Discord

What the fracas sounds like

THE ARGUMENTS for and against the casino proposed for West Warwick are not terribly surprising. However, should the proposal get on the November ballot, you won't hear much about IGRA and the Chafee rider. Here's a sampling of what the debate will sound like.

"My main concern is with the honesty and integrity of the proposal. The tribe and their backers have been misleading the public about how much money the casino can make." So says West Warwick resident David Kenik, the sternest critic of the casino. Kenik, who co-chairs a group called CasiNO! 2000, has a penchant for handing out flyers with footnoted statistics and for remembering dollar amounts in the hundreds of millions down to the penny. He maintains that the Narragansetts' proposal doesn't make fiscal sense and that the figures are grossly inflated. He points to the fact that last November, the tribe had to dismiss its funding partner, Capital Gaming International of Phoenix, because of concerns about its financial integrity. (On Tuesday, the Narragansetts announced a new partner, Boyd Gaming Corporation of Las Vegas, who they promise will be more appealing to politicians and voters.)

Kenik adds, "They say that a much smaller casino than Foxwoods will make as much money, but with half the traffic. I mean, Foxwoods is the biggest casino in the world. People will go there." West Warwick, Kenik worries, will get a small casino that can't compete with its neighbors, but that will attract thieving gambling addicts. Finally, Kenik argues that a casino this large would have to be shoehorned into the 40 acres of land where it would be built, in the West Warwick Business Park, and would be too close to a nearby elementary school.

The tribe counters that since the entrance to the site will lead directly from I-95, visitors will have no reason to stray into West Warwick. While they cite the tremendous success of Foxwoods as proof that the region is amenable to gambling, casino proponents are not worried about losing business to the world's largest casino. They claim that local gamblers spend about $590 million in other states, and that Connecticut alone enjoys about $58 million in taxes collected from Rhode Islanders. They think that much of that money can be kept in the state and channeled to the new facility. In addition, backers of the casino are confident that because of its proximity to the highway, it will lure enough people traveling to Foxwoods from the north to do a booming business. Rhode Island, backers argue, could use the money.

"West Warwick is not a desperate town, but it needs money and it needs jobs. This casino will bring both." So reasons J. Michael Levesque, former mayor of West Warwick and co-chairman of West Warwick 2000, a group that formed in November 1998 to promote economic development in the town. Levesque is one of the casino's most outspoken advocates and voices his support in plain terms. Though Levesque sympathizes with the Narragansetts' social and cultural struggles, like most non-Indian proponents of the casino, he thinks money is the issue. "Sure, people are starting to see that the Narragansetts have been screwed," he says, "but what I want to know is, why are Rhode Islanders driving across the border and giving their money to the Connecticut casinos? Let's keep that money in the state. The Narragansetts have said they want a casino in West Warwick, and the people have said they want them here. This deal will bring much more money and many more jobs to this town, to the state, and to the Narragansetts than anything else that has ever been proposed. That's the bottom line."

State Representative Timothy Williamson (D-West Warwick) is the casino's primary advocate in the General Assembly. "No one else is making a commitment to our town," he points out. "The casino is an attractive business proposal and we would be fools not to consider it."

It's also about money for the Narragansetts -- plus the pride that comes with it. "Frankly," says Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas, "I don't like to live off welfare. The money we receive from the federal government, the grants and the contracts, that's welfare. We're proud people and we don't want handouts; we want economic development. We want to enjoy the same gaming opportunities that Rhode Island and almost every other state enjoys. With that, we would be able to take care of our tribe as well as anyone can."

-- J.W.

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