Herald & Lantern 31 October '84 > ' 23

- - f- — ~ ^ Muziani for Study Of Casino Impact

T R E ftUT ON — Assemblyman Guy F. Muziani, R-Cape May, Cumberland, has called for creation of a study commission to assess the economic impact of Atlantic City's casinos on other business and resort communities in New Jersey. "Tourism is the second largest industry in our state," Muziani said. "It is in the best interest of all parts of the state to promote tourism as a whole, and not just the activities of one resort community. "IN REALITY, the slate is promoting Atlantic City - to the detriment of other A, resort areas by providing it with what amounts to a monopoly situation. Because of this statecreated privilege, we have a responsibility to monitor the effects of the casinos on tourism statewide and to take steps to prevent this privilege from becoming license," Muziani said.

Muziani said be will intoduce legislation to create a study commission and will support similar proposals by. other legislators which include a specific study of the impact of casinos on other resorts and related businesses. Muziani said he is also studying a proposal to rechannel one percent of the money casinos spend annually for freebies into a fund to create an advertising and promotional package to highlight both the casinos and other activities available in resort communities. "WITH A JOINT promotional package, we can broaden the market for tourism to include those people who would like to participate in a wide variety of activities while on vacation," Muziani said. . "Last year, the casinos spent $360 million on various freebies. One per-

cent of that figure would amount to four days worth of freebies annually. .That is a small amount of money when compared to all freebies, but the $3.6 million it would raise could pay for a tremendous amount of promotional activity, which would benefit both the casinos and a tourism industry as a whole," he said. "I first proposed this idea five years ago, but I think times have changed and the merit of the idea has increased over time." Muziani said. "Right now, I see a trend toward increasing competition among casinos for a finite amount qf business. The result of this will be more and more freebies be- . *

ing offered as inducements for people to come to Atlantic City and gamble. I am convinced that this everincreasing list of freebies has already hurt other resorts and will hurt them even more as competition among the state-licensed casinos increases," Muziani said. "I know that casino executives will deny this, and that is why we must study this important question in a formal way. I am convinced that I am correct and that the study will find evidence of this unfortunate trend," be said. "My purpose is not to hurt the casinos, but to keep the casinos for. hurting our state wide tourism industry," he said.

r— County

Library

j by Kathleen Duffy

Democracy begins in a conversation, neighbor talking to neighbor And the quality of the conversations is directly related to the quality of the democracy lb paraphrase one of our statesmen, the whole purpose of a democracy is to hold counsel with one another so that we don't depend on the understanding t of any one person, but rather on the counsel of all. Only as people are brought into counsel with one another, he said, can the general interest of a great people be compounded into a policy suitable to all. That was Woodrow ' Wilson, who was not only a i President, but a dedicated | student of democratic ; government. I "HOLDING counsel, ] , citizen-Uxitizen, does not i mean depending on public ! opinion polls to assess civic i understanding of issues, i although polling has becomes our most common I form of obtaining citizen - views. i Daneil Yankelovich, presi- t dent of the Public Agenda i Foundation, points out that I answers to questions posed ] at one moment in time are | often clouded by confusion, 1 misinformation and bias. t What he calls public jud- i ment, on the other hand, |

emerges as the end product dt a process of working though the choices associated with public issues. Says Yankelovich: "For public, judgement, , as distinct from mass opinion, to prevail, it is necessary that an issue catch people's attention, that they be exposed to the arguments for and against various positions, and that they have thought deeply enough about issues tp ac- . cept the consequences of their own beliefs." £ THE HEALTH Care Forum the library' is presenting Nov. 15 is an effort to stimulate the formation of public judgment. They are an attempt to see how close public judgment it is possible for citizens to get, in a finite period of time, on a small number of important issues, in open and spirited discussion. The forum is co-sponsored the Domestic Policy Association, a nonpartisan, citizen/community-based organization which does not advocate any specific solution or point of view on public issues, but seeks to provide, through its National Forums a means by which citizens may gain an role in public policymaking.

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