"Recent meetings that Seneca Nation officials and I have held with city and county leaders, developers, business executives, foundation members and waterfront stakeholders encouraged me to believe there is a new spirit of cooperation and progress afoot in Buffalo. I still believe that, despite a few naysayers.

Since taking office in November, I’ve said publicly and repeatedly that the Nation wants the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino to fully integrate into its waterfront neighborhood as part of a destination collection of attractions that is best as the sum of its parts.

Executives at the Seneca Gaming Corp. are working hard to plan a casino project that best complements the surrounding development environment, playing to the neighborhood’s strengths while adding another piece to the development puzzle for the Inner Harbor area. Planners expect a limited restaurant offering, hoping that our patrons — thousands of them Canadians bringing new money to our community — will continue to visit nearby restaurants, as they do now.

The Seneca Nation is honored that upwards of 70 percent of Western New Yorkers in recent polls support our businesses and policies. We have made concerted efforts in the last six months to meet with and listen to scores of Buffalo’s political, business, media and community leaders. I have had more than a dozen such meetings, opening dialogues designed to make us partners."

Get the Story:
Robert Odawi Porter: Seneca Nation working to be integral piece of neighborhood (The Buffalo News 2/21)

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