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Breath easy
In what might have been the most anti-climactic front page headline the Saratogian has ever had, we reported yesterday that NYRA and the state of New York have come to terms with each other, reached an agreement to allow NYRA to run racing for another 25 years, and decided not to throw this city into likely financial ruin... just like everyone always said they would.
Don't think I'm not grateful. But what I'm not grateful for is the months of tension, questioning and worry. We here in the city felt NYRA-related concerns more palpably than any lawmaker in Albany. Landlords were having a hard time renting properties for the summer, and business owners were cutting their rations short, in preparation for a lean season. And that was before Gov. Spitzer announced that he wants to reallocate VLT revenue.
So, we can all now breath a collective sigh of relief. There will be a racing meet in 2008, and it will bring throngs of revelers to downtown businesses, to fill the city's coffers, and maintain our rightful place as the jewel of upstate.
All I'm asking is that in 2033, when the new franchise ends, lets not have a repeat of this debacle. No one needs that kind of stress.
Have a great weekend, I'll see you Sunday!
Don't think I'm not grateful. But what I'm not grateful for is the months of tension, questioning and worry. We here in the city felt NYRA-related concerns more palpably than any lawmaker in Albany. Landlords were having a hard time renting properties for the summer, and business owners were cutting their rations short, in preparation for a lean season. And that was before Gov. Spitzer announced that he wants to reallocate VLT revenue.
So, we can all now breath a collective sigh of relief. There will be a racing meet in 2008, and it will bring throngs of revelers to downtown businesses, to fill the city's coffers, and maintain our rightful place as the jewel of upstate.
All I'm asking is that in 2033, when the new franchise ends, lets not have a repeat of this debacle. No one needs that kind of stress.
Have a great weekend, I'll see you Sunday!
posted by The Saratogian City Desk at
7:09 PM
3 Comments:
Andrew,
Don't kid yourself. Any resident and/or business owner that thought racing honestly might have come to an end this summer was either:
A. deliriously drunk.
B. full of more excrement than a colostomy bag hanging off a fiber addict.
C. a principle in Excelsior, Empire or Capital Play.
D. a member of the media praying for several years' worth of headlines to literally write themselves.
This has been the largest shell/shill game in the history of this city. The last time the track closed, Nazis were feeding an amalgamation of people into the furnaces and Albert Einstein was unwittingly concocting equations that would one day level half the Japanese mainland. No doubt, we live in trying times, but no where near the times when racing in Saratoga last stopped.
Dear Saratoga. It isn't always about you. Gambling has become a poor way to spike up an econimy. The revenue created by the track and raceno goes to the state and those who run the venues. Meanwhile the local civic groups that raise money thru bingo and other local fund raisers give a hugh percentage more to local charities than nyra and the racino.
Without the venues built and supported by New York State, Saratoga would be in deep trouble. It's time they realizes this.
I agree with Horatio; racing was never in any jeopardy.
But it was fun watching Spitzer make Bruno get off of his high horse.
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