By Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

The casino process has failed. Last week the Gaming Commission voted 3-1 to award a license to Wynn for its proposed gambling center in Everett, even though critical questions about the proposal remain unresolved. It is a disappointing result but unfortunately not surprising. We have seen throughout this entire process that it was designed, from start to finish, to favor the gambling industry. Neither Wynn, nor Mohegan Sun, nor any of the gambling pushers looking to open shop in Massachusetts have had their feet held to the fire by the officials appointed to scrutinize their applications. Whenever there was a question or doubt, the discussion seemingly always resolved in the casino developers’ favor.

We saw this reckless pattern continue with last week’s vote. Real questions about the inability of Sullivan Square—and subsequently the region—to handle the traffic created by Wynn’s proposed casino are still there. The Commission’s response to those questions? To demand and secure modest contributions from Wynn, but not deal with the real problems of traffic and environment. Even then Wynn countered by offering to throw a pittance of additional funding at the problem without proposing any real solution, and the Gaming Commission backed down and accepted that small offer from a gambling mogul as adequate.

We live in one of the most congested regions in the country with fine and ultrafine particulates saturating the air, particularly near highways like I-93, contributing to higher-than-average rates of heart disease and respiratory illnesses. Now, next to environment justice zones in Somerville, Charlestown and Everett where residents already shoulder a disproportionate burden of environmental impacts caused by traffic and industry, the Commonwealth and its casino partner are going to add more traffic, and resultant back-ups of idling vehicles on I-93, its ramps and adjacent streets, without any real plan to alleviate those impacts. Minor financial contributions are not the solution to the major issues in Sullivan Square. We should demand a real, tangible design plan.

Those are not the only outstanding questions. Wynn does not have an approved environmental impact report—which would also detail how Sullivan Square’s traffic issues will truly be resolved—as required under state law. While Everett has a municipal harbor plan, which would require an extreme variance from the state law’s height limitation for buildings along waterways of 255 feet for the construction of Wynn’s nearly 400-foot tower, Somerville has a pending appeal of its approval. Both the height and design of Wynn’s monolithic gambling den lack the clarity that a project of this magnitude deserves. Even the Gaming Commission itself called the design of Wynn’s tower atrocious.

Despite all that, Wynn Resorts simply responding that they will propose other unspecified designs was enough to earn the Commission’s approval. That the Gaming Commission had the temerity to award a casino license for a proposal with so many significant outstanding questions casts a shadow over this folly that’s almost as large as the shadow that will be cast by Wynn’s proposed tower.

Of course, these are all issues that could possibly be mitigated in the future, despite Wynn’s woefully deficient work so far and the Gaming Commission’s reckless decision to award a license anyway. But you can’t mitigate the degradation of our local economies. You might be able to mitigate traffic issues, but how can you mitigate an individual’s financial ruin? Be it a problem gambler or a small business owner negatively impacted by the nearby casino. How can you mitigate alcoholism or substance abuse that arises because of financial ruin? How do you mitigate suicide? The social ills and negative economic impacts of casinos are well documented. One cannot point to a single example in this nation where expanded gambling has improved the quality of life for a region or broadly uplifted economic opportunity.

We know casinos don’t build communities. We know they take money off Main Street and our local squares with the promise of easy street. Casinos don’t build anything. They don’t create a product. It’s a lure to get you in to take your money. That discretionary spending will no longer be spent in our stores and our squares. And an already flawed idea is even worse in today’s environment.

Since 2004, 26 casinos have opened in the northeast. What has happened? This year alone, more than a quarter of New Jersey casinos have closed—four out of eleven. Delaware is considering more tax breaks for its struggling casinos, worth up to $20 million per year. Connecticut and Rhode Island are both forecasted to lose hundreds of millions in casino revenue over the next few years. Just last week, an Associated Press analysis concluded that not only have Pennsylvania casinos—legalized a decade ago—not delivered enough revenue to put a dent in homeowners’ tax bills, as that state’s officials promised, in fact homeowners are feeling even more squeezed on their tax bills today. The bottom line is: casinos are not a sustainable, long-term economic development plan.

The shadow looming over this folly across the Mystic River threatens our community. We will not stand by in that shadow while our quality of life is insidiously undermined by the false promises that gambling advocates dangle in front of politicians desperate for revenue, no matter the long-term cost. The state’s casino process has failed. So, we will continue to pursue every option available to counteract this mistake and protect our quality of life.