[NYguy]

This is why there needs to be term limits at all levels. When people stay in positions of power for too long, they start to feel like their personal feelings and opinions are the only things that matter, loyal subjects be damned.


https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs...nhattan-casino

The longest-serving state legislator is nervous about proposed Manhattan casino


By Joseph Konig Manhattan
Apr. 05, 2022

Manhattan Assemblyman Richard Gottfried is nervous about a proposed casino in Manhattan, a possible inclusion in the delayed state budget still being debated in Albany.

It’s Gottfried’s last budget before retiring after more than 50 years in the Assembly and he’s thinking about the “degrading influence” a casino in Times Square or elsewhere could have on the borough he’s represented since he was 23.

“I’ve felt this way as long as I can remember, is that I generally don’t like casinos and would not want to see one in Manhattan,” Gottfried told Errol Louis on “Inside City Hall” Tuesday. “I’m pretty nervous about the whole topic, but I may well have to get used to being nervous about it because Albany does not do everything exactly the way I want it to.”

“Never has,” added the longest-serving legislator in the state Assembly’s history.

The proposed casino would recieve one of three remaining licenses set aside for downstate.

Still, Gottfried noted, casinos create jobs for the hotel and entertainment sectors, which have suffered during the pandemic. He conceded the legislature could structure the proposed casino in a way he could live with.

“If there’s going to be one in Manhattan, I would do my best to keep it as small and upscale as possible so that it does not have a degrading effect on whatever area it’s in,” Gottfried said.