Residents square off on casino proposal

Tuesday, May 23, 2000 | 11:18 a.m.

"If you don't want it, you vote no, this is America," said Matthew Thomas, the tribe's chief sachem, at a public meeting at the University of Rhode Island's downtown Providence campus. "All we ask is for this to go to the ballot."

Opponents and supporters of the $500 million gambling hall proposal sparred for an hour before about 125 people over the project's potential impact on everything from local taxes to crime and property values.

"This is a wonderful neighborhood, not a place to put a 24-hour-a-day casino," said West Warwick's Jill Kenik of the proposed casino site.

Lisa Belen, a member of the antigambling group CasiNO! 2000, worries about "the safety of my children and property values. I feel a casino will have a negative impact.

"I haven't read anything to convince me otherwise."

Stan McMillen, a graduate student at the University of Connecticut, said a study he worked on looking at the impact of the Mashantucket Pequots' Foxwoods Resort Casino on local towns found no negative impact on property values.

But he said the study, commissioned by the Pequots from the university's Center for Economic Analysis, did find a small increase in crime in three towns around the Connecticut casino. He said the study will soon be released publicly by the tribe.

Vincent Marzullo, chairman of West Warwick's Republican party committee, said he favors allowing voters to decide whether they want the casino. But he said local taxpayers need to be guaranteed tax relief, as the tribe has promised.

State Rep. Tim Williamson, D-West Warwick, said the town and other communities in the state should share in some of the revenues from a casino.

"If voters don't like it, they can say no," he said of the project.

The tribe needs statewide voter approval to build the casino, but first must convince the General Assembly to put the proposal on the November ballot.

Hearings before the House Finance Committee suggest the tribe has an uphill fight. A majority of committee members favor either a smaller project or want more of the projected revenues for the state.

A recent University of Rhode Island survey found that more than eight in 10 residents want the issue to go to a referendum.

After the meeting Monday, Narragansett tribal elder Eleanor Dove was frustrated by the vocal opposition.

"It's sad, I think some of the people in Rhode Island would be very happy to see the Narragansetts sitting on the side of the road stringing beads," she said.