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.

Bob Confer: Activist and commentator.
Scott Leffler: Lockport broadcaster
Niagara’s Voice: Niagara County political blog
Niagara Journal: Niagara County political blog

Niagara. It’s more than just a waterfall and fail.

The small aircraft hanger that passes for a casino in Buffalo’s cobblestone district has shat out its first single-digit percentage payout from slot revenue that goes to the host community.

Buffalo’s the host community, right?

Or is it the great County of Erie?

Or both?

The payout is $700,000 whole, entire dollars. That buys less than 7,000 barrels of light crude. Or something.

In any event, as the Buffalo News indicates, this is going to be a battle:

The money will be staying in Albany for the foreseeable future because the city and county cannot agree on a formula to split it up.

City Hall and County Hall have staked conflicting claims on the revenues, a pot of money from slot machines that’s expected to swell to as much as $7 million annually when the permanent Buffalo casino opens in 2010.

“There’s no question in my mind that the city should get 100 percent of those revenues,” said Mayor Byron W. Brown, who makes a case for the state-mandated “host community” share to flow entirely to Buffalo.

“The casino is located in Buffalo. The city provides all the police support services and infrastructure,” Brown said. “The intent of the 2002 gaming compact between the Seneca Nation and New York State was to aid weak communities, like Buffalo, with those casino revenues.”

But County Executive Chris Collins is equally adamant about spliting the payments right down the middle.

“I’m still thinking a 50/50 split between the city and county is the right formula,” Collins said.

While the casino is situated in Buffalo, it’s a regional asset, the county executive said.

Fighting over crumbs. What a crap deal this was, and all the politicians who were associated with its negotiation should be ashamed. Ceding territory to a foreign entity in the middle of Buffalo? Taking an entire swath of land off the property tax roll in order to get a tiny percentage of slot revenue (and slot revenue only - not tables). They should have held a referendum and let the people decide whether they wanted this. Or better yet, they could have proposed lifting the idiotic, hypocritical ban on Class III Casino Gaming through New York’s constitutional process. We have casino gaming at racetracks, and we have the lottery, and we have Keno, and we have all sorts of manifestations of gambling that to ban proper casino gambling has become just silly.

The thing is - all of this was predictable and I predicted it. Niagara Falls and Niagara County underwent the same nonsense when the first casino cash made its way down the pipeline, and ne’er-do-well Mayor Anello threatened to lead a picket over it.

I think that the intent was for the city to be the “host community” and to reap the entire benefit of the casino. The county is overreaching here and should take a step back.

Falls tourists say they need more amenities, according to this Buffalo News Article. There are plenty of amenities to be had a short walk away - across the bridge. But what if you don’t have a Canadian visa? You’re stuck waiting on the American side, which has no signage, poor transportation, poor information and signage, but some of the finest surface parking in the known universe. Oh, and a Seneca Casino.

Niagara Falls, NY needs better tourism infrastructure? In other news, the sky is blue.

Saturday. The weather was a bit chilly, but not ridiculous. It was sunny, for a change. There were loads of people on the Canadian side sightseeing, shopping, and otherwise enjoying themselves.

After crossing the border, I noticed that Frank Parlato’s flash cube was dead.

But the fact that there were no cars parked in his makeshift parking lot one block from the Niagara Falls State Park made the Rainbow Mall all that much more visible.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the second building in from the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, New York. Welcome, friends.

Recall that, pursuant to its contract with the city, Cordish is supposed to maintain this mall as a “first class” facilities. At this point, it’s not first class. It is, instead, akin to being on an empty plane that’s been stripped of its seats, carpeting, upholstery, and amenities. And smeared with feces.

Mike Hudson responded in comments to my earlier, Kunzian, jab at his weekly column.

thanks for the traffic alan! i think i got two clicks already!

…

by the way, i didn’t call obama “uppity,” hardly mentioned clinton at all, merely stated that irish, italians and jews have been voting their own for years so why shouldn’t blacks too? and, after pennsylvania, i’ll hold you to the importance you place on the popular vote, alan.

the column was not directed towards obama, who i will vote for if he makes it to the general election, or to his black supporters. it was directed against upscale white suburban twits whose support he would be better off without. you know who you are.

and as for mike, who wants to use a column item about eigth street i wrote two weeks ago to brand me some kind of racist, that’s my neighborhood, buster, and if you want a second opinion you ought to ask (the overwhelmingly black and decent) members of the block club who will tell you the same thing.

