On February 23, Commissioner Valentino ran into Haley Joel Osment, the child actor in the “Sixth Sense,” at the Jellyfish Bar. According to an email from Valentino to Stephania Wilson, Osment, now in his 20s, was in the area with his business partners looking to buy a lot of ‘repo’s’ in the area. Valentino talks bingo with them, too.
Read feb-23-email.
Popularity: 24% [?]
Casino No Economic Jackpot For Atmore So Far; Another Town Plans Big I-65 Development
March 16, 2009
With the Wind Creek Casino opening earlier this year and businesses beginning to grow in the city’s Rivercane business development, Atmore has hedged a big bet for economic growth on Highway 21 and I-65, an area annexed into the city just a few years ago.
But so far, Atmore has not hit the jackpot. And recent announcements indicate that Atmore’s two aces in the hole may not be the only ones in the game. Another major casino could open an hour away, and another major I-65 development is in the works about half an hour away.
Atmore has not been immune to the economic downturn that has hit the nation, joining the ranks of cities that have been forced to cut back and layoff employees.
Atmore recently announced the layoff of six employees with the parks department and beautification department. The winter workload for the positions was minimal, and cutting the jobs had no great immediate impact on the city, Atmore Mayor Howard Shell said recently.
For anyone that is accustomed to traveling through Atmore, or even Highway 97 in North Escambia for that matter, it is obvious that the opening of the Wind Creek Casino & Hotel at Highway 21 and I-65 has increased traffic. While a few business people we spoke to along Atmore’s Main Street report an increase in foot traffic and sales, overall sales tax collections in the city are down slightly.
“There has not been an large upward trend in sales tax collections,” Mayor Shell told NorthEscambia.com. “They are almost at a level position and holding, but they are down a little bit from this time last year.”
Between Montgomery and Mobile, Greenville has the only exit with major retail development — a Wal-mart, numerous hotels, a host of restaurants and an eight-screen movie theater all within sight of I-65.
Atmore’s Rivercane 643-acre development at Highway 21 and I-65 is the announced home for a Hardee’s restaurant and a few hotels. The city hopes to lure more business to the development to drive sales tax revenue. The Poarch Creek Indians pay no taxes to Atmore on their casino and hotel operations, so the casino has not directly increased the city’s sales tax.
And now another nearby town has announced they are working on developing both of their I-65 exits. Evergreen, Ala., has announced that several new businesses are on the way to their exit developments — a Love’s Travel Stop and Country Store, a Vista Inn, a Sleep Inn and a Huddle House restaurant.
Also, a developer has announced he is working to build a casino and resort on the beach at Perdido Key in Escambia County, Florida, in conjunction with an Indian tribe. He has told Escambia leaders that it will be larger than the Atmore casino.
It’s the worst national economic climate Shell said he has seen during his 22 years as Atmore’s Mayor. It has caused concern in the city, he said, but for now it is business as usual in their push for economic development.
“We are working to be good stewards of the city’s finances. We are taking all the measures we can to be economically minded about how we spend money,” the mayor said. “Each time we have to be mindful about how we spend our dollars.”
“We are holding our own, and we are working everyday on ways to increase revenue,” he said. “I just hope it doesn’t get any worse.”
Newsday.com Communities share mixed experiences with Indian casinos BY BART JONES bart.jones@newsday.com 10:23 PM EDT, June 2, 2009 For local newspaper publisher Phil Austin, the arrival of an Indian casino near Oneida in upstate New York has kept the area’s economy from sinking into oblivion. “Without it, we’d be in the middle of nowhere and we’d be dead in the water,” said Austin, publisher of The Oneida Daily Dispatch. As the Shinnecocks in Southampton move closer to gaining federal recognition – and to possibly opening a casino – the results of similar ventures elsewhere are debatable for the local communities that surround the gambling halls, according to Indian experts and local leaders. Steven P. Lanza, an economics professor at the University of Connecticut who has studied the impact of Indian casinos on neighboring communities in Connecticut, said in general that the horror stories are exaggerated. Crime has not risen dramatically, most property values have increased and traffic problems have not been overwhelming, he said. But he said communities face a life-changing dilemma: Do they want to develop economically – and become busier – or remain “sleepy backwaters”? In the normally sleepy Town of Massena on the New York-Canadian border, glass company owner John Morris said he’s seen few improvements locally from the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino, which opened in 1999. But Massena Supervisor Gary Edwards said the casino was a “godsend” as the area’s economy has declined. Just in the last month a GM plant shut, costing 400 jobs.He and others noted that an influx of Asian and Latino immigrant workers to the casinos means school systems such as Norwich must grapple with 30 different languages. That means hiring ESL teachers. But others think the benefits brought by the casinos far outweigh the challenges. Mayor Joseph W. Jaskiewicz of Montville said southeast Connecticut lost much of its major employers – defense contractors who built submarines – over the last couple of decades. The casinos filled the void. “If it was not here, we would really be struggling,” he said. He noted that Montville has struck a warm relationship with the Mohegans, who signed a compact committing $500,000 a year to the town of 18,000 people. That is on top of about $800,000 it receives as its share of revenue the casinos must give each year to the state. But it doesn’t work the same for every community. For example, North Stonington receives about the same as Montville from the state but has no compact with the Mashantucket Pequot. “We used to be a drive-through town,” Jaskiewicz said. “We’re no longer a drive-through town. People have a reason to stop.”
Actually, even better, he calls him Haley “Joe” and says they “swapped movie acting stories.”
Our county commissioner was an actor, in movies? IMDb doesn’t have an entry for “Gene Valentino,” but maybe he uses an alias. (Mike Honcho?)
I bet he met the kid at a bar! He was involved in a bad DWI accident when he was 17 and has a rep as an all-out party boy! Yee-Haw! Gino has himself a little drinkin’ buddy!
Valentino calls the actor Haley Joel OSMOND!
That kid is 21 years old, not “late 20s, early 30s” like the email says. Great to see that a 21-year-old can be a major player in our local economic and political goings-on. I’m sure his clout is based on all his life experiences.