For parents teaching their children to garden, it is hard to compete with the apps on their tablets and phones, such as “Farmville” and “Grow A Garden,” that grow plants and communities seemingly overnight.
Senate Bill 101 provides that horse racing licenses in locations that previously were granted commercial racing licenses would need no further approval from the municipality. In Great Barrington, that would mean neither the selectboard nor the citizens would ever have a vote.
"I do not not anticipate any issues whatsoever to get the home-rule bill through. We're a home-rule state. Whatever the town wants, I am for." -Rep. William "Smitty Pignatelli, D-Lenox
Leigh clearly thinks that every citizen should have a voice. I believe that is her motivation — to give a voice to the town’s citizens — and not be seen as an agitator on the board. She should be supported.
In a letter to the editor, Beryl Birch writes, "... the list of horse racing woes keeps growing and public interest in horse racing is waning, primarily due to the list of more and more horse deaths in tracks around the country..
In a letter to the editor, Bob Meyers writes, "According to the EPA, the types of animal waste pollutants discharged by Sterling Suffolk Racecourse threaten human health and the environment."
"Over the past few weeks I have met, spoken with, and received testimony from many in my District who are concerned with this proposal: either because they do not support horse racing as an industry, or because they are concerned with the legislation as it is currently drafted." --Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield
In a letter to the editor, Scott Plantier writes, "Sterling Suffolk Racecourse successfully lobbied our legislature for loophole-laden legislation (S.101 and H.13) specifically aimed at sleepy, small-town Massachusetts."
In a letter to the editor, Connor Diehl writes, "Sen. Hinds claims to be fighting what he calls "Big Money," himself being the bullhorn for big money to come into Great Barrington while simultaneously eroding at our democratic institutions."
Town officials have said Sterling Suffolk Racecourse would need at least two special permits: One for commercial amusement and another for floodplain protection, and possibly a third for work in the town’s water quality protection overlay district.
Suffolk needs a change in state law to permit it to hold races in Great Barrington while at the same time allowing it to maintain its simulcasting and betting operations back in East Boston. Racing at the fairgrounds would also require permits from the town.
