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Who
Goes First
Berman said he
doubts Park Place will ever build an Indian casino in the region
unless someone else, like Empire Resorts, opens first. "If
nobody goes first here, my personal belief is, you will never see
them do anything."
Degliomini and
Berman both said they hope all three Indian casinos eventually get built.
"If you have
one casino it's great. If you have three, it's a destination and it
would really help change the area," Berman said.
At that point,
Berman crows, "Atlantic City is dead. I'm telling you, they're dead."
Trump sees it
differently, saying of Berman, "He failed up there miserably.
He's the one who got his casino stolen by Park Place. They took it
away from him like a baby - and now he's crying spilt milk. So that's Berman."
Cayuga spokesman
Clint Halftown says that after in-depth analysis his tribe overcame
its long-standing objection to gambling and decided to make a deal
with Empire Resorts for the long-term benefits. "We haven't had
anything for over 200 years, when New York State violated federal law
and mistreated Indians," he said. "This is a means of our
beginning. We're going to be able to rebuild our nation."
To speed things
along in the latest proposal, critical environmental impact
statements approved under the Berman/Mohawk plan were resubmitted to
the Bureau of Indian Affairs in April with the sponsoring tribe's
name changed to the Cayugas.
That application,
which covers a 30-acre, land-in-trust tract, is pending. But the name-change
game hasn't gone over so smoothly at the bureau's regional office in Nashville.
Brian Pogue,
deputy regional director, said the Cayuga/Empire Resorts application
will have to be expanded. "They have to bring it up to date.
They need to freshen it up. It needs to be theirs."
Pogue said there
is "no fixed timetable" for acting on the three Catskill
applications. "It takes as long as it takes. It is a
give-and-take process. We let them know what needs to be done and
they respond." |
