 Good morning. We'll call to order public meeting 253 up first approval of the minutes commissioner Stebbins sure madam chair the Minutes from the September 27 2018 meeting are in your packet. I Went through these already, but I noticed that just a small error under 12-1 for the Northeast Center for Trades women equity update they talk about the trades women Tuesdays Being offered by Boston and Springfield is really offered in Boston and Springfield the municipalities really Don't offer those but that's the location, but other than that. I would move that we approve the minutes subject to any other In material errors or grammatical changes My second bet any discussion all in favor hi 4-0 Executive director McGregian your administrative update. Yes. Good morning commissioners. Good morning. I I have just a housekeeping agenda items Some leftover items from end of year stuff that we will get to At the next meeting I think will be the year-end financial closeout Whether I think Our CIFO will be able to be there, but if not, we'll get a substitute and get that done We should get that off the books and I know Commissioner Zuniga is also working on the annual report. So we'll keep on we'll keep on those two things for today's agenda just a couple of adjustments item number four is off there was a Last-minute hiccup with that. So that is off and On item number five one of our presenters is has a is stuck a little bit of traffic So we're going to move director Griffin up and adjust and we might have to take a short break just So we can get to item number five when our folks are here. So that is all I have We do have one other item though under my That I will turn over to the commission to formalize I think in action that they Took last meeting. Okay So that item that the executive director is referring to is the confirmation of the interim chair Well, I would like to move Because I started that motion actually two weeks ago and was told that That item was not on the agenda as a vote. It is now as a vote It is perhaps a formality, but it's an affirmation of the conversation we had Two weeks ago to designate you as chair of the Commission Commissioner Cameron on an interim basis. So I would move that the Commission Designate Commissioner gale Cameron as the interim chair of the Commission until such time as the governor Designates the permanent chair of the Commission as it's as is his or her statutory obligation second You doubling down Is there any discussion before we close the vote and I suspect I should abstain from this vote. So all in favor Three zero again, I just I thank you for your confidence. We are working on an interim basis We all realize that we will continue to work collaboratively as we always have With staff and among the four of us. So You know, I'm very confident in our work We have important work going forward and we will get it done. So thank you all Thank you Moving on now. We'll move to Workforce supplier and diversity development director Griffin Congratulations interim chair Cameron. Thank you So I'm here to Present information on the Encore Boston Harbor vendor plan We have put the plan up for public comment and I just wanted to give a little background for both you and our listeners here today Licenses are all required to submit an affirmative action program for equal opportunity for minority women and veteran business Enterprises for the provision of goods and services procured by the gaming establishment as per license condition 11 the plan shall include a robust public events and outreach component to those businesses and Also in accordance with them chapter 23 K 21 the affirmative marketing program shall identify specific goals for the utilization of Minority business enterprises women business enterprises and veteran business enterprises Pursuant to license condition 16 on core Boston Harbor Shall submit a plan to identify local vendors as well in conjunction With a vendor advisory team Identified by the Commission so No action is expected from the Commission today Commission staff have posted this plan And it will be up for public comment until 3 p.m. On Friday, October 19th Encore Boston Harbor representatives are Currently scheduled to present the plan to the Commission for vote on Thursday, October 26th, so I I also Wanted to mention that that the public outreach portion of the plan is taking place on core has Already had three vendor fairs that focus on various Purchasing items and today going on today from 10 until 12 In Somerville at the holiday Inn maintenance services and This is everything from locksmithing pest control painting water treatment window washing Carpentry All of those vendor types are expected to To go to the vendor fair today and then next Wednesday. There's another vendor fair focused on hotel operations Retail and transportation over in Cambridge at the Royal Sinesta So again on our website we welcome public comments on the plan and any questions I Had just to quick question a quick point Have you I know it's up for public comment have we Specifically invited members of the vendor advisory team through email or what have you to go and review the plan and offer their comments? Yes, I sent the plan out to about 30 or so Representatives from various business groups that we've worked within the past some that we haven't and waiting for them to respond okay, and Just a note. I I see that we asked for this back on June 22nd They need to to respond within 90 days and it looks like they they came in just under the wire Yes, they came in within the allotted time period required by by law and and They have also Submitted a revision based on staff comments. So the the plan that is posted Has some changes to the original and we anticipate based on Feedback from public comments that they may want to you know, take those into consideration as well So will we be talking about those changes and updates Or highlights at that October 26th meeting that you that you mentioned So I'll ask on core Let me back up. I will feed the public comments as they come into on core and We will ask on core to submit a Clean version and a track change version should they want to make changes and you'll vote on that Okay, but we had seen a version of this document before right Just reading it recently and I it just rang a little familiar which is you know, actually the the version in your packet is the revised version and I'll just say that they increased their Their goals and they made other non material changes to You know, but I think the The positive and the most material as they increase their goals for Minority and women own businesses So So the next time they'll be interpresent and we'll be able to ask some questions at that time. Sure. Yes David Granada and and other on core folks will be into to Present the plan and give you background and and also update you on their efforts to outreach to local and diverse vendors Great anything else If they're making changes how far in advance at the I think it's Thursday the 25th how far in advance of that meeting We would be able to see any revisions I think we can We can work it out so that you see Maybe most of the revisions unless there's a late-breaking. That's why we posted the plan early. We're hoping to get And that's why we're talking about it today to get many of the revisions or or Suggestions early But we'll make sure you get As early as possible Thank You director Do Great, and then I really just wanted to give you a general update last last night well actually Many of us were in Springfield at 2 o'clock in the afternoon We had our access and opportunity committee meeting and MGM was at their last meeting presenting their final diversity statistics regarding both workforce and and supplier diversity and It was a great meeting Almost bittersweet some folks actually Expressing that they're going to miss this meeting which I couldn't have imagined when we began these meetings Some years ago You know as commissioner Stebbins pointed out in his remarks that these meetings started and they they weren't always Maybe there was a little bit of what did you say commissioner contentious? They were a little contentious. Yes But I Just wanted to say that MGM surpassed all of their goals for both workforce and supplier diversity and The other things that I took note of was in terms of their construction workforce 71% of those workers of those trades people were from Massachusetts and as you know how close MGM is to the Connecticut line in New York. I think that was pretty significant 55% of the trades people were from Western Massachusetts 35% from Springfield, so pretty significant And Later that evening MGM had a construction closeout event where they Celebrated and and gave awards to Vendors and and suppliers who exceeded goals and And really acknowledged the hard work Tony Gladney vice president of national diversity relations for MGM International made the trip and and gave some remarks in addition to local leadership commissioner Stebbins represented the commission and commended MGM on the intentionality and in the hard work that really took place to accomplish these Significant achievements and and one thing I just wanted to say was that MGM closed the event with a charge to keep the intentional focus on diverse workforce on Other construction projects in