The National Indian Gaming Commission has issued a Notice of Violation to the Seneca Nation. The wording of the violation orders the Senecas either to shut the facility down within five days, or else pay a $25,000 daily fine pending appeal.

The Senecas issued the following statement:

“The United States is still actively considering its appeal options in the case, and the commission is still reviewing the Nation’s recently submitted gaming ordinance. Decisions on those two elements of the case are likely within the next 30 to 45 days. While legal proceedings are pending before the NIGC, the Seneca Nation will continue to operate the Buffalo Creek facility. The notice of violation has no effect on the Nation’s other gaming facilities. The Nation is pleased that this aspect of the process finally gives the Nation a direct voice in the Buffalo Creek matter for the first time.

The Seneca Nation, as always, will comply with applicable rulings, but will also exercise the full scope of its rights, administratively and judicially. We are confident that the Nation’s gaming rights will be recognized on our sovereign Buffalo Creek territory for the benefit of the Western New York economy.”

Just another day in Western New York.

If you’re going to close out an email to your anti-casino recipient list with this:

Meanwhile, we do not have the luxury of ignoring the battle for public opinion. The pro-casino talk show hosts and bloggers have been having a field day, spreading lies about our motivations and our sources of funding, along with the usual nonsense about the likely impact of a casino. It is up to us, that is, it is up to all of us including YOU, to set the record straight. Please do what you can to help win the battle for public opinion.

Perhaps you would then like to ask your benefactors at the Network for Religious Communities and allies at Citizens for Better Buffalo to open the books so we can all see who has received Wendt Foundation largesse?

Only then can we really determine who’s been “spreading lies”. And since I’m not aware of another blog that posted about the casino ruling yesterday, I’m assuming you were referring to me, in which case I’d love for you to show me the basis for your charge that I am “pro-casino”.

I know you’re all about the transparency and accuracy, so I eagerly await the Network’s and CBB’s financial disclosures. After all, you brought it up. Thanks so much.

Love, BP

UPDATE: I have pasted Joel Rose’s response in comments because he claims not to be able to post comments.

The Senecas have halted construction on the Buffalo Creek Casino structure. The $300 million project is already well underway and the permanent structure was slated to open in 2010.

The Seneca Gaming Commission cites the slagging economy for leading to this decision, but some point to uncertainty with respect to the lawsuit that has been filed by certain citizens and groups seeking to shut the casino operation down altogether in Buffalo.

My only question is this. Will the casino remain on Mayor Brown’s master list of Buffalo projects that he trots out to rebut any and all negative press about the city?

I know personally that the addition of a Tim Horton’s to a B-Kwik on Seneca Street is what single-handedly convinces prospective developers that Buffalo is on the rise!

Judge Skretny refused today to issue an order shutting down the Buffalo Creek casino.

The judge instead directed a federal agency — the National Indian Gaming Commission — to “carry out their congressionally mandated obligations” and decide whether the casino should be shut down…

…Today’s ruling comes as construction crews continue erecting the structural steel for the casino project on nine acres of land off Michigan Avenue east of HSBC Arena.

Attorneys for the opposition, Citizens for a Better Buffalo, and the U.S. government, which represents the National Indian Gaming Commission, were originally expected to have arguments before Skretny. But he told both sides on Aug. 15 that he would rule on their motions on or before today.

Today is also the first day that new rules by the National Indian Gaming Commission take effect, which the government says makes the Seneca land eligible for gambling.

Skretny’s anger at the government attorneys for not telling him about the new rules changes while he considered the casino’s future comes through in today’s opinion.

Citizens for a Better Buffalo, you’ll note from the caption of the decision, is not a party to the action, which again brings up the question of why the Wendt Foundation is funneling its funding of this lawsuit through the Network for Religious Communities then through non-party Citizens for a Better Buffalo.

Whatever. No one cares.

And the State, in turn, will pay the “host communities” of the Senecas’ three WNY casinos.

