About the Seneca Casino and the Buffalo News

What started out as my comment to this article at In da Buff’s blog became a manifesto, and is reproduced in its entirety here. I am really tired of how the local media loves to portray opportunity as a affront. It is a fear tactic that might sell papers but sure as hell doesn’t help the area’s psyche.

Anyway, both the blog and the News article are about the Seneca Casino in Niagara Falls; it was on the front page of today’s Buffalo News and is entitled “Casino No Jackpot for Falls. My comment about it follows below…

I am opposed to casinos in Western New York. They generally breed more problems than they bring solutions.

That being said, I think this was a cynical and pessimistic article, typical of the type of journalism foisted on us by the Buffalo News. Regardless of my disdain for casinos, I am well aware that they draw crowds and bring opportunities. All you need to do is look across the river at Niagara Falls Canada.

Not so with Niagara Falls USA. The local government, the business community and the press cannot get their arms around the potential. They cannot get their ideas out of committee much less onto the ground.

At the very least the News could have focused on ideas that been tossed about because of the new revenue stream. They could have researched other regions, similar to ours, that also have new casinos to determine if and how those regions benefited (or suffered), and the timeline that it took for change to occur. They could have discussed if casino saturation is happening in the U.S. and how that might be affecting the Seneca Casino. Hell, they simply could have asked if the Canadian casinos are helping to draw visitors to our casino (and area) on the U.S. side of the border. Instead, they gave the upside potential what, a couple paragraphs?

Worse, the article begs the question (but does not answer): “What became of the $23 million this year – and the many millions of dollars in years past – that the casino has paid to the city? Don’t you think that if you suddenly had $75M or $100M of BRAND NEW REVENUE that you’d be able to show a little more for it than the convention center upgrade (much of which was paid for by New York State)? How come the News is up in arms over the Casino being “No Jackpot for Falls” but not about where all the money’s gone? They seemed pretty quick to blame the casino for the lack of development off the Seneca Nation property; isn’t that the city’s responsibility?

If I were a city planner and regardless of my position on casinos I would be embracing, not denigrating, the Seneca Casino. At every opportunity I would be talking to their management and asking “How can we do more with the area? What should we do first? What should we do next? What would draw in even more tourism? How can we remove stumbling blocks?” At every opportunity I’d be calling the News and telling them about the great things that the casino provides today and will provide in the future. I’d be playing up this golden goose as much as I possibly could because after all, if I can help make them immensely successful then at least I too reap some benefit. To do otherwise is cutting off my own nose.

Based on the article – and because of the lack of references I have no idea if the article is the truth – I would say that Niagara Falls USA has done little constructive planning and is already pointing at the Seneca casino as a cause of, rather than a solution to, its problems. The News is more than willing to sensationalize the downside of this because, well, because that’s what it does best.

Shame on both the City of Niagara Falls and the Buffalo News for allowing this article to appear in the form in which it appeared.

I apologize for the long-winded comment but I’m really pissed off about how our media continues to beat down on an already demoralized community, which merely feeds that cycle of “it’ll never work” pessimism. The casino is here. There is clearly so much opportunity to be gained, and we should be taking advantage of it at every turn.

Losing One’s Place

My colleague and friend is going to leave the U.S. in about a month.  He does not want to do so.

He is a foreign national from Pakistan.  He came here in 1990 to go to college, fell in love with Western New York, and has never left.  Last summer his attorney told him that based on his applications for both a green card and U.S. citizenship he would not have to re-apply for an H1B visa, which allows him to stay and work in the U.S. in 3-year increments.

His attorney was wrong.  As a result, Ali’s visa expired and now there is little chance that he will be able to continue his employment with us after January.  He is being forced to return to Pakistan in order to apply for a new visa that will allow him back in the U.S.  The process could take upwards of a year to complete.

All this while Pakistan erupts into chaos.

Did you ever see the movie The Terminal?  Tom Hanks portrays Victor Navorsky, a person stuck at JFK International Airport when his country undergoes a war that essentially wipes their government off the map.  I feel like Ali is about to be stuck in the same position.  He can’t go home, and he can’t stay here.

This story does not have a happy ending.  It will literally take an act of Congress to change the INS ruling.  So our company decided to call Congressman Higgins’ office to see if there is anything he can do to help.  This is a long shot but frankly, it’s worth the effort if it helps my friend stay in the U.S.

After 17 years in the U.S. Ali is no longer Pakistani.  I fear for my friend’s safety and for the loss that our company will face when he can no longer work for us.

In a Christmas Mood

On this Christmas Eve I got to thinking:  Has Birds Eye Foods’  VP for Business Development ever been called the Prince of Peas?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.  Don’t forget to think about the really important things in life.

