{"id":1715,"date":"2012-01-23T16:10:43","date_gmt":"2012-01-23T21:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/?p=1715"},"modified":"2013-12-22T09:41:54","modified_gmt":"2013-12-22T14:41:54","slug":"casino-in-foxboro-is-a-losing-bet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/?p=1715","title":{"rendered":"Casino in Foxboro is a losing bet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Casino<\/a>by Robert Gillis
\nPublished in the Foxboro Reporter 9\/2011
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWell I got a job and put my money away \/ But I got debts no honest man can pay \/ So I drew what I had from the Central Trust \/ And I bought me and my baby two tickets on that coast city bus\u2026 Meet me tonight in Atlantic City.\u201d — Bruce Springsteen, Atlantic City<\/em><\/p>\n

I write these words not to any particular elected official, board member, or organization, but to everyone in Foxboro. This one may be a little all over the place, so bear with me. It\u2019s from the heart.<\/p>\n

People of Foxboro, PLEASE do not even consider building a casino in Foxboro. It will be the beginning of the end for this town.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a Foxboro \u201ctownie\u201d but have made this village my home these past 20 years. My love of Foxboro is well known.<\/p>\n

While Foxboro has changed much in two decades, it still holds onto many of its small town characteristics, it\u2019s \u201cMayberry\u201d charm. Patriot place is classy. Our new post office incorporated architectural facades to honor our past. The new senior center likewise is beautiful. Chestnut Green is remarkable. Plans for the new library take into account our history and how well the new building will fit in the old neighborhood. It seems that when new development is underway here in town, measures are made to ensure the new construction fits in with the old.<\/p>\n

Like all towns, we have seen good times and bad. We fight amongst ourselves, but Foxboro is unique because united we can do anything. Look at the 9\/11 memorial a few weeks ago. THAT was what we can accomplish as a community. We are blessed with so much generosity and abundance. For uncountable reasons, this is indeed, a great place to live.<\/p>\n

Build a casino here and that will change. It is the road to hell. It\u2019s George Bailey wandering the altered streets of his beloved Bedford Falls and seeing \u201cGirls, Girls Girls\u201d and gambling dens.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not overreacting here. I\u2019m not being funny. I\u2019m honestly worried. I can see the future, and I don\u2019t want to live here when it arrives.<\/p>\n

I have no moral opposition to gambling; it\u2019s your money, do what you want with it.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ve been to Atlantic City exactly once, back in the 80s. First thing we were told? DO NOT go off the boardwalk after dark. Because two steps outside the bright lights and excitement is the worst poverty I have ever seen in the United States. Atlantic City was promised a lot to get those Casinos built. All of the promises made to improve the surrounding poor neighborhoods were forgotten once the Casinos went up.<\/p>\n

I also visited Las Vegas once, also in the 80s, and have made several trips to Foxwoods to see concerts. Being in a casino is fascinating. After I gamble (and lose) my usual $20 on 25 cent poker machines, I like watching the \u201chigh rollers\u201d play and I\u2019m always amazed by the dead, robot look in so many gambler\u2019s eyes as they keep pulling the arm of the one-armed bandits. I am stunned to watch people who are not wealthy gambling away a mortgage payment on a hand of blackjack.<\/p>\n

New jobs? Please — as what, card dealers and housekeeping staff? Economic benefit to the town? Please \u2013 it just means thousands more people on route one all day and night and stretching our excellent fire and police departments even further. Any monetary compensation will be mitigated by bottlenecks on route one all the empty promises that go unfulfilled.<\/p>\n

Casinos: Glitzy flashing lights, free watered down drinks and a million perfectly legal tricks to separate you and your hard earned cash. What\u2019s next? Elvis impersonators, legalized prostitution and our own Sphinx and Eiffel Tower?<\/p>\n

Do you want Route One in Foxboro to look like Route One Saugus, or the Las Vegas strip?<\/p>\n

Step by step, day by day, we\u2019re losing what makes this town special.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re about family, about community. Casino gambling destroys lives. It destroys families.<\/p>\n

You want a Casino? Build it someplace else. You want to go to Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun? No one is stopping you. Have fun. Look, if you have the discretionary cash and want to gamble, go ahead. I buy a few scratch tickets myself once in a while. I once won $500 on Keno but probably spent twice that over the years on losing tickets.<\/p>\n

The promise of the get-rich-quick and the bright neon lights are an illusion. A deadly, evil illusion.<\/p>\n

Lest you forget, as a town we commissioned a detailed, comprehensive study several years ago, and based on the findings, we voted overwhelmingly NOT to have a racetrack\/\u201dRacino\u201d here because of the POSSIBILITY that if the State ever approved slot machines, the racetrack would install them \u2013 and we didn\u2019t want that. Well, the day of approved casino gambling in this state came sooner than expected \u2013 looks like our paranoia was well founded.<\/p>\n

Bring the casino here, and ten years from now, twenty years from now, we\u2019ll look back and say, \u201cThat was the beginning of the end, when we approved the casino.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, YOU\u2019LL say that. By that time, many of us will have moved away.<\/p>\n

Think about it. PLEASE, just think about it. Make a decision based not on quick money now, but good planning for the next generation, and the next.<\/p>\n

A Casino in Foxboro is a losing bet for all of us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Robert Gillis Published in the Foxboro Reporter 9\/2011 \u201cWell I got a job and put my money away \/ But I got debts no honest man can pay \/ So I drew what I had from the Central Trust \/ And I bought me and my baby two tickets on that coast city bus\u2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-foxboro"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}