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.