Daily Gazette – Every day, Tim DuFresne leaves his job cutting masonry for the city of Amsterdam and drives down winding back roads to his home in the rural town of Florida.
“Making that drive,” he said, “it’s all farm fields and trees. For me, it’s like driving into heaven.”
From the front door of his little house, the Mohawk Valley opens in a sprawling vista. He loves that view.
But now, with talk of a possible casino development at a site just two miles from his home, he’s worried the views and relative privacy afforded by country living will give way to crime and ugly developments.
“They’ll need wider roads all over,” he said. “Someone will want to build a bunch of houses. That’s how it goes. And casinos bring riffraff.”
Last month, Montgomery County officials confirmed that a number of developers pursuing one of four state casino licenses were interested in a 520-acre site straddling the Florida-Amsterdam border. Since then, most opinions voiced have been positive. The town of Florida, city of Amsterdam and Montgomery County governments all passed resolutions in favor of a possible casino at that location.
Montgomery County Executive Matt Ossenfort, while not wanting to put all the county’s “economic development eggs in the casino basket,” did say a casino could be great for the area. Economic Development Director Ken Rose sees the whole thing as a mechanism for job creation.
When a casino was proposed in Saratoga Springs, there was significant and vocal community pushback. The resistance was so strong that city leaders recently voted to oppose siting a casino within its borders, reversing an earlier measure in favor of a project.
According to Florida town Supervisor Eric Mead, the project does have some local opposition — Florida residents are just quieter about it.
“The main opposition lives near where the casino might go,” he said.
Last month, Mead and the Town Board held a public hearing to test the waters on the subject of casinos. He said about 40 people showed up, split roughly 60 percent to 40 percent against the idea.
“I had to bring order back to the meeting at one point,” he said.
