We the people of the Orange County area have heard of the plans put forth by Genting to build a multimillion dollar casino and resort on the site that currently holds The New York Renaissance Faire and the Tuxedo Ridge ski slope with the adjoining pub. While all of us cannot make it to the meetings that have been held regarding this proposal, we would like to assure you that we have been following the news on this quite closely and have real and pressing concerns. We cannot help but think that a decision to allow Genting to build their complex would destroy the tranquility and appeal of the town of Tuxedo and the outlying areas. This community is peaceful and prosperous and we do not need the potential problems that a casino complex would bring.
Tuxedo is a wonderful place where people move to raise children and have a quiet life. We are not Atlantic City. We are not New York. We are not Las Vegas. Think about what these places are like: loud, crowded, congested, and sometimes even dangerous. Casinos draw a varied crowd, and while it is alarmist to say that drugs and crime always follow this type of business, it isn’t completely untrue either. Do we want to open the doors of our community to that possibility? The answer is no, of course not. We want our community to remain a safe place for our children to live, learn, and grow without the fear that parents in the aforementioned large cities live with daily. 
Additionally, even if we aren’t considering the criminal element, we need to think about the impact of the casino on the tranquility of our community. Part of the charm of Tuxedo is how tucked away it is, how the main road passes the quaint train station, how the school sits just off the road on the hill, how the houses cluster here and there, and the churches invite you in a quiet country fashion that fosters a sense of closeness. This casino changes all that. It is been proposed that in order to make this casino accessible to the general public, new interchanges will have to be built off the highway and Route 17 will have to be altered to accommodate the traffic. That would be all of the additional traffic that a project like this will bring. When we consider this, all we can think of is the considerable congestion this would impose on our roads. Think again of Atlantic City, New York, and Las Vegas. That is not our Tuxedo. We like the quiet and charm of our community and we do not aspire to be a crowded gaming capital.
On one additional note, there seems to be varied speculation on what would happen to Sterling Forest, The Renaissance Faire, and the Tuxedo Ski Lodge. These places have been a part of our community for quite some time. One fact that many may not be aware of is that before the Renaissance Faire was built on the site, that land was a lovely botanical garden replete with fountains and flowering plants. It is the general feeling of the local people that the Faire has only added to the appeal of the land by supplying wholesome family fun while preserving those flowers, forest walks, and wetlands of the original botanical garden. Additionally, the Tuxedo Ski slope and surrounding Sterling Forest are a yearly destination for many people, especially locals, who are teaching a child to ski on the Ridge’s gentle slope, or going for a hike on one of the forest’s many paths. If Genting is permitted to build their casino, what happens to these places? They destroy them? They take them over and commercialize them, and what does that mean? Raze the Renaissance Faire and repurpose our botanical garden? Turn the whole thing into some kind of medieval Disneyland? What will happen either way is they will use those spaces to make more money for their giant corporation. Money that doesn’t go back into our community, it just fuels their ability to bring gambling, noise, and problems to other peaceful communities like ours. 
Certainly when it comes down to it, you, the Town Board of Tuxedo will vote on whether or not to allow this project to happen in our community. But please know before you do that there are many people who live here, work here, and visit here, people who can’t make the meetings, who are opposed to the destruction such a decision would cause. We do not want to be the next Atlantic City, New York, or Las Vegas. We want to be who we have always been, a quiet suburban town, where people are happy. Please do not see this as us standing in the way of our own progress. We realize that time marches on and so too, must we. But this is not the way. Allowing Genting to build here, to wipe out our forest, to destroy our peace, to change who we are, is not the kind of progress we want. 
Sincerely and with the utmost respect,
The People of the Greater Orange County Area 
and the below signed individuals