The Senate is set to debate a bill to legalize casino gambling Monday.
HOLYOKE – Paper City Development representatives say their casino at Wyckoff Country Club would provide 1,500 jobs at salaries from minimum wage with tips to six-figure paychecks.
And all the employees, they said, from card-dealers and waiters to auditors and security staff, would have benefits like health insurance, pension plan, on-site meals, bonus structuring and paid training.
But some residents of Ward 7, where Wyckoff is located, said a casino still would be a bad deal.
They oppose a casino there because they say problems such as noise, traffic, crime and pollution from a gaming resort would undermine any advantages.
The sides are expected to clash at a meeting of the City Council Redevelopment Committee Sept. 28 at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
The state Senate is scheduled to begin debate Monday on whether to legalize casino gambling.
Like a House of Representatives bill, the Senate bill authorizes a five-member gaming commission to issue licenses for three casinos in three geographic zones including one defined as the four counties of Western Massachusetts. The bill also includes a separate slot parlor with up to 1,250 slot machines.
Paper City Development, a limited liability company, wants to buy Wyckoff Country Club beside Interstate 91 and build a resort casino with what its representatives say will include a $500 million investment. The sale would proceed if the state legalizes casino gambling, officials have said.
Wyckoff owner Diane Wojtowicz has referred to Paper City Development as “our development partner.” She said converting the golf course into a hotel and entertainment development would meet the long-time vision that her late husband Clarky Wojtowicz had for the site.
“There is no economic engine today like this facility, with no public subsidies, no tax incentives, paying our own taxes off the top, unlike most businesses, and quality jobs,” Paper City manager Joseph A. Lashinger Jr. said.
Lashinger spoke Sept. 15 on a conference call with the other Paper City partners, Anthony L. Cignoli, of the A.L. Cignoli Co. public relations firm, of Springfield, and former Springfield City Councilor Anthony Ravosa Jr., who now lives in Connecticut.
Lashinger, of Florida, has decades of casino experience. He has held gaming licenses in Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Colorado, Louisiana, West Virginia and Ontario, Canada, Cignoli has said.
From 1996 to 1997, Lashinger was a vice president, general counsel and a consultant with Penn National Gaming, which has begun inquiring about putting a casino in the Springfield area. Lashinger said he no longer is involved with Penn National Gaming.
The jobs are Paper City Development’s best argument, representatives said.
Jobs, in addition to hundreds of construction jobs, will include card dealers, waiters and waitresses, computer technicians, house-keepers, surveillance staff, security, auditors, transportation, box office, kitchen, food and beverage, vault, human resources and parking staff, they said.
Lashinger said he was unable at this point to specify how many employees there will be in each category.
Critics have said economic benefits from a casino would be temporary and marginal compared to the addiction, increased crime, divorces and bankruptcies that will be left in the wake of casinos.
Ravosa said that besides the excellent location, the project is Holyoke’s best bet to deal with a poverty level that affects more than 25 percent of the population of 40,000.
“We think we can help alleviate a lot of that,” Ravosa said.
The group envisions a resort with 150,000 square feet of gaming space, a hotel and other amenities open round-the-clock with three shifts of employees.
Holyoke is the ideal location because of its proximity to I-91 and the Massachusetts Turnpike, regular Pioneer Valley Transit Authority bus service and the prospect of improved train service from Connecticut to Vermont, Ravosa said.
“This is singularly the best site in Massachusetts, bar none,” Ravosa said.
Paper City Development can expect competition from other gaming ventures for a Western Massachusetts casino license, perhaps most prominently, from the Mohegan Sun.
Mohegan runs a casino in Connecticut and has eyed Palmer since 2007, proposing a $600 million casino off Exit 8 of the Massachusetts Turnpike. The company has estimated the project would provide up to 3,000 permanent jobs and 1,200 construction jobs.
As for funding the project, the Paper City representatives said they have a partner whom they said they were unable to identify because of a confidentiality agreement. The partner has the resources to provide cash equity that can be used to obtain financing, they said.
Ward 7 City Council candidate Gordon P. Alexander said as he speaks to people around the ward, he believes a majority wants nothing to do with a casino.
Alexander, chairman of the Conservation Commission, said the city would be harming a jewel of a wilderness and enjoyment area by putting a casino at Wyckoff, which is on the Mount Tom range.
“I don’t support putting a casino on Mount Tom,” Alexander said.
Lewis and Martha Robinson, of Northampton Street, are among those who agree with Alexander.
Lewis Robinson, a physician, said they found mostly opposition to a casino around Wyckoff when they went door to door months ago in fighting a separate plan, which was to add a parking lot to the Mountain Park music venue.
“I would guess that over 80 percent of those we talked to were strongly against a casino at Wyckoff,” Robinson said.
But Alan G. Fletcher, a Holyoke police captain who is opposing Alexander for the Ward 7 seat, said a casino would address a need by putting people to work. Holyoke’s unemployment rate is 10.9 percent compared to the state’s 7.4 percent and the nationwide rate of 9.1 percent.
“That would help the situation tremendously. This is jobs to Holyoke,” Fletcher said.
Casino gambling also will be an issue in the mayor’s race. Mayor Elaine A. Pluta supports Paper City Development’s plan because she said it would provide the needed job infusion.
Challenger Alex B. Morse said he wouldn’t lead the charge to put a casino here but has avoided outright opposition.
The city’s economic focus should be on the high-technology possibilities related to the $168 million high performance computing center being built on Bigelow Street at the canals, Morse said. Pluta said the city can benefit from the computing center and a casino.
The Redevelopment Committee will consider a property-control issue related to Paper City Development. In order for the group’s Wyckoff purchase to proceed, the city would have to certify at the Registry of Deeds that it releases right to title and interest in 4.5 acres at the northern end of the property, officials have said.
The property was transferred to the country club owner decades ago as part of a transaction related to the construction of Interstate 91, which took part of the golf course.
City Council approval is necessary to release title to the Wyckoff land.