the region to ensure that these workers Are these trades people actually have work to go to and I thought that was that was great so Any Comments from the commissioners who were in attendance Yeah, no, I think I think you captured it. Well, let me just mention a couple of things. I Did have I have had the opportunity to attend those AOC meetings sporadically not as much as Commissioner Stebbins or chair Crosby when he was here but Looking back into the trajectory. I remember the early Struggle with just the reporting format the you know the the the need for example that This group really needed to see By vendor by trade For the period cumulative all the rest of it that was critical to the functioning of the of the of the of the committee and And I think the most critical part which was said You know two days ago, and I'm sure others will mention it was really your involvement your steering of these committee in in this very Very good Amicable but firm way at times to keep it moving to keep the discussion on point Because I do remember I think it's not it's not hard to imagine Sometimes the conversations would veer off into Particulars that are really not relevant to that conversation. So keeping it productive Keeping it on on time Etc. I was really a testament to your great efforts, and I just wanted to mention that up front another thing I'll mention also is As we look back on on these and I was looking at the slides and hearing some of the stories The the personal stories are really wonderful Some of them are anecdotal, but they really represent that What goes on in these in this effort? So I think as we continued to Operate on on on now on anchor only We really ought to start compiling Anecdotes and eventually a report That incorporates and this is some some some of the things are comments that that were made a couple of days ago to Report on the best practices. What made it work the tactics that that were Often came, you know from one month to the next and followed up on Because I think the the overall story can be very well summarized With anecdotes and best practices into something that is really an important an important legacy So I would encourage us to start thinking about those that you know, they are there. I saw a slide I remember I remembered the event of the two parents to the two fathers with daughters in You know each of them separate but each each father had been a union member and they had their own daughter there You know anecdotes like that are really powerful And I it's it's some of the things that we need to be thinking about compiling and ultimately putting in that report Thank you. I appreciate your remarks. I Think one of the great things that happened at every AOC meeting were in addition to reviewing the statistics MGM reminded us by showing us a video of either a tradesperson or You know a business owner talking about how this project impacted them and where they were before the project and and That was a great reminder that these statistics represent real people and and the impact that this project and and These projects have had on their lives is significant. So thank you Yeah, I would just like to add was both events were Very gratifying to see the results and to see everybody, you know agreeing that The AOC had really come around to be more of a team than necessarily just a committee But I picking up on commissioner Zuniga's point Jill did not start off as our chair The wonderful Ron Marla was sitting in that position until he had an incredible opportunity In had to had to leave so we say that Jill kind of got catapulted into that seat and landed perfectly and I've learned a lot just from Attending those meetings with her to your point seeing how she guides and directs a meeting and keeps everybody on focus and on task. It was It was impressive. So congrats. I certainly remember those early meetings as Maybe a personal challenge and professional Yeah, I would like to echo that I also got to attend only sporadically but But I always think that community leaders are looking to see what's real and who is going through the motions And I think that they got a chance to see with your leadership And I did see you grow in that role as well and and that's always nice to see But they want to make sure that that this isn't someone just mailing it in and I think that they got to see that firsthand With the efforts of a licensee and and with your leadership. So really job. Well done. Great. Thank you. Thank you Okay All right. Thank you very much. Next we have research and responsible gaming Director Vanderlinden and team Do you need any time to set up mark or anything like that? Good morning commissioners. Good morning I Am joined here with Dr. Rachel Volberg whom you're very familiar with over over the past several Years and the excellent work that she does. I'm also joined by Dr. Henry Rensky Who I I don't You came in and presented the baseline But Not quite as familiar but face. So I wanted to just start off and welcome Dr. Rensky And just a brief introduction so that you know kind of the degree and level of expertise that's that comes To the report that he will be presenting on the real estate Follow-up report for a plane bill in the surrounding communities So dr. Rensky is an associate professor of regional planning At UMass he teaches courses and quantitative methods geographic information systems or GIS Spatial analysis and state and local development policy His research focuses on the understanding the technical and social forces driving regional economic Competitiveness and transformation in building upon knowledge to improve the effectiveness of economic development policy Clearly the the right person At the table to to lead this specific project As we take a look at what are the impacts of opening up a casino on the on the regional real estate market The report that we will that that dr. Rensky and dr. Volberg will present today focuses on the initial impacts of Plain Ridge Park casino on the residential commercial and Industrial real estate markets for a plane bill in the surrounding communities in 2016 dr. Rensky was before the Commission and presented the baseline studies That that largely focused on the period of between around 2008 and 2015 So the period of time Before Plain Ridge Park casino opened up We're all very interested in on an understanding what these true impacts are and in the variety of different ways that We look at at what potential impacts are of opening up casinos It's a it's an interest of this commission and it was an initial mandate or directive of of the expanded gaming act so With that I will turn it over to to dr. Rensky to present One of the the first follow-up reports that we have examining casino impacts Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Oh, that's Much better. I'm naturally loud anyway, so Probably good to move this further for me First of all, I'd like to acknowledge You know the the contributions of my colleagues at the Donahue Institute who you know We basically work together on this and so even though while I'm here presenting Especially my own colleague Tom's peak who has done a lot of work and Rebecca Loveland who has also been kind of Instrumental and helping develop this report I'll I'm gonna go over. I think what I think are the main points from the report and Try my best to answer your questions about the report And I'll try to be brief So the general purpose of this study as it was introduced was that in the past we've done baseline reports Which all really kind of took us to the point before the actual opening of In the case of Plainville the expanded gaming facility But kind of went over the history of real estate trends in each of the the different study areas and then kind of stopped Right before you got to the impacts So this is the first report from the three study areas where we actually had some data After the not only the licensing but the in the opening Now the report generally follows the President that we set in the baseline reports and that we kind of divide things into You know focus on residential and then and then a secret section on commercial industrial Most of our analysis is based upon the analysis of secondary data and we try to use Publicly available secondary data For most of the indicators when we can that's not always possible Sometimes the data is proprietary and we don't have much of a choice But we we lean towards the public data so that you know other people can you know You know we can provide the data to other people and that they can they can Follow follow with what we did We've also done some stakeholder interviews this time so to kind of you know after we've done some of our preliminary data Analysis go in and ground truth our results by actually talking to You know really kind of community leaders and people that understand the real estate market in Plainville and around Plainville our general approach I Call it kind of a before after a comparative approach So we try to track trends that were established before Not just the opening of the casino, but the licensing of the casino So before the award was licensed to try to establish like what was the trend in the real estate market before any of this happened and then You know mark note the time of the opening The time of the licensing the time of