$57.3 million in slots revenue was sent to Albany - $2.8 million of that came from the temporary Buffalo facility. The host community for the Buffalo casino is to get over $708,000 from that. The problem is - who is the host community? Naturally, the city and county are already fighting over that issue. Sometime down the road, it’s estimated that the Buffalo facility will earn $7 million per year for the host community.

Can Brown and Collins figure out what to do with the local share without going to court? Personally, I think the city is entitled to the whole thing as the host community. In the meantime, the permanent Seneca facility is rather quickly being added to the local skyline, with about 4 stories’ worth of steel already erected.

Federal Justice William Skretny will be holding a hearing on August 21st on the issue of whether the current, temporary facility should be shut down pursuant to his July ruling. If that was to happen, one would hope that the opponents would pay a bond into court to make the Senecas whole in the event the 2nd Circuit overturns Skretny’s decision.

Mike Hudson, commenter and agent provocateur on this site, writes up the Wendt Foundation imbroglio over at his paper. Thanks to Mike for the kind words.

It looks like the completion of the Senecas’ luxury hotel in the Falls has opened up a bit of a market. The beautiful and historic Hotel Niagara will be undergoing a much-needed multimillion dollar renovation.

The operators of the nearby Conference Center Niagara Falls have said that a limited number of upscale hotel rooms in the city have limited their ability to book large events.

I wonder whether casino foes have produced or commissioned a study of the Seneca casino on the New York side with respect to the city economy. I mean, Niagara Falls, NY has been in the toilet economically for many years, and many Buffalo casino foes point to the the Falls example and crow that the surrounding area remains somewhat dilapidated. That, of course, is a silly argument unless one was operating under the premise that the casino could cure every ill. If anything, that casino brings people to the Falls who might otherwise go to the Canadian side. We are pulling in casino business from elsewhere. We are not cannibalizing the wonderful theater in Niagara Falls (which doesn’t exist) or the other high-end entertainment in the Falls (which, save for a few restaurants, doesn’t exist).

Likewise, I suspect that local dollars for a Buffalo Creek casino would “cannibalize” not so much ticket sales at Shea’s, (Joel Rose himself said on WBEN the other day that casinogoers “don’t go to the theater”), but would instead draw in money that would otherwise go to the bingo parlors and slots of Fort Erie, Irving, and Niagara Falls.

I don’t think anyone really believes that, and if nothing else there are loads of new downtown jobs in Niagara Falls that pay good money with benefits, and those jobs didn’t exist a few years ago. It’s not like those jobs cannibalized other jobs in other industries. It’s not like people went en masse from their jobs-for-life at Carborundum to start making beds or serving drinks or dealing cards. These had to be a net gain of jobs for that city.

It’s no wonder local casino opponents tend only to cite studies that are completed by PhDs who already subscribe to the anti-casino philosophy, and whose conclusions are no less subjective than those in a Seneca-commissioned study.

From the Federal Reserve’s Boston Branch:

Casinos that cater to a local market generally do not bring outside money into the economy through the spending of their patrons. In fact, such casinos may have no net ancillary economic impacts. Residents patronizing such casinos may simply substitute gambling for other goods and services. The secondary impacts of spending on the foregone goods and services would therefore be lost, offsetting any ancillary benefits from gaming expenditures at the casino. However, if a casino attracts gamblers who otherwise would be gambling out-of state, it can have net positive ancillary economic effects.

Nevertheless, a new casino catering to a local market can generate positive secondary economic effects through its employees if it induces an increase in total employment in and around its host community. Such affects are greatest for new casinos in areas of high unemployment (for example, rural Mississippi). Under such conditions, the increased purchasing power of workers who otherwise would be unemployed or “underemployed” generates multiplier effects. However, at the other extreme, a new casino in a tight labor market may cause competition for service sector labor.

