DETAILS AND PROTOCOL FOR PUBLIC COMMENT EVENTS

August 21, 2014

The Gaming Facility Location Board will host one Public Comment Event in each of the three eligible regions. 

Purpose

The purpose of the Public Comment Events is to provide members of the public the opportunity to speak about any proposed project(s) within the applicable region.

Meeting Logistics

Time:  Each Public Comment Event will commence at 8:00 a.m. and conclude at 8:00 p.m.

Dates and Locations: 

September 22:      Capital Region Public Comment Event

                                    Holiday Inn Turf

                                    205 Wolf Road

                                    Albany, New York 12205

September 23      Catskills/Hudson Valley Public Comment Event

                                    The Grandview

                                    176 Rinaldi Boulevard

                                    Poughkeepsie, New York 12601

September 24      Eastern Southern Tier Public Comment Event

                                    Hotel Ithaca

                                    222 South Cayuga Street

                                    Ithaca, New York 14850

Seating:  Excepting limited reserved seating for members of the Board and the Board’s staff, seating at each event will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Capacity at any given time will be subject to posted building code occupancy restrictions for each space.

Remote access:  Each presentation will be streamed live and archived on the Gaming Commission’s web page (www.gaming.ny.gov).  Interested parties not wishing to speak are encouraged to watch the presentation via live stream in order to allow maximum occupancy for parties wishing to offer public comments.

Public Comments

Participation:  These public comment events are free, open to the public and do not require advance registration. 

To allow diverse participation, the Board respectfully requests interested grassroots groups or formally constituted organizations designate a single representative to address the Board to avoid repetition.

Time permitting, additional members of such groups or organizations may address the Board on a first-come, first-served basis.

Length: To ensure fairness, individual comment segments will be limited to five (5) minutes each. 

Comment Segment Reservations:  Five time slots per hour will be held for speaking time reservations.  To reserve a segment for a public comment event, members of the public should email their name, organization (if applicable) and desired time request to the following email addresses, respective to each location:

September 22, Capital Region Event:                            CapitalRegion@gaming.ny.gov

September 23, Catskills/Hudson Valley Event:           CatskillsHV@gaming.ny.gov

September 24, Eastern Southern Tier Event:  EasternST@gaming.ny.gov

All reservations will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis and may be requested from August 21 through close of business on September 19. 

The balance of time slots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, with sign-ups conducted at the meeting event location.

Equipment and visual aids: No attendees may utilize multimedia visual aids.  Informational posters and handouts are permitted.

Individuals making use of posters as part of their comment should submit a reduced-size copy of such if intended for inclusion in the formal written record.

Written Submissions: In addition to oral statements, the Board will accept written submissions at the event and up to seven (7) days following the event.  Statements received beyond seven (7) days will not be included in the formal record. 

All submissions should clearly identify the submitter’s name, and affiliation, if any.

Decorum:  All attendees are expected to show respect and courtesy to attendees, commentators and Board members. 

Disruptions will not be tolerated.

Any person making offensive, insulting, threatening, intimidating or obscene remarks, or who becomes unruly during the Public Comment Event, will be requested to leave at the direction of any Board member. If necessary, the Board may request the assistance of law enforcement for the purpose of maintaining safety, order and decorum. 

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