Properties in the Station Casinos empire continue to topple like dominoes before Unite-Here. Yesterday Green Valley Ranch became the fourth Station-owned or -managed casino to vote for unionization, with a 78% mandate. “Over the course of 
organizing, I’ve picketed, protested, and even fasted for seven days,” said bartender Michael Wagner, expressing his gratification. Added Gladis Sosa de Fuñes, “Everyone knows the Culinary Health Plan is the best health insurance in Las Vegas, and we want our families to have it.” In the course of taking a victory lap, the union couldn’t resist one dig at ownership. Buried in a paragraph of boilerplate praising the quality of Station’s resorts is this disclosure: “The company is controlled by Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, who own 10-to-1 super-voting Class B shares of Red Rock Resorts.” So even though the company is now publicly ‘owned,’ never forget who’s really pulling the strings.
* New Jersey Gov.-elect Phil Murphy (D) was quick to disappoint those who naively thought he might protect Atlantic City. Although he’s thought to be pro-sports betting (good for the Boardwalk), Murphy says, “We’re desperate for jobs. If it’s not in North Jersey, before we know it, it will be on the west side of Manhattan.” Whether voters agree with Murphy is another 
matter. A 2016 referendum to open greater New Jersey to casinos was rejected with the velocity of a Justin Verlander fastball, even despite the support of Gov. Chris Christie (R). Sadly, the anti-GOP backlash of Election Day claimed Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian (pictured) among its victims, even though Guardian was the city’s best champion in quite some years. We’ll be sorry to see him go. We can only hope that Mayor-elect Frank Gilliam (D) inherits some of Guardian’s passion for the Boardwalk.
Although a Christie-championed state takeover of Atlantic City is still in its early stages, Murphy may scuttle it as soon as he takes office. The guv-to-be says of such power grabs, “they tend to be in communities of color, and result in de-democratization.” Although Gilliam and Murphy were all smiles on Election Night, the former opposes ending Atlantic City’s casino monopoly, so we’ll see how long the BFF sentiment lasts.
* A year-long pilot program to bring a riderless shuttle to downtown Las Vegas got off to an ignominious start. The microbus was only an hour into service when it crashed into another vehicle. Although a panoply of high-tech features enable the bus to navigate a loop of Downtown, stopping for traffic lights, cross walks and even jaywalkers, they couldn’t prevent the Navya-built shuttle from blundering into a Day One fender-bender. “Human error” was blamed for the mishap of the supposedly self-sufficient vehicle, namely a semi, “illegally backing into an alley near La Comida restaurant.”
Upping the blame game, City Hall stated, “The shuttle did what it was supposed to do, in that its sensors registered the truck and the shuttle stopped to avoid the accident. Unfortunately, the delivery truck did not stop and grazed the front fender of the shuttle.” According to initial coverage by Fox News, the future of the shuttle was imperiled by the crash but it looks like, over the long haul, cooler heads will prevail.
