The long-awaited decision from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) has come and Everett is the winner. What seemed like an incredible long shot when Everett’s Mayor Carlo DeMaria announced that Steve Wynn was looking at a site in Everett back in December 2012 for a hotel-casino now is just a small step from reality.
The fallout from the loss of a casino at Suffolk Downs is already being felt as Chip Tuttle, COO of Suffolk Downs, has announced that the track will be closing and the local jobs will be lost forever.
On the municipal side, the budget will be a lot leaner without the windfall from Mohegan Sun’s mitigation package and locally, the monies promised for East Boston transportation improvements and capital projects and mitigation funds are lost forever.
Lastly, the closing of Suffolk Downs means that 140 acres in Boston and 50 acres in Revere will become vacant.
We view the closing of Suffolk Downs as the major loss for our neighborhood. We expect a development to be put on the land that abuts the Orient Heights neighborhood. What this development will be is anyone’s guess. We urge Mayor Martin Walsh and his staff to start getting involved as to the future use of these valuable acres.
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