the opening and then kind of see what happened after for as long as we can and then we also try to compare that to the Surrounding communities as officially designated because you know there might be spillover impacts in those communities that we expect But then to the broader region for which we don't really we expect that to kind of almost act as Comparison group because the larger region is so much larger. We don't really expect the impacts in the larger region to be quite as You know as a parent so it kind of Somewhat follows the same real estate conditions, but shouldn't see as much of an impact so it does provide a little bit of a way for us to benchmark the effects of the casino versus what else is going on in the broader real estate market and We and we use the state as well the state trends and I wouldn't be an academic if I didn't have a slide of caveats Usually the slides at the end this time I put it in the beginning Just in case I you know bore you a little bit along the way But these are very important because you know we're talking about very complicated markets It's not it's you we're not doing Experimentation in the laboratory sense where you can kind of hold everything else constant in a lab you know that but what we try to do is really our best job of You know identifying the effects that we can see but also with a certain degree of I think of modesty and caution I think it's kind of our approach You know part of the reason why the report that we're doing now is that it's our first opportunity to look at after data and You know some of this public data. It takes a couple years for them to produce it You know, so that's one of my big caveats You know be nice to have more data and look at more time But we try to use the most recent data that we possibly could given what indicators we're looking at Plainville in particular. We're talking like a relatively small real estate market You know Especially when you get into certain types of submarkets like multi-using how multi-unit housing not a lot of that in Plainville, right? Not even a lot of single-family residential in and right around the site of Plain Ridge So so just be aware that some of the some of the trends that we look at end up being a little bit volatile because This is what we call small data problems And then another point that is very important So I'm gonna I'm gonna come back to this at the end Because I think it's almost worthwhile as a point of discussion is that it gets very difficult to distinguish the Plain Ridge Park Casino impacts from those of other activities around the area of which there's been a lot going on in the last Few years right before even the opening of Plain Ridge Park If you see my little map there just within like a six miles pro flies distance of Plain Ridge Park as I'm sure you all are Aware we have you know the rent them village outlets You know to the west, you know You've got Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place within within six miles to the north It's basically the next exit right and then you've got the Xfinity Center But we used to call brief widths right just down the roads from that all of these things combined, you know Make it very difficult to truly separate out You know one particular amenity like Plain Ridge Park from what's going on in the broader region So, you know again, you know, it's a caveat, but it's the reality of of you know development in that area So what are some of the main findings? Well, we you know, I've You know to kind of get to the punchline. We don't really find a lot of Dramatic difference going on in and around Plainville and the different real estate markets after the opening of Casino And and this kind of goes across almost all of the different indicators So we're not you know, so to kind of start with home sales, right? So we look at single family, then we also look at multi unit sales and we look at both the number and the value of the sales and this this graphic here is really showing the number and The darkest blue line the one that's the most volatile. That's Plainville. That's the host community and then that the slightly Less dark line. That's the surrounding communities and that we benchmarked that to the region and the state And so what we're basically seeing here is that yes There was an increase in home sales that happened after the license was awarded and it's petered out a little bit sense but still increasing but this is Consistent with trends in the area before the casino opened and fairly closely matches trends in the broader area So, you know, did the casino have an influence? It may have But it wasn't such a dramatic influence that it's really beyond what we might just expect looking at historical trends in Plainville and other areas around there Condominium sales is also a you know separate out single family from condominium sales There's really not enough multi unit in Plainville to look at separately Condo sales were seeing something very similar things, you know sales have been growing but sales have been growing You know statewide as well, and especially in that that that region of the state Dr. Rensky, yes Can I just pause for a minute on the on the first one or two slides? and This is a point you made so But I want to make sure I understand it The the y-axis is percent change, right Um, it's sort of it's basically if you divide every year by the starting year So it's not quite I'm being a statistician here. It's not quite percentage change But it's it's a way to measure Kind of the year year to year change that allows you to compare areas that are fundamentally different sizes Okay, that's what I was going to because the small data He's always on on top as you go down, you know, plain rich first then region then state Are we up? Even though your point is that the trends are similar. Are we simply observing? the small data big data caveat that you Yeah, that's earlier. Yeah, that's certainly a problem when you have When you have a small baseline any Change that you have over that that is relative to the base Yep, right ends up it's it's not that it's erroneous because it's it's not erroneous, but You're having a little bit of growth over a small base makes it look like it's really fast growth. Yes and and You know, that's not necessarily why the Plainville line is always above The base, you know, it could have been that the base for Plainville was a down year You know, but at the same time it's more of the trend kind of that you want to keep in mind not necessarily who's above what Now there's some other measures though Like sales price right price is already naturally indexed that kind of controls for the size of the different area And that will be like the next series of slides. So on price. It is much more comparable in the levels Okay, yeah, when I get to that I'll point it out. But that that's an excellent point Honestly, I think I just talked about that exact same thing last week in my quantitative methods class for planners. So We're probably at that level that Think we missed that They're doing homework right now, that's what I I want to assume So, okay condominium sales, I think you know what we're seeing is again You know the general trend in the study area and the state and plain plain Ridge I'm plain Ridge Plainville. Sorry is in the surrounding communities is one of an upward trend But it's not yet what you're not seeing in that is this big spike of activity that keeps going up after either the licensing Or after the opening and that's really what we're looking for And we're not seeing it, right? Or if you think that maybe it had negative impact in some cases Like you would want to see like a very noticeable, you know downward trend associated that you don't see in the comparison areas We're not seeing either of those things, right? I'm not really seeing either of those things When I look at the prices. So this is an example of what I was talking about, right? This is kind of the median price of home sales You know during the historical period right adjusted for inflation So so these are comparable, right? So when I see that right now Plainville You know in the most recent period that we had data for you the median single-family home price was slightly less than The surrounding communities but pretty close. Well, what I'm really looking for is the trend So I see a little bit of an upward bump in the surrounding communities slight increase in Plain Ridge, but not enough to actually be very conclusive that it's that you know, it was really the influence of of Plain Ridge Park Like independently of other things going on in the region Hondo sales I actually see a little bit more of a bump and so that and so we looked at this and I do a statistical model in the report you know for this for these sales value indicators and Controlling for a number of other things and whereas I in the statistical model, which I don't talk about in this this report I do try to control for your differences and the characteristics of the housing stock You know the before and after trends a number of other factors and I find a Very modest and what we kind of consider borderline statistical significance in condos An increase after the opening, but it's very small and it's It's so close to the border of what we can eventually think of statistical