NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — When a gaming compact agreement was initially announced by Gov. George Pataki in 2001, it came with some hefty promises.
"This literally should mean thousands and thousands of jobs," Governor Pataki said.
Pataki was surrounded my Buffalo mayor Anthony Masiello, members of the state legislature and Seneca Nation at the brink of Niagara Falls.
"When you think about the potential investment, literally billions of dollars, it could literally tens of thousands of jobs," Pataki said. "I don't want to oversell it."
While not overselling it, Governor Pataki also touted the private investment that assuredly would flood into the Falls.
"We're confident that with this casino operation and with the other entertainment and recreational activities and private sector investment that this will attract that we can transform Niagara falls into a world class destination worthy of its world class reputation," Pataki said.
The gaming compact was approved by the Department of Interior on December 9, 2002, and the Seneca Niagara Casino opened December 31 of that year.
Twenty years and five months since the opening of the casino, however, Niagara Falls has yet to see those promises and dreams come to fruition.
In the immediate area of the casino sits vacant property, boarded up buildings, overgrown parking lots and shopfronts for lease.
"There's really no development to show for it," New York State Assemblyman Angelo Morinello said. "They blame the Senecas, they blame the state, but the city itself just couldn't get out of its own way."
Mayor Robert Restaino took office in 2020, right in the middle of a well publicized dispute between the Seneca Nation and the state.
2 On Your Side asked Mayor Restaino if the casino was a benefit to the city.
"I think that in some ways, it has been a positive influence, and in other ways we haven't realized all of the benefits that may have been suggested at the beginning," Restaino said.
Mayor Restaino conceded that the promises of tens of thousands of jobs, and a wave of private investment never materialized.
"In terms of the spin off, that that's something we just haven't realized," Restaino said.
But Restaino and other area leaders say it was past administrations that dropped the ball.
The casino opened in 2002 and since then there have been four Mayors of the Cataract City: Irene Elia, Vincenzo Anello, Paul Dyster, and Restaino.
Dyster served the longest during the first compact agreement, serving three terms from 2008 through 2019.
"Nobody should have ever thought that simply producing a casino was going to automatically do things around it, there had to have been some activity," Restaino said.
The business community near the casino didn't flourished since gaming compact went into effect either.
" I do think it was kind of a wait and see, let's build it and just assume that things will happen organically," said Kory Schuler, executive director of the Niagara USA Chamber of Commerce.
While in the span of 20 years there was a recession and the COVID 19 pandemic, and other failed development projects, have made large-scale development projects hard to come by.
"If you remember, 20 years ago, all of a sudden, all the commercial properties values skyrocketed, because we all thought this casino was gonna come in, it was gonna be the silver bullet," Schuler said. "They thought they were gonna really make a lot of money on the backs of these properties, but there weren't the investors there that wanted to move in."
One of the marquee failed Falls developments was the proposed $150 "Wonder Falls" project, first proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2014 and ultimately abandoned in 2019.
A new compact, a new promise?
The Seneca Nation and New York State announced a preliminary agreement for a new gaming compact on June 7.
Details of the compact, however, were not revealed.
The terms of the current compact state that New York State receive 25% of certain casino revenues.
From there, the state portions 25% of the revenues they receive from the Seneca Nation to the host cities of Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and Salamanca.
Mayor Restaino and leaders at other host cities did not have a seat at the negotiating table for the new compact.
Restaino told 2 On Your Side that while he isn't at the table, he has expressed his ideas to the state negotiators.
"My hope is that, some of the pieces that come out of that compact can be targeted toward real western New York development strategies," Restaino said.
Local control of how casino revenue is spent, would also be preferred.
"I recognize that the state has a critical place at the table, but I would like to think to that local government, also as a critical place," Restaino said. "So while I wouldn't want to cut out state engagement, I just think that it needs to be leveled with local government engagement."
The one person who would know, in theory, what Niagara Falls would need in terms of development is Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Hochul, however, recused herself from negotiations. The Governor's Office told WGRZ in May cited ties to Delaware North, a competitor of Seneca Gaming, as a reason for the recusal.
Governor Hochul's husband, William Hochul Jr., is a senior vice president and general counsel for Delaware North.
"I understand the ethics and I appreciate [that] she's guided by a very good set of principles," Restaino said. "But selfishly, yes, I would love to have a Western New York voice in that room."
WGRZ has asked the Governor's Office for a detailed list of the negotiators of the new compact agreement, but they have yet to provide those details.
As for the new gaming compact, Restaino plans to use future revenues for economic development spearheaded by the city.
In the past, casino revenue was used to fix budget gaps.
"I don't think that that was the spirit of what their funding should be used for," Restaino said. "It should have been used to grow the economy, increase jobs, those kinds of things, and we just never quite hit that stride."
About a year after taking office, Restaino proposed a new 6,000 seat venue that would be build near the Seneca Niagara Casino. Currently the land is vacant, but controlled by the Niagara Falls Redevelopment, LLC.
The city is currently working its way through eminent domain proceedings to obtain the land and move forward with the project.