LETTER TO THE EDITOR: CANDIDATE QUESTIONS BOAT PROPOSAL SPEED

To the Editor:

As a candidate of City Council in the Second Ward, I have some major concerns I would with the current City Council members rushing into an agreement with any of the riverboat companies without giving adequate time for their project proposal, and for us then to look very closely at all the options. I have several major questions that need to be addressed.

1) I would like to know why the current City Council sent out the notice for the proposal, throughout the industry, and then only gave the riverboat companies 30 days to prepare and submit their proposals? This seems to give the Boyd Company, who had been working on this the whole past year, an unfair advantage, and does not give the other companies an equal stance or adequate time to prepare a "detail" proposal. This process short changes us, the citizens of Cape Girardeau, because this process does not allow the City Council members to make an informed decision, with all the necessary facts.

2) I would also like to know why the City Council members are trying to rush the process to choose a riverboat company, before the new City Council members are elected? As a citizen of Cape Girardeau, and from the ward that this business concern will be operating in, why the rush? I feel that the citizens in Cape Girardeau voted in riverboat gaming, and have a right to know all the facts and for the current City Council to wait for the new City Council members to be elected so that the citizens of Cape Girardeau will fee that they had an equal say in what will be conducted in the new council members' terms.

3) I have been listening to the voters in Ward 2, and they have many concerns. The people in Ward 2 would also like the City Council to give them information about:

- Security in a ward that already has a high crime rate.

- How soon construction will start in the downtown area and what effect it will have on the traffic flow in the downtown area.

- How parking in the downtown area will be handled.

- How the revenue from the riverboat will be distributed, and many other questions.

I would like to ask other candidates for the City Council to also comment on this major concern, and let the people know what directions they have in mind.

Joseph T. Sampson

Cape Girardeau