significance that I don't I Don't think of it as being An extremely strong indicator I think is the way that I would honestly require it but there could have been a bump and And this is in the surrounding communities not in Plainville itself And then so we looked at some of the other reports that our colleagues have been doing and it might be that you know, there is a Fairly small, but we're talking about a small market number of employees That moved to the region It wasn't a huge bump because most of the people are commuting in from other places or already lived there So there could have been like a slight increase in demand for housing in the condominium market in particular as a result We think of more of like employees may be moving to Plain Ridge, but again, it's not the kind of thing where We can have a lot of confidence in it, but there was there was a bump And that was just in condos. Yeah, and this is sales not necessarily new construction, right? Right, not new construction and not rentals, which I haven't gone to yet But this is in the sales price of condos and there there was you know, a fairly substantial Actually, actually, I think that was a rental development that that went in along that street But there are very few condos doctor. Did you make that point when you opened? Yeah, there there's enough to do statistical analysis of them. Okay, but not you know, it's not um There are condos in the area, right? But but it's not a huge condo market either So that what that does is creates more volatility. Yes, and makes it harder to distinguish whether or not it's a true effect From a statistics perspective. Yeah, but not so small that I wouldn't even run the tests. It was so small I wouldn't even have done it So looking at rents and I have some particular caveats of rents because the the rental data as we explain in the Baseline report that we get is proprietary and My miss out on and it's from online people online reporting rents, which is known to be somewhat biased in favor of Larger rental units as opposed to you know, I'm renting out. I'm an individual renting out my house Right those people often don't Go through the online Rental websites and so the data that we have is basically straight from web and it's going to be biased in favor of the larger rental markets But larger rental development. Sorry But even so we think that it still provides a good indicator of what's going on in the overall market even though it might not be the perfect Indicator of everything going on in the market. So even though it's not perfect. We actually think it has some value And is that bias on on the reflect in the actual Rent, yeah, the prices tend to be higher tend to be higher. Yeah, yeah But again, you know what we're mainly looking for is is the change over time Because that bias would have existed at least for a certain span of history in that data Yeah, I can talk about this a little bit more later on if you want I don't want to take up too much of your time going into That kind of nuanced technical stuff unless you really want me to But so so what we're seeing here again is you know, we have rising rents, but they really coincide with the area trends So hard to hard to pin on Plain Ridge But certainly not but what we're not seeing is a decline in rental prices. That's for certain Um Building permits building permits is another indicator and especially because we're looking at residential building permits is another indicator That just be very very volatile, you know in a town like Plainville or its neighboring communities You know, you might have one big development that goes up for permitting and that just spikes the data and and and So so it's hard to it's hard to really kind of separate this out You can actually see that in the historical data for Plain Ridge But but we'd aren't seeing a lot going on as far as like this kind of sustained increase in permanent permitting activity In Plainville or in its neighboring communities or at least not to the extent that it's without precedent in the larger area Same thing really goes with the value of the permits that people are proposing there's a slight bump in in In the surrounding communities, but we also see a slight bump in the larger region When I say larger region, it's really the You know the I'm sorry the names of the counties are slipping my mind at this point. Do you remember? Yeah Norfolk and Bristol. Thank you, Rachel That that's what our benchmark larger region is So now turning to kind of the commercial market and you know, there are there is new Kind of commercial and I believe a slightly mixed use development going in in and around the park I think diagonally like across the park Right, but again, you know our focus is whether or not You know this this kind of development going on in the region is really due to the park itself Which is a point I'm going to come up Come up with a little bit later So this first indicator is commercial Rentable building area and so here you see this big spike after the licensing and as far as we can tell a lot of that is actually from the construction of that the expansion of the the plane ridge itself so the expansion leads to a one-time spike in You know the amount of commercial building area that's that's rentable that's on the market and you know, it's it's Been slightly increasing ever since but really that spike, you know We went back and looked and that was actually due to some construction related to the park It might not be all of it. There might be some other but certainly the park was included in that But what what kind of space is this kind of warehouse for materials for example or what? Well, this would be commercial commercial, right? So that would include the I assume that the gaming floor is considered on a commercial building Thank you You know in Warehousing would probably be considered under industrial But I would have to ask my my colleague Thomas because he's the one that really did the deep dive into the okay into the The commercial data, but I can write that down. No, no, I thank you. I think you answered the question Yeah, I believe that that's commercial But this would be from tax receipts. I mean I say from From town tax receipts, you know, this data is actually one of the proprietary sources again That I believe is based upon real estate listings okay and That's from the That's co-star data. Yeah Yeah, and they have a number of different barometer So so it's not the online rental data even though that's the same basic source They have a number of different products that they offer and they track you know what they say is kind of Real estate commercial and industrial real estate inventory and you can you can pin that down at pretty small levels. Okay, so So industrial I we did look at industrial Rentable building area in the report, but I have to tell you that there's so little industrial in and around Plainville I would take it with a grain of salt Just any indicator about industrial so we do report it because we think it's important and that's actually where I think, you know probably, you know manufacturing real And warehousing is one that I'm not quite sure of because it really depends on how they define it So I'll have to ask my colleague about that, but we don't really see You know, there is some there's some slight growth and you know rentable building area of industrial, but again, you know Those are large properties one goes off the market and it can make the whole thing jump or one goes on the market They've making a whole thing jump Vacancy rates are interesting so Plainville historically has had really low commercial vacancy rates and We do see But because it's a relatively small market it does tend to be volatile here, you know We're comparing Plainville with surrounding communities in the state as a whole You know vacancy rates in the state as a whole has been going down as the economy has improved Plainville is always much lower than the state now it did take a jump up in commercial vacancy rates in the period after the opening of Plainville, but we'll but rather than But it seems to have gone down since so rather than an indicator of kind of the real estate market Worsening is probably more of an indication of some of the new development that's been going on in that area Leading to a temporary increase in commercial vacancies But then as new people move into the commercial space as they start leasing that space then it goes down So really what we need is a little bit more data to You know over time to see whether or not that's really kind of a trend versus a spike And like I said, there is new commercial development going in, you know right at that same interchange Interchange around where Plainville is and so that could have put a lot of new activity on the market But then as from what I've here, it's actually been leasing pretty fast That's one of the things that we got out from from our interviews with stakeholders I Have a little bit of that later on The lease rates, you know Still so far a little evidence of a sustained rise or drop in commercial lease rates This one I'm splitting out commercial into office commercial versus non-office commercial But but not really seeing a lot There is kind of a drop again in the non-office Commercial space that happens after the opening of Plain