So, Mr. Hudson is a kind of free-tabloid, latter-day version of Tom Wolfe, providing biting commentary on white elites pandering to radical revolutionaries. Only with crappier suits.

Let’s begin with the article itself, which claims that Obama has built a unique coalition of:

poor, inner-city blacks and well-to-do white suburban liberals who fled the cities in order to get away from the poor inner-city blacks.

Taken within the context of the entire rest of the piece, Hudson is basically saying that black people are, by definition, poor inner-city denizens. The premise, evidently, is that there are no poor rural black people supporting Obama in places like Mississippi or Georgia. Nor must there by any middle or upper-middle class black people supporting - well, anyone.

After a brief lesson on the all-too-familiar concept of identity politics, Hudson goes after his pet peeve, limousine liberals.

The term “limousine liberal” is always a handy epithet to hurl when one supposes he has the moral high ground. If class struggle is your thing, then go for it. But the revolution is not coming, and if it does, it will be televised.

On Fox News.

Interestingly, and bringing it back to the presidential race, the term “limousine liberal” is now most often used by the right as an epithet against the left. Now, Mike, I thought you were a good anarcho-socialist who lives amongst decent black people, and I therefore figured that your anachronistic epithets towards me would be more current. I mean, they used that one against Lindsay in the 60s. It’s 2008. “Limousine liberal” is now thrown around by the likes of Limbaugh and Krauthammer. And Ostrowski, evidently.

On top of that, I’ve only ridden in a limousine I think 3 times in my entire life.

Although Hudson says the piece was more about ridiculing Obama’s white supporters (which is sort of sickening in itself), he does indeed decry the fact that Obama has mucked it up for Hillary:

Over the past six months, these vermin have combined to turn what was a certain Democratic victory in November into a question mark. The party itself is so badly fractured that the likelihood of everyone forgetting about what was said and done in time to unite against John McCain seems remote.

That’s the Obama coalition and, except for the black people, I don’t think I want any part of it. It’s about enough to make me support McCain myself, as a matter of fact.

There are loads of examples of very heated primary campaigns resulting in the ultimate uniting of the party behind the ultimate nominee, and there’s no question that will happen this year. In fact, Obama and Clinton are in headlines daily, getting their messages out there, while McCain is an afterthought deep in the national section of the paper. And to think all those disingenuous white people have the nerve to support Obama. Hypocrites! [/sarcasm].

Hudson’s allusion to a 40+ year-old short story where the protagonist is alleged to be prejudiced towards black people, instead of against is something I’m not comprehending.

I have my reasons for supporting Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton, and the word “black” or “African-American” or whatever the fuck people would like to pin as my motive for said support is not even remotely on the list.

Perhaps I am rather shallow, easily swayed by a good speech and gullible in matters politic. Perhaps I am foolish to believe that a candidate might be able to transcend decades’ worth of idiotic political, racial, and gender cleaves to bring the country together after 8+ years of division so that we work together for a common good.

Perhaps I am naive not to support the wife of the former president, a woman who is despised by half, and adored by the other half. Perhaps she is whom I should support, lest I have too-cool-for-the-room tabloid publishers accuse me of being a reverse-racist hipster tool.

Luckily for everyone, I suppose, I trust Hudson’s judgment as little as he trusts mine. I value his opinion as little as he values mine. Because, as the old adage goes, opinions are, indeed, like assholes.

The moment someone touts his competence to bear witness to the plight of black people because he lives near black people, and that black people “love him”, it’s game over. Unless, of course, that person is, himself, black. Mike, last I checked, you’re as white as I am.

But back to the issue at hand. This blog began as a paean to a Presidential candidate from 2004. It has morphed into the garbage it is today because I like to write things about things that I find interesting. However, I have been finding political candidates who inspire me, or anger me, and I then write down what I think about all that. It’s what I’ve done time and time again for the past 4+ years.

Hudson continues:

[Obama’s] supporters have pointed to his opposition to the war in Iraq back when it started in 2003 as evidence of his great wisdom. I opposed it too, wrote a bunch of columns about it and everything, but I wouldn’t vote for me for president. Opposing a war, or anything bad, when you’re not in a position to do anything about it really doesn’t amount to much.

Hillary Clinton was in a position to do something about it. FAIL.

Anyway, last Tuesday, after weeks of indignantly demanding that Hillary Clinton do the right thing and drop out of the race, the Obama cultists were shocked and stunned when she beat their man like a rug in Ohio, Rhode Island and Texas.

