Mayor to speak in Brownsville
BROWNSVILLE – The benefits and drawbacks of being the host community for a Native American casino will be discussed Thursday evening at the Sons of Italy hall in Brownsville. Wesley Johnson, mayor of Ledyard, Conn., will be the guest speaker at a presentation being hosted by the Brownsville Area Ministerial Association with support from local citizens. Ledyard is the home of the Foxwoods Casino Resort, run by the Mashantucket Pequot tribe.
“I was on town council when Foxwoods opened in 1992. I had been on council for 12 years prior to that, though not consecutively,” Johnson said.
Johnson is currently serving his eighth year as mayor of Ledyard and will be seeking a third term in office. Johnson said some of the circumstances in Brownsville and Ledyard are similar.
“I understand you have a group of Indians who want to be federally recognized and open a casino. We had a group of Indians who settled a land claim and opened a bingo hall, then a casino,” Johnson said.
When casino gaming was approved for Native American tribes, the Pequots decided to open Foxwoods. Johnson said it has been open 24 hours a day, seven days a week ever since its grand opening.
“Our impact is mainly in public safety,” Johnson said.
Johnson said Ledyard and the nearby communities of North Stonington and Preston have had increased traffic from casino employees and from patrons. He will also discuss Thursday the increased stress on the ambulance and fire departments in the area and property devaluation along the route to the casino.
“As for the spin-off businesses they always talk about, they haven’t happened,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he is planning to tour Brownsville and the surrounding area after arriving in Fayette County Wednesday to see the communities that could be impacted by a casino.
“It doesn’t always affect only the town that it’s located in,” Johnson said.
The Rev. Stanley Burdock, of the ministerial association, said it is exciting to host Johnson.
“This is a man who as a political leader has had the experience of having a casino, and a Native American casino at that, move into his community. Foxwoods is the largest casino in the world. The land was taken by eminent domain and there’s an active Indian community that’s been developed,” the Rev. Burdock said. “There seems to be a lot of similarities to the possible situation in Brownsville.”
Several Indian tribes have expressed an interest in developing a casino in Brownsville and have said property owner Ernest Liggett approached them about the possibility. Liggett and two companies in which he is an officer own more than 100 parcels in Brownsville Borough and Brownsville Township, including the majority of the downtown business district. The Six Nations of the Grand River in Canada pursued the issue for several years. The most recent tribe to indicate an interest in a Brownsville casino has been the Seneca Nation Inc. from New York.
The Seneca Nation opened an off-reservation casino in Niagara Falls, N.Y., this past January and will be voting shortly on the possibility of opening a second off-reservation casino in Buffalo, N.Y.
Brownsville Mayor Norma Ryan said she is looking forward to getting more information on the casino’s impact on Ledyard.
“It’s already history with them. We’re here, not knowing what the future is,” Ryan said.
Johnson will speak at 7 p.m. at the Sons of Italy Hall on Race Street in Brownsville, with a question-and-answer period following his lecture.