Casino feud with Walsh has Wynn boss ‘baffled’

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Casino feud with Walsh has Wynn boss ‘baffled’

The head of the Wynn Resorts casino project in Everett said he is “baffled” by the Walsh administration’s latest legal salvo after the two sides had a seemingly productive confab about solving traffic in Sullivan Square.

“We walked away from the meeting actually feeling pretty good,” Robert DeSalvio, president of Wynn Everett, said yesterday on Boston Herald Radio. “We were somewhat baffled by the resulting litigation that followed and I really can’t answer for it. I don’t know why that 
action was taken.”

City Hall has been embroiled in an ugly fight over the Wynn casino for months, suing the state Gaming Commission to stop the $1.7 billion casino project slated for Everett, near Sullivan Square in Charlestown. Mayor Martin J. Walsh has said his concerns include 
additional traffic in an already congested area, as well as issues with the process by which the 
casino received a state license.

Earlier this month, Walsh filed a new suit in federal court, asking the court to stop a state environmental certification Wynn needs to begin construction.

Las Vegas casino developer Steve Wynn fired back Monday, filing his own lawsuit accusing unknown defendants of defaming the company by providing subpoenas to the media related to the city’s lawsuit.

A spokeswoman for Walsh 
defended the approach.

“Mayor Walsh is exploring all options to resolve this matter on behalf of the people of Charlestown and the city of Boston. This includes continuing productive conversations with Wynn officials around whether or not there is such an opportunity,” Walsh spokeswoman Bonnie McGilpin said in a statement.

“However, it is the city’s 
responsibility, and the mayor’s top priority, to fight to protect the rights of Boston’s residents and the neighborhood of Charlestown.”

An internal poll conducted on Walsh’s behalf found a majority of Boston voters approve of his handling of the issue.

The poll, taken three weeks ago, found 57 percent of city residents consider Walsh’s performance on casinos “excellent” or “good,” while 22 percent rated his performance as “not so good” or “poor.”

DeSalvio said the poll doesn’t tell the whole story.

“The casino is in Everett and if you were to broaden out that poll and certainly, if you were to talk to the residents of Everett, you’d get a completely different story,” DeSalvio said.

“I understand the poll, but it’s certainly narrowly focused for just Boston, and I think if you broadened it out, you might get a little different result.”

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