Friday, the Mayor of Fall River, Will Flanagan, received a solid commitment from Arkana Ltd an affiliate of Malaysian-based Kien Huat Realty and prime investor of Foxwoods Resort Casino. This firm sent a letter of commitment stating they were "married" to the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian tribe and that Arkana Ltd would financially back a destination resort casino in the city.
Imagine a luxury hotel, casino, shops , restaurants, entertainment complex and a golf course in one location in the woods off the new Rt. 24 exit 8 1/2. This would surely be a first for Fall River. Taking a gamble on gambling. How utterly ironic and I sincerely hope, not fatally so. This City needs the types of jobs such a facility would bring, jobs designed for unskilled labor and semi-skilled labor.
Sure, there will be a fair share of functions requiring degrees from 2 and 4 year colleges and universities, and I am sure there are more than enough local candidates to fill those positions. But the overwhelming majority of the types of jobs immediately present (maintenance, housekeeping, wait staff, laundry, bartenders, transportation, grounds crew, food preparation, casino workers) will most likely fit the job and education skills profile of the current population of Fall River, where over 50% of the adult population lack a high school diploma or GED. One hopes these individuals would strive to work for job skill training and additional education to improve their marketability, however to afford that often takes funds which these 40 hour a week jobs could provide. And we should all remember that it's far easier to obtain a better paying job once you have one. The estimated number of jobs such a destination resort casino would bring is approximately 3,000 jobs and could go as high as 5,000.
Of course, building the facilities of this resort will be a boon to the construction trades in the area, again making it possible to hire skilled and unskilled labor to good paying jobs for a solid period of time, exactly what a City with the highest unemployment rate in this state needs. I'm sure the construction trades unions must be ready and rarin' to go, and who could blame them. These specific well paying trade union jobs historically lead to economic growth and expansion of local and regional economies through housing formation and increased purchases of long term durable goods to fill homes with furniture, appliances, electronic goods and automobiles and trucks. These jobs will help create wealth and expand the tax base, critical for the survival of Fall River and the region.
This is the good part of the equation. But there are always associated drawbacks. Maybe we'll call this Henry's Rule #1, a sort of physics of common sense - every time something brings positive things, there are also possible negative things delivered as well. At least that's been my experience. So it might behoove us to look at what possible negative consequences could be if the recent good news pans out.
*Social costs of gambling-
It is inevitable that with the advent of casino gambling will come a rise in gambling addictions within the local populace. It will make current gambling addicts worse and will create new addicts as the simple proximity of the casino will draw those looking to make a killing in winnings come flying to the resort like moths to the flame. There must be social services available to deal with the problem even before the first pair of dice are thrown or the first time someone holds with a 17 at the black jack table.
*Rise in vice related crimes-
Fall River already has it's fair share of prostitution and hard drug use among what appears to be a long-term solid group of hard core drug addicts. Heroin, Oxycontin and cocaine abuse runs rampant throughout all ages and stations of life in the City. The arrival of the casino will bring along with it an increase in all sorts of vice-related crime. This has been the case wherever Casino gambling has opened and Fall River will not break this trend, especially in consideration of the opiate epidemic already here. As a community we must start lobbying for additional funding for drug addiction services and programs within the schools to prevent our children from becoming addicts in the first place.
School drug prevention programs are proven to work. Treatment programs are proven to work. As soon as the first shovel breaks ground, efforts to deliver additional funds for social service programs aimed at addiction treatment and education must take place. Additional programs aimed at prostitution and the young women suffering from both sex industry work and drug addiction, since to two problems go hand in hand, must also be put into place.
Fall River already has the social service infrastructure in place for these programs at programs like SSTAR and STEPPINGSTONE, INC to act as a base of operations for these expanded activities.
*Displacement of other opportunities-
In economics terms, this would technically be called an "opportunity cost" of building a resort destination casino. There are several costs that could be both short and long term. First, the use of the land this resort will rest upon is lost to other development. Specifically, it displaces the long-planned Bio-Park , a "Bio-Tech" business incubator (designing and creating viable scientific businesses utilizing newly developed bio technologies) in conjunction with U/Mass. The idea is to bring new products and technologies to market, taking ideas off the drawing board , many dealing with genetic engineering and cell-tissue culture technologies, into practical application.
The total amount of land required by the Bio-Park my be as little as 3-4 acres at the outset. Certainly within Fall River there are numerous locations where such acreage is readily available for development of the Bio-Park. In fact, one has to wonder in retrospect why such a high acreage was originally set aside for a purpose that can be served by one - tenth that amount? Was it to set aside additional land for future industrial use, or for other use as seen fit by the Redevelopment Authority (RA), almost like having an ace in the hole placed in your back pocket? And if so, doesn't that itself become an opportunity cost? Just questions to consider. It could constitute good land use planning, but should it not be a more open process and it's land use purpose made clear and certain for all to see. In a way it provides those particularly close to the members of the RA an unfair advantage in planning for potential uses of the land and surrounding areas in question. Again, a question to consider. In purely economic terms that would be called an information "market imperfection" increasing potential opportunity and transaction costs.
It is also possible , but not likely, that as a result of the change of the original dedicated use of the 300 acre parcel UMass could decide to develop the Bio-Tech park in another municipality. If so that would be an opportunity cost with the resulting loss of anywhere from a likely few thousand highly skilled and well paying jobs to a possible, but unlikely, high total of an estimated 8,000 such jobs. ( The lower estimate being my own guess, the higher total from statements made by spokes people for the RA - they must have been breathing rarefied air that day)
So there are many unanswered questions at this point, and the entire proposed award is fiction until concrete agreements are reached and the Legislature and Governor agree there will be casino gambling in Massachusetts. However, if it becomes reality and Fall River is eventually awarded one of the expected casino licences it will bring much needed employment to Fall River that could revive the City, including positive spin offs like a vibrant waterfront and vastly increased restaurant trade and tourism. But of course, only time will tell.
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