Our Community is Not for Sale: No Casino in NYC
THE CASINO LIE: Our Community Is Not for Sale
Let's be blunt: when a huge corporation or a political machine starts pushing a casino, they aren't talking about "economic development." They're talking about extraction. They’re talking about targeting our neighborhoods—the very people who can least afford it—and building a machine designed to vacuum up their savings, their stability, and their futures.
As an advocate, a former police sergeant, and someone who has seen firsthand how broken systems ruin lives, I’m drawing a line in the sand. I’m opposed to this casino push for simple reasons that cut straight to the bone of justice:
First, this entire push is driven by greed. It’s about campaign donations and developers’ profits, not public good. They promise jobs, but they deliver the crippling social cost of gambling addiction and debt, which always falls heaviest on the working-class families already struggling to get by.
Second, a casino is a predatory project. It's a calculated move to inflict maximum harm on society for the benefit of a few investors. It imports desperation and debt and pushes up crime rates—all while the politicians who signed off on the deal stand safely on the sidelines.
We must hold our leaders accountable. The oath they took was to us, the people of this city, not to some lobbyist with a briefcase full of money. When they push forward a project this poisonous and this destructive, they are violating that sacred trust.
Our community is not collateral. Our families are not numbers on a roulette table.
We need leaders who invest in infrastructure, schools, and legitimate, lasting opportunities—not those who sell our public safety for a quick payout.
The answer is clear. The fight is immediate. We say NO CASINO.
Steven Lee
Former NYPD Sergeant, Lamplighter/Whistleblower, and new AAPI Advocate
Our Time is Now
OUR TIME IS NOW: The Excerpt
For too long, I stood on the sidelines, waiting for a champion. Waiting for some towering figure to rise and speak the necessary truths—to confront the system that profits from our silence and sacrifices our community for convenience. Every day, I watched and waited, tired of seeing our mothers, our daughters, our loved ones, treated as disposable, constantly sacrificed like lambs within a rigged game.
I was once an NYPD Sergeant, a man who saw the system from the inside out. My shield became a burden when I realized the rule of law was dictated by politicians and the privileged, not by justice. When I blew the whistle on quotas, traditional criminality, and the devastating retaliation that follows an honest oath, I learned the full, brutal cost of speaking up.
But the most painful lesson was realizing that the Blue Wall of Silence I fought in the NYPD is mirrored by a communal silence in our own AAPI community. We were taught to bow our heads, to keep trouble at bay. That time has changed. In this new era, silence doesn’t buy safety; it guarantees we get screwed.
We are neither light enough to be fully accepted by one world, nor "colored" enough to be fully embraced by another. This feeling of perpetual marginalization has gone on long enough. We are constantly being played, only remembered during election time when votes or donations are needed.
I am done waiting. I am tired of standing idle. My fight against the largest police department in the country was the necessary training. I am choosing to be the voice now.
The age of keeping our heads down is over. The world is at our fingertips; our power is ready to be unified. This isn’t a blog post; this is a declaration.
It’s time to push for us.
IT'S OUR TIME.
Steven Lee Former NYPD Sergeant, Lamplighter/Whistleblower, and new AAPI Advocate
Want to know who I am, curious to see what I have personally done? Well I’m inviting you into my google drive. Feel free to browse around and see for your self I have done. Everything there are things that I have personally taken part of and helped organized. Mostly since 2020 up to the present. Believe it or not I was behind helping to organize the whole #StopAsianHate, #TheyCantBurnUsAll #HoopsOverHate, #PPE Distributions, #FeedingFrontLiners as well as Feeding the Homeless, Elderly, and countless others with food insecurities. I’m so happy that these things have inspired many others to help the community as well in their own way. I am also proud that these Food Pantries, Community Safety Patrols, and countless others AAPI programs are still out there helping people. I am also happy that this wasn’t just a NYC thing but World Wide. So Take a Dive and check it out. Thanks To All and remember its OUR THING, this movement belongs to ALL OF US. Let’s keep it going.
Peace and Blessings.