Folks, we need to focus all of our economic efforts on bringing people who left our area back for more than just one weekend. But that's exactly what will happen when we build casinos in Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Johnny or Suzie who left for that big job in North Carolina or Las Vegas will want to come home for one weekend to gamble away their paycheck from their tech-based job. This backwards thinking that a casino will solve our economic woes is just another reason why Western New York will continue to lose our population base over the next 20 years. For the most part, we don't have a long-term economic plan that will transform our job prospectus from a manufacturing based economy to a technology based economy.
Casinos play no role in that transformation whatsoever.
Amherst IDA Executive Jim Allen makes a great point about keeping U.B. graduates in Buffalo when he said young men and women with engineering and tech degrees aren't going to stay in Buffalo to work in a casino. But I'll bet they would stay here if we expand the Buffalo Byte Belt and continue to attract tech companies to the Town of Amherst. I'm not against a casino in Buffalo or Niagara Falls. If people are stupid enough to gamble away their hard earned cash, then that's their problem. I personally think the money lost on gambling could be better spent by our local churches or community centers that help the poor.