Are we all excited about our brand new downtown tourist attraction that will draw tens of thousands of people into our urban core from hundreds of miles around?

No, I’m not talking about Bass Pro, I’m talking about our specially designed, brand spanking new gambling mecca, The Buffalo Creek Casino…behold its majesty:

It’s a far cry from the promised design, eh?

The Buffalo News reports that this abomination of a facility is set to open, pending a designation of the land that it sits on as sovereign Indian territory.

Meanwhile, a Seneca Gaming Corp. spokesman said the building on Michigan Avenue was completed a month ago and could quickly open for business if the proper legal authority is granted.

“Everything is ready but the slot machines,” said Philip J. Pantano, spokesman for the Indian tribe’s gambling company. “They cannot be moved onto the property until it’s legally deemed as sovereign Indian territory.”

Of course, if you ask the Seneca, it’s already sovereign land.

As a refresher as to why the casino is not yet open for business, we hop in the time machine and turn our obstruction-dial-o-matic to January.

Erie County Executive Joel Giambra, surrounded by members of his county legal team, Citizens for a Better Buffalo, and Citizens Against Casino Gambling in Erie County announced that “We have won our case, there will be no casino in Erie County”.

The lawsuit in question was brought forth by CACGEC and a host of others against the United States Federal Government, Department of the Interior, and the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC). The full summary judgement issued by Judge William Skretny of the Federal Western District Court can be found here.

Essentially, Judge Skretny’s decision invalidated the original approval by the NIGC of the Seneca Nation’s Gaming Ordinance and remanded it back to the NIGC to make an Indian lands determination. There is a difference between Indian owned land and sovereign Indian land. This decision states that the Buffalo Creek territory in the City of Buffalo exists only as Indian owned land and is not eligible for use as a gaming facility as specified in the Indian Gaming Regulation Act (IGRA).

The Buffalo Creek Territory was purchased as part of the Seneca Nation Settlement Act of 1990. Retired US Rep. John J. LaFalce, who co-authored the settlement act with US Rep Amo Houghton has said,

“Amo and I intended only to give fair compensation for unfair leases on the Allegany reservation, not to create Indian country and permit Indian gambling over 60 miles from the City of Salamanca in the heart of the City of Buffalo. We would have opposed that strongly.

Further, the exceptions of the IGRA, which would permit Indian gambling on land acquired after 1988, simply do not apply. The Buffalo property is not “within or contiguous to the boundaries of” a Seneca Nation reservation; it’s not land “taken into trust;” it wasn’t acquired as “part of a settlement of a land claim,” but over 15 years after the settlement of a lease dispute; it’s not sovereign Indian land; it is, however, owned by the Senecas in “restricted fee,” but they simply cannot legally conduct casino gambling there.

It would appear that Judge Skretny’s decision is in concert with that statement and the issue must now return to the NIGC for approval. While the NIGC consists of three members (two of whom are Native American), it would appear that the grounds to determine the Buffalo Creek territory as sovereign Indian land fall short of the standard.

The issue is still under review at the NIGC and the matter was further complicated last Friday when the CACGEC filed an appeal with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, asking the courts to again declare that casino gambling cannot be conducted in the city due to the property not being sovereign Indian territory. Sound familiar? It should, it’s an appeal to ask the federal court to review Skretny’s decision.

CACGEC believes that Skretny has the ability to rule on this issue rather than sending it back to NIGC.

Whatever happens, it doesn’t appear that our steel framed monstrosity of a casino will be pulling in the polish ladies from Cheektowaga for a few hours of slot machine excitement anytime soon.

The more things change, the more they stay the same…

HT Mike from The North Buffalo Journal Review and Mark from All Things Buffalo for the images.

If not for blogs, some news would fly completely under the radar. Chris Byrd of In Da Buff and City Stew posts the news that community activist and 2005 candidate for Buffalo Mayor, Judy Einach, is now a candidate to fill the soon to be vacant Niagara District seat on Buffalo’s Common Council.

The Niagara District seat is currently held by the retiring Dominic Bonifacio, a long time ally of Mayor Brown’s political organization.

So, does Judy stand a chance in what will most certainly be a hotly contested fight for a valuable seat on the council? Perhaps, but it looks like Einach may find herself standing in the middle of a political proxy war being fought by Assemblyman Sam Hoyt and Mayor Brown.

