Herald Backs Mohegan, Globe Endorses Wynn Project

Commissioner Jim McHugh gave his presentation on Monday concerning Building/Site Design. McHugh penalized the Wynn project for not dealing with Sullivan Square traffic and for building design.

Just a few weeks after the Boston Herald endorsed the Mohegan Sun project, the Boston Globe surprised everyone with a comprehensive endorsement of the Wynn casino project in its edition on Sunday, Sept. 9.

“…a rival plan in Everett looks much more in keeping with the law’s intent,” read the editorial. “If commissioners are determined to green-light a site for casino development this week, despite the looming referendum, they should choose the Everett option. It provides an economic and environmental boost to what may be the most downtrodden corner of Greater Boston, and enjoys far greater community support than the rival plan for a Mohegan Sun casino at Suffolk Downs.”

The Globe’s endorsement – which covered an entire page of the paper – went on to say the Mohegan casino should have been done with after last November’s failed referendum in Eastie.

“The defeat of the initial casino plan at the site last year should have been the end of the proposal, and the hastily revised plan and Suffolk Downs’s new partnership with Mohegan Sun does not cancel out the clear verdict of voters in East Boston last year on a materially similar proposal,” it read.

The Globe’s seal of approval prompted a lengthy letter from Revere Mayor Dan Rizzo on Monday about what he considered inaccuracies with the editorial.

“The Globe editorial board would be more honest with its readers by stating that it does not want to see a resort-style casino built in eastern Massachusetts, rather than encourage a license for an applicant with a track record of dramatically over promising and then disappearing,” he wrote on Monday. “The more people know the truth, the more they like Mohegan Sun’s plan.”

Wynn had no comment on the Globe endorsement when contacted, or to the Herald’s endorsement of its rival project.