JayS
July 9, 2008, 7:07am
59
I’m just going to quote myself from the last casino debate thread, because my arguments haven’t changed and this is just a waste of time.
I fully support the casino downtown, for the simple reason that downtown development has to start SOMEWHERE. 6 million for roads? Who cares. Niagara Falls take last year alone was 12 million. The fact that they can’t agree with Pataki on how to spend it is hardly the casino’s fault.
Take the casino, add in bass pro, plus the big bucks we’re getting for waterfront re-development from the Niagara Power Project and I think we’re on the verge of a major shift in downtown.
The winner for the worst anti casino arguement has to go to the people crying about the property being removed from the property tax roles. The 9 acre site downtown brought in a whopping $31000 last year. Last time I checked, 12 million > 31000.
Joe, you have a point about it being better if they fixed downtown first. The problem is Buffalo has been trying to “fix” downtown since it started to decline all those decades ago when the steel industry left. Unless you have a concrete plan of how you’re going to start turning it around before the casino, you’re just part of the “stuck in the mud” politics that make up Buffalo.
I don’t buy this whole “there are so many problems that come along with the casino” statement. The days of mob run casinos are long gone, replaced by big business. What “big problems” does Niagara Falls have, other than 12 million a year to play with, a bunch of jobs at the casino, a bunch of construction jobs putting up that huge hotel, more construction jobs to build the new parking ramp, and even more jobs working at the hotel?
I guess Niagara Falls has had to step up parking enforcement around the casino, but that turned into a cash cow as well, because they’ve been writing a whole bunch of parking tickets.
Degenerate gamblers will gamble with or without a casino in downtown Buffalo. Be it in Niagara Falls ON, Niagara Falls US, their local OTB, or online poker. If you have a gambling problem you’ll find a way to gamble.
The only thing that has changed is the City of Niagara Falls has finally got their plan for the money together and the state let them have it. 2006 was 14 million. Looks to be more for 2007.
Fix roads:http://www.niagarafallsvoice.com/news/nfv_article.aspx?storyid=57884
Schools, hospitals, capital improvement:http://www.niagarafallsvoice.com/news/nfv_article.aspx?storyid=56659
BTW, hotel occupancy up in NF US:http://www.niagarafallsvoice.com/news/nfv_article.aspx?storyid=58447
When was the last time you saw developers interested in building new hotels in Buffalo? Oh yeah, they wanted to build one on Elmwood and the Dozr’s of WNY came out and sued to make sure it wouldn’t happen. :lol: