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It was bad for the goose -- Niagara Falls. Why was it good for Seneca?
Why do we have, instead of an American, a Native-American casino in Niagara Falls?
Why is it that a sovereign nation makes more than $300 million annually while we struggle to keep our libraries open and our children from leaving WNY? Because, as Albany ruled, gambling is evil: A predatory business, its profits are based not upon selling something of value, but upon the mistakes and losses of others.
Customers are often culled from amongst the temporarily insane -- oftentimes from hardworking people who, when encouraged, sometimes ruin their families, and place society in jeopardy by believing in dumb luck. Since 1821, gambling has been banned by N.Y. state constitution.
Nevertheless, in 2002, in what appears to be, perhaps, an act of treason, Albany gave prime U.S. land, in the middle of downtown Niagara Falls, to the Seneca Nation of Indians, in order that Americans could go on foreign soil -- which used to be American soil -- and gamble, constitution or not.
And, of course, for Albany to profit.
The whole plan was idiotic and illustrates Albany almost perfectly: Albany would get 25 percent of slot machine revenue from Seneca and zero on everything else. Every other kind of gambling, and any other kind of business venture, would be absolutely tax-free for the carefree Seneca.
In spite of the obvious stupidity of that, it was claimed that Seneca gambling would spur "spin-off" development and invigorate Niagara Falls. And, as "host community," locals would get 25 percent of what Albany got.
It was outrageously stupid, of course, to create a tax-free nation in the midst of highly taxed, over-regulated, struggling businesses in a declining community.
Consider the magnitude of the mistake: Land ceded to a foreign nation is property tax-free forever. Items that used to generate sales tax are now purchased sales tax-free in a neat 50-acre zone. Yet locals still pay for roads, sewers and water lines that lead to Seneca, and pay for increased criminal justice and social welfare costs associated with casino-fueled gambling addiction.
And, ironically, contrary to what was promised, it was not mainly tourists, but, actually, overwhelmingly, locals who bet and lost at Seneca. It's economics 101. The transfer of wealth: Five years later, an estimated $1 billion of locals' monies has been lost to Seneca through gambling. Crime rising. Bankruptcy rising. Population dropping.
While Seneca is gleaming, the area adjacent to Seneca has plunged deeper into desolation. Lost in Seneca's wake, as iconic of Seneca's community-destroying impact, was the ice skating rink and the convention center; closed are seven restaurants, six taverns and four hotels.
Seneca, meanwhile, has opened a buffet, a pub, a "high-end" steakhouse, an Italian restaurant, an Asian restaurant, a glamour spa, a conference center, a bistro, a coffee shop, a nightclub, electronics, jewelry, clothing, souvenir and multiple gift shops, and a 26-story, 604-room hotel. All tax-free. More stores, more hotels are coming. And when the 50 acres are filled, the insane Seneca/Albany compact provides for acquiring additional, adjacent land -- to remove from the USA -- for more tax-free Seneca businesses. A smoke shop is anticipated, a gas station, a mall and ironically -- a convention center. Soon, if we don't stop them, they will own the whole town.
Meanwhile, the giant Seneca-Niagara Hotel, pointed out as marvelous "spin-off" development simply "spins" hotel business away from U.S. hotels "off" to a tax-free hotel on Indian Territory.
Even the feeble-minded ought to comprehend that when you open a brand new, glistening hotel and pay no sales tax, property tax, bed tax or income tax, you have a distinct and unfair advantage over long-time, existing American hotels that are struggling under the weight of N.Y.'s killingly heavy taxes.
It's the same with other businesses in direct competition with the tax-free Seneca. Consider the landmark Italian restaurant The Como, owned by the same family since 1927. Over the decades, they paid millions in property, state income and sales taxes. Seneca recently opened an Italian restaurant, built it with tax-free materials; pays no property tax; no income tax, and, unlike the Como, is not required to charge its customers 8 percent sales tax.
Do the math: If the Como pays $300,000 in combined taxes annually, and Seneca pays zero, how many bowls of spaghetti does the Como have to sell before achieving the same profit, or, to say it bluntly, get equality with Seneca?
Is this the best Albany could do for its long-time faithful businesses?
And what about dozens of other newer, struggling businesses that have to compete against whatever Seneca opens up next tax-free? This is not mere competition, for competition is what America was built upon. This is a new kind of un-American competition -- with a huge advantage given by Albany to favor Sovereign Seneca (and Albany) to the detriment of Niagara Falls.
Of course, some may object to calling Seneca non-American, but remember they are, by their own acclamation, separate from the laws and rules of the United States. You can't have it both ways: American when it suits you and a sovereign nation when it helps you.
Albany, however, knows we may just be stupid enough to believe Seneca is having a positive impact. Slot machine revenue generates hundreds of millions for Albany (to aid New York City) and a couple million trickles down to Niagara Falls. But it's nothing compared to what we'd have if we, Americans in New York, owned our own casino.
Additionally, $72 million was paid to locals in payroll. Yet the latter was paid mainly in hourly divisions near minimum wage. And studies suggest that for every job created by a casino, at least one regional job is lost. There aren't more jobs, just more of us working under Seneca.
Meantime, to pay for these jobs, more than a billion in losses came out of locals' pockets, and, as studies showed, some gambled with more than mere entertainment money. There have been suicides, divorces, bankruptcies, theft, fraud and embezzlement, drug trafficking and hospitalized gambling addiction associated with the casino. And Seneca, glad to extend collateralized credit, holds hundreds of mortgages on customers' houses.
Besides impoverishing thousands of local people smitten with the idea of chancing hard-earned cash for the lure of too-fast wealth, millions of dollars in sales tax and property tax have been lost.
Lost, also, was important convention business. Unbelievably, Albany gifted Seneca our only convention center, which generated millions for local hoteliers and restaurateurs. A tourist destination like Niagara Falls stripped of its convention center is a crime in and of itself.
Still, some foolish people think this is fitting since "we stole" Niagara Falls from poor Seneca originally. But, actually, it was a peace-loving Indian tribe, the "Neutrals," who occupied Niagara Falls up until the mid-18th century when Seneca exterminated them. Seneca "stole" Niagara Falls and squatted here for a mere 50 years before karma caught up with them and the Europeans threw them off.
Whenever someone says Seneca deserves Niagara Falls, tell them the Neutrals had it first and for far longer.
Still, should every conquered nation get back land they stole or ever squatted on? That would mean America should give this country back to the British. My ancestors, fortuitously, were innocently nestled in Italy when Senecas were killing Neutrals and Europeans were booting Senecas out of Niagara Falls. How guilty should I feel? Not enough to believe Seneca should have any preferences over me.
Before the clever Seneca exterminates us (like they did the Neutrals 200 years ago, but this time with the weapons of our age) and with Albany killing us with high taxes while they go scot-free, I would like to demand for all of us, as a message to Albany: In Niagara Falls, in order to compete fairly, we must have equality with Seneca now!
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS AD ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE NIAGARA FALLS REPORTER