STEVE Wynn is still fighting for his $1 billion casino vision in Foxborough, Massachusetts. It has been reposted that Wynn has been working vigorously to pitch his vision, through video pitches, full-page newspaper adverts and door to door canvassing.
However, it seems as though his attempts are falling on deaf ears.
Wynn faces plenty of obstacles, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its April 30 issue. Civic leaders won’t negotiate with him, an opposition group has attracted 1,200 members. On April 16 a supporter of Wynn’s project was arrested for allegedly threatening the life of a town selectman, according to police.
Wynn has claimed that the casino would create 4,000 permanent jobs and could generate as much as $15 million in revenue for schools and other public services. The billionaire has funded a grass- roots group called Jobs for Foxboro, which has organized three town meetings to drum up support. Despite this, the residents are still torn between whether it should be implemented on their turf. To add more pressure on Wynn, rivals Caesars, has teamed up with Suffolk Downs, a horse racing track in East Boston, to pursue its competing bid. On April 12, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino named an advisory panel to pursue a deal with the Caesars/Suffolk Downs group, a move he likened to firing the starting gun for the Boston Marathon. In a statement, Menino predicted the outcome of the race “could be the largest economic development game changer in Boston’s recent history.”
According to Bloomberg, Collin Earnst, a marketer at a software company, says he’s concerned about the effect the project will have on traffic and property values. “The zoning they applied for is the size of the Statue of Liberty,” says Earnst, who has joined the No Foxboro Casino group. Real estate agent Millie Cetrone, who supports the casino because it will bring in tax revenue, points out that the neighboring town of Walpole has a prison, “and the [property] values there are a lot higher than Foxborough.” She calls the decision “a no-brainer.”