Bruce Jackson doesn’t return emails. The Wendt Foundation doesn’t return phone calls. We are mere peons who do not merit a response, as we are little more than reactionary online purveyors of rumor, defamation, and innuendo. The only person who has put himself out there to speak on behalf of casino foes is Joel Rose, who appeared on Bauerle’s show with Kevin Hardwick today.

So far, what we’ve learned is that:

I am not an expert on any of this, but it would seem to me that if money is being paid from a non-profit, tax exempt organization to a non-profit but not tax exempt organization, there may be an issue there. At what point, if any, does the money become taxable? Where did the money go once it left the Network for Religious Communities?

As WNYMind said, every time the Wendt Foundation gets to keep, tax-free, its capital gains, it derives a public subsidy. We have a right to ask these questions, and we have a right know the answers, without regard to whether or not we are anti-casino, pro-casino, or otherwise.

Also see what Buffalo Geek has to say about his call to Joel Rose on Hardwick today.

The Citizens for Better Buffalo’s website has been unearthed. And here is the site for the Network of Religious Communities.

There’s been a lot of defense and pushback and, in some cases, venom thrown our way in the last couple of days over all of this, so let me pose a question.

Why, exactly, is it wrong to ask questions about the organizations and charities behind the effort to block the casino? Why is it so offensive to ask them to explain the interpersonal and inter-entity relationships, and their status and programs? All three Wendt Foundation trustees belong to (or have leadership positions) in the Citizens for a Better Buffalo. One Wendt Foundation trustee is a member of the Preservation Coalition. Funds for the battle against the casino are funneled through the Network of Religious Communities.

All we’re asking is who, why, how much, and to whom.

We all know how the Senecas get their money and why they fight.

We all know how the federal government gets its money.

This is a matter of public concern and interest, and these not-for-profit organizations and charitable foundations can’t just do whatever they want, willy-nilly, without transparency.

As a personal aside, the funniest part of all this for me is that I never would have followed up on my original post had Jackson not called me out.

Unfortunately for this week’s discussion, our spam filter is particularly harsh on the words “casino” and other terminology that is associated with gambling. If your comment is deleted or thrown into moderation, that is the reason. Shoot me an email and I’ll post anything that gets blocked. Sorry for the inconvienence.

It’s one thing for Bruce Jackson to say that I’m a schmuck for writing something nasty about the Wendt Foundation. It’s another thing altogether for him to insinuate that I was part of a conspiratorial effort to embarrass it.

Luckily, two can play at this guessing game.

Perhaps the reason why Mr. Jackson took the “conspiracy” tack has to do with the fact that he and his kids have benefited from the Wendt Foundation’s largess.

1. If you take a look at Jackson’s CV, posted here, he lists himself as being a 2007 recipient of a “fellowship” or “grant” from the Margaret Wendt Foundation. That’s strange, since the Wendt Foundation’s disclosure shows that it is limited geographically to WNY and “no grants to individuals” (p. 10 of 2007 - links to 2007 and 2006 Wendt disclosures are at the bottom of the post).

Given the tone and content of his current Artvoice article, I find that to be a patent and clear conflict of interest.

To quote the philosopher Ron Popeil, “but wait, there’s more.”

Jackson’s CV also lists him as a Vice-President of Citizens for a Better Buffalo, the organization that brought the lawsuit which is being funded by the Wendt Foundation. (Citizens for a Better Buffalo has no website, and there is no way to determine its membership, or its income or expenditures).  In Artvoice, Jackson discloses his “former” vice presidency of CBB, but does not disclose the next item:

2.  That is an image taken from the signature blocks at the end of the casino opponents’ recent motion asking Judge Skretny to enforce his July 8th decision and force the NIGC to shut down gaming operations in Buffalo.  Jackson & Jackson are among the lead attorneys in that lawsuit.

Why is this a big deal?

The lawyers at Jackson and Jackson are related to Bruce.

They’re his kids.

