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Old 03-13-2013, 07:52 AM
 
Location: near bears but at least no snakes
26,655 posts, read 28,691,193 times
Reputation: 50536
Quote:
Originally Posted by western mass and love it View Post
Palmer is a suburb of Springfield and is not a wasteland. The people that live there do work,some commute to Springfield some to Worcester. Also Springfield would draw people from the same places as Palmer. Except Springfield is much more accessible via I91 I90 I291 I391 rt 57 just to name a few. Palmer has the pike and that's it.

Also Springfield has The Basketball Hall of Fame,Six Flags New England, The Quadrangle Musuems, many shopping areas,many more restaurants, easier access to the Berkshires and Vermont and points south. While Palmer has a McDonald's a DD and some gas stations and a CVS.
I don't think of Palmer as a suburb of Springfield, Palmer used to be a place unto itself. People in Palmer used to be able to work in Palmer. That entire area needs something--look at towns like Ware that could benefit. There are several sort of lost and desolate towns like Sturbridge, to name another one, that could really use some income.

Palmer is closer to the huge population area of EMass and closer to Worcester. The Pike near Palmer connects to rte 84 which goes to CT and NY, both are huge areas of population.

Since Palmer only has McDonald's, DD, a few gas stations and run down shops, they need the casino.
The casino would bring in restaurants and hotels.

Springfield already has what it needs--it has great attractions, a beautiful setting, and many homes. It needs something--I don't know what--to revitalize it but I don't think a casino is the answer. I don't think the people who go to a casino are going to stop off at the Quadrangle or go out to Tanglewood or take a trip up to Brattleboro. They usually just come to gamble, maybe stay in the hotel and go home.
It would kill what little Springfield does have going for it but Palmer, sorry to say, has just about nothing there anyway. It would be great to bring some jobs and prosperity to the Palmer area.
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Old 03-13-2013, 03:18 PM
 
Location: Springfield and brookline MA
1,348 posts, read 3,100,106 times
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Palmer is most definitely a suburb of Springfield, it is roughly 10 miles from Spfld border to Palmer border while Worcester is a good 36 miles away. In my opinion you need something in the area to attract people and Palmer doesn't have it. Springfield has plenty to attract people to the area and ringing a resort casino in would do even so much more for the city.

Putting a casino in Palmer would do nothing but shutter what little they have in town. The plans are for the casino to go directly across from the pike exit. there would be no reason for anyone to even go into Palmer at all. Just hop off the pike and hit the casino, and when you are done just hop right back on the pike.


As far as being near 84, the exits are something like 6 or 9 miles apart. I for one would not be going 12-20 miles out of my way just to gamble. Also the proximity to Eastern Mass is a moot point seeing as how that part of the state is also getting 2 casinos I think.
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Old 03-13-2013, 03:40 PM
 
71 posts, read 171,538 times
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Casinos cost communities more money in the long run (not to mention dragging down the populace into social instability).

Crime goes up, gambling addictions increase, alcohol-related fatalities, families are affected, the social fabric of the community is rendered helpless. Why would any town in Massachusetts want to emulate the worst communities in Forida or Texas (oh don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about).

If anybody thinks a casino is a good idea, I only ask that you please please read Chapter 9 of "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg.

Casinos = misery for community as a whole
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Old 03-13-2013, 03:59 PM
 
Location: near bears but at least no snakes
26,655 posts, read 28,691,193 times
Reputation: 50536
At least it would provide jobs for Palmer and the isolated towns around it. Springfield people can already get to other places to work.

I think I would prefer it in Palmer for the jobs it would provide. I mean, there's just hardly anything in Palmer. Where can the people work? A casino would be better than nothing. We can argue about whether or not Palmer is a suburb of Springfield but I never considered it that way. It has geographical proximity to Springfield, but it never seemed like a suburb, not in the typical meaning of suburbia. Not to me anyway. Maybe in a technical manner of speaking you are right!

