With the groundbreaking for the new Adelaar casino only months away, and the developers’ promise at the Sullivan Renaissance Fair to be very transparent and collaborative, Adelaar has done nothing, said nothing, and explored no options to guarantee that the new casino will be developed in a way that demonstrates the economic, environmental and social power of sustainable building and energy use. Adelaar could be a game-changer from the usual downward spiral of casino cannibalism of communities, but they have taken no steps to work with the Sullivan County Office of Sustainability, Sullivan Alliance for Sustainable Development, or the Sullivan County Legislature. Furthermore, and even more shamefully, neither the legislature nor the Sullivan County Partnership for Economic Development has advocated for a more sustainable future, despite the governmental resources and local talent available to help make this happen. One hundred acres of woods have been cut down. Mark Baez is worried that the bats will supersede development. What about planning for a development that we can all live with, that will enrich our local communities rather than suck them dry?

Adelaar could provide for a low-energy, high-efficiency housing component for its workforce; electric vehicles on campus and to ferry casino personnel and customers back and forth to patronize local businesses, ensuring success for the Broadway corridor; freedom from fossil fuel through geothermal, solar and wind energy production, on-site, which through remote metering would benefit the local community as well as reduce costs and the casino’s carbon footprint.

It is all the more startling to me that this aspect of development has been ignored, given that the sustainable model will cost less than prevailing conventional designs, and when the initial payback period is reached, the renewable technologies pay for themselves and reap greater savings that can be shared with additional efficiency retrofits and investments in community projects. Why are the legislature and the partnership not pursuing this vision with all the energy and resources available to them? Benefit to the community is the basis upon which Adelaar has been granted savings on their investment.

“Community” is not just a word, an idea, to be thrown out as part of an argument for or against one thing or another. The community is here, it is real, it is hurting, and it needs the promise of the casino to be fulfilled. It needs the casino to be developed in a way that will continue to bring positive change to Sullivan County—the purpose that is so easily forgotten.

[Kathie Aberman is a resident of Liberty, NY.]