Encore’s John Tocco came to city hall again Monday night to talk about where the casino project stands at the moment.
He chose mainly to speak about the jobs situation at the casino and hotel which is scheduled to open in June.
What he told the council was incredible.
He said they bare now going about the task of hiring about 5,000m employees!
By itself, this a situation something akin to making creating a small city
It is an incredible number of men and women, many of them from our neighborhood, who have applied and who are about to be hired.
It is a monstrously large number of new jobs by any standard of measure.
Whether you like casino gambling or not, Tocco’s numbers are a bit like reading the Book of Revelation which is filled with prophetic visions, a new reality with art and imagination.
The coming of the casino here is all about Nirvana – an entity creating thousands of new jobs and contributing heavily, forever to the hungry city treasury.
What could be better than this?
We will find over time.
For now, the casino miracle of so many jobs is remarkable.
Thousands more from our community have worked on the project, Tocco reported.
This is testament to Encore’s ability to follow through on some promises that were made.
More than $14 million has been paid in wages to Everett residents working as employees during the construction period.
This is another remarkable statistic which stands entirely alone in the annals of Everett business history.
Not every major business here together has made such a contribution in in our lifetime – in two of our lifetimes.
John Tocco’s presentation to the city council Monday night was short and sweet. It was, in every way, amazing when you think about it.
So many jobs, at one time in one place. The promise of the casino is not Nirvana or as the Greek might have called it panacea – a word that means a solution or remedy for difficulties.
The casino is not a wonder drug.
However, the jobs, the money to be generated, the taxes to be paid, well, that is something to appreciate in the short term.
Nothing is more important than the casino opening in June.
Nothing.