City Council Member Kristy Marmorato (R-Throggs Neck) appears to have led the charge in the City Council voting Monday against land use changes required for the proposed $4 billion Bally’s hotel-casino, effectively killing the project in the legislator’s backyard before casino licenses could even be awarded.
On July 14, the council voted 28 to 9 against three zoning amendments put forth by Bally’s, which would have required “alienating,” or privatizing, a relatively small amount of land in the planned casino site of Ferry Point Park. Five members abstained from the vote, and nine were absent.
While most of the Bronx delegation supported Bally’s application, Marmorato, who represents the East Bronx area where the casino would have stood, moved to oppose the company’s ULURP application.
In the end, most council members voted in deference to Marmorato, despite her being a relatively new member in the minority party.
The tradition of member deference — deferring to the member who represents the affected community on land use changes — has been a top concern for Mayor Eric Adams as he pushes forward large-scale zoning changes, such as City of Yes, to alleviate the citywide housing shortage.
The massive Bally’s project would have brought a casino, 500-room hotel, spa, 2,000-seat event center, parking garages, retail space, and restaurants. In return, the company promised a $625 million package of community benefits, including infrastructure and parkland improvements and investment in local organizations.
Bally’s argued that its project had north of 80% support from the community, based on the company’s outreach efforts. But Community Board 10 voted it down in March, with residents expressing concerns about loss of parkland and a potential increase in crime and traffic congestion in the area.
Bally’s Chair Soo Kim expressed his disappointment in a Tuesday call with the Bronx Times. In negotiating with Marmorato even until the last minute, “We have met her asks,” Kim said.
Marmorato: ‘I follow through’ on promise to community
But a statement from Marmorato’s office posted to X said she was “protect[ing] her community from predatory development.”
“If I make a promise to my community, I follow through,” she said.
“After weighing every concern, the decision was clear: this did not meet the standards her community deserves,” the statement said.
The Bronx members who voted in favor of Bally’s application were Eric Dinowitz, Amanda Farías, Oswald Feliz, Kevin Riley, Althea Stevens and Rafael Salamanca Jr., who chairs the Land Use Committee. Pierina Sanchez, who represents the Kingsbridge area, was among those who abstained.
Salamanca Jr. expressed disappointment at the outcome.
“As a Bronx kid who is raising my family in the borough, I am deeply concerned that today we will fail to allow the Bronx to tap into the potential economic development opportunities that would allow a gaming application to move forward in the process,” he said in the July 14 stated meeting.
“It’s unfortunate that when opportunities such as much-needed union construction and permanent jobs for people that need them come to the Bronx, we shoot ourselves in the foot and deny ourselves these opportunies,” Salamanca Jr. said.
But Marmorato seemed to reject the kinds of jobs that would have accompanied the Bally’s complex.
In video from a November Bronx Conservative Party meeting posted to X on Tuesday, Marmorato scoffed at the opportunities Bally’s committed to providing, even though the company said its jobs would pay an average of $96,000 per year.
“You want kids to grow up to be a cocktail waitress? Because that’s what they’re offering for jobs,” Marmorato said in the video.
Bally’s had proposed, for example, dishwashing jobs with an $80,000 salary, she added: “I cursed at the guy. Is that what you f’ing think of my people?”
‘We met every requirement’
Kim said he had remained in “active dialogue” with Marmorato, especially since June, when the council passed what’s called a “home rule message” that allowed legislation to be put forward to advance Bally’s land use changes required for the casino. He believed he was making progress and was disappointed to see otherwise, he said.
Kim also said the timing of the vote came as “a surprise” because he had expected it in August.
However, according to a spokesperson for Salamanca Jr., the full council only meets once in July and August instead of the usual twice, so the vote needed to be held this month to meet the required ULURP timeline.
Kim said that Bally’s casino bid, of the seven others on the table, was “most responsive” to the state’s request.
The state’s main selection criterion is economic impact, Kim said. To that end, “We chose the Bronx very deliberately,” he said. “We chose the county with the highest need, and we proposed the largest project, private funded, by a factor of two.”
Kim said that since the rest of the Bronx delegation supported the project, “This was almost a textbook example of why member deference shouldn’t exist.”
He expressed bafflement at being voted down soon after being personally lauded for saving Preston High School — an action intended partially to assuage Marmorato’s concerns about the casino’s impact on property values. Kim said buying Preston was “no quid pro quo” but showed his company’s investment in the community.
“We met every requirement the member put on us,” Kim said. “I’m sad because we were acting in good faith, trying to bring a project that we felt very strongly would make a difference.”
‘Where’s the alternative plan?’
With the Bally’s proposal all but dead, Council Member Riley lamented the loss in a Tuesday post on X.
“15,000 union construction jobs—gone. 4,000 permanent union jobs averaging $96K—gone. $625M in community investments—gone. Now the question is: how do we replace that? Where’s the alternative plan to bring this level of opportunity to the Bronx?”
Council Member Stevens told the Bronx Times that Marmorato appeared to be doing what her constituents wanted, but Bally’s could probably have done more to drum up support.
At the same time, District 13 can be “a hard district” when it comes to allowing any kind of new development, she said.
For instance, in terms of new affordable housing production, Marmorato’s district ranks 38th out of the 51 districts, whereas Salamanca Jr.’s district has produced the second-highest number of new units in the city in the past 10 years.
Stevens said elected officials should continue to look for opportunities to bring other companies with good-paying jobs to the Bronx. She also hopes the casino companies that are eventually selected will emphasize hiring Bronxites.
In bringing economic engines to the borough, “It’s gonna be up to us to be creative about it,” Stevens said.
Although it appears that Bally’s proposal has no future, Kim said he’s still evaluating options.
The state is expected to select up to three companies to be awarded New York City-area casino licenses by the end of December.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