In the continuing battle for the Democratic future of the City, Hoyt and the Lenihan wing of the party are advancing Buffalo Police Officer David Rivera as their preferred candidate while Brown and the Grassroots wing are pushing for assistant corporation counsel Peter Savage. Both camps will most certainly bring significant resources to bear on a district that is key to control of the council.

Einach will be left to pull votes from the non-monied interests and vocal activist community that is found in this district. Will it be enough? Does Judy have the chops to face down two very powerful and motivated political machines?

After watching weeks upon weeks of empty rhetoric being spouted on both sides of the Bass Pro/Canalside/Harbor Master Plan issue, we decided to take a step back and see if we could interject a bit of common sense into the discussion. Is there room for compromise between the ECHDC sponsored Canalside plan and the 2004 Harbor Master Plan?

How best to paint a picture about our regional waterfront options? How best to bring all the parties to the table in a non-partisan manner to discuss potential for compromise and cooperative planning?

Being a new media company, our first instinct was to produce a documentary that explored all sides of the issue. Something that we felt our major media outlets had failed to do in their limited column space and air time.

Our second instinct was to call the principals on both sides of the issue and arrange a “sit down” to discuss the competing plans and forge ahead with sensible discussion.

So, we decided to partner with the WNY Coalition For Progress and arrange for what we’re calling “Three Days of Bass Pros and Cons”.

We will first air a documentary on MyTV Buffalo on June 18th and 19th at 2:30PM.

We will follow that with a panel discussion and public forum which will take place on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 at 6:30 PM, and be held at the Montante Center at Canisius College (2001 Main Street Buffalo, NY 14208)

WGRZ TV-2’s Stefan Mychajliw will moderate a panel which will feature Larry Quinn, Scott Fisher, Richard Lippes and others advocating for both sides of the issues. Our hope is that the two sides can reach consensus on certain issues and have a meaningful, honest, and thoughtful dialogue about their differences.

The documentary will air online following the event and we’ll secure additional airtime on multiple channels to further the discussion.

Here is the promotional video for the Bass Pros and Cons Documentary:

BP doesn’t like the idea of Stop Light cameras. Personally, this concept does not phase me either way. I personally do not believe any of the slippery slope theories. Set them up, and you’ll have people timing the yellow light at non camera locations to prove that the camera ones are set short to make more money. Or arguing the placement. One commenter lets you know that shooting the camera does not work. You have the usual privileged class cheap shot.
Best part?
On the side bar there is an ad for something to beat traffic camera tickets.
Only in America.

Written by Pauldub

I have seen zip on this subject lately. Any new word on how the review is coming along? Any new lawsuits?

There has been nothing out there lately except that the Seneca Gaming Corp profits are down.

This project has literally disappeared from the public eye ever since the BassPro announcement.

BTW, the News calls for cooler heads to prevail which is a departure from the stance taken by one of their writers…

So can anyone get me up to speed on the mini casino being built right now?

Written by Pauldub

First, the furniture. Boy howdy, Geek is going for a different look. Categories down like 75%, no more recent comments, and I guess that twitter thing was a passing fad. And you should see it back here behind the curtain! A whole lot different here too.

Anyhow, back to Donn. Couldn’t agree with him more. I know some may say we aren’t giving away 6mil, because the city never had it. BUT - as my old Economics teacher said, there is always opportunity cost. That’s what you give up to get what you want. Like spending the day with the In Laws instead of going to a Bills game. Even though you didn’t buy the ticket, you can still say that afternoon with family cost you.

Instead of giving people who really don’t need the break this cash savings, why not collect it (you know those condos are going to sell with or without the break), and put it to good use. Say, grants for people willing to invest in the East Side?

Written by Pauldub

In a court session originally intended for possible motions in his case, Altemio Sanchez pleaded guilty to three bike path murders.

The surprise pleas came after Sanchez and his lawyer, Andrew C. LoTempio, reviewed all the DNA evidence against the 49-year-old Cheektowaga resident and rejected a possible insanity defense.

According to the Buffalo News, Sanchez made his decision based on the DNA evidence against him, and a desire not to put his wife and the victim’s families through a trial.

LoTempio refused to discuss Sanchez’s psychiatric history in depth, but said he developed a deep-seated animosity toward women early in life, after his father left his mother, and his mother began seeing other men.

I know many who have lived through similar situations, without this kind of result. I think a possible insanity defense would have been difficult to establish.

Sanchez pleaded guilty even after Burns warned him he faces a possible 75 years to life in prison. He will be sentenced Aug. 2.