How much Wendt Foundation money did they earn for their work on the casino lawsuit?  How much did Bruce receive in 2007 from the Wendt Foundation?  Why wasn’t that disclosed in his article?  Why do I have to be accused of “swiftboating” the Wendt Foundation by some guy for whom Wendt is a benefactor?

According to the 2006 IRS Form 990 disclosure of The Wendt Foundation, the “Network for Religious Communities” is the recipient of about $910,000 over the course of 2006. While most line-items for payouts have some detail to them, such as “Erie County SPCA: Purchase a replacement vehicle for the Rescue/Cruelty Investigations Department”, the Network for Religious Communities just gets “Support $1,455,000″. There is no further explanation. Network for Religious Communities is one of the many plaintiffs in the anti-casino lawsuit. [UPDATE: “Pat” points out in comments that CACGEC funnels donations through the Network for Religious Communities Rev. Showers is CACGEC’s Treasurer, and CACGEC does not appear to be a non-profit as recognized by the IRS.]

I called Wendt for comment, but no one was around to discuss it and no one has called me back. It appears, however, that Wendt funneled the money for the lawyers through the Network for Religious Communities rather than through the ad hoc, newly created “Citizens for a Better Buffalo”. To whom does Jackson & Jackson send its bills?

3. The Margaret Wendt Foundation, which has spent $2 million to protect the people of Buffalo from themselves by funding this lawsuit against the casino is one big, fat, 501c3 hypocrite.

Based on its 2006 IRS disclosure, between 2003 - 2006, it held $2.73 million worth of stock in Harrah’s. 58,900 shares, to be exact. It sold the shares in 2006 for about $4.8 million - a tidy $2 million profit.

One might say that Wendt’s investment in Harrah’s funded the Buffalo effort to destroy a Harrah’s competitor.

Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. is the world’s largest provider of branded casino entertainment through operating subsidiaries. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada 70 years ago, Harrah’s has grown through development of new properties, expansions and acquisitions, and now owns or manages casino resorts on four continents The company’s properties operate primarily under the Harrah’s, Caesars and Horseshoe brand names; Harrah’s also owns the London Clubs International family of casinos and the World Series of Poker. On January 28, 2008, Harrah’s Entertainment was acquired by affiliates of private-equity firms TPG Capital and Apollo Global Management.

Harrah’s is also a leading management company for several Indian Casinos, such as Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort in San Diego, CA.   The Rincon Band of Mission Indians is the tribal organization affiliated with this casino.

Gambling.  Good enough for Bruce Jackson’s kids to make money off of. Good enough for the Wendt Foundation to make money off of.  Not good enough for you.

Not yours.

Research and contributions from Christopher Smith

wendt_form990_2007.pdf

Wendt_form990_2006

UPDATE: Thanks to Tom Bauerle for talking about this this morning.

Also, there’s this:

In 2001, The New York Times reported that Harrah’s Entertainment Corporation was in negotiations to manage and operate three Western New York casinos for the Seneca Nation. Harrah’s has a long track record managing casinos for Indian nations, including the Ak-Chin casino near Kansas City, the Rincon Casino in San Diego, and Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina.

Harrah’s, the world’s second-largest casino company, is one of several companies that have made a proposal to the Seneca Nation of Indians, hoping the tribe will choose them to build and run as many as three casinos in western New York. Harrah’s says it has also discussed a Catskills casino with another tribe — it will not say which one — and scouted locations, armed with a feasibility study it conducted on the region several years ago.

Such casinos in New York would take some business away from Atlantic City, doubling the resolve of casino companies there to get a piece of the action in New York.

”If someone’s going to cannibalize us, I want to be the cannibal,” said Philip G. Satre, chief executive of Harrah’s, which has two Atlantic City casinos. He said his company was talking with the Senecas ”long before the bill was passed.”

So, is it possible that the purchase of Harrah’s stock in 2003 precipitated an expected agreement with the Seneca Nation to operate casinos in Western New York and the sale of that stock been predicated on the announcement or intention of the Seneca Nation to operate the casinos on their own?

