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The Seneca Nation of Indians Tribal Council on Saturday authorized construction of a smaller casino that can be built without sprawling across Fulton Street, which the Brown administration has so far refused to sell.
The 16-member Tribal Council also agreed to first erect an even smaller 5,000-square-foot structure on one corner of the site. It will contain 100 slot machines and meet the requirement of the state compact to have a casino operating by Dec. 9, 2007. Seneca Gaming executives doubt they can now build a permanent casino by the deadline, a spokesman said.
Buffalo officials had anticipated the Tribal Council's decision and responded Saturday with a neutral statement from Mayor Byron W. Brown.
"While I look forward to seeing the details of the Senecas' plans," Brown said, "at this point I wish to make clear that the city of Buffalo looks forward to a long-term relationship of mutual respect with the Seneca Nation of Indians."
He also seemed to put to rest any suggestion the city would try to frustrate development by creating new hurdles regarding utilities.
"Buffalo continues to be prepared to provide water, sewer and other basic services to the Seneca Nation on similar terms as such services are offered to companies in the city," he said.
Seneca Gaming Corp. spokesman Phil Pantano said the casinos are just like any other business when it comes to utilities.
"We get the bills and we pay them," he said.
Seneca Gaming in June had unveiled its design for a $125 million attraction in Buffalo's gritty Cobblestone District of warehouses and other remnants of Great Lakes commerce. The design assumed the city would transfer or sell Fulton Street because it inconveniently divides the nine-acre site.
The Brown administration, however, was cooler to the casino than former Mayor Anthony M. Masiello had been, especially after Seneca Gaming's corporate filings indicated the new casino would be marketed primarily to local residents and less likely to draw visitors from afar.
At the bargaining table, Brown's negotiators wanted more than just the $631,000 price for Fulton Street that the Senecas agreed to pay. City officials wanted assurances that the Buffalo Creek Casino would meet certain employment benchmarks, especially with regard to minorities, and that the Senecas would not acquire more land beyond their nine acres and declare new holdings tax-exempt.
"I've stated from the very beginning, this has to be a good deal for the city of Buffalo and its residents," Brown said later.
On Aug. 2, Brown and Snyder separately declared their talks had ended, and Seneca Gaming vowed to move ahead with a "less grand" venue. The $125 million design would be replaced with a structure scaled back to about $70 million to $90 million in cost, though the Senecas said they still expect to generate some 1,000 jobs.
There were initial hints that both sides were willing to continue discussions. But city officials later refused to extend the permit under which the Senecas used Fulton Street as a staging area to demolish the H-O Oats silos.
A statement issued Saturday by Barry E. Snyder Sr., the Seneca Nation president and Seneca Gaming chairman, mentioned no willingness to compromise.
"We do not need agreements to do the right thing, whether in our hiring practices or in our marketing efforts," Snyder said. "We have created more jobs for local residents over the past three and a half years than any local company. Our work force is comprised of more than 50 percent women and minorities. Our same efforts and practices will hold true in Buffalo."
About 5 percent of Seneca Gaming's work force is Senecas, and they are included when Snyder says more than half of the employees are women and minorities.
The Common Council has asked Seneca Gaming for a meeting to review the Senecas' proposed casino pact. But Snyder, in a letter, said his representatives will not be empowered to negotiate with council members or rehash their negotiations with Brown's officials.
"The nation has been very clear and consistent with everything we have said since Aug. 2," said Pantano, the Seneca Gaming spokesman. "The written agreement we presented to the city, which included the $631,000 payment, paying for up to $7 million in infrastructure improvements to city-owned streets, and $1.7 million every year to market the city and casino together, is all that we could and are willing to do."
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