Plymouth Select Board Says "No" To Racing, But Fight Not Over
Helm Calls Letter from Boston South's Loring Tripp III "An Insult" to the Board, People of Plymouth; Notes Fight Is Far From Over; Mand Speaks For The Many
PLYMOUTH — The Plymouth Select Board registered the voters’ overwhelming opposition to a proposed Casino/Race Track on the Plymouth County Woodlot, sending a letter last month to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, noting the opposition of the Town’s voters and its Select Board to the gambling proposal.
“In Total Opposition to Gaming”
“In total opposition to gaming, the Plymouth Select Board at its Public Hearing on June 7, 2022, voted unanimously against supporting thoroughbred horse racing and gaming; including but not limited to horse racing, historical horse racing, sports wagering and casino gaming at 63 Camelot Drive … also known as the County Wood Lot,” the June 8th letter states.
Writing for the Board, Chair Betty Cavacco noted the results of the recent ballot question:
“The results of the election determined that 88% of Plymouth voters are against such a project,” she wrote.
“Given the results of this vote, let it also be known that the Select Board would have no interest in engaging in negotiations for a Host Community Agreement as it relates to the aforementioned uses,” Cavacco continued.
The letter also effectively countermands a previous letter sent by the board.
In late March, the Select Board voted 3-2 (Cavacco, Quintal, and Bletzer, in the affirmative; Helm and Flaherty in the negative), to write a letter of support for Boston South Real Estate’s open-ended plans for the parcel, which was sent on April 5th.
While that letter never, according to knowledgeable attorneys, met the legal requirements for a letter of support from a Town as required by Massachusetts statute and administered via the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, it was nevertheless used by the Boston South Real Estate Group — a recently-formed cutout corporation for the O’Connell family of Quincy developers — as evidence that the Town of Plymouth did, in fact, support their open-ended proposal.
The Plymouth Select Board thus joined the voters of the town in rejecting Boston South/the O’Connells and their proposal.
Tripp And His Bosses Continue Their Effrontery
None of this deterred the would-be developers.
Boston South, via its employee, the local comprador1 and developer-collaborationist, former Planning Board Member Loring Tripp III — who was one of the chief proponents of the failed “Hollywood East” project in the 2000s — continued his long established pattern of effrontery, defying the express will of his hometown and his neighbors in order to continue attempting to further enrich his paymasters (and himself).
In a letter from Tripp to Plymouth Town Manager Derek Brindisi, the former expressed his bosses contempt for democracy and the People of Plymouth by vowing to proceed with their proposed project.
“Over the month of June, Boston South will be working with the County to finalize our agreement, and, by June 23rd [ed. – as of the morning of July 8th, 2022, the lease had yet to be signed – see below], begin our site-specific due diligence process for 90 days thereafter,” wrote Tripp.
“This will be followed by a one-to-three year due diligence period in which we will explore our main concept under the proposal, as well as any other options.”
Tripp, rather remarkably, argued that public benevolence, rather than the profit motive, were the forces motivating himself and his paymasters.
“We hope that during this time, the Select Board and community realize we are legally and morally bound to the commitment we have made to Plymouth County and each of its 27 communities. Exploring and considering all economic opportunities for this County asset, which will create long-term revenue streams to benefit the County and its citizens, remains our primary objective,” wrote Tripp.
Nor was Tripp’s shamelessness exhausted by this frankly risible argument.
Indeed, the O’Connells’ own Man Friday in Plymouth, with the knowledge that the Town had just voted overwhelmingly to oppose their casino/race track proposal, and that the Select Board was about to issue a letter opposing the same, practically boasted of their intended course of action.
“We greatly appreciate the Select Board’s letter of endorsement, (April 5, 2002; attached for reference), supporting this transparent and public process, as confirmed by the March 29, 2022 3:2 vote in the affirmative on the matter,” wrote Tripp.
“We, at Boston South, voluntarily agreed to, in advance of any action of mandate required by the Town or State, execute this process at our own expense and risk. We stand firm on our end of that commitment and hope the Select Board stands firm on theirs, as well,” wrote Tripp.
Helm Excoriates Boston South
The letter incensed some members of the Select Board.
Selectman Harry Helm was having none of it, and delivered a powerful statement decrying the letter from Tripp and Boston South (i.e, the O’Connells of Quincy).
“This is not over with,” said Helm, noting that Tripp’s letter maintained that Boston South would continue to “explore [their] main concept under the proposal.”
Helm remarked that “their ‘main concept’ was a race track — period.”
( Selectman Harry Helm; photo credit — Harry Helm/Coldwell Banker. )
Other aspects of the letter drew criticism from Selectman Helm.
“I also thought it was interesting,” Helm said, “that they said they were going to ‘explore … revenue streams to benefit the County and its citizens.’ The County citizens — not the citizens particularly of Plymouth, who are going to have to deal with this for the rest of our lives if it comes through.”
Helm was clear:
“I’m insulted by this statement. And I am going to make it really, really clear for any of the members of Boston South who may be listening or watching this how insulted that I am that they have actually backtracked even further from their lack of commitment to the People of Plymouth. So they’ve actually gone even further backwards,” he said.
Like many, Selectman Helm found Tripp’s claims that he and his paymasters in the O’Connell clan were acting with the public interest foremost in their minds absurd on their face.