For someone who is such a stickler for facts and accuracy, you may want to revisit the Texas results. They’re still being tallied, and by today’s math, Obama has 98 Texas delegates, and Clinton has 95. My math tells me Obama’s winning Texas. But I’m a rich white kid, so what the hell do I know?

In six weeks she will do the same thing to him in Pennsylvania, and thus will have beaten him in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Texas, Nevada and most of the other key Democratic and swing states, while he will have won caucuses for the most part in states like Alaska, Wyoming, Idaho, Mississippi, Alabama and North Dakota, where his “O-Mentum” isn’t likely to prevail against John McCain or any Republican in November.

Perhaps not, but what evidence is there to conclude that Ohio or New York or California would not vote for Obama if he is the nominee come November? None whatsoever. Hudson’s talking out his ass.

I realize Hudson is the coolest, if not the smartest, hep cat in the room at any given time, but this blog doesn’t pretend or boast to be anything except for my opinions about things. I realize full well that I’m the dumbest limousine liberal white boy on the planet. Hudson is free to ascribe to me whatever motives he’d like.

So, to Hudson’s point, if you think I’m supporting Obama because he’s black, and because I’m overwhelmed with white guilt about the black plight because I live in a nice neighborhood that is diverse only in terms of the European and Asian countries represented therein, you are welcome to it.

But you would be wrong. And then maybe give Geraldine Ferraro a call. She holds some similarly anachronistic opinions you might find more palatable. She also agrees with you, being one of Clinton’s top surrogates and higher-profile supporters.

Quick - name a place that’s endured 50 years of stagnation and decline; a place from which people flee on a daily basis; a place where the economy is in shambles, and people are ridiculously cynical.

If you guessed Cuba, you’d be right.

I am loath to compare Western New York to an overbaked Leninist-Stalinist basket case, but in many ways it’s apt. So you’ll forgive me this plunge into a sort of reductio ad Stalinum, but reading through this particular article about the younger generation’s frustration with the indignities of everyday Cuban life, I was struck by the many comparisons to WNY.

Now, of course, we don’t have a brutal self-important dictator, nor do we have a completely planned economy, and we do allow freedom of speech, assembly, religion, press, and other basic human rights that Stalinists loath. Naturally, the analogy is, therefore, fatally flawed.

But, consider this quote:

“Our defining characteristic is cynicism. But that’s a double-edged sword. It protects you from crushing disappointment, but it paralyzes you from doing anything.”

Cynicism is rampant throughout Western New York, and I readily admit that I have become one of the cynics. Frankly, people are too busy working to create the kind of mass movement needed to really change anything here in WNY or in Albany. In Cuba, they have time. They also have gulags.

While the children of Buffalo, Cheektowaga, and Wheatfield chase jobs and a better existence in places like Charlotte, Orlando, Phoenix, Boston, and New York, the children of Cuba flee, as well:

…millions of young Cubans want the regime to cut the rhetoric and make tangible improvements in their lives. Many have given up hope: from October 2005 through September 2007, an estimated 77,000 Cubans fled to the United States, the biggest exodus since the Mariel boatlift of 1980, when 125,000 Cubans escaped to Florida in six months. “Young people are very fed up with the situation,” says Julia Núñez Pacheco, the wife of jailed independent journalist Adolfo Fernández Sainz. “Many are escaping, either by hurling themselves into the sea on a raft or arranging a marriage of convenience with foreigners.”

(Lack of hope + lack of opportunity + opportunity elsewhere + frustration)(political stasis + baby steps + out of touch leaders and legislatures) = exodus.

Except in Buffalo, you need only fill up a U-Haul. In Cuba, you need to find a boat and leave secretly, risking your life.

Oh, we’ve tried to change. We’ve (perhaps misguidedly) supported politicians, with our fingers firmly crossed, who promised fundamental change which would help lift upstate and western New York out of a decades-long doldrums. But consider this quote:

Raúl Castro has only himself to blame for their undisguised impatience. Within weeks of stepping in for his bedridden older brother, he urged Cubans to blow the whistle on government corruption and to find new solutions for the country’s many problems. Cuba’s young could hardly have agreed more: sweeping changes were overdue. And what happened next? Nothing.

Sounds painfully familiar.

The answer? I don’t think it lies with more government “job creation” programs, nor does it lie with the opposite end of the spectrum, with some sort of unyielding extreme libertarian ideological theorizing. It lies with victories big and small. It starts with people impressing upon their political leaders that they expect and demand fundamental change. While I often mock the SimCity-style “planning” that many espouse when it comes to Buffalo’s physical development, SimCity frankly teaches one some very basic lessons. There is a threshold at which taxation and regulation create decline. When your light industrial zones start to crumble, and property values plummet in your dense residential districts, you have to take some drastic measures. Ultimately, your city grows when you find a decent mix of taxation and spending, neither of which can be too extreme.

