Wynn to Menino: Butt out!
Says mayor has no say in casino talks
Saturday, May 11, 2013
By
ave Wedge
Las Vegas tycoon Steve Wynn yesterday hammered Mayor Thomas M. Menino for being “partisan” in the casino fight and pledged that the Hub will have no say in his proposed $1.5 billion Everett gaming mecca.
“Mayor Menino is not an objective third party. He is committed to the other side. He’s taken sides in this,” Wynn told the Herald.
City attorneys fired off a letter to Wynn in February asking to discuss the Everett project, which abuts Boston property, but the two sides have yet to meet — and Wynn says he has no plans to do so.
“I don’t know where we intersect with them,” Wynn said. “We’re not in Boston with our project. We’re only in Everett.”
But Menino countered that he will have his say because the road going in and out of Wynn’s site, Route 99, and the shores of the Mystic River are owned by Boston.
“It’s city property you have to go through,” Menino said. “We have to be part of the negotiations.”
The mayor, a staunch supporter of a proposed $1 billion casino at Suffolk Downs in East Boston, added that he won’t be meeting with Wynn, but said city attorneys have contacted the developer’s team.
“My lawyers answered any questions he asked,” Menino said.
Under the state gaming law, casino developers have to strike mitigation deals with “surrounding communities” that border cities or towns that have casinos. If a deal can’t be struck, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission can step in as a peacemaker.
The rule seeks to stop surrounding communities from stalling or blocking a project, but Wynn said he doesn’t believe he’ll have to win any approval or deal with Boston at all. “That’s not how I understand it,” he said.
Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria said he too hasn’t spoken to Menino about the planned resort and doesn’t expect to.
“If Boston considers itself a surrounding community, they have a venue with the Gaming Commission,” DeMaria said. “If they don’t get the license at Suffolk Downs and we do, they can take their case to the Gaming Commission.”
Wynn said he’s “never met” Menino and claimed the first time he ever saw him was on TV during the Boston Marathon bombings aftermath.
“When we first showed up in Everett, he sort of went on the attack. And I was surprised,” Wynn said, referring to sarcastic comments made by Menino about Wynn back in January. “He was partisan. He wants it there.”
The developments come as Wynn upped the ante on the Everett gaming palace, pledging to spend up to $1.5 billion on a gleaming, 300-foot waterfront resort.
The plans, unveiled in a lavish ceremony in Everett yesterday, call for a 550-room, 19-story, glass-encased hotel that will be “Wynn bronze” in color and will overlook the Mystic River. Wynn, who is battling Suffolk Downs and Foxwoods in Milford for the sole Boston casino license, said the resort will take 30 months to build once the license is issued, meaning it could open in summer 2016.
Wynn also dismissed reports his company could face a shakeup if his ex-wife, Elaine, sells off her nearly 10 percent stake in his $13 billion company.
“It’s totally irrelevant,” he said. “The arrangement me and my wife have is rock solid.”
Dave Wedge / Boston Herald
dave.wedge@bostonherald.com