Boston Council Reviews $2.3 Million Casino Mitigation Grant for Encore Impacts

BOSTON — September 26, 2024 — Boston's Ways and Means Committee reviewed a $2,322,200 Massachusetts Gaming Commission community mitigation grant tied to the Encore Boston Harbor casino. Committee Chair Brian Worrell presided over the September 26 hearing on Docket 1335, sponsored by Mayor Michelle Wu, which covers a three-year period beginning October 1, 2024. The Boston Police Department would receive $539,500, funding a new full-time public safety coordinator, overtime for the Human Trafficking Unit, Drug Control Unit, Youth Violence Strike Force, and Fatal Collision Investigation Team, plus equipment for Districts A1 and A15. Sergeant Detective Mark Sullivan told the committee that joint operations near the casino have charged more than 30 individuals over the past year, nine for offenses against children. The Streets Cabinet outlined three Charlestown infrastructure projects totaling roughly $1.55 million of the grant, including road safety work in the Lost Village and signal improvements at Sullivan Square. The Human Services Cabinet will spend $177,000 on a participatory youth research study examining gambling's impact on Charlestown young people; an RFP for a research vendor closed the week before the hearing.