Yet after half a century, we still haven’t learned the lessons that a silly computer game can teach.

This region stumbles along on handouts and hope, living like it’s still 1958. Efforts to reduce the size of government, or to create regional government run headlong into political fiefdoms, and other forms of turf-protection. Yes, we’re all for it in the abstract, so long as it doesn’t affect ______ in any meaningful way.

Perhaps it’s time to take a page from the Senecas’ playbook. We don’t have to block the Thruway and burn tires on it, but we upstate New York holdout taxpayers really ought to consider some sort of mass movement to wake up New York governments and entities that hold us back economically.

The Unshackle Upstate effort is all well and good, but it’s a top-down approach supported by business entities like the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, which is very good at lecturing people about good governance, while happily collecting IDA and Empire Zone welfare handouts.

In Cuba,

No one took to the streets last week to test the limits of the regime’s forbearance. “You’re starting to see more and more examples of dissidence, but they are still not very organized or united,” says prominent human-rights activist Laura Pollán, 60, whose husband has been jailed since 2003. Still, change is coming…

Is change coming? Is anyone hearing the vast, silent majority of upstate citizens who love their homes and their hometowns, but are frustrated with continuing, rapid decline of this post-industrial region?

I’ve toyed with the idea of a million-taxpayer march on Albany before, but I’ve been too preoccupied with life to do anything about it. Imagine thousands of people (maybe a million is over-reaching) traveling to Albany to demand that Albany enact a five or ten-point action plan to help guide upstate out of its economic doldrums and lay the foundation for growth.

What would you include on that list? Would you go?

Between the Studio Arena shuttering and going into bankruptcy, American Axle workers striking, DeJac’s lawsuit, there seems to be a dearth of good news here in the Buffalo area. Studio Arena is hit with a shrinking, aging population that doesn’t have the disposable income to go to shows all the time. It’s also competing for philanthropic dollars along with every other non-profit in town. American Axle? Lucky to still be in business and manufacturing in the US. This strike won’t do much to perpetuate either.

So, look north. The Niagara Falls Reporter’s David Staba talks with new mayor Paul Dyster. That’s a city that has a smart, hard-working Mayor who isn’t beholden to special interests and isn’t filling posts with patronage appointments. He figures that whole “merit” thing counts for something. Politically, Niagara Falls is head and shoulders above Buffalo when it comes to a real possibility for change in the near and far term.

Last week, during a meeting with the Air Force, I received news from Major General Charles Stenner, Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Plans and Programs for the Air Force, that 12 C-130H2 aircraft will be delivered to the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station (NFARS) by July 2008. This is truly great news for a base that is vital not only to the security of our nation, but to the economies of Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Frankly, it is quite an extraordinary achievement given that only three years ago the Pentagon recommended the Base be shut down.

In early 2005, NFARS was included on the list of recommended base closures put forth by the Department of Defense as part of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. As a major source of employment, closing the Base would have resulted in a catastrophic blow to the Western New York economy. Additionally, it would have negatively affected our national security due to its strategic location along a highly-trafficked border.

I, along with several of my fellow New York colleagues worked tirelessly to ensure that the Pentagon’s ill-advised proposal would never come to fruition. Our work to preserve NFARS paid off and the Base has remained open.

Now, in demonstration of the important contribution to national security that NFARS provides, the Air Force has guaranteed that the 12 C-130H2 aircraft necessary to sustain the Base will be delivered by this July. To put this achievement into perspective, we must consider that the cargo planes were initially not scheduled to arrive until the summer of 2010. By pushing up the delivery date by two years, the Pentagon is exhibiting a renewed dedication to the Niagara Air Base.

Securing the C-130H2 planes two years ahead of schedule is very encouraging news for Western New York. I will continue to ensure that the Base remains both an engine of economic growth for the region and an asset to the nation’s defense structure for generations to come.

Ontario has them right off the QEW in Fort Erie and in St Catherine’s. There’s also one on the 420 not far from the Rainbow Bridge.

That’s three Provincially-run tourist centers within spitting distance of the border that offer comprehensive tourist information for every region in the Province. They even feature vending, bathrooms, and currency exchange. You can pick up a free map from, and reserve a room through, the friendly people who work there.

