nothin Elicker: Casinos Are Bad Bet | New Haven Independent

Elicker: Casinos Are Bad Bet

Paul Bass Photo

Candidate Elicker with seniors at a campaign event this week.

Casinos don’t equal smart government investments.

So argued mayoral candidate Justin Elicker, who reacted to the latest news about a fledgling casino project by saying he wouldn’t have supported it in the first place.

We need good jobs in New Haven,” Elicker said. But I don’t think we should be betting our financial future on an industry that exploits people.”

Elicker made the comments Wednesday during an appearance on WNHH FM’s Dateline New Haven” program. He was asked about the latest news about a proposed casino in Bridgeport.

New Haven officials — including Mayor Toni Harp, against whom Elicker is now running for the Democratic nomination — had joined with Bridgeport officials in 2017 to seek state support for MGM Resorts International to build the new casino. The original deal called for MGM to operate a job-training center for the casino in New Haven. An 11th-hour new version of the deal at the state legislature this week cut out New Haven in favor of a new partnership that includes the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes. (Click here for the Hearst report detailing the development.)

Harp argued that casino jobs pay well and represent the kind of jobs New Haven needs to pursue to lift people out of poverty.

Elicker said in the radio interview that he would never have supported the deal in the first place. Casino jobs promote gambling addiction, which preys on people with that problem and builds up long-term costs to society and government.”

However, if such a casino were to be built anyway, Elicker said, he would then support the idea of working to include New Haveners in the labor pool.

UNITE HERE, the union that represents Yale workers and backs a majority of the New Haven Board of Alders, had lobbied hard for the Bridgeport casino. UNITE HERE represents casino workers.

Also on Dateline,” Elicker, who has harshly criticized Mayor Harp, was asked to name something she has done right. He mentioned her move early in her administration to take down a fence that had seprated West Rock housing developments for decades from Hamden. The fence should have been addressed many years ago. She did the right thing,” Elicker said.

Click on the Facebook Live video to watch the full interview with Elicker on Dateline New Haven,” which included discussion of pay to play” fundraising, magnet schools, community schools, and how to stop a fight from breaking out.

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