February 9, 1997
by MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer
Mayor Giuliani yesterday said he could support riverboat gambling under some conditions but would have to study its effect on neighborhoods near where the boats dock.
The mayor also said he would need to be assured the venture is free of organized crime — and that the city pockets a large share of the profits.
Giuliani, responding to an idea by City Council Speaker Peter Vallone, (D-Queens), said the city should work out “an acceptable fee” that would help it “at least make back the amount it is going to cost us in the burdens that it creates.”
But, Giuliani cautioned, the city has yet to hear public debate on the issue and how it would affect communities.
“The assumption is that you are going to make so many dollars back that it’s worth the inconvenience,” Giuliani said. “I believe that’s probably true but . . . we should spend more time looking at it.”
Vallone said the City Council, which studied the idea about a year ago, will move ahead with the plan.
“It is going on now,” Vallone said, pointing out that gambling boats sail from Sheepshead Bay and Manhattan’s West Side. . “Why would we not want to capitalize on it?”
The City Council is set to vote this week on a bill that would set up a commission to regulate Liberty I, which docks in Sheepshead Bay.
Giuliani said he favors gambling but fears the city might get into a situation like that of Atlantic City, which sees little in casino revenues while the State of New Jersey gets about $320 million annually from taxes on gambling.
The Council’s Finance and Economic Development committees will hold hearings on the issue within months.
Original Story Date: 020997
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