The second and final hearing of the Bally’s Community Advisory Council (CAC) on Sept. 9 saw an overwhelming majority in support of the company’s proposal to build a casino-hotel complex in Ferry Point Park, amid major disruptions that required the committee to call for NYPD assistance.
More than 50 members of the public and three elected officials spoke at the American Turners club in Throggs Neck, and the yeas outnumbered nays by at least five to one.
Yet opposition was fierce, especially from Republican Council Member Kristy Marmorato, who represents the East Bronx community where the proposed casino would be sited.
Bally’s bid for one of three New York City-area casino licenses to be doled out by the state by the end of 2025 appears to have run up against opposition in its proposed immediate neighborhood while receiving wider support elsewhere in the borough.
Among Bronx council members and other elected officials, including Borough President Vanessa Gibson and Assembly Members Michael Benedetto and Yudelka Tapia, who also represent the East Bronx, Marmorato has stood alone in opposition.
Bally’s Casino ‘will fundamentally alter life,’ Marmorato says
In return for the proposed $4 billion casino, hotel and entertainment complex, Bally’s has promised more than $600 million in ongoing investments in local infrastructure, schools, roadways, nonprofit organizations and more in its bid for the largest private development project in borough history.
The CAC’s six appointed members, including Chairperson Lisa Sorin of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, must vote with a two-thirds majority by Sept. 30 in order for Bally’s to remain under consideration by the state.
Unlike the committee’s first hearing on Aug. 19 — which proceeded smoothly and finished far ahead of schedule — the Sept. 9 hearing was marked by heckling audience members who both cheered and jeered, especially during Marmorato’s testimony.
At the hearing, the council member reiterated her long-held opposition to the project, which she said aligns with the stance of East Bronx residents. Community Board 10 voted in opposition back in March.
“This will fundamentally alter life in our neighborhood as we know it,” Marmorato said.
Traffic congestion was a “major concern from day one” because the area is “not equipped” to handle an influx of visitors, she said. Marmorato also argued that Bally’s plan to replace public parkland from Ferry Point Park would be less than acre-for-acre and would be located in City Island.
She said Bally’s has not met her standards for positive development. “They want gamblers; they do not want neighbors.”
As audience members interrupted multiple times, Marmorato raised her voice to a shout, and Sorin repeatedly threatened to remove disruptors.
Marmorato said she did not recognize attendees supporting the project and suggested they were paid by Bally’s to speak in favor.
“They do not belong in this community,” she said. “If nobody’s gonna speak up for the Bronx, just know that I’m gonna be the voice of this borough.”
Hecklers shout down proponents
Assembly Member Amanda Septimo, who represents the South Bronx, spoke in favor of Bally’s and was also interrupted by hecklers.
Septimo said that since new casinos will definitely be sited somewhere in New York City, the Bronx should have a chance.
“I want to highlight that we have to create these opportunities ourselves if we are ever going to change the story of our borough,” she said.
Other communities get major development opportunities “all the time,” she said, pointing to LaGuardia and JFK airports, the Interborough Expressway and Penn Station as examples. “When is it our turn? The answer is now.”
Septimo said having Yankee Stadium in her district has provided an economic boon similar to what a Bally’s casino would provide, and appeared to take aim at Marmorato’s comments about who should benefit.
“That money [generated by Yankee Stadium] is shared by our whole community, and we never say, ‘You don’t belong in my community’ … because we understand that the way forward is us being connected and together.”
Doubling down on economic benefits
More than 40 other speakers praised Bally’s for its promises of thousands of good-paying union jobs, a dedicated NYPD substation, entertainment options and investments that would benefit local organizations like Legacy Volleyball, based at the meeting venue, which had several members testifying. Some also praised Bally’s for saving Preston High School in Throggs Neck from permanent closure.
Ryan Macrone, a Yonkers resident, Local 3 union member, and graduate of the Bronx’s Cardinal Spellman High School, testified to his own experience with the development of the Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway, which opened in 2006. The casino is now one of Bally’s competitors in the field of eight possible license awardees and is seeking a major expansion if successful.
He said the project initially received strong opposition, but the community benefited from it. Friends who worked construction are still employed there, and the value of his parents’ house a few blocks away increased from about $400,000 to $1.2 million due to infrastructure investments, he said.
He expressed confidence that the Bronx could see a similar windfall. “Yonkers is thriving as a city way more than it was 10 to 15 years ago, and what really tipped that first domino was the casino.”
Those opposed — who numbered fewer than 10 at the hearing — said they were concerned about the project’s environmental impact, loss of parkland, and potential increase in crime.
A few also said they disapproved because President Donald Trump, whose Trump Organization sold the Ferry Point Park golf course to Bally’s in 2023, would still personally receive $115 million if Bally’s receives a casino license, as reported by the New York Times.
The seventh speaker, Sandra Justice, said she was a union retiree who has lived in the East Bronx since childhood.
“This casino, in my opinion, would not do us any good,” she said. “I have watched this neighborhood become overdeveloped. The traffic is horrendous.”
She also speculated that many people who support Bally’s are from outside the immediate area. “Most of the people here, I doubt even live in this zip code, so I feel they shouldn’t even be here representing what we want.”
As a union retiree, “I’m the last to deny someone a job,” she said, “but I’m also the last to destroy people’s homes.”
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
