Standard Times: End Greyhound Racing

The Standard Times wrote one of the most powerful editorials I've ever read on this November's Question Three that would end Greyhound Dog Racing. It's one of the few newspaper articles I've ever read that's been brutally honest on the job numbers - as honest as I've been on this blog, even, using the facts and figures provided to us by the Massachusetts Department of Labor and US Census. A few readers will remember my blog on the race track dog numbers.

But the article recognizes that there's more at stake. Sure, it's important to rebuke the false claims of Raynham and Wonderland, but what's more important is the fact that there's serious racing collisions happening at both facilities leaving dogs badly injured or worse. This is not NASCAR - the dogs don't benefit from the protection of thousands of pounds of steel - but they do crash into other dogs, the ground and walls going in excess of 40 miles an hour or more. That type of collision, with just about anything, is violent. The Standard Times gets it.

This was a well written, powerful editorial that really took the racing industry to task. People should not only read it, but also forward it to friends. This battle is important. It speaks to us, as a society, how we treat those who can't defend themselves. These dogs are battered and bruised every day, only to go home and spend 20 hours in a kennel they can barely move around in. The one common thing they all know in life is not human companionship, but the cold, hard steel of their cages. We can do better.

Top Story?

The Standard Times in New Bedford clearly had a really slow newsday, pushing a summary of upcoming fall Broadway shows in NYC as one of its "top stories."

On a high note, though, the paper almost made me cry: Shrek is becoming a musical.

Huh?

This just doesn't make sense to me.

The tribe's Aug. 30 application, obtained this week by the Times through a Freedom of Information request, bolsters the argument of gambling supporters that a casino in Massachusetts may be inevitable.

Just what that casino will look like depends on whether Gov. Deval Patrick is willing to enter into a compact with the tribe. Class III gaming requires the tribe to negotiate an agreement with the governor, according to the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

The tribe already has the authority to open a Class II casino without such a compact because the state allows high-stakes bingo.

It "bolsters" the argument that a casino is inevitable? Then, in the next paragraph, the article explains how there's absolutely, positively nothing inevitable about Class 3 gaming in Massachusetts (it has to get through the legislature: the governor already said that he was deferring to them months and months ago). Sure, the Wampanoags could still build a Class 2 Bingo Hall, but as I've pointed out all along, such a building wouldn't even come close to the resort casino so many have been worrying about.

The article later went on to say that the tribe could use bingo slots, that have "the look and feel" of traditional slot machines. That's patently false. According to Representative Dan Bosley,

The difference between "bingo slots" and slot machines are that the bingo slots actually have to play game of bingo. In other words, they are still bingo games and as such are slower than slot machines. Second, you are playing against the rest of the players and not against the House, so the amount of players determines the size of payouts. Since they are less lucrative and slower than slot machines, I would question whether they will be as popular as other venues for those who have choices over where to gamble.

Does that "look and feel" like traditional slot machines? No. Furthermore, the article failed to highlight the fact that even these "bingo slots" may no longer exist: they're being challenged at the federal level and may very well be classified as slots soon, which wouldn't be allowed in Massachusetts.

The Wampanoags can kick and scream all they want; there's nothing inevitable about a Class 3 Casino in Massachusetts. Period. Of course, they benefit every time the Standard Times or Globe or any other paper repeats their casinos-are-inevitable meme, but it's just not an honest statement. There's nothing inevitable about Class 3 gambling in Massachusetts - in fact, given the House's record on slot machines in the past, Class 3 Casinos are anything but inevitable.

AP: Casinos are a Panacea

There's an AP article in the New Bedford Standard Times today that basically asserts casinos are all things good and key to, I don't know, saving the Universe or something. Or at least the Hub of the Universe, Massachusetts, and its aging infrastructure.

House Minority Leader Brad Jones, R-North Reading, said Patrick has unveiled several big ticket items, including free community college, extended school year and commuter rail service to New Bedford and Fall River, without funding sources.

"In order to facilitate some of these, he needs new revenues," said Jones, adding that he expects Patrick to support expanded gambling. "If he's going to come out and say no, then I have no basis as to why it's taking so long to say no."

In addition to Patrick's announcement, the Legislature's Transportation Finance Commission is expected to report next week on its recommendations for closing a $15 billion to $19 billion dollar transportation funding gap over the next 20 years.... Sen. Steven Baddour, D-Methuen, co-chairman of the Transportation Committee, earlier raised the possibility of linking possible casino revenue to the closing of the transportation funding gap.

