The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Suburbs leery of city’s proposed MGM casino
Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti recalled opposing a casino in nearby Bridgeport in the 1990s.
“I thought we (Connecticut) and Bridgeport could do better in terms of job creation and economic development,” said Lauretti, who was first elected in the early 1990s and is running for governor. “That, obviously, didn’t happen.”
So Lauretti is supportive of the controversial effort by MGM Resorts International to build a gaming, hotel and entertainment complex in Connecticut’s largest city, arguing the benefits will spill over Bridgeport’s borders.
The $675 million proposition would be either the third casino in the state — Indian tribes operate a pair in southeastern Connecticut — or the fourth if those tribes successfully team-up on an East Windsor gaming site.
“If we can create economic activity in Bridgeport and the cities of this state become a little more self sufficient, it’s less a burden on people in the suburbs,” Lauretti said.
Some other municipal leaders believe MGM will only add to the burden of Fairfield County’s traffic woes. Elected heads of Westport, Norwalk, Darien, Ridgefield and Greenwich want information about casino-generated congestion.
Bridgeport officials often grumble that the monied suburbs are happy to have the high-taxed, budget-strapped city responsible for hospitals and low-income housing, then question a big economic development like a casino.
“I recognize the economic challenges Bridgeport faces and I see the opportunity,” said Westport First Selectman Jim Marpe. But, Marpe said, “Transportation is already one of the major challenges communities like Westport have to deal with.”
“The argument is traffic is so bad it couldn’t get any worse,” said Joseph McGee, vice president of the Business Council of Fairfield County in Stamford, which is “monitoring” the casino proposal as it makes its way through the state legislature. “Well, it could. That issue is going to have to be addressed.”
“The (casino) project has been billed as a way to lure folks out of New York,” said Darien First Selectman Jayme Stevenson. And that, she said, means more strain on the highways and, if tolls return, more drivers detouring through Fairfield County towns.
Coming to Bridgeport in ‘droves’
Stevenson also chairs the Western Connecticut Council of Governments — one of nine coalitions of municipalities across the state. Bridgeport is not in the Western Council, but Stevenson hoped MGM and Mayor Joe Ganim, a gubernatorial contender, would attend a future meeting.
In 1995 the Western Council — then the Southwestern Regional Planning Agency — released a traffic study of a Bridgeport casino that concluded “bumper to bumper conditions would increase from three to ten hours on Interstate-95 and from one to three hours on Route 15 (Merritt Parkway).”
McGee recalled SWRPA’s document “really galvanized opposition.”
Asked if the Western Council will conduct an updated traffic study, Stevenson said possibly, depending on the cost.
If approved, a Bridgeport casino would, according to the state Department of Transportation, qualify as a major traffic generator. MGM would have to make and pay for related improvements.
“I’m not an engineer by any stretch,” said Greenwich First Selectman Peter Tesei. “But when you go to the (two casinos) in eastern Connecticut, it’s evident they have a fairly elaborate access and egress in and out. And that was a fairly underdeveloped area. This (Bridgeport and Fairfield County) is highly developed.”
According to MGM, much more information about casino traffic is known now than in the 1990s.
“The peak traffic times for casinos are not the peak traffic times for rush hour,” MGM said, and a Bridgeport casino will not create an additional rush hour because of staggered arrivals and departures along I-95 and Routes 15 and 8.
MGM said just over a third of its Bridgeport patrons will be traveling from 7 p.m. until midnight, with Friday and Saturday the most popular days. And less than 2 percent of casino patrons will be heading to Bridgeport during Friday morning drive time, MGM said.
Around 57 percent of patrons will actually arrive by car, with others using charter buses and public transportation. The casino will be near the city’s train and ferry stations.
Mickey Herbert, outgoing head of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council, said that group and members of its three affiliated chambers of commerce — Bridgeport, Stratford and Trumbull — have all voted to support a casino.
Herbert noted the location where the casino would be built — prime waterfront land on the city’s East End — “is so precious something else will go there that will bring in traffic, anyway.”
“Why should we complain about people coming to Bridgeport in droves? It seems preposterous to me,” Herbert said.
Gambling on investment
Situated between Stamford and Bridgeport, Norwalk has benefited from increased development, including a new mall being built next to I-95. Mayor Harry Rilling is worried not only about casino traffic but that casinos “are designed to help relieve people of their money.”
“Certainly this would be an economic driver for Bridgeport,” Rilling said. “If it was something other than a casino that presented those same opportunities I’d be much more enthusiastic.”
Right next door to Bridgeport, Fairfield First Selectman Michael Tetreau is not a big fan of gambling either. But, Tetreau said, “If we’re going to allow gambling in some towns and not others, my question is, ‘Why not Bridgeport?’”
MGM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Murren has Fairfield roots and his mother still lives in town.
Back in Shelton, which is located on Route 8, Lauretti is not losing sleep over casino traffic: “They aren’t going to invest that kind of money with the understanding people won’t get there,” he said of MGM.
“Why should we complain about people coming to Bridgeport in droves? It seems preposterous to me.”
Mickey Herbert, Bridgeport Regional Business Council