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Letter: Why is city sponsoring casino shuttles?

May 6, 2009 By Ben Sclair

Why is the Lakewood Parks Department sponsoring shuttle service to tribal casinos? Especially since on April 2 the City Council directed the City Manager to wean the city from gambling revenue? But the trips continue. The Spring and Summer issue of the Lakewood Parks Department brochure just delivered to mailboxes throughout the city, promotes a trip to the Snoqualmie Casino, not Snoqualmie Falls but Snoqualmie Casino, for Senior Citizens in Lakewood. The promo reads in part, “This just may be your lucky day!”

And this is not the first time. In November, 2008, Lakewood Parks sponsored a catch the shuttle advertisement that read, in total, “Tulalip Casino and Outlet Mall. Fun is the name of the game on this trip. The Tulalip Casino features 2,000 popular, state of the art slot machines and 59 game tables.”

Both Lakewood Parks Director Mary Dodsworth and Lakewood City Manager Andrew Neiditz have responded to our complaint that the reason for such trips is because of high demand. But a Seattle Times headline on November 23, 2005 read “Older adults vulnerable to gambling addiction”.

Are not then these shuttle trips, promoted by the City expressly for the purpose of encouraging our seniors to gamble, as indicated by the specific reason stated in the city parks publication, facilitating – not weaning – gambling addiction?

Logically, it would stand to absurd reason, that the city shuttle should patronize our own local casinos and keep the theft of dollars in our own town.

Community Matters

David Anderson
988-2536

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Comments

  1. Bunnee Butterfield says

    May 7, 2009 at 10:59 am

    Dear Editor – Mr. Anderson seems to believes anything to do with gambling is evil and anyone participating is at great risk for financial or moral ruin. I have been in a casino once and didn’t find it appealing; however, my mother, who is 85 years old, likes to go with her church group to a casino north of Seattle once or twice a year. It’s a fun outing, she might play the slots a little (or not), and she spends time with people she enjoys. Not everyone feels the way Mr. Anderson does about gambling. Some people believe it is a recreational activity. Whether it is going to the race track or playing bingo at the community hall or getting together a group to play bunco, some people think this is fun. These people pay tax dollars, too, so I assume they would see this as the city providing recreational opportunities they find entertaining. I can understand those who don’t believe the city should be dependent on gambling revenues, although it is not a concern I share. But to deny the older citizens of our city the field trips they enjoy because someone thinks they need safeguarding from the problems some gamblers might face? I don’t think we need morality czar making decisions for us.

  2. Dan Grey says

    May 7, 2009 at 9:26 pm

    University Place has the same arrangement with Casinos. We bus our seniors to their establishments and they send them home poorer. When the day comes that the predatory gambling industry is sued for the intentional harm they have inflicted upon the public, a co-defendant will be municipalities such as Lakewood that aid and abet this scam. The Native communities are well aware that the day of reckoning is coming when Casinos will be regulated like harmful substances such as tobacco. That is why they are diversifying their portfolio into shipping, hatcheries and other productive enterprises.

  3. robert castman says

    May 13, 2009 at 11:28 pm

    Now there’s an idea. Lawsuits. Maybe the good Governor can squeeze a settlement from gambling interests in return for allowing them to continue operating with a big cut for the state. You know, like the tobacco settlement which was spearheaded by Ms. Gregoire when she was attorney general. With her good friends among the tribal gambling Czars, it ought to be a cinch, dont you think?

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