Dream on. At best, the state will receive approximately $100 million a year in revenue on casino profits - but it could receive as little as nothing, if the Wampanoags push hard enough. Certainly, that kind of money is nothing to sneeze at, but represents less than 1% of the total cost of the Big Dig. Oh, that'll fix the Massachusetts infrastructure all right. It wouldn't even put a dent into a New Bedford rail project, which would cost billions. But, in AP World, casino revenue isn't questioned. It's the only thing about a casino that's guaranteed.

What else will casino revenue cure in Massachusetts? Cancer? I vote we use all this money to build our very own space program, using a tiny sliver of the net revenue to go to Mars. Because that's where anyone's brain is at if they think casino revenue will fuel anything important in this state.

UMASS Casino Study Neglects to Mention...

Professor Barrow, of UMASS Dartmouth, has come out with a study that suggests Massachusetts would be best served - in generating income revenue - by allowing three casinos in the state, two of which would be operated by native tribes. Huh? Maybe Professor Barrow should read my blog, where I've repeated the very basic and simple fact that Massachusetts has almost no control over the volume of casinos built in this state: either we allow no casinos with slot machines, or the federally-recognized tribes in this state will have no real restrictions against the number they'd build.

Furthermore, the study goes on to suggest that the best locations for casinos in Massachusetts would be Boston, New Bedford and Springfield, yet tribes have no reason to be compelled into building them in any one particular area. I'd find it hard not to believe that the tribe from Martha's Vineyard wouldn't want to take advantage of the summer tourism (and attract a wholly new clientele) by building a casino on the island, perhaps in addition to building one in the Springfield or Boston area.

I rarely agree with the pro-casino side, but here's one quote where I do:

Mr. Ferson didn't dispute Dr. Barrow's findings, saying, "New Bedford would have been great." But Dr. Barrow's conclusions are "theoretical and hypothetical," Mr. Ferson said. "The tribe has to deal with the reality of putting the land package together, and that didn't come together."

Thanks Professor Barrow for an interesting read: next time, add a few real-world facts to your studies of casinos in Massachusetts. The only control over them is whether they'll exist or not - and that's where the conversation has to begin. Where that conversation should end is whether or not increased revenue from casinos is worth it to begin with: that 200-600 million a year in state revenue may barely pay off the state's infrastructural costs in these projects' constructions.

Health Benefits at Cities and Towns

The New Bedford Standard Times wrote an editorial today on health benefits at South Coast municipalities that was high in opinion, light in fact. I figured the editorial would suggest towns and cities shift the plans from being town based to joining the state plan, as both Speaker DiMasi and Governor Patrick have suggested in varying degrees. While the state plans seem very good and are a great deal cheaper, many unions are wary of leaving the current status quo - which is a mistake. Yet, that's not what the editorial was about.

Cities and towns can no longer procrastinate reforming their salary and benefit structures. When the public sees 90 percent of a worker's health benefits covered by tax dollars, they don't care that the employee might be accepting a lower salary than he or she could make in the private sector.

Really? 90%? What towns offer those generous benefits in the South Coast?

The paper never says. Instead, this is what we're offered:

Two SouthCoast towns pay 90 percent of the cost of an HMO plan, he said, but he would not name names.

Well, geez, that's informative. The only municipality we really learn about is New Bedford, which pays 75% of the health benefits - what the paper said, at an earlier point, was around average for private businesses.

Anyone else find anything wrong with this?

Well, the pattern is repeated:

They should also rethink what Mr. Corcoran described as the historic justification for sweet public benefits packages: the assumption that a public employee sacrifices the higher salary he or she could make in the private sector.

Those days may be gone, at least in some fields. High-level public workers on the SouthCoast often make more than $90,000.

Well, yes, a high level worker may make $90,000 in Dartmouth - but there are also high level business executives or entrepreneurs living in Dartmouth probably earning several million dollars a year. More importantly, the vast majority of public workers in the South Coast area make far less than $90,000 - the vast majority less than half that sum. If most public employees were making close to $90,000 grand, the paper may have a point. Unfortunately, the paper doesn't.

Deval at Dartmouth: Being the Governor We Elected

This quote pretty much sums up why I voted for the guy.

Michael J. Gagne, the town's executive administrator, said it marked the first time in his 27 years in local government that a governor came to Dartmouth to discuss local issues and answer questions.

