By Dee Richard
Another eventful week has gone by. Some of the happenings were the annual New York Press Association’s Convention in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. It was bigger and better than ever this year. It was held at the Gideon Putnam Hotel and Conference Center in the 2,200-acre Saratoga Spa State Park. Also in the park are the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, the Spa Little Theater and the Saratoga Automobile Museum. It is understandable why they call it the Jewel of Saratoga.
We were late in registering and as the Gideon has only 123 rooms we missed out on the opportunity of staying there. We did, however, find accommodations nearby at the Inn at Saratoga, a small but charming Victorian hotel near the conference center.
They had so many great seminars to attend it was tough to make choices. The ones I finally settled on were informative and useful.
One of the most fun highlights of the convention was the entertainment provided at the Saturday luncheon. It was a performance by a political troupe known as “OINK,” which stands for Only in New York. They bashed every high-profile politician with equal aplomb.
Some of the targets where President George Bush, Gov. George Pataki, U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, state Sen. Majority Leader Joe Bruno, state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and others. They were so good I didn’t feel so badly about missing the NYC Inner Circle performance held the same nights as the convention. If you ever have need for this kind of entertainment for a convention, fund-raiser, etc., don’t hesitate to check them out.
The other fun thing was Saturday night after the final awards dinner at the Gideon. We decided to stop by and check out the video gaming machines at the new Saratoga Gaming and Raceway building. They were lots of fun and I wound up being a winner to the tune of $6.65.
The huge parking lot was filled to capacity and we had to wait for someone to leave before acquiring a parking space. They have more than 1,300 video gaming machines inside the facility. You have to wait to gain access to some of the more popular games. The entire operation is run by computer — you have to see it to believe it.
This experience was a perfect segue into a conversation I had with state Sen. Frank Padavan on additional legalized gambling. He and a number of others are dead set against it. While many agree with him from a philosophical, ethical and moral point of view, in the real world, where is the money we need going to come from?
You cannot keep taxing the middle class; there already is an exodus of this group from New York. When they leave they take their tax base with them. New York has become one of the highest taxed states for residents and businesses. In short, we are in a desperate situation, and desperate situations require desperate solutions.
Senator, you and others against legalized gambling are correct morally, but unfortunately you cannot legislate morality. On the surface this seems to be a voluntary, painless solution to the problem.
Every single day from every shopping center in New York buses transport thousands of New Yorkers to Atlantic City, N.J., Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos in Connecticut. If this is how people choose to spend their money, you cannot stop them. All you can do is send them to other states to spend their money without a penny accruing in New York state.
This is not a very practical accounting practice, besides, you already have legalized gambling in New York state. It’s called OTB, the lottery, lotto and bingo.
While we may agree with your position on the perceived dangers that could occur from the passage of additional legalized gambling from video machines, the world of reality demands an alternative solution other than taxation as a source of revenue.
This, of course, is only one citizen’s opinion and point of view. I am not a legislator nor am I an accountant. I believe in simplistics, and if people want to spend their money to play video games and this provides an instant source of revenue that proves to be successful at its three locations, why not? Do you have an alternative solution for raising voluntary equal amounts of money?
Most New Yorkers do not want to hear about more taxes, more bond issues or more borrowing. We are mortgaged up to the hilt on all these issues, so what’s left? Should the state of New York be forced to declare insolvency?
We realize you are concerned about people getting addicted to gambling who can ill afford it. Would you close down all the liquor stores and bars because some people can’t control their addiction to alcohol? And would you close down fast-food restaurants because some people overeat and become obese?
People are going to do whatever it is they want to do whether it is self-destructive or not. Morality and self-control are concepts that are important to some people and have absolutely no value to others.
Although I respect and admire you, senator, and value your friendship, mentoring and guidance whenever requested over the past years, I hope I have not offended you by voicing a difference of opinion, which, after all, is all this is.
Dear me, we have run out of time and space again, which is a rather chronic condition when it comes to writing this column. I will have to tell you about all the other events next week.
As usual, you can reach me by voice mail at 718-767-6484, fax at 718-746-0066 or e-mail at deerrichard@aol.com.
Till next week,
Dee