(If any other media outlet decides to run with any of this, it’d sure be swell to get some attribution this time. KTHXBAI.)

Bruce Jackson writes in this week’s Artvoice:

The BuffaloPundit blog, anti-casino in the past, came out against the Wendt foundation on July 13. It’s posting for that day was headlined,“Margaret Went Foundation.” Under that was a pretty color picture of a casino at night with “Keeps Joel Rose” in the top left corner and “Up at night” in the bottom right corner. The remainder of the posting was a listing of fundable activities and grant recipients from the Wendt Foundation Web page and an attack on the foundation for its support of the lawsuit. On July 22 the site posted a photograph of Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic under a caption saying, “Here’s what the Butcher of Sarajevo looks like nowadays.” Under the picture was a caption saying, “Rumor has it the Wendt Foundation is paying him $1,000,000 to fight a casino in downtown Buffalo.”

1. Thanks for the plug.

2. I was never anti-casino, per se. I was anti-carving-out-sovereign-exclaves-in-Buffalo-for-gambling-purposes. Even Skretny upheld the sovereign exclave bit. I’ve never subscribed to the moralistic or economic arguments against a casino.

3. My post spelled “Wendt” correctly - Artvoice didn’t. Although “Went” is clever.

4. The Karadzic crack - for the humor-challenged - was about likening Joel Rose’s beard to Karadzic’s hirsute disguise. Not likening CACGEC to Republika Srpska. I realize now that it could have been taken that way, and I’m sorry.

Perhaps the most surprising attack on the foundation was Michael Beebe’s July 20 article in the Buffalo News, which begins innocently enough with a listing of some Wendt grantees: Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Shea’s Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin Martin House and Graycliff, the Roycroft campus in East Aurora, the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The foundation has funded, writes Beebe, “hundreds of social programs through churches, the YMCA, the Boys and Girls Club, the Boy Scouts of America and the United Way. In each of the thousands of Wendt grants over the years, the philosophy has been the same: step in when government or other means of funding are not there, and do it as low-key as possible.”

Then Beebe’s tone changes: “Suddenly, though, the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation finds itself at the center of controversy.”

How, exactly, is the Wendt Foundation in the “center of controversy”? Primarily by being in this article written by Beebe, which is headlined “Wendt in the middle of casino battle: Foundation aids foes with $1.9 million.” This is a newspaper article that defines and creates its own subject, a journalistic tautology.

Who is making the charges occasioning the article? Beebe refers to them only generically: “Talk-show hosts and bloggers have criticized the foundation for the $1.9 million it has spent so far funding the lawsuit against the Seneca Nation of Indians’ Buffalo Creek Casino in Buffalo.”

Talk-show hosts? Which ones? The rational ones or the fruitcakes? The analyzers or the frothers? Since when is criticism by a talk-show host the subject of a long piece by anybody in the news section of the Buffalo News? A dozen of those criticisms are aired on Buffalo talk radio every day and the News pays them no attention at all. Why now? Beebe told me in an email that he’d “heard snippets of Sandy Beach’s show…the day the casino decision came down” and that many of the blog comments he’d seen referred to “the same July 8 Sandy Beach show, in which they said he demonized the opposition.” The Buffalo News is going after the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation because Sandy Beach kvetched about it?

Bloggers? Beebe names none of them. Search the Buffalo blogs and you’ll find a lot of comments on the casino litigation (much of it by the same few people writing the same letters again and again), but hardly any, other than BuffaloPundit, going after the Wendt Foundation.

I’ll note for the record that Jackson doesn’t ever defend the Wendt Foundation’s use of $2 million to fund the casino lawsuit. Apart from confirming that how the foundation spends it money is up to its trustees, he only attacks its critics. I think that speaks for itself, and that the underlying point - that the Wendt Foundation certainly could have found better uses for $2 million - remains quite salient indeed.

More troubling, Jackson poses the suggestion that there is a conspiratorial, concerted effort to “Swiftboat” the Wendt Foundation.

