LEWISTON – An unusual conversation I had in September 2009 led me to ask: If the primary objective in building a casino were to maximize the economic benefit for the region and the state, rather than to line the pockets of the owners, what would that proposal look like? The answer is the Lewiston casino initiative.

In developing a casino, the best bet for engineering a good economic result is to view the most critical, big-picture decisions as strategic economic choices and to apply the concept of “opportunity cost” — which I call “lost opportunity” — to each one. The three key decisions are:

• Choice of host municipality.

• Economic design of the casino.

• How the revenues (casinos taxes) are spent.

The choice of location is the most important decision, yet Mainers have never been offered a rational economic basis for making that choice. The right question is not “Shall we put one here?” It should be “Where is the greatest lost opportunity if we don’t build one at all?” The answer is Lewiston.

The revenues a casino would generate for the city of Lewiston can make a significant difference regarding a very specific and unique problem: the redevelopment and revitalization of Lewiston’s downtown/mill district.

The city is currently developing a master plan for that area, and a casino at Mill No. 5 is part of the plan. City officials and local businesspeople are committed to, and excited about, transforming the Lewiston downtown into an appealing place to live, work and recreate. Included in that group are many young professionals — an extremely encouraging sign.

Lewiston’s commitment to revitalize the downtown is apparent, and has been under way for a few years now. But, as is usually the case in Lewiston, money is an issue. A major redevelopment project at Island Point fell through just a few years ago.

A casino changes all that because it generates needed funds for redevelopment as well as visitors to the downtown. In addition, we hope to create an event center as part of the casino project and in conjunction with the city’s master plan, and that would be an additional draw.

It matters that Maine’s inland service centers that are removed from the normal tourist flow remain viable and contribute to the cost of state government. Unless, of course, one prefers that we pack ourselves into Cumberland and York counties like sardines while inland cities depopulate.

The 2006 Brookings study “Charting Maine’s Future” identified Lewiston as a key service center that could accommodate growth without creating sprawl. If you want to have economic growth, but keep Maine’s rural character intact, that Brookings study is the road map to success, and the road runs through Lewiston.

Our project is 100 percent brown space redevelopment. That’s a more expensive approach than cutting down trees, but that’s the price to be paid for doing it right.

The Mill No. 5 location has two important features that affect the economic benefit of the project to the surrounding area.

First, most of the downtown is within a five-minute walk of the site. It’s the only spot in the downtown where you can reach Lisbon Street (the former retail district that we want to revitalize), Island Point (where the failed project was) and the river in five minutes. The idea is to park once, and then have everything within an easy walk.

Second, Mill No. 5 has a limited footprint, so we can’t “capture” all the revenues for ourselves because we simply don’t have the space to do it. Therefore, our partners in the downtown will also be providing some of the amenities. In fact, I can guarantee that there will be some very nice restaurants, comparable to the better restaurants in Portland, within a five-minute walk of the casino, because they are there already.

Resort-style casinos don’t benefit the surrounding area because they are not designed to — another lost opportunity. We address that, again by not being greedy.

The lost opportunity in allocating casino revenues is in failing to promote economic growth. Most of the Lewiston revenues are targeted at sustainable, environmentally-friendly economic development, including: brown space redevelopment throughout Maine; cleaning rivers; capital improvements to railroads, ports and fisheries; promoting tourism; tuition assistance for college graduates who stay in Maine; developing new-technology businesses; and alternative energy sources for residences.

In targeting those revenues, our objective was to take a big-picture look at our economic future. As casino opportunities go, no other proposal even comes close.

– Special to the Press Herald

 

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