No waiting for Cappelli

Casino dreams and recycling, too

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO — Lawmakers have wanted a new configuration at exit 106 on Route 17 for some time. There is currently no east-bound exit at the interchange, and adding one there will be a help to businesses and residents in the county seat.

The NY Department of Transportation has been working with the Sullivan County Department of Public Works (DPW) on plans for the new interchange. And at a meeting at the government center on May 14, DPW commissioner Bob Meyer, at the behest of DOT officials, asked lawmakers if they would like the DOT to hold off on plans to go forward until the future of developer Louis Cappelli’s plans are more certain.

Visitors to Cappelli’s planned $1.2 billion Entertainment City resort complex would make use of the exit, and Cappelli had earlier expressed interest in getting a traffic circle installed not far from the exit and other changes in the design of the interchange. However, plans for the resort are currently on hold because of the struggling economy.

Meyer said his concern about allowing the DOT to hold off on the project is that funding would dry up in the future.

Lawmaker Leni Binder said that the request and need for the new exit predated Cappelli’s proposal and that it was “critical to continue.” Other lawmakers agreed.

Seneca Casino

At a separate meeting, lawmakers were treated to yet another presentation on an Indian casino proposed for the county. The Seneca Tribe, based in Salamanca, near Buffalo, would own the casino. Members of the tribe had been scheduled to appear to sign a formal agreement, but the weather prevented them from flying here.

Instead, John Paulson, the CEO of Rotate Black, the company that will operate the casino for the tribe, made remarks about the project. As was the case in numerous similar presentations in the past, Paulson promised that the project would mean thousands of new jobs for the county and region.

Paulson said his company had the financing in place to build the project.

The main stumbling block to opening any off-reservation casino is the ruling of the former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne in January 2008, which barred the creation of new casinos of this type.

In response to a question about this barrier, Thompson supervisor Tony Cellini said that because this project and two others are supported by Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Congressman Maurice Hinchey, he was hopeful that Kempthorne’s decision could be overturned and Indian casinos could still become a reality in the county.

He said that New York lawmakers in Washington, DC had been involved in “good conversations” with the new U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

Recycling on the agenda

Also at the government center, recycling director Bill Cutler brought a sample of fresh compost that had been created in the county’s new composting facility. The sample was packed in a compost-able container that looked like clear plastic, but was biodegradable and made of starch and naturally occurring polyesters.

Cutler also brought a product called Biobags, which resembled plastic bags, but will readily break down in a landfill.

Cutler told lawmakers that there was some good news on the recycling front; after months of dropping, prices paid for recycled materials were beginning to recover a bit, thereby providing more revenue to the county from sales of recycled materials.

In April 2008 the revenue from recycling was $50,374.74. In April 2009, the revenue was $19,724.78; that’s a steep decline but up from the March 2009 figure of $12,816.67.