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WNED-AM 970 NEWS
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Control Board Approves Sale of Fulton St.
Mark Leitner
BUFFALO
(2006-11-09)
The Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority has approved City Hall's planned sale of a one-block stretch of Fulton St. to the Seneca Gaming Corporation.
The tribe wants to incorporate Fulton St. into the design of its $124 million casino in Buffalo's Cobblestone District.
FSA members posed questions to the city corporation counsel and Mayor Byron Brown.
Among the questioners was Erie County Executive Joel Giambra, an FSA member who strongly opposes the Seneca casino.
"There is no commitment by the current tribal leaders to limit their casino development just to a casino, that there's talk of a hotel, and we all know how fragile, right now, the hotel industry is this community," said Giambra.
"There are businesses...that are deathly afraid of, what I consider to be, unfair competition. When you have a business that's able to operate without having to pay sales tax and property taxes, that gives them a competitive advantage," Giambra continued.
Mayor Brown told the County Executive and his fellow board members that the Fulton St. sale has been closely examined by the city's appraisal review board, planning board and the Common Council.
"It has gone to a Common Council public hearing where there was extensive debate and review and then the council voted by super-majority, a 6 to 3 vote, to approve the sale and abandonment of Fulton St.," said Brown.
The price tag for Fulton St. was $631,600.
The Control Board approved the sale by a vote of 5 to 1.
© Copyright 2006, wned
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