Our Governor came to Dartmouth to spend some time with local elected leaders to discuss local problems. Imagine that? Before I read the entire article, I commented to my roommate, "Can you ever imagine Mitt Romney - or any Bay State Republican Governor - doing that?" Then, about ten seconds later, I laughed: according to Michael Gagne, the answer would be an authoritative NO!

We, the voters, elected Deval Patrick for two reasons: to actually show up and listen to what's going on, instead of just playing Mr. Governor and showing up for photo ops during disasters, and to come up with innovative ideas to actually - you know - solve problems (and use his bully pulpit to actually help pass them). That means a Governor has to stay in tune with the people and then actually do something about what they have to say.

Fortunately, at Dartmouth, Governor Patrick did both things. He's come to offer what help and services he can to a town struggling to pay the bills (and a relatively affluent one at that) and he just so happens to have an idea that could help the situation: his Municipal Partnership Act.

The plan includes several measures that are attractive to Dartmouth officials, including a 2 percent local meals tax option that would translate to $1.1 million in new revenue for the town.

Dartmouth is also eyeing an increase in the hotel and motel room tax and the removal of the 1915 telecommunications tax exemption.

But the governor said there are other components to his plan that would help Dartmouth and other communities.

They would be eligible to transfer their pension plans and group insurance programs into the state system under the governor's proposal.

Imagine that? A 2% tax - which would be optional for Dartmouth - could help the town raise upwards of $1.1 million dollars. For a town of a little more than 30,000 people, that's a lot of money. Most importantly, it's not an unfair tax: my dinner tonight at Texas Roadhouse would have cost 76 cents more - something even I can afford.

Sort of like a sappy commercial: for just 76 cents a day, little children in Dartmouth will get to go to school and continue to learn instruments and everything! Wow!

The Municipal Partnership Act clearly won't solve every problem, but it's step one in revamping Massachusetts for the 21st Century. If Governor Patrick's recent visit to Dartmouth is any indication, steps two and three will be right on their way as soon as the Municipal Partnership Act is passed.

Uniting in Common Interest

The New Bedford Standard Times prints a doozey today, one that I - in large part - agree with.

MassINC and the Brookings Institution gently call them the "gateway" cities. They are places like New Bedford and Fall River, Holyoke and Lawrence, Pittsfield and Lowell — former mill towns that got left out when the factories closed, leaving poverty and unemployment and all the related social problems behind. With a new governor who was not cookie-cut from the Boston-centric Beacon Hill crowd and a lieutenant governor who was the mayor of Worcester — itself a gateway city--the public policy research organizations decided the time was right to release a study that shows just how badly these old working cities have been left to wither even as Boston and its wealthy suburbs bloomed as the manufacturing economy gave way to a "knowledge" economy driven by technology and research.... Want commuter rail to SouthCoast? Well, forget it because $14 billion or so is going to the Big Dig. Merge UMass Dartmouth and the Southern New England School of Law? Not going to happen because Suffolk University and the New England School of Law don't want it to happen.

The paper's solution?

Organize what the Brookings Institution's Mark Muro calls a Gateway Cities Coalition that will represent the collective interests of all these old milltowns. Then invite their municipal leaders to a Gateway Cities Forum and hold it right in New Bedford/Fall River. Bring in not only the public policy experts... and help these cities define a Gateway Cities Agenda that will articulate our shared concerns and common demands.

Then present every state lawmaker and every candidate for statewide or federal office with that agenda and its associated legislation and notify each candidate that if they desire the support of those who live in or near these old cities, then they know what our expectations are. Therein is power — and enough to compete with greater Boston on equal or near-equal footing.

Sounds good to me. It's long since time that the brink cities across this state join together. Over at BMG, whether there's whole tons of validity in it or not, people are obviously angry and the state needs to do something to relax the mood. For several years, Boston has had more than it's fair share of resources toward improving the city - improvements that were necessarily. But, it's well past time that the state focus on giving other regions of the state what they need to improve and provide a high quality of life for its citizens. That means a train in New Bedford, subway in Lynn, public law school in Dartmouth and improvements that go beyond my scope in central and western Massachusetts.

It's up to making citizens across Massachusetts realize that they need to band together - not tear each other apart, a la that Mass Pike thread - if they want any major and necessary projects to happen in their city too. What happens in New Bedford really does matter in Springfield too in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.