Ridge. But again, that could be due to new space coming on the market And you know creating a little bit of a you know temporary excess of supply over demand But we expect that you know if there is you know kind of sustained increase in demand that That those prices will eventually kind of go back to what their original trend was But you know, we need a little bit more data to really To really say that with with authority Okay, so to kind of get to the conclusions As exciting as they are, you know, we haven't really seen much evidence that the Plain Ridge Park casino At least thus far has had had a huge impact on The residential real estate market so so but it's not to say that it hasn't had an impact But right now we feel the most confident describing as kind of a limited direct impact Now You know we have some some you know from our stakeholder interviews We you know, we have some quotes that seem to kind of support what we're finding the secondary data You know generally speaking this one kind of stands out I don't think the casino is big enough to have had an impact on the real estate market There wasn't a large enough influx of employees to drive up the prices or make residences scarce And I think the whole market has been trending up Dot dot dot difficult to attribute to Plain Ridge and that's that you know that That testimony is what we're seeing in the data At least thus far now I say thus far very deliberately because you know the way that these developments work Is that you know while we're looking for like these spikes really the larger idea is to follow trends over time and You know if you know Real estate markets don't usually change hugely dramatically overnight you know areas become more attractive over time as you know as you know maybe new commercial activity moves into an area and There was a lot from the testimony that talked about the influence of the casinos on the fiscal condition of Plainville in particular and how they were able to Kind of keep you know keep tax rates where they were while really investing in the community and some of these valued what we call residential amenities that You know families and other people that move to an area. That's what they like right, but those are long-term impacts Those take a long time before you really start seeing the influence of that On a real estate market, especially a residential real estate market So, you know we continue to track things but what we can say in this report is that we didn't see like this big spike Either up or down after the initial opening and you know for some of these indicators again It's only been a year, you know two years of data. So You know, we'll have to see we'll keep we'll keep watching Commercial yes, there has been new commercial development in the area. That's very very true right in and around that that interchange but It's hard to attribute purely to the expansion of Plain Ridge Park You know, there's there's the development that's kind of diagonally I think across the street from the park That's You know, I believe that that's that there's a couple new hotels that are coming online in that area a lot of new commercial Activity new retail restaurants and I believe there might even be some new housing in some of those developments But but I get that from the the the testimonies not from my own investigation So so yeah, we can say that there's new activity going on in the area for sure But again, it's hard to say that it's caused by Plain Ridge Park Casino in isolation of a lot of other things going on in the area the quotation that seems to kind of Match what we're saying here is the one that you know, we've had a new influx of new businesses, but I have to be careful to call it Causality, so this is not my words. This is the words of the person that we're speaking to Because they felt that we are ripe for new business and growth because we're one of the least expensive communities in the area And we had land to develop so it's natural that they were looking And that it's the only clover leaf on 495 that hadn't been developed extensively yet So so there was kind of a feeling that while the casino might have accelerated activity in the area It was kind of primed to happen And I think that that's probably a fair description of what we've seen so far You guys I'm sorry. Yeah, you mentioned a hotel or two. Yeah I can see where it be hard to attribute other commercial businesses But with a hotel is that is that more of a reason to think or you just don't have any data to support that? I don't and this is gonna get me to my final point. I think that it probably is influenced by it However, there's a lot of stuff going on in that area. Like I said within six miles span Any of those could be the types of development that would attract new Overnight lodging activity into the area and certainly the park contributes to that right But whether or not the whether or not somebody would be wanting to put in a hotel in absence of the park or Not put in a hotel in the absence of the park. That's that's that's harder to say Right. So so there's there's a difference between something contributing and it seems to me And that's kind of what we're going to talk about here that the Plain Ridge Park Casino is really What's really going on in this area? Right is that it's evolving into being a regional entertainment complex a regional live entertainment complex and the park is Complementary to those other activities going on in the area, right? It's complementary to Patriot place It's complementary to the Xfinity Center. It's complementary to you know The malls in the area and the outlet centers these things you know in isolation of one another, you know, they might not They they might not make a huge difference in and of themselves, but together they become a Magnet at least if not for attracting more people to the area But at least for kind of making them stick around longer and maybe spending a little bit more money and maybe Staying overnight in the hotel So so so I'm being very careful You know and and I think that the quote that that that matches what I'm seeing going on is that You know the casino is situated between Rentham and Patriot place It provides a nice loop for people looking at for something to do in terms of well What do we do after the mall or what do we do after the Patriots game? These things are complementary right and and it's and it's the agglomeration of attractions which really starts attracting more people You know then you know unless you have a monumental single development, right? That it's really the confluence of these things together like the whole ends up being more than the sum of the parts In a lot of ways and so I know you wanted to say something Well it maybe we're getting at this, but it's it's common for a casino to develop that has an accompanying hotel And that's not the case with Plain Ridge Park Casino And so in the absence of of the hotel that would be on site Would you see additional lodging developed in in and around the area the causality? Yeah, I hear the point that that's really difficult to to determine, but but perhaps that There was an opportunity or a need a demand for that type of Amenity that that wasn't on-site at PPC And I don't know if there's anything that you wanted to add from the interviews that might Yeah, I think this this quote from the chairman of the board of health is is an important one He really made the point I Do want to emphasize though that the quotes that we have from our from our stakeholder interviews Those were obtained without those people ever seeing the data so Those were those were conversations that we had with with you know people who were knowledgeable about Real estate conditions and about conditions in general in their town of Plainville But they hadn't seen these data so it was really interesting to sort of see that triangulation that sort of you know What the data were telling us being complimented by what the what the key informants were telling us And the other just point that I wanted to make is that Although this this report is focused on Plainville and surrounding communities, but as with a lot of our Reports that have been coming out recently This is also sort of a template for what we're planning to do For Springfield and and surrounding communities and then forever and surrounding communities And so I think it would be helpful to us If you have any feedback about you know other things or additional things that that you think would be valuable to include In that template going forward Well, I think the one thing that you did include were more the stakeholder comments And I think that's a critical piece because it's it's not only the numbers What are people feeling and thinking that's really important and that's we we already have the we have the approved protocol to do that in Springfield, which is the next community that we're looking at and You know, so we felt that it added a lot of value Not and that the interviews cover a lot more than just the real estate market So it's something that's really contributing to the broader the broader initiative Yeah Well in terms of format, I have a couple of other points later But in terms of format and scope, I think it's great. I think I read with interest the whole report in a prior life I was involved in real