A rare Republican win in a City Council race in the east Bronx comes as a bad beat for developers hoping to build a casino at Ferry Point.
Kristy Marmorato, a 45-year-old Republican who broke a four-decade drought for her party in Council races in the Bronx, has said she opposes the bid by the Bally’s casino chain to put a casino in her district.
Her stance is important because bidders in a state-run sweepstakes for downstate casino licenses must secure majority buy-in from six-member panels that each include a representative from the local Council member.
The current Council representative for the district, Marjorie Velázquez, a Democrat, has been supportive of the casino plan. In September, she said she looked “very favorably” on the bid.
But Marmorato, who beat Velázquez on Tuesday after campaigning on a platform that centered on local control, does not look favorably on Bally’s designs.
“I’m opposed to the casino,” Marmorato said in an interview last week. “We have the highest rates of asthma in the city, and this is going to be an environmental nightmare.”
Bally’s seeks to put a casino alongside a struggling golf course long run by the Trump Organization. Under Bally’s plan, the casino would sit on 10 acres next to the decade-old golf course, which would continue to operate.
Bally’s, a Rhode Island-based casino chain, has attempted to win over a skeptical community by, in part, launching a free 10-stop bus route in the transit-challenged area.
But many local residents remain sour on the casino concept, said Matt Cruz, the district manager for the local community board.
Cruz said he thought Velázquez’s support for the plan played a significant role in her election defeat. And he wondered whether Marmorato’s win would stop Bally’s from presenting its blueprint to the community board.
“Judging by Tuesday night’s outcome, I’m not sure they’re excited to present to us at this point,” Cruz said Friday. “The mood at this point for the casino is not positive.”
Casino bids have met with community opposition across the city, with Manhattan designs facing some of the strongest backlash.
In January, New York State launched the bidding process for three $500 million downstate casino licenses. Two permits are expected to go to existing so-called racinos with horse racing and digital betting in Yonkers and southeast Queens, leaving at least nine developers angling for the final license.
Bally’s
The bright-red Bally’s bus. (Bally’s)
There are at least five blueprints in Midtown Manhattan, one in Queens by Citi Field, one in Brooklyn’s Coney Island and one on Long Island at the Nassau Coliseum site.
Developers have sought to woo their respective communities: the group trying to bring a casino to Coney Island has sponsored youth sports, and the developer behind a bid to put a casino near the UN has promised more than 500 affordable housing units at the site and plans to debut an art installation on Dec. 15.
The local panels set to assess the city bids are each to have representatives for the local state senator, Assembly member and borough president, along with the local Council member, the mayor and the governor.
Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, Sen. Nathalia Fernandez and Assemblyman Michael Benedetto — who would have a say on the Bally’s bid — have not taken firm positions.
Gov. Hochul and Mayor Adams are not seen as likely to reject bids that garner local support, so attention has gone to the city and state lawmakers who will have a say in the process.