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"Much ado about nothing."
That was how one insider described news stories last week that stated the Seneca Nation of Indians have "put on hold" the process of approving a compact with the state for the establishment of three casinos in Western New York.
Newspaper accounts claimed the Senecas were balking at a number of provisions in the state gaming law signed by Gov. George Pataki on Oct. 31, and hinted that the Senecas were prepared to walk away entirely from the deal.
But noting that the agreement signed between Gov. George Pataki and Seneca President Cyrus Schindler in June amounted to just three pages, while the gambling law signed by Pataki is a much weightier document, sources close to the situation told the Reporter the Senecas are simply being prudent.
The Seneca referendum on the compact, originally scheduled for Nov. 16, has been postponed until the first week of January, sources said.
"The state Assembly delayed this thing for five long months," a source said. "Is it unreasonable for the Senecas to take a month to have their attorneys look it over before voting on it?"
While draft versions of the compact have been floating around for weeks, negotiations are continuing and a final version has yet to be hammered out. It is that final version that will be the subject of the Seneca referendum.
"A lot of this is simply posturing for the purposes of negotiation. The Senecas want the best possible deal they can get and no one should blame them," the source added.
Certainly those closest to the negotiations and nearest to Ground Zero -- the South End of Niagara Falls -- believe the deal will go through.
In Niagara Falls, the casino will be housed temporarily at the Convention Center while a new casino-hotel complex is erected on the site of the former Splash Park at the intersection of Rainbow and John B. Daly boulevards.
Niagara Falls Redevelopment currently has control over both properties under an agreement with the city, and has recently announced a closer partnership with one of Western New York's largest building contractors, Ciminelli Construction.
Ciminelli recently opened an office in NFR's fourth floor suite at the Niagara Office Building downtown.
NFR Vice President Roger Trevino said company policy dictates not speaking publicly about the Senecas, but confirmed the new arrangement with Ciminelli.
And Niagara Office building owner Frank Amendola has begun work on the new Niagara Aerospace Museum downtown, although he maintains the facility will not be dependent on the casino for its viability.
Sources on all sides of the issue -- among the Senecas, developers and state government -- have been critical of much of the news reporting that has appeared since Pataki and Schindler announced the preliminary agreement in June.
"In Niagara Falls, we've seen unsuccessful candidates for mayor become the most vocal critics of whoever it was that won," one source said. "It's no different with the Senecas. There is a very small minority on the reservation opposing this particular compact, primarily because it's Schindler's deal, and they've been given an inordinate amount of news coverage."
One potential developer said some local newspapers have deliberately gone out of their way to cover the issue in a negative manner. Many stories, ostensibly about gaming, have little or no relevance to the situation in Niagara Falls, he charged.
"You keep seeing stories about how gaming has failed to transform the economies of Atlantic City or Detroit, but it's like comparing apples and oranges," he said. "Those are major metropolitan areas. Obviously it's going to have less of an impact there than it will here."