estate myself And and I think you heed all the all the important notes You know the sub markets the region and the state as a controlling Factory it's very interesting to see I actually remember Early on the the testimony when when we were doing the host community and surrounding community hearings Besides the usual concerns about traffic and problem gambling The question when it came to the real estate market was almost At odds depending on who was who was talking about it. They somebody would say Prices are going to come down because I'm I'm going to move as soon as the casino comes in because I don't I don't like it and others would say a lot of people will come in because you know, there's going to be more Economic activity or jobs or what have you? And in my mind, I always thought well aren't those two offsetting in some way if they happen they would they would What what we would see it would be almost like a similar activity And I'm I'm not seeing that that's the case here. I'd like your notion of Comparing it and I'm looking at the trends which is which is important But I think it's it's great to corroborate what What I thought early on Yeah, I you know there's You know when we're using aggregate data, you know, which which we have even at the town level You know, it's possible that at a smaller scale You could have neighborhoods that are negatively impacted and neighborhoods that are positively impacted And they could end up balancing out Now, you know one of the things that it might be difficult to do with Plainville because it is a small market But that we do have the capacity to do if I feel like the data is good enough And I did some of this in the baseline report I do a little bit of this in this report is utilize some of the Spatial data that we have available to us to try to You know look at smaller scales because if you had negative impacts You would expect them to kind of be Especially in the residential market, you would expect those to be of the places that are very close Right and that if there was broader positive impacts those might be more community wide Because they're probably having more to do with you know people being attracted to the larger region as a scene as having, you know, the You know the town's investing in in favored amenities or you know investing in the school is investing in you know It's other things so so you might be able to get a little bit of leverage over that but it You again you kind of need a lot of activity going on to really tease that out But you know that that is hypothetically possible That you could have but you know what we're looking at is community-wide on net Yeah, and and just as a another point on that is that you know these these impacts Often end up being very localized and kind of depend on a lot of other things right so I did a I did a study in North Carolina a long time ago now and And there was a you know and you know of a what we'll just say is like you know what the kind of Commercial activity that a lot of people would think was just ubiquitously bad Right, but that this particular activity tended to locate in areas that were nowhere close to residential areas So even if they did hypothetically have a bad impact you weren't actually seeing it in the data because Nobody lived around them anyway, right? So so so you have to keep in mind and so here what we're talking about is Plain Ridge is very close to the intersection Okay, and I haven't worked on any traffic reports But I can tell you that if most of the traffic is such of a nature that it's coming You know basically on and off the main highways and not really circulating in any of the residential neighborhoods That's gonna mute a negative impact of traffic at least you know on on the The property values in those neighborhoods now again, I haven't done anything with traffic So but I'm just telling you what I know from past experience Yeah, I think that that point is well taken other than I have been involved with some of the traffic studies and It's interesting because the local police chiefs think Some of the traffic is dispersed because of ways because of Because of traffic apps that push people away from the traffic say on 495 and out into some of the Communities so that was an interesting piece that I don't think had to be considered before around these projects and Your point about local positives You know we all toured not too long ago the brand new town hall and public safety building which are amazing and Talking to public officials who who were around That day and for the groundbreaking for me They were really pleased that some of the negatives they thought might happen Hadn't necessarily happen, but yet the monies to build these two new facilities Were available so those were some of the comments from both elected and appointed folks out in the area there a couple of Questions doctrine. Thanks for this presentation Is is there anything to attribute or anything in the data that shows What's a unique situation that There was essentially gaming already there. There was an existing horse track Obviously not the level of activity, but is there anything that May not have adjusted the numbers that much just based on the fact that here was an existing facility and as we looked down The line to additional research. We're going to be talking about brand new facilities Is there anything that showed? PPC was there or a version of it or horse racing was there and nothing really changed once The facility got expanded is there anything to take into account for that or does it show up anywhere? Well, what you're saying is absolutely right, right? So it's a very different situation if you have You know, I mean it was a pretty substantial expansion, but we can still consider kind of an incremental expansion versus You know of a relatively modest Facility right in the gaming world right compared to you know, MGM for example, you know in Springfield And so it will be a very different situation. So we it would be very hard to Look at what's going on in plain in and around plain Ridge or in in and around Plainville, sorry and And say this is what we expect to happen elsewhere. They're very different markets. I mean just very different markets and and you know and the size of the development matters and The context in which it happens matters, you know, all of these things are very different So so what you said there is absolutely correct and it's it's a different situation when you have you know an incremental expansion then You know an entirely new facility being put in That's true. So, you know part of the part of the economic context of the area The baseline right already includes Plain Ridge right the historical plane baseline include Plain Ridge So, you know, it's not it's so and you can't take that out of the economy Right. So really what we're trying to measure is whether or not just this expansion piece has has shifted the line and we haven't seen a huge shift in the line and But there's so much going on in the region and you know, the economy as a whole the real estate market, you know It's it's it's it's a it's a pretty swift market as right So so but we don't see that kind of real You know, you can't mistake it type of of Solid impact and so because you know trying to try to err on the side of being cautious You know, but you know on the other hand what we're one thing that I can say fairly honestly is that There's no net negative impact in the region because the trend is still going up right and That's important to it's important to because a lot of people have those negative expectations But like I said, you know, don't you know, you know, but but we'll have to we'll understand Springfield when we Understand Springfield, you know and understanding Plain Plainville You know, it's a different situation. Yeah, you know I do want to pick up on that larger point about the region in conjunction with Patriot Place or the the rent them outlets or The concert the concert place I'm reminded of the economic development white paper that that you let the effort and in terms of writing commissioner and one of the proposals from that region was to Try to advise to the legislature about the importance about thinking of these as a as a regional destination perhaps the thought about transportation a loop for example, I remember that was one of the The town manager and the town from Foxboro were sort of trying to collaborate on Because themselves they're they're saying this could be a situation that together we could leverage towards again get somebody to stay longer or Or come do two things as opposed to one and has that positive economic economic impact So it's also in the minds of at least some local people and they're also thinking about it in terms of asking for additional investment, you know Not not in this case only from the from the licensee, but from other sources. Yeah, um, you know, and while it's you know, I can't say that I'm you know, I guess I'm okay, but you know, but Tourism, you know is is just one of many areas that I've done work And then there's other people that I think are much more kind of experts on tourism Tourism-based economic development. I think is what I would want to say But one thing that I think It's pretty well established in the literature is that you know, it's really kind of these