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NFR behaves as good neighbors compared to Senecas

Editorial

Good neighbor: NFR President Anthony Bergamo pays millions in taxes and gives millions more in charity.
Seneca, (depicted on right) is an unpleasant neighbor to have in Niagara Falls, (depicted left.) They pay nothing and take everything.

Suppose you had a company in town that contributed nearly $6 million to the city coffers in property taxes, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in water and sewer bills, demolished more than 70 dilapidated buildings, sparing the city the expense, and donated over $1 million to local charities.

Now suppose you had another company, right next door, that never paid a dime in taxes, was withholding $60 million in sweetheart “in lieu of taxes” payments, forced longtime residents from their homes under eminent domain proceedings and limits charitable giving to citizens of a foreign country located near Salamanca.

In any reasonable place, where reasonable men thought reasonable thoughts, the owners of the first company would be thought of as good corporate citizens while the second firm would be dismissed as bad neighbors.

But not in Niagara Falls where reasonableness is in short supply.

We’re talking about Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR) and the Seneca Gaming Corporation (SGC), two business titans that dominate any discussion of downtown Niagara Falls, and whose holdings sit side by side.
NFR controls 142 acres it bought and paid for, while the Senecas have 50 far more valuable acres that were given to them by the state government at taxpayer expense.

Some go so far as to criticize NFR for not developing its property and even point to the fact that the Seneca casino is right next door, as if that were an incentive to getting things done.

It is not, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why. What developer would want to be next door to a tax-free nation unless they had the same tax advantages?

A hotel built on Seneca land is property tax free, sales tax free, bed tax free and does not require building code inspections. A hotel built on NFR’s land will have a 25 percent built-in tax disadvantage, making it an unlevel playing field.

The same is true of stores, businesses, nightclubs, restaurants or any attraction. Anything you think ought to be built on NFR land – you name it- will have to compete with a tax-free neighbor next door. In business, there is no way to overcome a competitor with a 25 percent tax advantage.

The reason nothing is developing all around Seneca property, not only on NFR land, and why Seneca properties are surrounded by surreal looking areas of blight and decay is simple: the Seneca property is tax free and any businesses that might sprout up around it will be taxed excessively by New York and Niagara Falls.

NFR was trying to develop its property for several years before the Senecas came and captured this town in 2002 with an insane compact that gave them 50 free acres and tax free status. Imagine if you had a business in the making and suddenly the state decides your competitor will go right next door and be tax free.

What would you do?

NFR continued to pay and pay taxes – counted in the millions, always on time, always to the penny. The Senecas get off year after year tax free.

Who knows, maybe the Senecas like the fact that the city is in decline. There’s not much to do, after all, but to go to their casino. And holding the city hostage certainly gives them a tool to fight the state. Every day, they read in the paper of some new challenge or calamity the city has, yet they sit idly by and do nothing.

And fools blame NFR.

The people of this city should thank NFR for taking 142 acres of what would otherwise be blight that the city would have to pay for and demolish and collect no taxes. Instead NFR takes care of it at their own expense, while sovereign casino operators next door get rich off us at the rate of a million dollars a day.

Fools who know nothing about development grouse about NFR and expect them to do the impossible.

To develop on land that is adjacent to land affected by ethnic-preference laws that permit people of Seneca descent to come to this famous city in America and operate tax free – right next door to the highest taxed people in the country –an injustice to every American living in Niagara Falls who should be complaining long and loud. Instead they pick on their friend NFR.

It is not NFR, but the insane, egregiously stupid people who -- for small bribes and petty political contributions have supported the invasion by a foreign country, the Seneca Nation of Indians, who benefit from the most unequal preference laws in America.
Is there another city in America that gave up the heart of its downtown to a sovereign nation that can operate tax free while its own residents pay taxes through the nose?

It is a characteristic of losers to blame their friends and sit passively by while their enemies destroy them. And Western New York is full of losers, some of whom run for political office or write newspaper columns.

In the decade that has passed since the Senecas entered into their unholy alliance with the state and the city, a succession of such sniveling types have kowtowed to the foreign invader and provided aid and comfort to the enemy. And make no mistake, the Senecas are the enemy of the people of Niagara Falls, the people who live and work and pay taxes here. And until the day comes when the people in power here recognize that fact, NFR and the rest of us have our work cut out for us.

 

 

Niagara Falls Reporter www.niagarafallsreporter.com

Nov 27 , 2012