May the punishment fit the crime.

Written by Pauldub

Yeah, we’re all a little nervous about how the lifting of the wage freeze may affect our city financially. But geez Louise, can Donn cut hizzoner some slack?

The Governer thinks it’s possible. Hell, the Chairman of the Control Board thinks it may be time. That’s three people who I feel have more of a clue than Uncle Donn does.

If allowed to run free, will the mayor — in fairness, not the same mayor whose failures prompted the control board’s coming — get us into another hole? Will he give more than we have to unions, which — if they get what they want — will back him come election time?

That’s what I like. Unbridled optimism. If my Mentor gets wired about an article in the Columbus paper, this must put him round the bend.

This is a chance to turn the corner Donn. We should not be content for “Nanny McPhee” to take care of us. We have to step out eventually. I don’t really care if you are not comfortable with it.

As a matter of fact, can anyone tell me when was the last time Donn wrote a positive piece on Buffalo’s future? These past few make it difficult to remember if he ever wrote one.

I wake up every day and choose to live in Buffalo.

Sure, I could move back to Chicago or Boston and make more money and live in a bigger city, but I choose to make my life here. I also take an immense amount of pride in that choice. As if I have been entrusted with a killer secret…

Which is exacty why I hate reading articles like this one in The Columbus Dispatch.

“You know,” Kelley said, “I remember when I was a kid, coming around a particular bend in the highway and my father, looking out over a vast expanse of waste and nothingness, he said, ‘Someday, all of this will be developed.’ I drove by the same expanse with my kids. I drive by now, the same landscape, and still nothing has happened.”

Bethlehem Steel isn’t coming back. Buffalo, a blue-collar town with a soul all its own, isn’t going anywhere. The Sabres may be going somewhere.

It makes us seem as if we’re some urban decline case study in a socieconomic class at Ohio State University.

Is this all we are? Is this how we want to be seen? Hopeless urban denizens clinging to potential sports success to redeem our choice to stay in Buffalo? Am I the only one who wants to give Bucky Gleason a swift kick to the balls for his portrayal of a city that he so “loves”? Are we our own worst enemy in these types of national stories? Why must we always play up what we lack as a community?

Do I really want to live in a world where a soulless metropolis like Columbus can look down it’s nose at my city? When will be become fed up with the political status quo and get pissed off that writers in places like Columbus have the ability to criticize us in the first place?

Written by Pauldub

Remember when the Buffalo Control Board laid the wage freeze on the city? Tough times indeed. Contract terms set aside, angry workers, lawsuits galore. Now the Mayor states that the city has reached the point fiscally where the wage freeze on city wokers should be lifted.And it looks like the Chairman, Brian Lipke, agrees. I’m not saying it’s time to strike up the band yet, but it looks encouraging.

And if you got the big guy looking favorably on the idea:

In a written statement today, Spitzer said he supports Brown’s call for lifting the wage freeze and believes the control board will “in short order” determine if conditions warrant such a move.

Even though there would be no retroactive pay for money lost in the past 3 years, just getting the freeze lifted should help out. I think this puts it in the right perspective:

The president of one of the city’s largest unions praised Brown’s efforts. Michael F. Drennen, who represents about 450 white-collar employees, said his members have been working without raises for nearly four years.

“It has devastated morale, without a doubt,” said Drennen. “Lifting [the wage freeze] would be huge for morale.”

Now there is still the ongoing negotiations with the Police, but I think this will no doubt help the process move a bit better. I’m optimistic, and I’m seeing some light here.

After his censure by the New York State Assembly for inappropriate conduct with a young female intern, Assemblyman Mike Cole (R, 142) has been beating the bushes to find qualified interns with whom he has no interest in having an after-work relationship. Word on the street is, this particular intern likes to be tickled, yet Cole has no interest in physical contact.

For years, the closed Bethlehem Steel plant along Route 5 on Buffalo’s waterfront has served as a chilling reminder of our regional economic decline.

The spectre of the closed steel plant and the cooled blast furnaces looms over Buffalo like a ghost of economic boom years past. For the better part of three decades, our regional economic development professionals have struggled to find a suitable reuse for the grounds of the former plant. It’s been a struggle to deal with tax issues, logistics, property secession and brownfield remediation while working towards a new plan for the property.

Last week, Erie County Executive Joel Giambra announced a significant project to remediate brownfields, relocate rail lines, and build three business parks over 400 acres on former Bethlehem Steel property.

