Garden City one of many villages
opposing OTB plans
More than 1,000 residents, state and local officials and community leaders packed the St. Brigid’s School auditorium the evening of Jan. 15, joining together to make one thing clear: they do not want a video lottery terminal (VLT) at Fortunoff.
This was the first public information session about the highly controversial OTB project, and was hosted by Village of Westbury mayor Peter Cavallaro and organized by the grassroots organization Stop The Casino At Fortunoff. The group has mobilized over 3,000 locals to protest the gambling parlor poised to come to the former department store at the Source Mall, citing that accompanying traffic and crime would devastate the community.
Residents gathered from Garden City, East Meadow and nearby communities, with the largest contingent coming from Carle Place, Westbury and Meadowbrook Pointe, a 55-and-over living community situated on Corporate Drive in Westbury.
“None of us were asked whether we want the casino in our town,” said Westbury’s Elizabeth Lapierre. “My quality of life and property values are going to go down and it’s going to impact my children. OTB has too much control with no transparency, and no regard for quality of life. I hope this doesn’t go through.”
“Instead of being a mecca, this will become a dump. We moved here because it had everything to offer. If they have this, it’ll have something to offer that makes us uncomfortable,” said Meadowbrook Pointe resident David Goldstein. “We moved here despite the fact that Covanta had a big smoke stack. That doesn’t bother us as much as if we have people here who will mug and rob us. It might be a small percentage of people, but I don’t need that small percentage here.”
Residents were joined by school and civic leaders and Republican and Democratic officials on all levels of government, including Town of North Hempstead and Hempstead officials, county legislators, state assemblymen and State Senator Jack Martins, who called for OTB to move the VLTs to the Nassau Coliseum.
Martins implored OTB to consider the Nassau Coliseum as an alternative site.
“Let’s find a location suitable for this facility. Let’s put this where it belongs—at the coliseum. If it belongs anywhere, it doesn’t belong near homes in Westbury or Carle Place,” Martins said.
Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray was one of the many other public officials publicly declaring her disapproval of situating a casino at the Coliseum.
“We all stand as one. There are traffic concerns, quality of life issues, what our children are exposed to. We are pleading OTB to look for another site. Fortunoff’s is not appropriate.”
Two representatives from Nassau OTB were in attendance at the meeting to address questions from audience members. The crowd occasionally erupted into boos and heckles when OTB reps took the microphone, but was quickly shut down by Cavallaro who urged them to be respectful.
One of the main questions raised by members of the audience was why the site was chosen. Rich Baldwin, a representative from Union Gaming, explained that when a request was sent out to interested properties who had the facilities to accommodate a VLT, 20 responded. Of that 20, the list was vetted to a “short list.”
“Fortunoff was the most viable because of the cost—it has an existing structure and ample parking,” Baldwin said.
When asked why the facility was coming to a community that was already thriving with shopping and eateries and with an ongoing downtown revitalization project, OTB General Counsel Arthur Walsh said that OTB doesn’t require the VLT to be in a distressed community.
“The site selection had nothing to do with the [economic status of the] community, it was about generating revenue for the county,” Walsh said.
According to OTB, a contract for sale is expected to be finalized by the end of this month, at which point it will be submitted to the state Gaming Commission. The Gaming Commission will dictate the hours of operation of the facility, the maximum amount it can be open is 20 hours.
Last week, OTB sent out the first of what they said would be several mailers to Westbury and Carle Place residents, explaining what they believed were common questions the public had, such as security measures and how much space the VLTs would take up. Despite the public information session and the mailing, residents are still frustrated at the casino plans and are dedicated to fighting it. Stop the Casino at Fortunoff also held a rally on Saturday, Jan. 17 in front of the proposed VLT site to publicly voice their opposition.
This all follows on the heels of a recent Garden City Board of Trustees meeting where a spirited debate broke out over this proposed project.
According to the board, the proposal popped up about three weeks ago with little warning, and could install video lottery terminals in the Fortunoff store. “Basically this has been thrust on thrust on Carle Place and Westbury,” Mayor John Watras said of the proposal. Although not impacting Garden City directly, he called it a “quality of life issue” for the village.
“It’s going to be very difficult for the Gaming Commission to come along and say ‘We approve this,’” Deputy Mayor Nicholas Episcopia added. He observed that the casino would not have much environmental impact outside of increased traffic and parking but worried about the social implications of it.
Episcopia also suggested that the board may be open to a casino going elsewhere in Nassau County, just not so close to the Village.
Christine Mullaney, president of the Eastern Property Owner’s Association, told the board that her organization had received many concerned emails from the public condemning the casino. The board meeting’s agenda listed 40 instances of correspondence to Watras about the reported news that the former Fortunoff property is being considered as the site of possible development of a new casino.
“We’re watching it and we’re very concerned about it,” EPOA Vice-President Joe Moody said.
Matthew Ern contributed to this story.
