A new ‘No on 3’ commercial now being broadcast on Boston television stations features former Everett teacher Mary Bagarella and stresses the importance of keeping the casino legislation in order to clean up the extremely polluted former site of the Monsanto Chemical Company – a site that’s just a few hundred yards from Charlestown.
The commercial starts out with dreary pictures of the site as it looks now, and on a particularly cloudy day.
Bagarella shows the viewers where she used to live – a house not far from the site on Lower Broadway. Rather than talk about the benefits of casinos or the financial boost it will give to the City of Everett, Bagarella stresses that the Wynn project will clean up a site that could be responsible for the ill health effects of many in the neighborhood over generations.
“This was a chemical manufacturing site,” she said in the commercial. “We lost a lot of young people to cancer, including my son Ronald, who was 46. It’s a miracle anyone would ever clean up this site, but the Wynn project will. I never thought I’d see the day. It’s going to clean up the site and the water and put life back in the whole town.”
Bagarella is shown several times on camera in areas on Lower Broadway and walking on the vacant site – as well as standing in front of her old house in Lower Broadway.
The family has been in Everett for generations and still resides in Everett, though not on Lower Broadway. Bagarella’s late son was a life-long resident of the City who was a mailman in Everett. His wife still resides in Everett.
The commercial is part of a series of commercials aimed at swaying voters to vote ‘No’ on Question 3, which is a question calling for the total repeal of the 2011 Expanded Gaming Law.
A ‘Yes’ vote will repeal the legislation and put a stop to all casino projects.
A ‘No’ vote will preserve the legislation and allow casino projects to move forward.
Michael McLaughlin, an Everett resident working on the ‘No on 3’ campaign, said he has gotten really positive feedback on the local ad.
“You can argue about job creation numbers and you can argue about economic impact numbers, but you can’t argue with a lady standing in front of you talking about how her son died of cancer because of this site,” he said. “Then she tells you that site will be cleaned up if the project is allowed to go forward. It’s non-negotiable. You can’t argue with that…I think her message resonates with people.”