It's the Brian Laird show.

Welcome back,

I'm Tiffany Hansen, host here in the

WNYC newsroom filling in for Brian today and we are turning to casinos. On Tuesday

hedge fund billionaire and Mets owner Steve Cohen announced that he's thrown his hat in the ring for a downstate casino license in New York.

The proposal would convert 50 acres of parking lots that surround City Field into an entertainment complex.

That would cost somewhere around $8 billion.

Cohen is one of nine-ish contenders vying for only three licenses to operate a casino in New York City.

He's reportedly the most aggressive, having already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars

on lobbyists, joining us now to talk about what Cohen is envisioning next to City Field

as well as community concerns and where the state is in this long process

of approving these casino licenses is Nick Garber politics reporter at Crane's New York business.

Hi Nick.

Hi, Tiffany, thanks for having me.

Absolutely.

Listeners, we want you in this conversation, of course, have you been hearing all about these

casino proposals?

Do you live in and around New York City, maybe in a community that would be impacted by

these proposals.

Times Square, Bronx, Willets Point, right where the city field proposal is,

what would a casino mean to you and your community?

Jobs, traffic.

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