BOSTON MAYOR MARTY WALSH sounded on Friday morning like someone who was about to give up his nasty court fight against the Wynn Resorts casino in Everett, but he said he needed more time before making a final decision.
In a brief meeting with reporters in his office lobby, the mayor said he had not yet read Suffolk Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders’s sweeping decision dismissing the city’s lawsuit against the Massachusetts Gaming Commission challenging its award of a casino license to Wynn Resorts. He said any decision on an appeal would be made later, but he indicated he had already begun moving forward with the state and Wynn on addressing traffic issues in Charlestown associated with the casino.
“We’ve been in the process of working with the state, sitting at the table, seeing if we can come up with some solutions on traffic,” he said. “We’re going to continue down that road and working that way and we’ll make a decision on the case later.”
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About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
Asked if he was working with Steve Wynn and other top officials at Wynn Resorts, he said: “Yeah, his people have been at the table. We’ve been having good conversations, good dialogue. I think you’ve noticed that a lot of the conversation, a lot of the rhetoric that’s been in the press over the last two months, three months, hasn’t been happening. We’ve been having somewhat productive conversations and we’re going to continue to have those, hopefully.”
Walsh said he did not regret spending $1.25 million just on legal fees in the fight against the Wynn casino. “It’s worth it,” he said. “I’m fighting on behalf of the people of Boston. I’m not going to roll over and not fight for the people of Boston.”
When it was suggested his body language was indicating it was time to drop the lawsuit and move forward, Walsh didn’t disagree. “We will continue to move forward but we’re also going to continue to advocate on behalf of the people of Charlestown,” he said. “We’re going to continue to do that as long as I’m in this office.”
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