Governor Eliot 'Steamroller' Spitzer made the news again today by giving the go-ahead for a $600 million dollar casino up in the Catskills. It isn't a done deal yet, since the St. Regis Mohawk tribe's lands are farther upstate and the ultimate approval needs to come from Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. Dick generally disapproves of granting permission for Native Americans to run casinos outside of tribal lands. However, having Eliot behind them is a big boost in the effort to begin building the vegas-style spot that began 13 years ago.
From the NY Times:
Proponents contend that the casino would revive the economy of the old borscht belt, attracting six million visitors a year and generating 3,000 jobs and tens of millions of dollars in revenue. In a series of concessions by the tribe, the Mohawks have agreed to provide $20 million a year to the county and to Monticello to offset the impact of the casino and to collect and remit taxes from sales of liquor, cigarettes and other retail items at the casino.
But the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sullivan County Farm Bureau and several other groups filed a suit in federal court in Manhattan last week challenging the casino on environmental grounds. And the project still needs final approval by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, the former governor of Idaho, who opposes Indian casinos on nonreservation land. The Mohawk casino would be built more than 400 miles from the tribe’s Akwesasne reservation, which straddles the Canadian border near Messena, N.Y.
Still, the Mohawks were optimistic about the project yesterday, and Governor Spitzer said he would lobby Mr. Kempthorne in person when he is in Washington next week for the national governors meeting.
Construction of the gambling edifice is far from advancing beyond the drawing board. Though with enough charm and persuasion, Spitzer might just get the Interior Secretary to allow for a Catskill revival. The region's popularity has waned considerably since it's heyday fifty some years ago and the somewhat odious gaming industry would almost certainly get the old remaining hotels and B&Bs stocked with gamblers and tourists alike.
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