“And I like that … ‘creating long term revenue streams to benefit the citizens county and its citizens remains their primary objective’ — how noble of them, that profit is not their primary objective,” Helm wryly remarked.
The communications and the conduct of Boston South and their comprador, Loring Tripp, were an affront to the Town, Helm suggested.
“I find this whole section of the letter to be incredibly insulting to the Board, to all residents of Plymouth, and I just needed to make that statement,” he said.
And with that the Great Hall erupted into loud applause.
Cavacco Decries Dishonesty from Boston South
For her part, Select Board Chair Betty Cavacco was likewise scathing in her remarks on Boston South and their representatives.
“I want to be clear and precise — this board is going to follow the vote — period. There is nothing more, we’re going to follow the vote,” said Cavacco. “88 percent of The People said there’s no horse racing — there’s no horse racing. And I believe that this Board will do everything in their power to fight that.”
Cavacco noted that State Rep. Matthew Muratore (R-Plymouth) said that it was almost certain that the Commonwealth would not overrule the expressed will of the Select Board and the Town.
Still Credulous After All These Years
Some members of the Select Board appeared far more willing than others to extend the benefit of the doubt to Tripp and the O’Connells/Boston South.
“We still have to do our due diligence and see what they come back with,” said Selectman Charlie Bletzer, though he noted that current traffic problems at Exit 13/Old Exit 5 are already bad.
Nevertheless, the Town, said Bletzer, should, despite their manifest dishonesty and lack of good faith, remain open to ideas or proposals from Boston South.
“We’d have to think about it. I don’t regret — I’m not gonna say that I’m sorry that I let them do their due diligence, because I think it’s their job, we need to look at ways of getting some kind of commercial economic development into this town in order to stabilize our taxes,” said Bletzer.
Bletzer is known to be favored by and close with powerful local development interests, and he perhaps let that hand slip when he made the remark that certain language in the letter opposing the racetrack had come directly from former State Senator Therese Murray (D-Plymouth), former President of the State Senate.
Both Murray and her successor, now-retired Sen. Vinny Demacedo (R-Plymouth), attended Bletzer’s campaign kickoff event in the Summer of 2021.
Selectman Richard Quintal, Jr., currently the Vice Chair of the Select Board, and who served as the Chair before the May elections (during the period the letter of support for Boston South was sent on April 5th), defended his actions and his abjectly pro-business and pro-developer approach to Town government.
In a meandering statement that could be described as both self-justifying and defiant, Quintal, like Bletzer, still seemed open to potential overtures from Boston South Group, despite the utter contempt the latter had shown for them, and to their constituents.
“I do support looking at economic development on that lot,” said Quintal, adding that while a horse-track and/or a casino was clearly rejected by the electorate, he would still be open to other commercial development if the Boston South Group were to propose it. Quintal specifically mentioned biotechnology, a convention center, or a minor league sports facility.
Quintal’s next remarks suggest that his policy could be summed up as — appeasing big development corporations:
“The last thing I want to do is to agitate developers so they do something we really don’t want ‘em to,” said Quintal.
Selectman Quintal seems to have forgotten that in a democracy, rather than a corporate oligarchy, it is the People who exercise sovereign authority, rather than predatory members of what the 19th century rightly called “The Money Power.” No doubt the results in the May Elections helped remind him of that fact.
Mand Speaks “For The Many, Not The Few”
Frank Mand, Member of the Planning Board, and longtime journalist, writer, and environmentalist, expressed the feelings of many in the room — speaking for the many, rather than the few, as Pericles put it in Athens — during the public comment period, criticizing the conduct of the (wholly extraneous and increasingly dangerous to the public good) County Commission.
“I think from the beginning the County’s actions have been scurrilous … they talk about a service to the County, and really are indifferent to the problems here in Plymouth, or the concerns here, or the overall rejection in Plymouth,” said Mand.
(Planning Board Member Frank Mand. Photo credit — Frank Mand.)
Mand pointed out that the County is made up of 27 communities, and surely those communities would be aghast if they were to find out their elected County Commissioners were engaged in this secretive, anti-democratic, and destructive action, ostensibly on their own constituents’ behalf.
“One of the things the County depends on is the support of the 27 communities that make up the County,” he said.
“I believe that there’s probably very few of those communities … that would want this same thing in the midst of their community, and I would say, let’s go to those communities, and let’s get them to tell the County — which supposedly represents those people — that they are opposed, as well, and then they won’t have any grounds to stand on.”
Like Selectman Helm’s speech, Mand’s statement was greeted with applause and the general approval of the Hall.
Mand argued that the entire process was one that ought not to have occurred, saying that the amount of time and effort required to stop the O’Connells’ racetrack was a diversion from more positive efforts.
People, said Mand, “have better things to do than fight something that should never have been considered in the first place.”
Ultimately, the Select Board voted unanimously to endorse the letter that was sent on June 8th.
Though Commissioner Jared Valanzola (R-Rockland) recently told WATD’s Bobbi Clark that the Commission hoped to sign the lease by the end of the week of July 3rd, as of Friday, July 8th, the lease had not been signed, Plymouth County Commission Executive Assistant Nancy O’Rourke told the Plymouth Colony Observer.
As Selectman Helm put it — this fight is far from over.
Comprador — a term from the Portuguese Empire in the East, denoting a member of the local or “native” middle classes who sold our their community for a sizable consideration.