The Phantom Majority and What’s Left of Their Casino by Jack Conway

Two illusions predominate the thinking of casino supporters.  The first is that in spite of carefully documented, voluminous evidence to the contrary, they continue to have hallucinations of a ‘silent majority.’  Their second problem is that the casino they support doesn’t really exist anymore.  Willful ignorance has its price and these illusions are the currency of denial required to maintain support for a project based on a corrupt process, an inept Town Board, and the deceit of shysters who will tell you anything in order to tell you nothing.

Save East Greenbush submitted 856 pages of documentation of community opposition to the Gaming Commission.  There were 37 pages of narrative detailing the rationale for opposition, 228 pages of statements of opposition, a copy of the Article 78 lawsuit filed to annul the resolution of support (and amended to include a cause of action against Sue Mangold for conflict of interest), and, most importantly, a petition with 3,058 signatures.  This documentation was collected by hundreds of East Greenbush volunteers who gave of their own time, talent and money.  Despite efforts to disinform the public, none of this work was funded by outside entities, and in answer to Mr. Featherstonhaugh, not a single ‘Save person’ is from Saratoga.

Saratoga Casino & Raceway submitted 49 pages of documentation of community support.  There were 19 pages of statements of support and a petition with 678 signatures.  This, despite three glossy mailers, radio and TV ads, fraudulent public presentations, provision of free yard signs to supporters, and the support of both political machines in town.  The petitions were sent to Julie Miner of Saratoga C & R so anyone interested in where outside funding is coming from regarding this project has to look no further.  No funding yielded 3,058 signatures, unlimited funding 678.  But Ed Gilbert talks to residents every day and he can tell you they support the casino.  This is a phantom majority, not a silent one.  The truth is that a significant and growing majority of town residents oppose the casino.

Then there’s the question of the ever-shrinking project that this non-existent majority supports. In its original form, it featured a 300-room resort style hotel, a full complement of exciting dining options including fine dining, casual dining and buffets, multiple entertainment venues including a 1,700 seat entertainment space, 20,000 square feet of high-end retail and convenient parking, including two covered parking structures and surface lots.  Initial estimates projected 1,700 permanent jobs and 1,700 construction jobs.  This is the project that the Town Board voted to support. 

Unfortunately, these numbers have the same claim to truth as the notion that a majority of residents support the casino.  The 300-room resort hotel is now a 100-room three star boutique-style hotel.  20,000 square feet of high-end retail has been reduced to a 500 square foot Thruway-style gift shop.  One of the two covered parking structures is gone.  The 1,700 seat entertainment space is now a Special Events Hall that can seat 500 people. The multiple fine dining options have been reduced to single steak house.  The promise of 1,700 permanent and 1,700 construction jobs is now “approximately 1,000 permanent” and 825 construction jobs.  Since we know these numbers were massively inflated to begin with, there’s no reason not to assume the same now.

To summarize, the project has seen reductions of 67% in the number of hotel rooms, 41.2% in the number of permanent jobs, 51.5% in the number of construction jobs, 70.5% in seats in the entertainment venue, 50% in the number of covered parking structures, and an extraordinary 97.5% in retail space.  The golf course is gone.  This isn’t the world class destination resort sold to the Town Board, it’s a glorified racino with intractable zoning and environmental problems. 

It’s impossible to trust the anecdotal disinformation spewed by apologists trying to salvage the reputation of people whom they trusted to act in the public interest but failed to do so.  Casino developers are liars by definition.  But elected officials have an obligation to seek the truth and not pretend that this project is intact or that the sycophantic whining of their court followers is a valid measure of community support.