The RDA Blues

Tomorrow at a meeting of the Fall River Redevelopment Authority the final signatures will be placed by City authorities and Mashpee Wampanoag Indian representatives on a contractual agreement to sell the 300 acres of City owned land, previously designated for a Bio-Park, to the Wampanoags for development as a Destination Casino. This after legislation to allow the sale of this land for casino purposes has not yet been formally passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Governor Deval Patrick.

It has also come to my attention that the state's Inspector General has ventured an opinion that the sale of this land must adhere to specific provisions for bidding of public land sales laid out under MGL's, Chapter 30B,  generally referred to  as the State's Purchasing Guidelines, which also apply to municipalities. In short, the statute Chap.30B, sec. 16 requires that any municipal land with a value of $25,000 or more must be publicly bid. The continuation of the contract signing, under these circumstances would seem to make the entire meeting unnecessary at this time, and puts into serious question the speed with which this entire "Destination" Casino process has been carried out!

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If the statute in question is valid in this case, the City risks entering into a contract which will become null and void. It is amazing to me that this City's administration, drowning under the tsunami of payroll being paid to lawyers, both staff and the services of outside counsel, could not have sufficiently examined these facts before rushing pell mell into such a critically important decision. Remember, the state legislature has not yet passed a bill in a final form, nor has the Governor agreed to it. Everyone expects for it to be passed by the end of the legislative term, but even here there is no guarantee that it will be written to guarantee a casino for our area of the state, let alone Fall River specifically.

Because the bill has not yet been signed into law, the prior land use stipulation still is in effect. The land currently cannot be used for a casino, and until the legislature agrees, and a bill is signed into law by Governor Patrick, the agreement should not be signed before we know what's IN the bill.

This just makes common sense. Also something to consider, selling the land to the Wampanoags right now could mean years worth of waiting for the federal government to formally recognize the tribe's land purchase as a legitimate tribal land, throwing the land's use into limbo for years. No tribal land designation means no casino. That then suggests the prudent thing to do, other than not proceeding until a bill is signed into law, would be to include some time limit, or "drop dead" agreement into the contract and limit the time the Wampanoags have to develop the casino or the land would revert back to Fall River. I am not aware of any such provision being discussed by the RDA or FROED or Tumbleweed Flanagan's new best buddy, Ken Fiola. Maybe someone should.

One other thing to consider. If the Casino is developed only between the City and the Tribe, without the benefit of state legislation legalizing gaming in Massachusetts, the only money Fall River will ever receive are those payments agreed upon between the tribe and the City. The state will get NO REVENUES from the TRIBE...NONE, ZERO, ZILCH. My understanding is that the payment for the land sale itself will will placed under the control of the Redevlopment Authority, not for use in the City's general or capital budget.  How much new state aid do you think we'd be getting then? Most likely we'd receive LESS over time as the formula for state aid would no doubt be recalculated by representatives from the OTHER 350 cities and towns in the state legislature not getting an additional dime for local aid from increased tax revenues due to gaming in Fall River. If the state were to legalize gaming, and the Tribe were to obtain one of the licenses, not only would Fall River most likely receive the same revenues from the Tribe for local impact costs and land purchase, they would also continue to receive the same or increased level of local aid as total tax revenues increase as a result of taxes and fees on these new casino's. Something additional to consider in this entire process.

So ladies and gentlemen of Fall River, know that the single most important contract ever signed in this City's history will take place tomorrow without the i's being dotted or the t's crossed. This being the case while the Tumbleweed Flanagan administration, which promised to lower both the number of lawyers hired and the total amount of legal expenses from the previous and widely recognized as a despised administration, has failed to accomplish it's legal due diligence despite hiring more attorneys and spending more on legal expenses than their predecessor.

Great job there Tumbleweed....I guess the Indians are getting some payback from Fall River for selling Manhattan Island for $7 and some beads.

One final comment....did you know that every board and commission the City has is listed on the City's main website except one?.....that's right, the missing one is the Redevelopment Authority. Any question dealing with potential economic development  goes solely to FROED, a firm hired by the City, not a city bureau or board...there is no mention anywhere of the role of the Redevelopment Authority. I wonder why?