A Casino is being proposed at the former Fortunoff store on Old Country Road in Westbury. The facility will have 1,000 video lottery terminals. VLTs are slot machines and will take up 15% of the 200,000-square-foot building. The rest of the four-story building will include restaurants, a food court and administrative offices. Opponents of the facility express concerns: an increase in traffic on Old Country Road and increased criminal activity. Others are concerned that since this property will be taken off the tax rolls, it will result in a loss of dollars to school and other special districts providing emergency services such as fire districts. OTB we are told suggests that this casino will create 200 jobs and approximately $150 million in revenue before expenses. Nassau County will get some percentage of this revenue plus revenue from sales tax. We are told also that the Town of Hempstead will receive $2.25 million a year to host the site. To date Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray, North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth, NYS Senator Jack Martins, Westbury Mayor Peter Cavallaro, Nassau County Legislators Laura Schaffer, Siela Bynoe and others are opposed to the proposal. Polls to date show large opposition and multi-community forums will be held in Wesbury and Carle Place in the coming weeks. A past proposal for a casino at the Nassau HUB received massive opposition from communities, local businesses and Hofstra University. There is also a proposal for the Medford community that seems to have generated more public support with upcoming meetings underway as well. When the Shinnecock Nation was seeking approval to build a facility somewhere on Long Island there was an economic imperative for their population. Since that time the gaming industry has been on the decline in other areas of the region such as Atlantic City and more casinos have been proposed by NYS for upstate NY. If this description leans towards negative or critical of the Westbury proposal in particular it is because we have not heard an economic, community or planning justification for gaming facilities. There are numerous positive economic development projects underway in downtowns across Long Island (including the neighboring communities of Westbury, Mineola) so this proposal is puzzling. Vision Long Island and our Board of Directors have not taken a position yet as we havent met this year. We are seeking feedback. What do you think? Are folks for this proposal against it? What do folks see as relative merits or negative impacts? Are there alternative locations that are viable. If you feel uncomfortable posting in public please e-mail us at [email protected] Thanks for taking the time to respond!
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 23:28:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015