Time to Read “The Hobbit”

Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema reached agreement to produce the movie version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, which was the prequel to Lord of the Rings.  Jackson showed such capability in capturing the detail of the Lord of the Rings books that there is no doubt he will do the same for The Hobbit.  If he is allowed to conform to the standards that he himself set, the film is almost guaranteed to become a classic.

Most people who saw Lord of the Rings – it was spectacular cinema – probably did not read Tolkien’s trilogy; this is unfortunate as the richness of the books far surpasses the richness of the movies. (And to put it into perspective, Lord of the Rings is one of the few films that ever did its pedigree any justice.  “Of Mice and Men” is the only other film that I can think off the top of my head that’s also up there).

The first of the two Hobbit movies is scheduled for release in 2010.  I strongly suggest reading The Hobbit prior to seeing the film.  The film will be that much better.

Ya Know What Really Pisses Me Off???

This website.  WNY Media started it, around mid-November.  I thought it was cute and apparently, so did whoever helped start it – for all of about 5 days, after which no one submitted anything new.

It was amusing in the same way that web sites about, say, old telephones, are amusing:  Really focused in on that singular theme.  I had hoped that this site would bring attention not to the myriad major problems affecting our area but rather those small, picayune shards of life that slowly suck the life out of us.

This site could be a gold mine for those who find our troubles humorous, or our humor troubling.  Either one.

Maybe it’ll be updated soon.  I’d consider submitting this post only it’s not pissy enough.

RIP Dan Fogelberg

Dan Fogelberg died yesterday.  Twin Sons of Different Mothers will forever be one of my favorite albums.

Rest in Peace, Dan.  Thank you for your creativity.

The Impact of Snow in Western New York

Okay, so this weekend’s snow storm did not turn into the crippling blizzard it was all hyped up to be.  Traffic never really suffered and I know that if my wife and I had wanted to go out to dinner Sunday evening, we could have made the trip with prudent driving.

What impressed me was that during my jaunt to the very busy supermarket on Saturday morning,  the bulk of the supplies being purchased, aside from the usual milk and bread, consisted of beer, pop, chips and pretzels.

Here in Western New York it is obvious that we use snowstorms as a reason to party.

Comments About the Buffalo Waterfront

I’ve been patiently listening to and reading about the Inner Harbor, the Outer Harbor and the rest of the Buffalo Waterfront plans, and have sprinkled minor comments here and there in various blogs, not really convinced that this is an issue very many Western New Yorkers care about. Mainly because most Western New Yorkers hardly care about the Waterfront. Mainly because they mostly don’t live there.

All of the players in the Inner Harbor/Outer Harbor folderol, all the hype about Skyway Park, and the Route 5 boulevard, all the Bass Pro plans – they are meaningless when there are no people around. And as such I think the effort and emotion being put into this development, today, is completely misguided.

Things get built where people are. Build up the townhouses, the condos and the apartments downtown. Return the heart of the city to a population that can actually live there and the Waterfront development will follow. We’re trying to put the cart before the horse and except for the extremists, no one is really listening because no one is there to listen.

We don’t need 9-to-5 retail outlets and casinos to accomplish a Waterfront revitalization; we need supermarkets and drugstores.

Rather than wasting precious state funds and politicians’ time with pie-in-the-sky dreams, Buffalo would be wise get their help luring a Wegmans or a Tops to the downtown area. We would be wise to make it conducive for more developers to build new homes within a stone’s throw of the water. This is where plans should be drawn up and executed much faster than their current glacial pace.

It is odd to me that so much energy and time have been wasted on planning little more than tourist attractions in an area still nearly devoid of residents.

I am ever hopeful that the recent trend to convert old city office buildings into condominiums rapidly accelerates, because all the other things that make a city vibrant will rapidly follow.

 

Lake-Effect Snow

This morning’s lake-effect snowfall through downtown Buffalo and eastern suburbs seems to have caught city and county snow plow drivers off-guard.

Why is that?  Wasn’t this predicted yesterday night?  Couldn’t the sand and salt trucks at least have been out to put something down, just in case the snow decided to move further north than anticipated, which it did?  I understand that the Thruway was wet but clean, as the Thruway plows did get out early.  But the local plows not getting to the Kensington, or Genesee Street – that’s unacceptable given the lead time.

The four-car collision at the intersection of the Kensington and Genesee Street was a vivid reminder to slow down today. It doesn’t look like we’re going to get much timely help from city and county plows.

On the bright side:  It sure is pretty out there.

Christmas Lights

For many months now on most weekends I find myself at my computer doing work and career-related activity. My wife sighs and generally leaves me be, knowing that small business concerns can force one’s hand about where to spend “spare” time.

This past weekend I took time off to decorate the outside of my home with Christmas lights. The results, so far, are satisfactory and when my sons come home from college on Monday I anticipate that more lights will go up.

