The Daily News is none too happy with the Albany trio that decided on the Aqueduct winner:The men who misrule Albany have plumbed new depths of public-be-damned irresponsibility in their flagrantly scandalous plan to bring casino-style gambling to Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens.
Gov. Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Democratic boss John Sampson picked a company to run thousands of slot machines at the decrepit raceway in dead-of-night secrecy that reeks of favoritism and fixes.
With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake both for the public and the firm that won the franchise, Paterson, Silver and Sampson solicited proposals from would-be gaming interests. Six submitted credible bids.
Since then, outrageously, the trio has:
* Refused to let the public see any details of the proposals - how much money each bidder put on the table, what skeletons they had in their closets or how their building designs stacked up.
* Repeatedly changed bidding rules in the middle of the game, demanding increasingly fat upfront payments to plug holes in the state budget.
* Fomented an orgy of campaign donations and spending by politically connected lobbyists.
* Generally conducted themselves so badly that developer Steve Wynn - Mr. Vegas himself - walked away in disgust.
But Governor Paterson said they weren't his first choice.
The winner is wasting no time starting on the project:
Aqueduct Entertainment Group, the partnership that was selected by Gov. David Paterson to develop Aqueduct, said it will unveil its construction schedule to the community in Ozone Park, Queens, Thursday night. Those plans involve beginning pre-construction of the site on Friday.
And the NY Post discovered the following:
The group awarded the contract to install and manage 450 video slots terminals at Aqueduct Racetrack was initially deemed "not qualified" by the state, The Post has learned.
So....honest graft?
7 comments:
Here we have a gaggle of politicians promoting gambling in SE Queens, an impoverished area of the city, encouraging the denizens of that area to engage in that uplifting activity known as betting on horses and playing the slots.
Instead of wasting their time and hard-earned and needed money on the horses and roulette wheels, these politicians shamelessly encourage moral turpitude amongst their constituents.
"REVEREND" FLOYD FLAKE, your immortal soul will burn in hell for supporting this. Why not encourage the citizenry to bet on themselves instead of racetrack nags and one-armed bandits?
Can I get an "Amen" on this?
To the people who live in the area'a represented by Monserate, Espada, Smith, Sampson, Shelly, Addabbo. When are you going to wake up!
The "Reverend Floyd Flake" is a principal in Aqueduct Entertainment Group.
Feed the Hungry. Clothe the Naked. Roll the Dice. ("Faites vos joues, mesdames et messieurs. Faites vos joues.")
What did he expect from these 3 stooges?
Aqueduct is in southwest Queens.
Dump Flake out of this project and let it get moving.
the collapse of the U.S. economy is attributed to MORTGAGE BACKED BONDS,a form of sophistically mathematical models concocted by the investment bank industry.
it was a form of GAMBLING by Wall Steet and the U.S.Government home loan agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
these two agencies have recently been given unlimited loan capability by the democrats and obama.
at a time when the Las Vegas gambling industry is in free fall,it is insane to try to bring this to n.y.c.
unemployment in n.y.c.is 9.7 to 17%. it is higher in Nevada.Reid's poll numbers are tumbling.
when there is no income for the private sector,the public sector will be broke eventually. unless obama passes out the funds in his "STASH". print more paper money or borrow more from China.
an insane government policy ?
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