Buffalo, NY (WBEN) As the legal fight between the Senecas and the city of Buffalo over the Seneca One Stop project in the Old First Ward shapes up, a couple of legal experts say a couple of issues need to be determined before a judge can decide on halting the project.
"From a legal standpoint, this is a real quandary, and I don't know that anybody knows the exact and true answer," says retired Judge Penny Wolfgang. But she says a federal judge will have to step in. What would it take for a cease and desist to come from a judge? "it would have to be some kind of irreparable damage, which there is, to get a temporary restraining order," notes Wolfgang. "Because if they continue to build, obviously it's going to be destructive. It's going to be something that you can't replace or change, and therefore it has to be done immediately. That would be the argument."
Attorney Barry Covert recalls when another group fought the Senecas over the downtown casino project. "Th Citizens Against Casino Gambling in Erie County brought challenges, and they lost in the district court. They lost in the Second Circuit, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. So the casino is there, up and operating with, I believe, gas stations right in front of it as well. So we're we're going to see how the federal court is going to handle these two lawsuits and what effect it has on that property that the Seneca Nation Miami Street that they want to develop into a convenience store and gas station," says Covert.
Covert days the city of Buffalo has a bit of an advantage because the courts also look at what is the status quo. "Are we being asked to change anything? What if we don't issue this? Does the status quo change? And the city is going to then the city is going to say, of course it is," explains Covert. "They're building on that property. They're claiming that it affects the properties around them, that it burdens the police department, that it causes undue competition to the businesses in the area, and so they they do have somewhat of an argument there. But ultimately, they have to show the federal court that they're likely to succeed eventually on the merits, and just looking at the outcome of the Buffalo Creek Casino, which is not far from this location, which all the same essentially the same arguments were made that the the property was not properly sovereign Seneca property under federal law, as designated by the Department of Interior, but the Seneca Nation ultimately won that litigation." Covert believes it will be difficult, but not impossible, for the city of Buffalo to prevail.
Covert says movement would depend on how fast shovels continue in the ground.
"Wolfgang: "From a legal standpoint, this is a real quandary"
"Wolfgang: "From a legal standpoint, this is a real quandary"