It was very therapeutic.

Power Breakfast

Buffalo Business First sponsored a Power Breakfast (more like a Power Continental Breakfast) this morning.  About maybe 300 business people were there to listen to a panel discussion among Tom Kucharski, Dr. Henry Louis Taylor, Eric Recoon and Carl Paladino. 

The questions that were asked?  I’ve already forgotten.  Basically, the panelists’ answers were pretty much a regurgitation of the same complaints we’ve been hearing for decades here in Western New York:  The lack of leadership, economic stagnation, lack of vision, parochialism, taxes, inefficient government, poor education, and lawsuits.  Carl Paladino was particularly negative; I hope he was just having a bad day.

But there was little conversation about solutions and only mild optimism, mostly from Tom Kucharski.  Norm Bakos crept up from somewhere and vented during the open mike portion of the event.  Several other audience members who approached the microphone also seemed to have agendas not in sync with the discussion topics.

Inasmuch as I enjoy attending these events, it seems that if the panelists or sponsors want us business leaders to jump on the bandwagon, they need to be cheerleaders rather than grumps.  I did not walk away with any sense of communal enthusiasm, nor – from the lack of reaction from those attending – did I think the group as a whole was eager to participate in a new phase of the Buffalo renaissance.

The gist was this:  We are here, it’s a place full of neglect and bureaucracy and corruption, and we need to get there, to sweetness and delight.  Only there is so great a leap that not many in the audience could understand how this community is going to cross the chasm between here and there.

What was missing was the cheerleading, and a frank discussion about the little steps we could take – not the grand vision but those little solutions that, over time, would add up to significant change – something tangible and attainable by us mere mortals, in our lifetimes.

We have been making many incremental steps in the past few years.  We need to emphasize these wins rather than whine about not achieving the impossibly big leaps.

“710” Caps and Muffler Bearings

When you need one of those really hard-to-find car parts, this site is the place to look. They have “710” caps.

They have muffler bearings.

They even have those expensive, porcupine seat covers.

They have Kuhnuetson valves, Johnson rods, seasonal tire air and a catalog full of parts you never knew needed replacement.

This web site is a gem. A must read for anyone even slightly knowledgeable about cars, who wants a good laugh.

Random Television

Ignoring an entire television series, only to see the finale and wonder why I didn’t make the time to watch the series, is often how I live my life – looking back rather than forward.  If only I didn’t think that television is almost a complete waste of time, maybe I’d check out a few more shows.

Anyway, this evening’s episode of Heroes – the so-called Finale (whatever that means) – was very interesting.  I only wish I had some idea of who was who and who could do what, and what the plot was about other than releasing a virus and ending the world.  Looks like one of the villains got put away for a while.

The M.A.S.H finale was interesting as well.  I always wondered how good the series was.  Seinfeld, too.

Dying Young

My friend up and died on Friday. He was on a business trip to Utah, and somewhere around the time of his departing flight for home, he keeled over at the airport from an apparent heart attack. Early deaths did not run in his family.

He was my age. We graduated from both high school and college together. We were both exchange students; we joined the same fraternity; we both got engineering degrees. This is a serious bummer, for his friends and especially his family: He leaves behind a wife, a young teenage son and 10-year-old triplets.

I am still trying to sort out my feelings about this. We would get together for high school and college reunions, send the occasional email, and discuss our lives. He was easy to talk to, always upbeat and proud of his family. Now he’s gone, and I’m feeling a bit vulnerable right now, as if my turn is just around the corner.

Controlled Explosions

Ever hear of Istvan Hernek?  He runs the Paraclete Conservatory in Orchard Park.  He also performed on the St. Joseph’s Cathedral organ at Reverend Mark Noonan’s ordination this morning (the detail which, unfortunately, can’t be found anywhere on the diocesan web site as of 1 December; why is that?).

Just watching someone with skill play the organ is itself pretty fascinating, at least for people like me who struggle to plunk out Chopsticks with two fingers.  Being blown away by the magnificent sound coming from the organ as it is being played takes it to another level.

Just a light touch on any key triggers a cascade of events:  A mechanical contact on the key makes an electrical connection that finds its way to a solenoid, that opens a value and allows a massive amount of air to flow from a bellows the size of a station wagon to an organ pipe, which whistles its one-note tune.  It’s a couple of ounces of finger pressure turned into 100 decibels of audio pressure.  Many fingers flying across the keyboards opens a lot of valves, makes a lot of pipes whistle and, when done right, floods the church with incredible joy.

The musical experience that eminated from this extraordinarily-talented musician on an engineering marvel was greatly appreciated by the 500 who attended Mark’s ordination. 

And oh yeah, Blessed Nativity in Orchard Park now has one more priest.