I see that Gary Ramos and his casino friends are not telling us
the truth. It is time that we tell him we are tired of his vacant
promises and the Supervisors should vote to kill the casino right
now.
Dear Editor,
I see that Gary Ramos and his casino friends are not telling us the truth. It is time that we tell him we are tired of his vacant promises and the Supervisors should vote to kill the casino right now.
The casino group claims in their full-page ads that San Benito County has the highest unemployment rate in the Bay Area. This is not the case. San Benito is not included in the nine-county Bay Area. San Benito County is included in the Central Coast economic area. Monterey County, also in the Central Coast economic area, has an unemployment rate that is 50 percent higher than ours. If one were to include San Benito in the Bay Area statistics, one would also have to include Monterey, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Lake County. All of them have higher employment rates, by far, than we do. Simply, the casino group is not telling the truth. What our county has in common with those counties is that they are more rural in nature, and have not attracted business, manufacturing and service facilities, the key to true economic growth.
What the casino people are not telling you is that counties with gambling casinos do not have better unemployment rates. Fresno County has 12.4 percent unemployment, and two casinos. Lake County has three casinos, and 9.2 percent unemployment. Kings County has a casino, and 12 percent unemployment. In California, the unemployment rate of counties with casinos is exactly the same as the state average. Casinos take away as many jobs as they ad.
The casino would kill our traffic, add deaths to our road statistics, decimate the local restaurant and entertainment industry, take away money from the poor and elderly, and take away local control of our future.
The Supervisors serve the residents. They should vote now to oppose this idea. Opposition to Measure G won some of them their office. Supporting the casino would surely cost them that office, including Jamie De La Cruz – he has few votes to spare.
Lori Rosa, Morgan Hi
