I’ve been hearing from people in Galveston who are frustrated by the fact that nobody will take up the cause of casinos.
They see billions of dollars leaving Texas every year for casinos in other states, and they cannot understand why Texas idly allows that money to leave. They cannot see why Texas spurns the tens of thousands of jobs that gambling could produce.
They can’t understand why officials in Galveston, desperately in need of economic development, seem so lifeless and apathetic.
For the two-thirds or more of Galveston residents who believe casinos would help the local economy, my best advice is you should go to work personally. Get involved, bring your own time, money and elbow grease to the fight. Or, just get used to being frustrated.
Don’t expect your leaders to take up this fight.
We had a story in the paper recently quoting state Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, and Rep. Craig Eiland, D-Galveston, saying basically the same thing — there aren’t enough votes in the Legislature to pass any form of casino gambling (“Reps: Not enough votes for gambling,” The Daily News, Feb. 14).
They probably are right, but that story prompted more than one frustrated call from readers. Some believe Taylor and Eiland ought to aggressively lead the legislative fight in order to boost Galveston County’s economy.
But that’s not going to happen.
The last time I talked to Taylor, he said he opposes gambling. At least he’s being honest.
Eiland doesn’t appear to have such strong feelings. But he’s clearly focused on other things, like securing the needed funds for restoration of the University of Texas Medical Branch after the devastation of Hurricane Ike. He isn’t likely to waste any political capital waging a casino fight he thinks he’ll lose.
The Galveston Chamber of Commerce has conducted a survey that revealed the overwhelming majority of chamber members (nearly 80 percent) want casinos. The chamber also has paid for a study that indicates how casinos have worked in other Gulf Coast communities — pretty well, actually.
Yet, while chamber membership leans heavily in favor of gambling, the issue is not on the organization’s list of legislative priorities for 2011.
The Galveston Economic Development Partnership is a tool of city government, which is indifferent or opposed to casinos, and will not take up the issue. Shrub Kempner, one of the community’s leading opponents of gambling, is a major influence on GEDP.
When it comes to casinos, the city council of Galveston reminds me of the three monkeys (see no, hear no and speak no). Council members don’t even want to talk about gambling, and they’d rather you didn’t, either.
So, that’s where we are. Apparently, there is much grassroots support but no official support for gambling in Galveston, and there is moneyed, vocal opposition to it.
If you are one of the many who think gambling is an “obvious” solution to some of the city’s economic problem, you should be aware that’s not so obvious to others, and those others happen to run Galveston.
Big changes in a community rarely start with elected officials. They start with ordinary residents who are willing to step up, organize, spend some money and wage the battle. Normally, people with a personal financial stake in the outcome are the ones who take up the fight.
In a couple of decades, Galveston will wake up and wonder how the community missed such an obvious opportunity. It won’t be the first time the city has awakened to find itself in the wrong century.