“This project will allow us the opportunity to re-create port development here because there’s nowhere to bring freight anymore to New York City and New Jersey. Within the next two years, we could see the rebirth of Buffalo as a major Great Lakes port,” Giambra said.

The process began in April, 2005 when Erie County, the City of Lackawanna, and Tecumseh Redevelopment Inc signed a Memorandum of Understanding which outlined a path toward site redevelopment. The cooperative effort has resulted in an award of $4.42MM from the New York State Multi-Modal Program which will fund rail relocation efforts to begin the project.

The rail relocation project’s primary objective is to remove rail tracks that run adjacent to Route 5 on the former Bethlehem Steel site. These tracks service the Port of Buffalo and other businesses located on Gateway Trade Center Property, owners of the port and approximately 130 acres. Actual construction for the rail relocation should start in the third quarter of 2007 and be completed in 2008. Once the new rail connections are in place, rail tracks will be removed along Route 5. The removal of these tracks will allow new road infrastructure to be constructed entering from Route 5 onto the first phase of the business park buildout, which will have an approximate size of 102 acres.

Since April of 2005, significant progress has been made in cleaning up the Bethlehem site. Noticeable signs of progress are everywhere, including the installation of eight wind turbines which provide 20 megawatts of clean power. It’s also worth noting that 95% of asbestos remediation has been completed and a water treatment system for contaminated soil adjacent to the Port of Buffalo and the former Bethlehem coke ovens has been installed.

David Torke at the Fix Buffalo blog posted a slideshow of shots taken by one of his readers as he flew over Buffalo. It’s remarkable and the images of Buffalo from 15,000 feet are fantastic.

Sometimes it’s nice to recast the argument about the lack of downtown parking with a photo like this:

What’s your first reaction when you see that photo?

Last week, University at Buffalo President John Simpson met with members of Western New York’s leading young professional groups to present his ambitious plan to grow UB by 40 percent and discuss its potential impact on the regional economy.

WNYMedia.net was at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum when Simpson and Robert Shibley, professor and Director of the Urban Design Project in the UB School of Architecture and Planning, presented UB 2020 to the New Millenium Group, Revitalize Buffalo, Buffalo Jaycees and Buffalo 2032.

Shibley is overseeing UB’s master-planning process, which is intended to transform the landscape and infrastructure of UB’s North, South, and Downtown campuses.

According to Simpson, UB’s plan to grow by 10,000 students and 750 faculty members over the next 15 years will substantially increase UB’s $1.2 billion annual economic impact on Western New York. Simpson and Shibley believe that UB’s expansion will be a major catalyst for the type of economic revitalization seen in Silicon Valley, Seattle, Boston and other cities with major universities.

Part 1 of WNYM’s coverage of the presentation:

Part 2 of WNYM’s coverage:

A wise man once said, “When you resort to attacking the messenger and not the message, you have lost the debate.”

So it goes with the debate about Bass Pro in Buffalo. When entering into the debate, one is labeled either anti-progress or anti-preservation or labeled as an obstructionist or as an obtuse pro-business sock puppet of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation.

I blame all of the participants for the current sorry state of discussion. Bloggers at WNYM and at BRO, Donn Esmonde, the daytime boys over at WBEN, Tim Tielman, Scott Fisher, Carl Paladino, and the members of the ECHDC.

It seems to me that very few people have taken the time to honestly evaluate both sides of the issue. Why is it that we can’t engage in a calm and civil discourse about major issues in our region? Must we always immediately stake out antagonist positions on one side of an issue and beat the opposition into submission? Why is community discourse a bloodsport?

I’ve stayed out of the debate as I hadn’t had the time to fully read both the Bass Pro pre-development agreement as written by the ECHDC and the Tim Tielman championed 2004 Erie Canal Harbor Master Plan. After all, why engage in vigorous defense of your side of the argument without understanding what it is you are opposed to, right?

So, I’m asking my readers to take the time to fully understand both sides of the issue and come to a reasoned conclusion as to the validity of both arguments. After reading both documents, you might find yourself giving reasonable thought to changing your opinion. You can decide whether or not these plans are diametrically opposed, find possible means of compromise, or whether one is superior in design, planning, and execution.

I’ve made up my mind, but I’ll wait to give you my opinion until next week.

Until we understand that passionate yet uninformed rhetoric is what holds us back as a region, we’re tilting at the windmills of progress.