Posted by Phil Lee (208.19.133.132) on May 03, 2001 at 15:18:
Slots for Cas projects only
Now we get it. We kept wondering what drove Allegany County States Attorney Larry Kelly to suddenly announce that he would prosecute the illegal use of slot machines in county bars and restaurants after years of ignoring the problem. It all makes sense, given House Bill 1170 now floating around the General Assembly, which would put the legalization of slot machines in certain locations to a statewide referendum.
What has that bill got to do with Allegany County? Plenty. We’re betting the ranch that Allegany County will end up a slots location, and that those slots will crop up - surprise! - at the Rocky Gap Lodge and Golf Resort. And Mr. Taylor will not stomach any competition for precious slot dollars, not even from local clubs. Get out of the way, citizens of Allegany County. Mr. Taylor has a hotel to save.
Of the four slot locations the bill would allow, both the Washington Post and the Baltimore Sun openly name two they feel certain would be targeted: Baltimore city and Western Maryland. The bill’s language makes it easy to speculate where the slots would go in Western Maryland. Our guess? Well, if it's built, which it probably won’t be, Bill Rickman’s Cas-backed horse track in Little Orleans, and Mr. Taylor’s hotel at Rocky Gap.
The language of the bill cites horse tracks and “tourist destinations” as slot locations. The “tourist destination” term, the bill’s backers assured the downstate media, did not include Ocean City or any other “family resort destination.” Both Ocean City’s business community and its local government officials firmly oppose slots, having gained an intrinsic understanding of slots’ devastating impact on existing tourist attractions through the example set by Atlantic City. The casinos in Atlantic City practically killed that city as a destination for anything other than gambling, since it wasn’t doing too well to start with. And while the casinos continue to do well there, that’s about all that does well.
Ocean City has no desire to experience the same fate. Smart move. Western Maryland, however, isn’t so lucky. First of all, our leaders are a feckless crew who couldn’t think their way out of a paper bag. Second, Rocky Gap is sinking financially (that would be the paper bag our feckless leaders can’t get out of). Recently our County Commissioners announced that they may not be able to wean the County’s Rocky Gap debt payment from our Project Open Space Funds (which are supposed to support park and recreation projects) because revenues from Rocky Gap have not been what they expected.
No kidding. So how to save this floundering albatross? Slots. Who cares if slots aren’t considered family friendly fare, even by the slot bill’s backers? Not Mr. Taylor. Who cares what being one of four slot locations in the state would do to our quality of life, which is the one selling point we actually have here? Not Mr. Taylor. Who cares if slots kill any true economic development that could create good paying jobs and inspire private investment in our area? Definitely not Mr. Taylor.
With slots you get schlocky jobs that pay $6 an hour, or maybe $7. (Hey, that’s right in line with Mr. Taylor’s One Maryland program, which ensures poverty wages for all.) Will any of the big slot money stay in our community? No. We can’t impose a county tax on gaming because our Delegation and County Commissioners don’t want to (making us MORE attractive as a slots location). Nope, aside from the state tax the money will go into the pocket of the slots operators, who are not going to move their corporate headquarters to Allegany County. The money that’s made here doesn’t stay here. Get it?
As you may have guessed by now, slots aren’t going to do a whole lot for Allegany County. But what’s that got to do with it? Mr. Taylor appears desperate to salvage his hotel, and at any cost. (Is that because its construction was financed via junk bonds floated and guaranteed by the state, and if it goes under the state will have to pay back the banks involved? Or are we incorrect about that?).
Mr. Taylor may have encouraged the slots crackdown in Allegany County so his precious hotel won’t have any local competition when the slot fairy finally arrives in the form of a statewide referendum. The crackdown makes it look like we’re enforcing the law (a good move), but perhpas in reality we’re just readying the playing field for the pros.
So who does Mr. Taylor represent again? We can’t keep that straight.
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Slots, anyone?
Just a few days ago (week of Feb. 7), the Baltimore Sun ran a front page story detailing plans by a Baltimore city delegate to introduce a bill in the Maryland General Assembly that would put the issue of allowing slot machines to a statewide referendum.
The point of this little exercise is to circumvent Gov. Parris Glendening, who has opposed slots throughout his tenure. If voters approve it in referendum, the Governor has no veto power. So we’ll get slots.
The bad news is this bill will target four specific locations in the state at which slots will be allowed. One of the four locations? Western Maryland.
The delegate backing this bill - Rawlings of Baltimore - is a crony of Cas Taylor. Mr. Taylor, by the way, thinks this bill is a swell idea, because this way Western Maryland can actually get slots before Mr. Glendening leaves office. Mr. Taylor is a big slots advocate, not to mention a fan of casinos. Just a few years ago, he was pushing for a casino in Allegany County to revive our economy.
Can’t get a full blown casino? That’s ok. We’ll start with slots and go from there. It won’t matter if the people of Allegany County don’t want slots. Let’s face it - every voter in Allegany County could vote no to the slots referendum, and it would make no difference whatsoever. If the referendum passes in the Baltimore/Washington corridor, we’ll have slots. End of story.
The slots bill is another little piece of Cas Taylor’s nefarious “vision” for our county, the vision that apparently consists of really cool stuff like casinos, horse tracks, amphitheaters - and a chronically underemployed population.
Don’t like that vision? That’s ok. Mr. Taylor isn’t particularly interested in what the people of Allegany County think. Anyone hear about Mr. Taylor holding meetings throughout the county to gauge public support of his plan to put slot machines here? No? Maybe that’s because THERE WEREN'T ANY MEETINGS.
Mr. Taylor is forever yapping about the big picture, the vision, the long term plan, but he has never - to our knowledge - shared just what that plan or vision is. And he never asks the public for input on what sort of community we would like to be. We just get little pieces of his master plan when he sees fit. Of course, since 80% of the people in Allegany County have at least two jobs (or work in another county altogether), who really has time to think about planning for our future?
You can see why he doesn’t share more with us. He doesn’t want us to worry about things like decent jobs with decent wages, health care plans, pensions, etc. We just need to keep toiling away in poverty, and he’ll take care of everything.
So now there is a bill in the General Assembly that will put the issue of slots in Western Maryland and three other locations around the state to a statewide referendum. One might wonder why the entire state gets to vote on whether we have slot machines, but we suspect Mr. Taylor knows Allegany County, if asked to decide for itself, would vote the idea down. We think that’s why this bill is specific about the slot locations, as opposed to just asking the state’s electorate to approve slots in the state in general.
We really like the way this guy does business. Rocky Gap, his amphitheater, slots, the horse track - all done with little to no input from us, the people who live here and who he is SUPPOSED to represent.
Maybe we should start calling him Baby Doc. Baby Doc Taylor. He does have a lot in common with Third World despots. And the community he has created has more in common with the Third World than many of us would like to think.