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<font face="Times New Roman">In light of the recent article about an Off Track Wagering (OTW) establishment proposed for 440, many opinions have arisen. Many feel this is bad for Bayonne because it will bring in the “wrong element” (which I recall hearing from many people regarding the movie theater). Others (myself included) say it is being built on a piece of land that is labeled a brown field, which means the new owner of the property will have to have it cleaned up before anything is built. Then when built, the OTW will be on 440 – away from the city center. This place will also bring in some tax revenue, which I don’t believe this property is providing at this moment. From what I have read on OTW’s, they are a far cry from the smoky, cramped conditions of the traditional NYC OTB’s, with old men taking their SS check or the deadbeat dad betting the kids milk money on the ponies or with the hard on his luck guy begging for a buck outside so he can place the bet of his lifetime. </font>
<font face="Times New Roman">The consistent cry against the OTW is that it is not right for Bayonne. Well, my question has been: <u>What is right for Bayonne?</u> Many argue that Bayonne is a blue collar, beer drinking, lottery playing community. Does then the idea of an OTW fit perfectly into this city? We complained about the 100K membership Bayonne Golf Club because it wasn’t right for Bayonne. We complain about the high end condos / housing set to be built at the MOT, with sales prices over 500K and now with rents at 2K+. The usual complaint is: “who can afford that, not anyone in this town”.</font>
<font face="Times New Roman">Depending on how you look at it and I don’t mean this in a bad way, the city attracts what will be successful. We have .99 center stores because the business owners know they will be successful. An OTW owner is looking at Bayonne because they know they will be successful. We don’t have a Tiffany’s, Abercrombie, etc. in Bayonne because they will not be successful based on the current demographic. If the time does come and the city increases its median income to the point of a Short Hills, many of us (including me) will probably not be able to live here any longer. Then what? Did Bayonne finally become “Right”?</font><font face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font face="Times New Roman">This OTW is not going to be the savior to Bayonne’s financial crisis (unless someone from the city lays down the whole bag of marbles on lucky #7 and wins our budget gap).</font>
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