This weekend, the Encore Casino and Hotel was mobbed with patrons and visitors from all over the world. The hotel was crowded. The gaming tables packed with players, and everything else humming like the great success that it is.
Yet all around the casino and hotel, there was calm.
Traffic was light – partly because of all the planning, partly because of traffic patterns that were expected but never materialized.
It is one of Encore’s modern wonders that the city has not been greatly impacted in a negative way by its massive presence.
Encore has proven to be a very good neighbor despite its ability to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors.
Most notably, the place is opulent unlike any other in all of New England.
No other business comes even close to the level of expensive design and construction detail that highlights the entire facility.
That such a place should be located in Everett makes it all the more unbelievable – and on a strip once the worst in the city.
Encore Boston Harbor stands alone as the most significant single commercial success story in the state’s modern economic history.
Our city, it appears right now, is better for it.
The future looks bright if all the added income is put to good use.