Mayor rolls dice on city's future

Just a year before local political parties meet to determine candidates for mayor and city council, Auburn Mayor Tim Lattimore has thrown the dice, on whether he will be re-elected for a second term, with his forceful push to site a Native American casino in Auburn. He is, in essence, betting his political fortunes (and unfortunately the city's future) on a controversial and far from done deal. Some see his actions as plain hubris, others, a calculated gamble.

There are some who believe that he is trying to emulate his father's success of decades ago with the landing of the big fish #Auburn Steel (now Nucor) or smaller projects such as the Holiday Inn or Wegmans. There are others who believe that his rush on a casino is about as thoughtful as urban renewal was in the 1960s. Possibly only history will tell which category this venture will fall in.

There are those, like columnists, who will try to calculate the short-term impact of his push. For some, this is a desperate gamble to deal with the politically ill-advised pledge on job creation that then-candidate Lattimore made in 2003 when he ran for election. There is little doubt that part of next year's mayoral campaign would focus on the 𔄙,500 new jobs” pledge.