In Plymouth, at the Select Board Meeting, on March 29th, the proponents of a thoroughbred race track and gambling facility to be located on the County Woodlot, requested a letter of support for the project They got it on a 3 to 2 vote. But that wasn’t the only motion connected with this issue.
More from Bobbi Clark:
Selectman Patrick Flaherty voted against the letter of support…
“We hadn’t seen any information about that project in writing. We haven’t seen the RFP response for that project yet either. And I just had no information to understand what the project even was to support.”
Selectman Harry Helm also voted no, saying:
“I have not heard anything tonight that I consider factual detail.”
But, lack of factual detail did not deter Selectman Betty Cavacco who prefaced her motion for the letter of support, by stating, in part:
“I’m not sure of all the exactness of everything, but we, have to give this organization the tools to do everything they need…”
However, the tools to allow residents to make a decision is what Selectman Patrick Flaherty had in mind in making this motion:
“I proposed that we have a non-binding ballot question—so that it would be six weeks from now. The town and the residents could understand what this project is: it’s thoroughbred horse-racing, it’s gambling, in Plymouth at the woodlot, and whether this is a project that the residents, the voters, want to also support.”
But, there was no support for Flaherty’s motion:
“I didn’t understand why we wouldn’t want to hear from the community on this really critical issue for our future.”
And, indeed, why doesn’t the majority of the Select Board want to hear from the voters on this critical issue by using a non-binding ballot question?