Is all of this—Scott Brown’s WGRZ story (which has no ascriptions), Michael Beebe’s Buffalo News story (which has no ascriptions), the blog posts (nearly all of them under assumed names, many of them using the same language to make the same bogus charges again and again)—mere coincidence or is it a concerted effort to put public pressure on the one significant source of funding open to the casino opponents? Is it an expression of community concern or is it, at least in part, organized and deliberate? Is it swiftboating?

The most workable definition of “swiftboating” I’ve found is on the Urban Dictionary Web site: “A political ploy whereby allegations, falsehoods, exaggerations, or distortions are publicized to discredit a person or entity and have the intended effect that public attention is drawn to the ensuing controversy about the veracity of the allegations and away from some other political embarrassment.”

What a steaming load of horseshit. Bruce Jackson could have easily contacted me via email to ask me whether I had acted in concert with anyone in posting what I did about the Wendt Foundation, but did not. What I do on this site is comment on news events that interest me. I saw the Wendt Foundation story at WGRZ, heard them talk about it on WBEN, and decided to do a post about it because it troubled me, too. Jackson ought to retract his brain-farted supposition or else produce some evidence that I conspired with Channel 2 or WBEN to write something critical of the Wendt Foundation.

Also, in comments to the posted Artvoice piece, Joel Rose doesn’t understand how I know what keeps him up at night.

It’s a joke. It’s a picture of the proposed casino, and I suggest that it keeps you up at night.

I wonder what $2 million could have bought for the poor, underfunded, unconnected, and unprivileged in WNY.

The opponents of the casino applied to Judge Skretny to force the casino to be shut down, in the wake of his ruling earlier this month.

You’ll recall that the ruling found that the casino property was sovereign “Indian land”, but that the National Indian Gaming Commission had acted arbitrarily and capriciously in approving class III gaming on the site.

Well, if the NIGC acted arbitrarily and capriciously, it would make some sense to remand the case back to NIGC for a re-evaluation of its 2007 decision on gaming, no?

The case seems to revolve around one major issue — whether the federal judiciary or the executive branch should be the ultimate arbiter in this case.

“A remand to the NIGC is the only constitutionally appropriate option available in these circumstances,” stated Laurence H. Tribe, a Harvard Law School professor serving as chief legal consultant for the Seneca Nation.

It is the executive branch, not the federal judiciary, that is empowered to execute the laws, Tribe added. That includes exercising the law-enforcement discretion that Congress delegated to such executive agencies.

This is made more critical due to a recent (July 16th) re-application the Senecas made for gaming permission, and a new rule that is to be in effect in late August. The government’s papers are here. The Senecas’ proposed amicus brief is here.

They’re arguing that the regulations that Judge Skretny ruled on are about to change, and that the whole case should be sent back to the executive branch for re-evaluation under the new regs.

Which will attract more visitors to Buffalo?

“Bifocal intellectuals” looking at architecture and our “sense of place”?

or

The Buffalo Creek Casino?

Almost immediately after pledging on Buffalo Issue Alerts to stop posting CACGEC updates at that listserv, Joel Rose posted this:

In the fight to keep casino gambling out of Buffalo and Erie County, the tide has turned, and we can now see victory within our sights. We have battles yet to wage, but Judge William Skretny’s decision of July 8, 2008, marked the turning point in our efforts.

As promised, we’re having a victory celebration party! We don’t have the details worked out yet, but we do have a place and a date, as well as a probable time. So I wanted to let you all know as soon as possible so you could mark the event on your calendars.

Date: Friday, August 15, 2008
Time: 7-10 pm (tentative, subject to change)
Place: Niagara Frontier American Legion Post 1041
533 Amherst Street (at Grant)
Buffalo, N.Y. 14207

By the way:

Bingo Night at the Niagara Frontier American Legion Post 1041 is Mondays at 7:30. KTHXBAI.