Yet on the New York side, there’s nothing. Nothing at the Peace Bridge. Nothing off the Rainbow Bridge. Nothing at the Q-L Bridge. Nothing on Grand Island. Nothing until you hit Angola going west on the I-90, or Pembroke going east. And by the time a visiting Canadian reaches Angola or Pembroke, the attractions in Buffalo and its immediate environs are at least 20 miles behind you in either direction.

For a region that puts so much stock in tourism, whether it be as high-minded as architecture, or as low-brow as sports, that’s shockingly poor.

That’s my prediction. It is never, ever going to happen. Not in my lifetime, not in yours. Frankly, I think that increased traffic capacity isn’t needed in Buffalo anyway. Why shove it down Buffalo’s throat if it so clearly doesn’t want it?

The Ambassador Bridge to Black Rock? Not going to happen. No one’s going to build a plaza and new interchange on the US side with the Scajaquada and 190 right there, particularly given the fact that the push now is to downgrade the Scajaquada to a boulevard of some sort.

While an ideal crossing would be across the river just south of Grand Island, so that it would connect up with the I-290 and I-190, that disturbs residential neighborhoods in Canada.

Instead, we should completely jettison the Peace Bridge expansion altogether and instead increase capacity at Queenston-Lewiston. That single span gets a tremendous amount of truck and vehicular traffic, and recently received an upgrade to five lanes. The Q-L bridge provides direct access on both sides of the span to a major highway; the 405 to the QEW on the Canadian side, and the I-190 on the US side.

If there was any semblance of forward-thinking on the part of the CVB, it would already have been in talks to develop and construct a gorgeous visitor’s center that is run locally - not from Albany. Lease some Thruway property from the Authority and give border crossers a reason to come to a whole host of attractions in Western New York. The fact that there is no “Welcome to New York” or “Welcome to WNY” center on this side of the border underscores just how backwards and simple our supposed tourism promoters are. They’re at Thruway rest areas, but not at the border. How patently stupid; you have to wait until you get to Pembroke or Angola - well on your way out of the metro area.

There comes a time when you just say “enough”. The Peace Bridge project has spent ten years in environmental review, design review, and negotiations over the now-dead shared border management. We can sit and wait another few years for a new administration to change its mind, but it’s been almost ten years now that nothing tangible has happened. The preservation community has drawn a line in the sand as far as the neighborhood that would be adversely affected by a new plaza on the Buffalo side, and we all know about Al Coppola’s threat to move his Pan Am house. What else could be more persuasive?

So screw it. Enough. Everybody wins.

Expand the Queenston-Lewiston bridge with a second, signature span across the Niagara River, right at the escarpment with a gorgeous view of the meandering river leading to Youngstown, and Lake Ontario beyond.

Buffalo gains a motorcycle rally that is leaving Niagara Falls.

Niagara Falls says, “good riddance.”

So, does anybody win?

Courtesy of Marquil

Southwest has been the domestic standard-bearer for how to properly run a profitable, customer-friendly low-cost carrier. Where so many others have failed, Southwest continues to not only thrive, but influence the whole industry.

In Europe, the business model is somewhat different. Carriers like Ryanair and easyJet whisk travelers across Europe for fares as low as £5.00 (plus tax and fees). The catch is that your seat may not recline, you have to pay to actually speak with someone in customer service (email is free), it may cost as much as £8.00 to check a bag, and on-board services cost extra.

But if you’re interested in getting from London (Stanstead) to Milano (Bergamo) for ten bucks, you might be willing to put up with all that. Note that London’s airport isn’t Gatwick or Heathrow, and Milano’s isn’t Linate or Malpensa. To get from London’s Victoria Station to Stanstead airport is a 75 minute bus ride. To get from Milano’s central station to Bergamo airport takes 60 minutes.

It is with that backdrop that Skybus comes to Niagara Falls International Airport. Specifically, if you look at the Skybus website, it’s “Toronto/Niagara”. Sort of like how Stanstead is billed as “London”, even though it’s over an hour away. That’s an interesting marketing development that is reminiscent of Richard Florida’s Tor-Buff-Chester megaregion.

Note, however, that Skybus doesn’t do connecting flights (you can do it, but you’ll be transferring your bags yourself), so for now flights only go between here and Columbus, OH.

Now all we need is a European low cost carrier to offer transatlantic flights to “Toronto/Niagara”, because the taxes and fees are significantly lower in the US than at Toronto/Pearson. It’s far more likely that Torontonians would make the drive to the Falls for that kind of flight than for a short hop to Columbus.