this chaining of Activities that draws see what you really want with the casino really to get positive economic impacts Is what you really want is people from further away because the closer that people are the more likely it is that they probably would have Spent money in the region anyway, right? So what you really want to do is draw and that draw is Really contingent upon having a variety of different complementary activities together You this really comes out in among the people that do heritage-based Tourism, you know that you you it's it's it's rare just to have one particular Activity be such a draw that it pulls in people from further away But if you can chain activities together it not only pulls in more people But it pulls in more people that tend to be from further away and they tend to stick around longer and spend more So but you know, but but it's a very dynamic You know, it's not like this happens in isolation because you're also competing against other types of draws But that's the general notion Yeah, is it is it fair to say at a couple of your slides you say that it's tough to really nail down How much of PPC is having an impact is it fair to say that the evidence is also there that PPC isn't necessarily having a harm under some of the data and statistics you pull up That's how I interpret it, but it's hard for me to pull that out strictly from the data So because you could have a situation where the market might be better than it actually is And we wouldn't know that counterfactual So I'm kind of but when I look at this data and I look at the historical trends and then I compare it to the other regions The things are kind of where I would expect them to be Both up and down even if it wasn't for the expansion, right? So so I don't think that it's certainly not having net harm right my interpretation of it is is that if it is having harm, it's very isolated but You know it doesn't from the From looking at all the evidence as a whole and bringing together all these different pieces and combining that with our stakeholder interviews We have no reason to think that it's been harmful to the market Right. I hope that answers your question. No, I'm not trying to be evasive. I'm just trying to you know Be careful. I'm being careful as a scholar. What we really talk about is like what it actually means to measure impact You know versus contribution Right and impact is something that you can very definitively pin on a specific source Whereas a contribution is I think what's going on more of here where it's you know, like I said You know to measure impact you have to be able to separate out the individual pieces and Here you can't truly separate out the individual pieces from the whole because there's so much else going on That'll be a challenge with any of the Developments to be quite honest. Okay. I what I think is interesting and Rachel you touched on this is thinking about We're going to need somewhat of a different approach with Springfield You know already since they're opening there are stories of potential new hotel developments So, you know something that comes to mind is when you think of that category of stakeholder interviews you want to do is Reaching out and talking to those developers. I mean they've got a presented case to whatever Financial institution they're using to get a loan for their development I'm sure they'd be happy to tell you the development is being driven by any number of different reasons Springfield I think is also unique obviously not only the urban setting but the size of the community and you can start pulling data by zip codes because there are multiple zip codes and in Springfield as opposed to just one in Plainville, but Yeah, I think having a conversation about that going forward, you know talking with our community mitigation folks as well as to Think of what the scope of that study will be because it'll be it'll be different Well, there'll be more data and I look forward to that for sure, but I think the The format and the variables that you've studied and the sub markets to the extent that you can Are very helpful Thank you all for having thank you all for having me We're on to commissioners updates You're not finished I'm not done The the last item I have is it's a gaming research update So for the past couple years, I've been working closely with the public health trust fund executive committee and As a standard report, I've provided Just a general research update. What's what's been released in the last couple months. What's kind of on the on the horizon and What what has been done? What's under our belt and what's already been published? And that was particularly helpful, especially since that was a group that only met periodically Basically quarterly and so it was a good way to keep track of kind of where the where the research activities are That this and it dawned on me that this would probably be a great sort of memo or report that I could produce for the commission as well Just to provide a quick snapshot of where things stand You know, you you have if we take it and so it's broken down by so in the last quarter it provides a very brief summary of Of reports and studies that have been released it then moves into a List of Activities or reports that are on the near horizon and provides an update about What that will provide for us as well as a rough timeline of when when you should be seeing it I also provide a list of deliverables for this fiscal year Perhaps we don't have a specific date when that will be provided or where it will be and some of the details are missing But I think it's worth listing listing that for you and then finally I have research Deliverables that have been released from 2014 through July of 2018 broken up by social economic Public safety Evaluation and then a list of publications where where has the work that has been funded by the MGC been published in different academic journals I Hope you find this helpful. I'm definitely open to changing changing it up or adding or Or making it more brief than than what it currently is But you know when it's it's a great activity for me to To kind of roll this all up into one and to actually see where where things stand and in what we're focusing on in the near future If I could just if I wanted to get your thoughts on this and then there is one specific piece that That was released in the last couple months. It's the Sigma magic Backsheets that were delivered to the the Commission on September 24th and Rachel and I wanted to have a discussion about those back sheets with you So before we do that if you have any thoughts about this memo specifically Well, I do and I'm a little biased because I'm a lot more closer than perhaps a couple of my fellow commissioners On these but I think this is this is great. I think we've talked a little bit about The notion also at the public health trust fund executive committee that We have so much research going on that at times our own research sort of drowns a little bit The prior fine findings or or what have you and it's important to always summarize What we've done the most relevant and of course the the most up-to-date And I think this memo does it really quite well You know with all those objectives in mind I also think and I know you're gonna talk about this the fact sheets It's something that we've been discussing quite a bit at the gaming research advisory committee as well And I think they are also fantastic I like that there they can be visual they get to the point and they can be freestanding for any one of the topics I think there's a lot of information in these two Documents that go directly into our annual report When it comes to all of the work that we have been doing at research and responsible gaming Which has been something in my mind as of late because I'm We're at that time of the year when we have are putting that together, and I appreciate any Any help that these these reports can provide and and helping helping me with my section of that annual report You know this it was such a good reminder of how much work we're actually doing Which is really kind of amazing when you see it all pointed out this way. I was wondering if In going through this exercise of kind of correlating everything Where there's some things you you looked at and said hmm Seems like we're focusing more here than here. There's a little changes I think might be necessary or might be worth talking as a group about Yeah, you know, I mean in terms of the the balance of the types of research that we're doing breaking it down between looking at economic economic studies versus social studies versus Evaluation I'm I am pleased with that. I think Probably more important than this is this process that we're going to develop a strategic plan for the overall research agenda Where we're working with Judith Glenn? Of strategic science and she's spoken with with each one of you. She's and she's Met with most of the public health trust fund executive committee and then other other key stakeholders That to me has been in a really important process to just kind of take a step back Ask ourselves. How do we maximize? The the research agenda both in terms of what its impact is and and make it as efficient as as we possibly can A couple things that I think where I think that That's kind of coming