Home | Contents | Photos | News | Reviews | Store | Forum | ICI | Educators | Fans | Contests | Help | FAQ | Info

Stereotype of the Month Entry
(9/19/03)


Another Stereotype of the Month entry:

An editorial in the Buffalo News:

Horror stories from the land of the casino

9/19/2003

By DONN ESMONDE

The grandmother stood in front of the large map. It was a map of Madison and Oneida counties, east of Syracuse.

There were red splotches on it, like bursts of acne on an unlucky teenager's face. The splotches, said the grandmother, cover land the Oneida Indians own. They bought it, 16,000 acres of it, in the past 10 years. All bought since the tribe opened Turning Stone Casino in Verona, the town in the middle of the map.

The grandmother, Judy Bachmann, lives six miles from Turning Stone. She has lived there for 40 years. The first 30 were happy. Then the casino came.

And now an Indian casino is likely coming to Erie County.

Bachmann says that with it, and with the 2,000 jobs it adds, will come unpleasant surprises.

"People think that if they don't go to the casino, it won't affect their lives," she said. "It's not true. It does."

She is 61, stands yardstick-straight and has the no-excuses manner of a stern schoolmarm. She'd rather be home playing with her six grandkids than trucking midweek to an anti-casino forum at the Buffalo Museum of Science. But she wants us to know what we could be in for.

Folks watched the Turning Stone story unfold in disbelief and disgust before acknowledging defeat. They watched the tribe buy vast stretches of land, all of it coming off the tax rolls. They watched the Oneidas open gas stations and stores, tax-free places no local business could compete with. Our laws -- from environmental standards to building codes -- meant nothing to them.

They built golf courses and hotels. But so much land became tax-free that -- even as the casino raked in $200 million a year -- towns had to raise taxes, to pay for schools that Oneida children went to. The towns, in a deal even worse than our compact with the Senecas, got no slice of the casino take.

Country roads became gridlocked. Bingo games that funded churches and firehouses shut down.

In fairness, Bachmann came here to share horror stories. Even as she conceded that the casino brought about 3,000 jobs, she noted that they came with no benefits or security. Even the silver cloud had a dark lining. But it was helpful to hear the worst, just to have some idea of it.

Rickey Armstrong, the Seneca Nation president, says it won't happen here. He says the Senecas have no plans to buy land in Erie County beyond what's needed for a casino.

"We might take a look at (buying) land around our existing reservations," said Armstrong. "But there's no talk of buying land elsewhere."

He said they're not looking to build gas stations or other businesses in the county.

"That's small potatoes compared to what you get from gaming," said Armstrong.

I don't doubt him. But things can change. There's nothing in writing that says the Senecas can't change their minds. Once they own the casino land, it's part of their nation. And they can buy more land if they want.

Bill Thompson, one of the country's leading casino experts, told me years ago: A casino doesn't hurt a community as much as critics claim, or help it as much as backers say. But he was talking about a private casino, not an Indian casino.

An Indian casino comes with added negatives. Cities get a much smaller slice of the profits than with a private casino (less than six percent, in our case). Casino land becomes part of a foreign country, a country whose empire can expand. We've got no control over what happens on casino property, or on any other land the Senecas could buy.

Bachmann said the Oneidas sometimes strong-armed those in their path. One time, a marina owner wouldn't sell. So the Indians opened a filling station on land they owned across the canal. The marina owner caved in.

I didn't have time to confirm the story. But one thing is certain: An Indian casino is a Pandora's Box. We don't really know what we're getting. And what we get could change.

That's why I think the best place for another one is in Niagara Falls. That's the tourist spot we're trying to buck up. Let Buffalo be the big city where visitors stay, or detour to.

We've heard the horror story. We don't want to see the sequel.

e-mail: desmonde@buffnews.com

Rob's reply
>> They watched the tribe buy vast stretches of land, all of it coming off the tax rolls. <<

Madison County is 656 square miles and Oneida County is 1,213 square miles. Total: 1,869 square miles or 1,196,160 acres. Sixteen thousand acres is therefore 1.33% of Madison and Oneida Counties, which seems like a trivial amount considering how many acres the state stole from the Oneidas.

>> They watched the Oneidas open gas stations and stores, tax-free places no local business could compete with. <<

Esmonde must be a tax-and-spend socialist, since he favors government confiscation and redistribution of private businesses' wealth.

>> Our laws -- from environmental standards to building codes -- meant nothing to them. <<

See Chumash Casino:  Tribe Faced Many Obstacles in Building New Facility for an example that refutes this claim. Most tribes care about the safety of their casinos. These casinos are businesses that will live or die based on their reputations.

>> But so much land became tax-free that -- even as the casino raked in $200 million a year -- towns had to raise taxes, to pay for schools that Oneida children went to. <<

Esmonde presents no documentation of this claim.

>> The towns, in a deal even worse than our compact with the Senecas, got no slice of the casino take. <<

See below.

>> Country roads became gridlocked. Bingo games that funded churches and firehouses shut down. <<

Esmonde presents no documentation of these claims either.

>> Even as she conceded that the casino brought about 3,000 jobs, she noted that they came with no benefits or security. <<

What jobs have security these days? As for benefits, most Indian casino jobs offer benefits at least as good as jobs in the private sector.

>> Cities get a much smaller slice of the profits than with a private casino (less than six percent, in our case). <<

Earlier Esmonde said towns get no slice of the casino take. Now he says they get almost 6% of it. Which is it?

>> Casino land becomes part of a foreign country, a country whose empire can expand. <<

A gross exaggeration of the reality of sovereignty. Esmonde is obviously trying to scare people.

>> Bachmann said the Oneidas sometimes strong-armed those in their path. One time, a marina owner wouldn't sell. So the Indians opened a filling station on land they owned across the canal. The marina owner caved in. <<

Is that strong-arming or tough but fair competition? Stores like Wal-Mart do that to their competitors all the time. Does that upset Esmonde, too?

>> I didn't have time to confirm the story. <<

Esmonde didn't have time to confirm much in this essay, it seems.

Related links
The facts about tribal sovereignty
The facts about Indian gaming
Too-powerful Indians
Greedy Indians


* More opinions *
  Join our Native/pop culture blog and comment
  Sign up to receive our FREE newsletter via e-mail
  See the latest Native American stereotypes in the media
  Political and social developments ripped from the headlines



. . .

Home | Contents | Photos | News | Reviews | Store | Forum | ICI | Educators | Fans | Contests | Help | FAQ | Info


All material © copyright its original owners, except where noted.
Original text and pictures © copyright 2007 by Robert Schmidt.

Copyrighted material is posted under the Fair Use provision of the Copyright Act,
which allows copying for nonprofit educational uses including criticism and commentary.

Comments sent to the publisher become the property of Blue Corn Comics
and may be used in other postings without permission.