Downtown casinos are complex projects that tend to stir up strong emotions on both sides, for and against. Attach the Seneca Nation of Indians to any potential project and the discussion gets very heated very fast.
News broke last week that developer Robert Morgan is working with the Seneca Nation to put together a proposal for a combined casino and performing arts center at the Midtown site in downtown Rochester. Morgan is talking with city officials about the idea.
A spokesperson for Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren says that those are precursory, but that the city is open to all development options that will create jobs.
There’s no concrete proposal on the table, and it’s not clear how other developers who are investing heavily in downtown will react to the idea of a casino right in the middle of everything. Morgan’s firm is leading or partnering in some of the big residential projects in the City of Rochester, including Tower280 at Midtown.
Heidi Zimmer-Meyer, president of the Rochester Downtown Development Corporation, says that officials, business leaders, and the public first need to understand any proposal before rushing to judgement.
The developer promises up to 500 jobs, at least some of which would require no more than a high school diploma, which Zimmer-Meyer says is an important consideration in a market such as Rochester, which struggles with high unemployment in areas of the inner city.
A Seneca casino would also provide an opportunity to get a performing arts center downtown without government investment or subsidies, she says.
But there are also significant social impacts to consider, she says. And because the casino would be sovereign territory, it wouldn’t pay taxes, Zimmer-Meyer says, so how will the community be compensated? The Seneca Nation could, for example, agree to hand over a percentage of its gaming revenues, she says.
This article appears in Apr 13-19, 2016.
A Center City Casino is not a bad idea, but full casinos (with gaming tables) must only be built on Native American owned lands and are off the tax base of municipalities Rather than being place on Main Street,, I believe that a better location would be in High Falls, on the site of the former power plant, Beebe Station.
The RG&E location overlooking the High Falls, could be deeded to the Seneca, and the casino and its accompanying theatre and parking facility would be a powerful draw to the neighborhood. High Falls is at least in need of more people, and this advancement could strengthen the planned redevelopment of the the Pont de Rennes and further the nearby stadium and Brown Square neighborhood.
The city should not worry about competing with the planned casino, Del Lago , since its developer contributed to Sibley’s departure, failed to redevfelop their building and left the city in tax arrears.
I hope Mayor Lovely Warren doesn’t take the bait. I for one would be ashamed to live in a city with a performing arts center that was funded by problem gamblers. We shouldn’t think that the Seneca Nation’s partnership with Morgan legitimizes this. The promises are as too good to be true as they’ve ever been.