to the surface through that process And I think that maybe you see you could see it reflected in here if you take a close look One is is shifting some of the focus of our research agenda to community-driven research We have some very large research projects very good research projects incredibly high-quality researchers Sitting with me at the table But I think that that getting down deep into the weeds with some of the research that we're doing partnering with with local communities to Assess Impacts of opening casinos. I think that that will probably end up being a direction that that we go Another piece and and I think the fact sheets are a perfect example of this is yeah, we have a lot of research out there But it's only as good as is how frequently or how it's how it's being used and so Exploring ways in which we can we can make this useful to a variety of different people and whether it's useful for us for this for our annual report useful for legislators useful for For local community leaders to to get a better understanding of what some of the impacts are We need to translate. It's a process called knowledge translation But we need to to really try to take our research to that next level and boil it down and Deliver it in ways that makes sense. So the fact sheets are a great example of that the the mass at a glance Interactive Portal that that Rachel and her team have been working on as an example of that but there's probably more and I think that that Looking at this this memo and the breadth of research that's been done We can do we can certainly do more to make sure that it's it's being used and it's being it's useful Yeah, critical step. Yeah, definitely using it effectively. Yeah, and commissioner I know from our conversations that that's what that's what's really Resonated true for you as well as that let's make it useful Yeah, absolutely. I mean the researchers will always Include their methods their methodology the disclosures, etc But what's most useful to bodies like us or the public health trust one or really the public are The insights the takeaways The what next or what now now that we learn this What what follows and that's I know part of the efforts in doing these knowledge translation Which includes other research types that are not doing the research To try to articulate and communicate You know those those insights. It's an ongoing effort. Yeah, one of the reasons we got the buy-in from Police chiefs and now this is two different jurisdictions is that real-time information which can be extremely useful to them and their communities When I spoke we went through a knowledge translation process with the game sense evaluation So the compendium of four evaluations, so it was pretty dense and it was led by Dr. Michael wall from Carlton University in Toronto, and he boiled it down. It's the it's the so what now what? You know take any research project so what and now what now do you do with it? That's that was Succinct and true to me If I could if we could just focus briefly on the on the fact sheets that Rachel and her team have have developed What a couple points on this they they They spent a lot of time Kind of taking specific reports that have been produced over the past few years and Doing exactly that the the so what so take it taking it and making sure that it's boiled down into to no more than one page We took these once we had drafts these reports we We discussed them during the gaming research advisory committee And received it. There was additional feedback that was provided that was integrated and with Rachel And that's what that's what you have before you now These are just examples. I really think that I really like these I would love to see us continue down this path of these fact sheets that would come out under on a fairly regular basis but but the So it gives us the so what but the now what I would would love to get your thoughts on how you could see us using these Who they should be delivered to who possibly mechanisms that we should use to share those Any time you can capsulate with nice graphics It's so easy to read and really makes the point quickly about what is happening. So I love the fact sheets and Have to think about how to use them more effectively Yeah, we we actually had a few days ago when we were preparing for Henry's presentation we had a meeting with Mark and Elaine and I was actually Quite surprised Elaine was so enthusiastic about things that could be done with the fact sheets And it seems to me that It it would be really valuable to be able to continue to consult with her about you know, maybe some kind of You know focused effort on getting Awareness of the fact sheets out. There's basically there's ten fact sheets at this point the first two were produced two years ago and Provide an overview of the expanded gaming act itself and then of our two or of our social and economic impact study The the new fact sheets, there's eight of them Seven of them focus on the social and economic Impact components that we've been doing over the years and the last one is actually the first sort of Synopsis of the main results from our cohort study So it it's a really nice little package to sort of say hey, this is what we've been doing for the last five years into ten pages Which is not a scholarly way to go But it's a really important way to share information with people But I think it would be helpful to us as a research team to sort of you know sit down with Elaine and and think about you know Where do we think these fact sheets might be the most valuable? And who would be interested in the kind of information that we have to offer? Yeah, I'm thinking other regulators. It's I've You know spent a number of different gaming conferences and it is something Other regulators are interested in the work that we're doing the research, right? And this is a great way to Explain it use it in a presentation Be able to hand it out so it's easily understood the work we're doing So I can see that as one area that will help rather than me sitting there talking about the work and You know trying to explain these are just So easily understood and really make the point I Actually, also I get excited about the so what part I'm thinking of the G pack and the Legislature as audiences as well because after all a lot of these is meant to go back to them and ultimately provide recommendations if any for legislative action For example, but just just the update of what what we're doing is is is important. I I my excitement is comes when when when we get insights like There's there's a particular finding and I'm thinking there's high Gambling participation that came from the baseline study and then elsewhere We see that there's little awareness of educational campaigns. So when you put those together You know that then then the focus should be the call to action is there should be an emphasis into Educational resources and connecting, you know people and and what have you because not only that that's happening prior to the introduction of casinos And we're also going to see what happens Further hence in other words that the call for mitigation the What we have as a resource in the public health trust fund or even in in other other other areas like mitigation Communication or or the casinos themselves the triangulation of data that leaves the policy makers with The insight of this is there for what we need to be thinking about or do more of or start doing Whatever the case may be Yeah, I you know, I'm picking up and just point mark made about, you know, some of the some of the research kind of getting more Locally focused and locally driven, you know, two great places for these fact sheets are With community-based organizations Again, I'm using Springfield as an example But Springfield consists of a number of neighborhood organizations some close proximity to a casino some kind of Outliers, but a lot of these community groups were Involved in the referendum on one side or the other have a specific interest in what the impact is on the community and to give them kind of just Quick information and fresh snapshots as to what gaming is meeting in Massachusetts already I would look to target those groups. You know, I'm reminded of the patron survey that you're doing You know, the whole tourism and hospitality community around these facilities would probably love to see what's driving people to the region or what Other things they're thinking of doing while they're in the region. So, I mean, that's just another great Entity or a group of entities that would benefit from seeing that type of research Yeah, great We think of anything else will let you know along the way. I feel that Rachel probably spent more time in her car than actually sitting We're around as long as you Thank you both. Thank you. Again, very informative. Thank you So I think now we're on to Commissioner updates anything I think Jill covered it. It was a great Event out at MGM and I was glad Commissioner Brian commissioners We missed you, but I'm sorry. I could not make that event. It was It's very gratifying to see the results and see the just positive vibe from trades people contractors and Kudos to the team at MGM for the work they did Anything else? Do we have a motion? I move to adjourn So moved Thank you. All in favor aye. All in favor aye