While Donn Esmonde goes off on a sarcastic rant about how great it is that the casino is (he says) not going to open, I have to say that my thinking on the casino downtown has morphed from ignorance to opposition to indifference. (As my dad’s joke goes, Q: What’s the difference between ignorance and indifference? A: I don’t know, and I don’t care.)

Does anyone think for a second that the Seneca casino won’t stay open or that the current hotel project is going to be halted? I strongly doubt it, because the Senecas will counter the request for an injunction by arguing that they opened their temporary casino and began constructing their property in good faith based on the government’s approval, and that it is they who would be irreperably harmed by a shut-down - not the casino opponents. In the meantime, the Senecas can go about an alternate procedure to ensure that the land can be used for gaming.

Although the Citizens for a Better Buffalo and CACGEC will continue to fight and oppose this casino project, and although the Margaret Wendt foundation will continue to fund the legal battle, I no longer care.

The casino won’t be a silver bullet for the city. It isn’t a great deal that Pataki negotiated for the city. It will engender even more litigation between the county and the city, who will compete for “host community” status under the compact. The casino won’t pay property taxes or income taxes to the state. It’s a crappy deal.

One of many.

Look at Niagara Falls. People like to point out that the area surrounding the casino is just as full of fail as it was before the casino came in. That’s true. But it should come as no surprise, since Niagara Falls has more than its share of fail. But at worst, it’s the status quo.

People don’t leave casino grounds to go for a walk around the neighborhood? What neighborhood? Where are they supposed to go? The dilapidated, crumbling, in-breach-of-contract Rainbow Centre acts as a physical and psychological barrier blocking pedestrian access from the Casino to the Falls state park. And what’s past there? After dark, not much. A balloon ride? Some street vendors? A gift shop? A crappy Hard Rock Cafe? At least the old, leaky convention center got fixed up and is used on a daily basis.

Will people leave the Buffalo Creek Casino? If there’s stuff to do, they will. Canal Side will be mere blocks away. It will feature hotels, restaurants, shopping, a boardwalk, etc. The Sabres play at HSBC Arena. A casino won’t solve a lot of problems, but it adds one more thing to do downtown. It adds a world-class hotel to add to options limited right now by a shitty, subsidized Hyatt and an Adams Mark that looks like it was airlifted from Cold War-era Soviet apartment blocks. (More concrete, Sasha!)

What’s done is done. The casino will undoubtedly be completed. The Senecas will make loads of money. People will come from near and far to check it out. The city will make money off the slot revenue. So will the state.

And so will the food distributors who employ people and pay taxes. So will the liquor and beer distributors who employ people and pay taxes. So will the people who live locally and work at the casino and pay taxes. So will the suppliers and construction workers and furniture wholesalers who will all make money off of this project. So will the architects and landscapers.

So, I’m now indifferent. If it’s blocked, great. If it goes up, great. Either way, my day won’t change. But if I’m leaning in any one direction, I’d say build the damn thing already. Build it nice, build it big, and build it in such a way so as to maximize pedestrian entry and egress from the property. By cooperating with the Senecas, we can help make it a project that is integrated into its surroundings, rather than an island surrounded by a sea of useless parking.

This post from anti-casino activist Joel Rose:

Cynthia Van Ness, who runs the BfloIssueAlerts list, sent me a private note the other day which, with her permission, I want to share with you all. While it depressed me, I thought it captured the Seneca Niagara Casino perfectly. Here’s the note:

——– Original Message ——–

… I got my first look inside the Seneca Niagara casino on Monday evening. I was with a group of German tourists, and our hosts decided to have dinner at the casino buffet. It was a dramatic exercise in wretched excess. A gazillion deserts, all kinds of seafood flown in from who knows where, lots of red meat, you get the idea.

But quite apart from the food service, the place was dispiriting. The customers looked grim and visibly underwhelmed by all that manufactured “excitement.”

