Editorial — Voters deserve Twin River voice

Posted 11/13/15

The next move in the Twin River Casino saga rests with the Tiverton Town Council and it ought to be a simple one — send it to the voters.

It’s the right move for several reasons.

First, it places the decision squarely with the …

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Editorial — Voters deserve Twin River voice

Posted

The next move in the Twin River Casino saga rests with the Tiverton Town Council and it ought to be a simple one — send it to the voters.

It’s the right move for several reasons.

First, it places the decision squarely with the citizens who must live with it. Voters have been left out of the loop on several momentous choices, most recently the Souza Road commercial/residential project (or ‘mega-mall as some liked to call it, much to the developer’s annoyance).

Second, and perhaps most important, it buys time that this process sorely needs. The vote wouldn’t happen until a year from now which gives time to better analyze the details and debate the merits.

The curious thing about the process so far has been the relative disinterest that has greeted the casino proposal, especially compared to the years-long furor stirred by the Souza Road-Route 24 plan.

That might simply be because townspeople were worn out by the Souza Road effort — they’re tired of development hearings, have run out of letter-writing energy, just don’t want to deal with it. Audiences have been puny and mostly silent, and letters to the editor, other than several passionate ones by town clergy, have been few.

And this time the project is almost out of sight, in the woods way up in the town’s northeast end, practically in Fall River.

Like the casino or not, it remains a big deal for Tiverton and the region and needs closer scrutiny than has been given so far.

Voters need a full year to ponder such things as: What benefits will/should Twin River provide Tiverton and what are the guarantees? What is the impact on that watershed, on traffic at that yet-to-be-built roundabout, on local business? Can such a place prosper at a time other casinos are struggling and more are planned nearby; can Tiverton really afford to reject every big thing that comes its way — and might this be the right big thing? Can the state afford to surrender casino tax dollars to Massachusetts?  And what of the moral issue, the impact of gambling on families and community?

The answers will be elusive, even with a year to think them through, but Tiverton is not ready to decide.

Leave this one to the voters.

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.