It's been about seven years since opponents first filed a lawsuit against the casino, says Dianne Bennett, president of Citizens for a Better Buffalo.
"That is our only goal is to shut that casino down because of its disastrous economic impact on the city of Buffalo," Bennett says.
Group member Sam Magavern says an urban casino in a high poverty neighborhood of a high poverty city is the worst possible scenario for casino gambling.
"And that means that overwhelmingly, it's going to be people living in poverty, near poverty, people in the middle class who are going to have problems from this casino," Magavern says.
Magavern also spoke for the group Partnership for the Public Good when it met with Buffalo Common Council on the same matter back on Sept. 25, 2012. The group was pushing for the city to rescind its contract with the Seneca Gaming Corporation, claiming that the Senecas had violated almost every provision of the contract, that the casino will never be a tourist destination, and that the casino is illegal, noting that Judge Skretny has twice ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in the litigation on this issue.
The Partnership group said in a press release that "Because the casino is illegal, the city's contract with the corporation cannot be implemented and should be declared void. Federal law simply does not permit casino gamblin on this type of off-reservation land."
At the same time, it was back on December 18th that crews put the final steel beam in place -- and the Senecas are working toward an opening for the Buffalo Creek Casino in the fall.


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