King of the Road

Ok… first Deval Patrick wanted to put the whole $300 M he expects to collect from three commercial casino licences in the State budget. Then, after getting some much deserved flak for that, he reduced the amount to $124 M, crossed his fingers, twisted some arms, dangled a few carrots, and continues to hope for the best.

One of those carrots happens to be a one time ‘special gift’ to cities and towns for local transportation projects. But only if Deval gets his way.

I thought it would be fun just to see how much moola some towns are slated to get (information courtesy of the Patriot Ledger). Middleboro’s abutters are highlighted in Neon.

Abington, $172,895
Braintree, $450,113
Bridgewater, $315,490
Canton, $342,694
Carver, $192,828
Cohasset, $94,447
Duxbury, $240,110
Halifax, $114,779
Hanover, $203,707
Hanson, $140,831
Hingham, $301,079
Holbrook, $107,794
Hull, $128,895
Kingston, $190,713
Marshfield, $335,696
Milton, $278,668
Norwell, $200,674
Pembroke, $237,095
Plymouth, $624,605
Plympton, $71,676
Quincy, $852,084
Randolph, $303,944
Rockland, $185,156
Scituate, $249,299
Sharon, $263,912
Stoughton, $345,608
Weymouth, $508,260
Whitman, $146,808

Did I miss something? Is Quincy getting a casino? Is it getting one next door? I mean, why else would it be entitled to almost 12 times as much money FROM CASINO LICENCES as Plympton?

Now, as you look at these numbers, remember, the Governor isn’t ruling out Middleboro as a potential site for a commercial casino. And the Tribe can agree to go the commercial rather than Federal Route And, in fact, Deval has indicated some sort of special treatment the Tribe could receive in acquiring one of those coveted licenses. And we all know how much the Tribe's investors have their little hearts set on Middleboro (even though they tried to snow us with that whole New Bedford thing...)

That being said, Bridgewater makes out pretty well - in fact, if the money weren’t slated specifically for transportation, we could use it to buy a pretty decent house in town. And then, we could transform it into a counseling or rehab center for the 2% of our 27,000 residents destined for gambling addiction (at least the ones who seek treatment.) But, since the money's earmarked for transportation, how about adding three and a half new traffic signals? This will really help with all that additional traffic we can expect if a casino comes – and manage to slow down a drive through town even more! Wow, pretty soon my little country town can look just like a small city!

Or maybe we could add some additional police presence for the increased crime we can expect. Oh wait. That money's only a one time thing. Sorry.

But I shouldn’t complain. Look at Halifax (with a major route to the site). And then of course, there is Plympton. Oh well, maybe Plympton will be able to pick up a used traffic light somewhere. Or at least a really big sign that says, “THIS ROAD DOES NOT LEAD TO CASINO - GO BACK. SAVE YOURSELVES.” or maybe “SPEED 10 MPH – VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED WITH PITCHFORKS – PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.”

Well, despite the fact that we’ll lose the stars in our sky, we abutters can, at least, all sleep well at night knowing that the Governor (Milton) and especially Treasurer Tim Cahill (Quincy) will make out all right with the “gifts” their towns will receive without having to live in the shadow of a casino.

Personally, I’m going to suggest Bridgewater install a couple of toll booths on the roads that share a border with Middleboro.