Opinion: Sullivan County Officials – Stop Betting on Indian Casinos!

You’ve heard all of the commercials on the local radio from county tourism agencies and chamber of commerce’s. They’re running a campaign to lead us to believe bringing a casino to Sullivan County would provide thousands of jobs and boost our economy. Well – according to the Times Herald Record, an internal memo from a lawyer representing the Stockbridge-Munsee band of Mohicans states that the Interior and Justice Department officials say “that such a settlement is not viable”. What does that mean? Simply – another Casino deal dead.

Maybe it’s time we stop looking to feed off the gambling miss-fortunes of others and look at other alternatives. We need Industry up here. You would think with the success of the Kohls distribution center in Wurtsboro, county officials would pound the streets looking for more companies that would want to take advantage of our location. Really – take a second and read a map. Yeah there’s one central highway going though the center of our county but look how we’re nestled in-between cities like Albany, New York, Scranton, Binghamton, Syracuse, and our relatively close distance to arteries like I-84, I-81, I-88, or State Routes like 52,55,209, etc…

Look at AMD in Malta, NY. AMD is spending $4.6 BILLION dollars to build an advance plant up there. The plant is expected to bring over 1400 permanent jobs, 4300 construction jobs and thousands of spin-off jobs. The impact of AMD is expected to transform the community of Malta as well the entire upstate economy. What if we took the time pursuing dead end Casino deals and instead invested it in bringing a company like AMD to our area. We have plenty of land to spare.

Our communities are suffering because people can’t find jobs so they can’t spend money in our downtown businesses. No matter how much people talk about bringing more shopping to the area – we simply cannot support it because we don’t have the jobs. Having a casino like the one planned for Bridgeville is not going to solve this. The casino would have it’s own shops, restaurants, and services. The jobs except for a few would still be low paying service jobs. People visiting the casino are not going to venture into our downtown’s and spend money.

Please county officials if you are listening – stop baiting us with these deals that are never going to happen. Give us some real hope, give us jobs that will build our community. There are people here willing to get dirty and work. Let’s give them some real hope not the constant on again – off again casino deals.

Do you think Casino’s are the answer to our economy in Sullivan County?

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