To measured1--I agree with all that you said. It just seems that it's a foregone conclusion that some places in this state will get casinos. There are towns that don't have much to lose and if I offend anyone in Palmer, I apologize, but Palmer is so far down that a casino might bring it up in the world.
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Old 03-13-2013, 05:38 PM
 
Location: Massachusetts
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Does anyone on this thread live in Palmer or any of the towns on the list? It would be good to hear from some citizens of those towns.
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Old 03-13-2013, 06:17 PM
 
Location: Lexington, SC
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How many casinos will be allowed?
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Old 03-13-2013, 08:00 PM
 
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I'm not saying casinos are good or bad but I think the long term ramficiations might just be neutral.

We already have gambling in mass...the state lotto system. Nothing is stopping people from going to casinos or gambling in other forms. One might argue that any form of investment is a gamble!

Can it be argued that if casinos are in mass that people will spend money here? Sure...but that depends who owns those properties. Who honestly leaves a casino for entertainment, for food or shopping? Casinos are large to the point where they are inclusive. In addition given the decline of casinos in NV and CT and NJ who is to say that any new casino owner might move unemployed casino workers to mass to work?

It's not like they'll hire 100% new people. It's just like a new retail store, no one would ever take a risk that large. The management will be from other areas and a fair amount that already work there that are close to it. You cannot create more gamblers by dividing them.

Sure there's some construction jobs but before anything is constructed what specifically happens if one closes? Can it be made into something else? Heck what happens when state lottos go online
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Old 03-14-2013, 08:20 AM
 
Location: near bears but at least no snakes
26,655 posts, read 28,691,193 times
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Deadline is today for casino, slot parlor hopefuls to submit application fee in Mass. - Metro - The Boston Globe

Here's an article I found about the casinos.

http://www.boston.com/news/specials/casino/

This article goes into more detail and down at the bottom are past articles concerning the casinos.


I'm anti casino but a lot of people must be for it because we're getting it, like it or not.
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Old 03-14-2013, 09:05 AM
 
Location: near bears but at least no snakes
26,655 posts, read 28,691,193 times
Reputation: 50536
Massachusetts Casinos - MassLive.com

And another one. WMass residents will be interested in this.

Personally, I cannot imagine a casino near the Big E/Exposition grounds in the city of W. Springfield. Have you ever seen the traffic jams they have already when the Big E is on?

Plans for a casino in the south end of Springfield??? Are they crazy? Where? I don't like placing it anywhere near lovely quiet suburbs like Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, Wilbraham, or Hampden. Put it somewhere that needs jobs for locals and is out of the way of nice, established, relatively crime free areas. (To translate for EMass people, this would be like putting a casino next to Wellesley!)

Plans for a casino in the north end of Springfield? Maybe.

Plans for a casino in the town of Palmer? If it has to go somewhere, this is the best choice. If nothing else, it would provide some jobs for a town that barely has anything at all. The jobs would be service jobs like hotel workers and restaurant workers but they are jobs at least. Palmer is a dead town that used to be known for its paper mills and railroad. Now there's hardly anything there so a casino couldn't make it much worse than it already is. Business wouldn't be hurt because there barely are any businesses to start with but a lot of people would get a place to work. Also there are other mostly dead towns nearby whose residents could finally have a place to work. Even a service job would be better than welfare or unemployment.

Just to the north of Palmer are towns that were physically cut off like orphans from the rest of Hampshire County back in the 930s when the Quabbin Resevoir was built (water for Boston, locals don't get to use that water) and a casino in nearby Palmer would give these folks a long needed bit of fair play and a chance at some kind of livelihood.

In EMass, I'm not so familiar with the territory but I have heard of people going to conventions in Boston and complaining that there's no casino. (It's the LAST thing I would want to do, but if we have to have a casino, then put one within striking distance of Boston--that's what the people seem to want.)
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Old 06-13-2014, 01:57 PM
 
Location: Sneads Ferry, NC
13,374 posts, read 27,049,417 times
Reputation: 6983
Quote:
Originally Posted by in_newengland View Post
Plans for a casino in the south end of Springfield??? Are they crazy? Where?
It looks like the approved casino site is just a few blocks south of Court Square in Springfield. Thoughts on whether this will help revive Springfield?

MGM Springfield to get state's 1st casino license - Massachusetts news - Boston.com

http://mgmspringfield.com/home.aspx
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