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The crowded chessboard of the casino battle that has been brewing in the Pawtuxet Valley and at the statehouse for years now is home to some extremely recognizable players: the Chief, the Governor, the Corporation. But what of the little guy?
Since roughly the year 2000, when it was known simply as CasiNO, West Warwick Citizens Against the Casino has occupied a slot on the board as one of the grassroots campaigns run by citizens who oppose the construction of a Narragansett Indian/Harrah's partnered casino in West Warwick's Ward 5, a residential subset of the already tiny 8 square mile municipality. Made up of four officers, President Frank Lombardo, Vice President Thomas Jones, Treasurer Al Paolintonio, and Secretary Susan Webster, the organization has been very vocal in encouraging residents of West Warwick to oppose the project. The next step in the project looms large not simply over West Warwick, but the entire state: the Nov. 7 election ballot will feature a question which asks voters to approve an amendment of the constitution to permit a "resort casino in West Warwick, RI, to be privately owned and operated in association with the Narragansett Indian Tribe."
"We're just trying to prevent this casino from being put in our neighborhood," said Lombardo, summarizing the organization's mission.
The group has a Web-site, wwcoalition.org, which is currently dedicated to disseminating its message, including but not limited to concerns regarding the casino's potential impact on quality of life, traffic, the area economy, the crime rate, and so on. Both Lombardo and Jones emphasized what they believed to be a lack of information on the part of casino proponents in this area, in fact, claiming that they have seen no impact studies which would inform citizens as to potential affects in this regard.
"We've tried repeatedly to get these studies so we can make an informed decision," said Lombardo.
"[The Town Council] shouldn't be negotiating with Harrah's, because they don't have those impact studies...this is my quality of life that's being impacted. The council isn't listening to us, and that is very frustrating," he said.
Jones said that, because the casino is proposed to be constructed in a residential area, the group's first area of concern is the issue of quality of life, but that while Ward 5's council representative, Peter F. Calci Jr., has spoken regarding his concerns in that area, that is not enough for the group.
"[Calci] says he is concerned with our quality of life, and he's concerned with the buffer zone...what we're saying is that we don't want the casino [at all]," said Jones.
"How can you possibly be a person that's anti-casino and still negotiate a contract with Harrah's?"
Calci, who has himself been associated with the state-wide anti-casino group Citizens Concerned about Casino Gambling, says that the WWCATC has "deliberately excluded them" by allowing "partisan politics" to rule its mission. According to Calci, the WWATC has Political Action Committee (PAC) status, under which it has nominated only candidates from one political party. Calci, a democrat, says that he can "categorically, absolutely say that [he's] been left out of all correspondence with [WWCATC]."
"I've been involved with the CCACG, and I've recently reached out to SOS. WWATC has deliberately not contacted me, and does not care to be involved with coordinating with and focusing with the seated town-council anti-casino councilman," said Calci, referring to himself.
Calci answered Jones' accusations of being "accepting" of the casino and participating in negotiations with Harrah's by referring to what he saw to be an unproductive history with the council representative from Ward 5. Calci said that the former representative, Mark Fleury, "never attended one casino meeting. He never availed or presented himself and never represented the people in his ward personally...he said he was anti-casino and boycotted the meetings, which is like putting your head in the sand."
"I have to be involved. These other councilmen are not going to represent Ward 5. [Fleury] never attended one single meeting with the town council and Harrah's. I cannot do that. I have to represent my ward. I absolutely do not feel like I've accepted the casino. I've never been pro-casino," he concluded.
Calci further pointed out questions regarding the group's Web-site, calling some of the information they have regarding structural items "inaccurate." According to Calci, only three acres of the proposed site are zoned in residential areas as opposed to the WWATC's asserted 40 acres. Calci also said that the casino would not be near the Greenbush Elementary School, contrary to information on the WWATC Web-site.
In addition to providing its mission statement and data, culled from mostly older sources, regarding casino impact in other areas of the Northeast including nearby Connecticut, the Web-site has an e-mail contact link for potential volunteers or members to express their concerns and interests, wwcatc@hotmail.com. Jones announced that he expects that, soon, users will have the option to translate the site into several other languages at the click of a button, as well as an automated donation center.
According to Jones, the organization has "anywhere between 1,000 and 1,200 people." Jones said that the organization soon plans to branch out into East Greenwich, an area which neighbors West Warwick.
Jones said that, while general membership meetings aren't a regular ocurrence, the officers of the organization meet about once every week. Jones said that general members have and will participate and volunteer in such events as rallies, membership drives, and donation drives to boost the organization's resources. He also offered that, just recently, he had an extensive meeting with Tim Costa, the executive director of Save Our State, a non-profit state-wide organization opposing the casino.
One member, also a Ward 5 resident, Mark Bourget, has been in the fight for "a little more than three years."
"I've been to numerous rallies [with WWCATC]. I've been to meetings. I would like to see [the negative impact] of the casino put out there...Harrah's has a lot of money to put out their positive [messages], and so it's kind of harder for us to get our message out," said Bourget.
While Bourget said that not many members were present at the meetings he has been to, he felt confident that when word gets out that volunteers are needed for an event or that there is a "major issue" to be discussed, the general membership of the organization has been responsive.
"There's enough people here that would step up to the plate," said Bourget. |
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