you get a chance to try to get something,” Walker said.

In fact, several people said that Sullivan County has nothing to offer, particularly to a younger workforce.

“If we don’t get gambling here, we have nothing,” said Bernice Wechsler of Loch Sheldrake.

Laborers from local unions said they need the job opportunities that casino construction projects would offer. Many said they now have to commute to southern Orange County for work.

The day before the session, the Hudson Valley Area Labor Foundation passed a resolution in support of the governor’s five-casino proposal. The union’s president, Tim Riley, issued a statement saying that casinos in Sullivan County “will bring good-paying jobs, economic development and security for future generations.”

After the session, Laura Quigley, director of the county’s Center for Workforce Development, told TRR that unemployment has actually gone down over the past decade, and that fluctuation between summer and winter has decreased dramatically.

“Over the last few years a lot of good has happened,” Quigley said. She referred to the development of light metal manufacturing businesses and distribution centers like Kohl’s.

However, she confirmed that many union construction workers commute far into Orange County to find work.

Quigley said she wouldn’t offer an opinion on casinos. In terms of the overall job market, she said, “No matter what industry, we need to ask ourselves what type of jobs we want in Sullivan County. Do we want jobs that allow people to buy quality, affordable housing, jobs that enable people to buy their own homes?”

According to Joseph Czajka, community development supervisor in the Sullivan County Division of Planning and Community Development, an individual or family needs to earn an annual salary of $48,600 in order to afford Sullivan County taxes and qualify for a mortgage on a $166,000 house.