Buffalo officials challenge suburban Seneca casino

Carolyn Thompson

Wednesday, May 5, 2004 | 11:14 a.m.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The city of Buffalo, Mayor Anthony Masiello and a group of downtown business owners on Tuesday moved to block the Seneca Indian Nation from buying land for a casino in suburban Cheektowaga, saying the Senecas are obligated to build in Buffalo.

The group filed for a court order to prevent Uniland Development Co. from transferring land to the Senecas until a state court can consider whether the Senecas have the right to build a casino outside of the city.

"If the land is transferred it becomes sovereign territory of the Senecas and no longer under the jurisdiction of the New York courts," Buffalo developer Carl Paladino said. "As a result, the concerns that we have today would not be able to be addressed."

A state Supreme Court judge set arguments for June 4.

Seneca President Rickey Armstrong expressed confidence the tribe would be allowed to go ahead with its purchase of 57 acres. "We expect the court to see that we are following all the rules and there is no reason to block this perfectly legal business transaction," he said.

Seneca officials announced last month they had chosen the suburban site for their third casino, angering Buffalo officials who have been looking for a casino to spur employment and business development in the economically depressed city.

City leaders say a compact between the state and Senecas outlining plans for the casinos, which are otherwise illegal in New York, specified that one be built in Buffalo.

In return for permission to build casinos, the Senecas agreed to share a portion of slot machine profits with the state and host communities. The tribe in January delivered $38 million to the state from its Niagara Falls casino, which opened a year earlier. Niagara Falls received about $10 million from the state's share. A second casino in Salamanca, on the nation's Allegany reservation, opened over the weekend.

Attorney Michael Powers, representing the city of Buffalo and Masiello, along with the Huron group, a coalition of downtown business owners, said the state Legislature authorized Gov. George Pataki to negotiate the compact consistent with an earlier memorandum of understanding which listed Buffalo, Niagara Falls and existing reservation land as the casino sites.

"The memorandum ... doesn't mention Cheektowaga," Powers said, "and because it doesn't there is no authorization by the Legislature for the governor to agree to any place in Erie County outside of Buffalo."

The Senecas point to language in the memorandum and compact that allows them to consider sites elsewhere in Erie County if they cannot find a suitable Buffalo site. The Senecas have said the city made it impossible to build in Buffalo by offering nothing but unsuitable sites. City leaders said they went out of their way to show the Senecas numerous potential venues.

Cheektowaga officials, who welcome the idea of a casino, say Buffalo is to blame for the current situation.

"The city fumbled the ball. They fumbled it more than once," said Michael Stachowski, the town's attorney. "They don't have an available site. They don't have a realistic site to work to and they're looking for more time to create something out of nothing."

Paladino accused the Senecas' current leadership of going back on promises made by previous leaders to build a stand-alone casino in Buffalo, one that would help existing downtown businesses. He said the current Seneca administration has plans for a suburban entertainment complex, gas station and smoke shops that would hurt existing businesses.

"They're not buying 57 acres to plant corn. They're buying 57 acres because they plan on building a mecca," Paladino said.

Armstrong called any suggestion the Senecas had gone back on their word "the worst insult imaginable."

"After everything we have suffered as a result of broken promises," Armstrong said, "we place tremendous value in integrity."