Senator Skelos Calls For Public Hearing On Aqueduct Selection
February 3, 2010
(New York,N.Y.)-Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos today called for a public hearing to closely examine all the bids to build and operate a casino at Aqueduct Racetrack before the selection process, which has been done in secret, is finalized.
“The Governor’s selection of AEG has raised more questions than answers,” Senator Skelos said. “A public hearing would take one day and could be done as soon as next week. The Aqueduct project is too important to the City and State to allow it go forward without a public examination of the bids so everyone can be confident that the best vendor is chosen.”
Senator Skelos said all of the qualified bidders could be brought in to publicly present their plans for Aqueduct. In addition, Senator Skelos said the Division of the Lottery should participate and present its ratings of the bidders.
“After seeing news reports about possible political considerations related to the selection of AEG, as well as reports that AEG may have been the lowest-rated bidder by the Lottery Division, the public has every reason to be skeptical of the choice made by Governor Paterson, Speaker Silver and Senators Smith and Sampson,” Senator Skelos said.
Senator Skelos said it is also important that the interests of the community surrounding Aqueduct be considered before a selection is approved.
“We have to assure that the best interests of the neighboring communities were taken into consideration by the vendors as they developed their proposals,” Senator Skelos said. “The local impact should be an important component of a public hearing and should weigh strongly in the selection of a vendor.”
“There has been no public vetting of the proposals or of the selection of AEG, which was made behind closed doors,” Senator Skelos said. “Prior to the finalization of the selection, we need a hearing to allow all the vendors to make a public demonstration of why their plan is best so we can give the public greater confidence that the best developer is chosen.”
Posted by News LI Editor · Filed Under Entertainment
Have a press release or local story you would like us to review? Let us know about it!
| You can Bookmark & Share this page by clicking here: |
|
More Long Island News
-
Long Island Exchange is the leading resource on Long Island New York for news and business. Find Long Island news, check local weather, real estate, classifieds, and auto dealer listings for Long Island.
News Comments for this Article
Got something to say? Be sure you've read and understand our (Terms of Service)
You may not post any unlawful, threatening, defamatory, obscene, pornographic or other material that would violate the law. All comments should be relevant to the topic and remain respectful of other authors and commenters. You are solely responsible for your own comments, the consequences of posting those comments, and the consequences of any reliance by you on the comments of others. More...
