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SALAMANCA - The steel frame of an 11-story building rises dramatically at the foot of a steep hill along the Southern Tier Expressway, right next to a new eight-story parking garage that is, for now, the tallest building in Cattaraugus County.
The structure that will become the permanent home of the Seneca Allegany Casino won't be completed until the end of the year, but casino gambling already has helped pull this city at the edge of Allegany State Park out of a decades-long decline.
A 48,000-square-foot temporary casino opened two years ago in what will become an entertainment center once the new 64,500-square-foot casino and its 220-room hotel are open.
While Niagara Falls has been slow in getting its share of profits from the Seneca Nation of Indians' first casino, Salamanca has begun to plan for its casino revenue, the next installment of which is estimated to be in the $4 million to $5 million range.
"The casino has been nothing but a positive to us," Mayor Jeffrey L. Pond said. "It's given Salamanca hopefully a brighter future."
To be sure, there are negatives associated with the presence of an enterprise as overwhelming as the Seneca Allegany Casino in a city of only about 6,000.
The cost of buying or renting a place to live has pretty much doubled, residents and realtors say, forcing many longtime, lower-income residents into more-affordable locations in the surrounding countryside.
"Employees of the casino are looking for housing, and some of the landlords have gotten greedy," said Ruthe Wolf, administrator of a program that subsidizes housing for low-income residents.
While some restaurateurs say there's enough business for everybody, others grumble that the casino's buffet is hurting their business and luring away workers, a trend that could grow when three new restaurants open in the new casino/hotel.
Traffic along Broad Street, or Route 417, the city's main drag, is noticeably heavier, which means it sometimes takes longer to get from one end of the city to the other.
"I live on Broad Street, and sometimes I have trouble getting out of my driveway," said Ruth Ann Zink, general manager of the Holiday Inn Express. She quickly added the casino "has been a phenomenal plus."
But those who deal with the negative impacts of gambling on people's lives say they are getting more calls from the Southern Tier.
"The hotline has had an increase in calls from that area," said a person who answered Buffalo's Gamblers Anonymous hotline but asked not to be named.
One thing is indisputable: The casino has brought a prosperity unseen since the late 1800s and early 1900s, when Salamanca was a busy railroad hub and industrial center.
When it opened in May 2004, the casino brought nearly 1,000 new jobs to Cattaraugus County, about half the total number of jobs added over the previous 14 years. The new casino complex will employ 450 more workers, who are being hired now.
The Seneca Nation said the Allegany casino spent more than $14 million with local vendors and suppliers in its most recent fiscal year.
The casino generated $143.2 million in net revenue and $34.7 million in net income between September 2004 and 2005, according to nation filings with the federal government, and net gambling revenue for the six months ending March 31 was $69.9 million.
More than five million people have visited the casino, the nation says, with two-thirds coming from out of state, mostly Pennsylvania and Ohio.
"Seneca Allegany Casino has been a success, not only from a business perspective, but also as an economic development venture for the people of the Seneca Nation of Indians and the surrounding community," Nation President Barry E. Snyder Sr. said in a statement.
Specifically, Snyder pointed out what the casino has meant to Senecas.
"By developing the casino and associated hotel project on our Allegany territory, we have created a physical sign that our nation and our people are on our way forward," he said.
While the largest share of the casino's profits goes to the nation, the city and county also have benefited. They get 25 percent of the state's 18 percent share of the total revenue from more than 1,800 slot machines.
For the city, that amounted to about $1.8 million in the casino's first eight months of operation.
Before the casino, Salamanca, the only city in the country that is almost totally located on an Indian reservation, was losing its tax base as more and more Senecas bought property, which was then taken off the tax rolls.
"There was no way we were able to run the city with an eroding tax base," Mayor Pond said. "Before the casino, Salamanca was on a course of not surviving."
Under terms of the deal that allowed the casino, a portion of the revenues are being used as payments in lieu of taxes on those properties.
Casino profits also are being used to help fund improvements to the city's infrastructure, including a $2.4 million upgrade to the sewage treatment plant.
Another $2 million upgrade of the electrical network is being paid for by the Seneca Gaming Corp., according to Pond.
And the reservoir, which dates from 1920, also will be replaced.
Money also has gone toward beefing up services, with the addition of four firefighters, two police officers and additional parks and public works workers, as well as a city planner.
Some of the city's casino profits will go into economic development - Salamanca has purchased 200 acres adjacent to the casino that it wants to develop into an outlet mall and is lobbying the state for an interchange on the expressway to facilitate the project.
The city also is negotiating with Wal-Mart to build a superstore here.
Some of the gambling proceeds will likely go toward alleviating the housing crunch caused by the influx of casino workers, many of whom live in outlying areas, some as far away as Buffalo.
Eager to cut the commute, workers are beginning to rent and buy houses closer to the casino. As a result, housing costs have jumped.
"They've gone up between 20 and 60 percent, depending on the location and the condition of the property," said Wendy O'Neil, a property manager. "A rental that I would have been getting $250 or $300 for, I'm now getting anywhere from $600 to $700."
David Paoletta, the city's planner, said one of the solutions might be to develop the last major piece of untouched land, about 800 acres along and on top of a hill at the northern edge of the city.
"We still lack enough rental units and single-family homes," he said.
Part of the money also will likely be earmarked for sidewalk and streetscape improvements designed to make busier roads more welcoming.
Naturally, businesses are hoping visitors will spend and do things outside the casino. So far, few said there was any dramatic impact on their business.
"At this point, a good share of the people are coming in on a bus and then going home," said Mike Zaprowski, owner of Hampshire Mills, a clothing store, and also a member of the planning board.
Mayor Pond worries about increasing competition for gamblers, specifically the prospect of slot machines in Pennsylvania, and believes the city should act quickly on its plans.
"We probably have a five-year window to take this early casino money and remake Salamanca," he said.
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