The Voters Have Spoken–Is Anyone Listening ?

Yesterday there was an election in Foxboro, Massachusetts. If you are a football fan, you know where Foxboro is, but you may not know that the town has been involved in a heated discussion as to whether or not Steve Wynn should be allowed to build a casino near the football stadium. Regardless of your view on casinos, there are some very practical reasons local residents oppose the casino–traffic in the area where the casino would be built is already a problem during stadium events–the area is simply not equipped for the increased traffic the casino would bring. Anyway, yesterday the people of Foxboro spoke out.

Today’s Attleboro Sun Chronicle reports:

A pair of anti-casino candidates, incumbent Lorraine Brue and former state Rep. Ginny Coppola, easily won election over incumbent Larry Harrington and school committee member Martha Slattery, who both supported negotiating a deal on the casino and letting residents make the final decision in a binding referendum

Fifty-eight percent of Foxboro’s registered voters voted in the election yesterday. Last year seventeen percent voted in the town election.

The article further reports:

Under the state’s new expanded gambling law, selectmen would have to vote to enter into negotiations with Wynn for the project to move forward.

With Monday’s results, four of the five board members have come out against the project, meaning the proposal now faces tough odds.

When asked if Monday’s vote would effectively kill the project, Coppola said she hopes the developers look at the message sent by residents.

“Mr. Wynn and Mr. Kraft should look at the results of this election,” she said.

 Brue agreed.“(The voters) sent the message that they don’t want a casino,” she said.

 
It will be interesting to see what happens next.
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