The private luxury surrounded by the public squalor of Niagara Falls made me ashamed of my country, ashamed in front of these German tourists to be an American.

My response:

I don’t mind reading Joel’s updates about the No Casino efforts, because it’s interesting from a political and “built environment” point of view, the latter of which renders it on-topic.

Although I agree with the issue that sovereign Indian exclaves should not be carved out of downtown to circumvent the state prohibition on Class III gaming, I do not subscribe to the whole “we have to protect people from themselves” aspects of the anti-gambling efforts. It’s patronizing and ignores loads of other, more pervasive, vices that are readily available in every neighborhood, which can destroy lives as handily as any casino debt bankruptcy.

So, when I read this patently off-topic opinion of Cynthia’s with respect to the buffet at the Niagara Falls Casino, I have to ask so what? Why is it here?

First of all, for most BIAniks, you’re preaching to the choir. Secondly, who cares? It’s a casino buffet - what did you expect? Ration cards and vegan food with lemongrass juice?

I’ve been to the Seneca Niagara casino on several occasions, and it’s not my cup of tea, but I leave it at that. I don’t judge the people who go, because it’s none of my business. Ever been to Oktoberfest? That’s just as much an exercise in wasteful excess as any casino buffet in the world, so the delicate sensibilities of the German tourists were, I’m sure, unoffended. Oh, and there’s loads of squalor juxtaposed with incredible wealth in Germany, so you needn’t feel quite so ashamed. Not only that, but casino gambling is quite prevalent in Germany: http://gogermany.about.com/od/nightlife/a/casinos.htm.

As to the “grim” “looks” on the patrons, unless you actually went and spoke with them, you have no idea whether they were really grim at all, or what they might have felt grim about. When I’ve been there, I’ve seen grim people and happy people. I’ve seen people smoking cigars, sipping drinks, playing blackjack, and having a good time. Ever been to the Fallsview Casino in Ontario? Gorgeous facility, amazing shopping and food within walking distance, happy customers, and loads of people having fun.

In the wake of Judge Skretny’s ruling, which is most notable for its excruciating length, Casino opponents, are batting .500. Although the court decided that the approval of casino gaming at that site was due to an arbitrary and capricious decision by the Indian Gaming Commission, the casino continues to operate. The opponents will go to court today to demand an order shutting it down.

The Wendt Foundation paid $2 million to fund the legal fees for the casino half-sorta-victory last week. Two million dollars. That’s a lot of scratch, and frankly I had thought that the lawyers had donated their time towards this effort. I’m taken aback that there was an expenditure for this.

So, here’s the Wendt foundation’s general giving focus:

Purpose and activities: Emphasis on education, the arts, and social services; support also for churches and religious organizations, health associations, public interest organizations, and youth agencies. Fields of interest: Aging; Aging, centers/services; AIDS; AIDS research; Alcoholism; Arts; Biomedicine; Cancer; Cancer research; Children/youth, services; Community/economic development; Crime/law enforcement; Disabilities, people with; Economically disadvantaged; Education; Education, early childhood education; Environment, natural resources; Federated giving programs; Government/public administration; Health organizations; Higher education; Historic preservation/historical societies; History/archaeology; Hospitals (general); Human services; International human rights; Legal services; Libraries/library science; Medical research; Mental health/crisis services; Minorities; Minorities/immigrants, centers/services; Museums; Performing arts; Performing arts, theater; Political science; Public affairs; Religion; Residential/custodial care, hospices; Substance abuse, services; Visual arts.

Here’s a sampling of recipients in 2006:

$500,000 to Shaw Festival Foundation, Buffalo, NY, For renovation and expansion. $360,000 to Hilbert College, Hamburg, NY, Toward constructing communications lab and performance facility. $250,000 to Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, For Joint Foundation Transition Funding for Arts. $250,000 to Daemen College, Center for Information, Research and Community Programs, Amherst, NY, Toward construction. $250,000 to Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA, To acquire land in Zoar Valley. $225,000 to University at Bu