Giambra Supports Lawsuit On Casino Site

Erie County Executive Joel A. Giambra is backing an expected legal battle to block the Seneca Nation of Indians from building a casino in Cheektowaga. He has written Gov. George E. Pataki stating his opposition to the Senecas chosen site across Holtz Drive from Buffalo Niagara International Airport.

"I'm prepared to offer my support to the legal challenge," Giambra said, referring to a recently-announced action by Buffalo developer Carl Paladino.

The potential lawsuit, announced April 6, would contend that the Cheektowaga site would violate the 2001 memorandum of understanding between the Senecas and state, which governs the location and number of Seneca casinos. The document specifically lists Buffalo as the site of one of three Western New York casinos that the Senecas could open.

"There are important community impact issues that have to be addressed," Giambra said Tuesday. "I believe they have to go through a full environmental impact study and a traffic study." A day earlier, Buffalo Mayor Anthony M. Masiello had vowed to "explore every option available, including litigation," to block the Cheektowaga project.

The Common Council, meanwhile, called on Seneca leaders Tuesday to meet with city officials April 28 to discuss the issue. Some lawmakers criticized the Senecas' claim that city "politicians" had "rejected at every turn" attempts to find a suitable Buffalo location.

"Not the politicians in this room," Lovejoy Council Member Richard A. Fontana said. "These politicians are working hard to get a casino in downtown Buffalo."

Council members "rolled out the red carpet" for Seneca leaders, he added. Fontana, chairman of the council's Legislation Committee, is expected to discuss a resolution next week that calls for the city to ask the Bureau of Indian Affairs to reject the Cheektowaga site.

Giambra's letter to Pataki resembles those he sent last fall to Interior Secretary Gale Norton and other federal officials involved in regulating Indian gambling. The county executive, who last summer ruled out the county-owned Buffalo Convention Center as a gambling venue, said the Buffalo waterfront is the only acceptable casino site in the county.

"The Outer Harbor offers a unique opportunity for the Senecas to have a high-profile location that would also serve to kick-start a wave of development," Giambra said. "No other site in Erie County even comes close in delivering positive impact for everyone involved."

Paladino said he was pleased by Giambra's support in the fight against a Cheektowaga casino. "Things get done when there's a consensus, so the more the merrier," Paladino said. "The Senecas have way overstepped the bounds of the memorandum of understanding. It's a slap in the face to the governor and the local community, and they have to be stopped."

Paladino and unidentified persons have retained the law firm Philips Lytle to lobby Pataki and Norton on the terms of the memorandum of understanding. If that fails, they say they plan to launch a formal legal battle.

Seneca leaders could not be reached Tuesday to comment. Last August, the Senecas put Cheektowaga at the top of their list of potential casino locations. But the site was not formally selected until Saturday when the Seneca Tribal Council voted to purchase 57 acres of the Airborne Business Park from Uniland Development.

Tribal leaders said they hope to have a 185,000-square-foot gambling facility, featuring 1,800 slot machines and as many as 50 table games, in operation by early next year. After Saturday's vote, Barry E. Snyder, chairman of the Tribal Council, commented that the casino had been Buffalo's "to lose," adding that Masiello and Giambra "only talked," never making a concrete offer.

Giambra blasted Snyder's characterization of city and county efforts to find a city location. "We took them to the Outer Harbor; they were shown the Aud, the DL&W train station, the Central Terminal; they were shown everything," he said.

Council Majority Leader Marc A. Coppola questioned Pataki's public "silence" on the issue. He encouraged the governor and other state officials to fight the Cheektowaga site.

Masiello said he believes Pataki will be an ally. "I've talked with the governor on several occasions," Masiello said. "He has always agreed that this casino should be built in the City of Buffalo."