Told You So

Quite a while has passed since I issued a challenge to Dr. Bruce Jackson over his Artvoice article that I’m pretty sure neither he nor likely anyone else remembers. It concerned his dire concerns about the then proposed expansion of the downtown casino. The challenge was to list five or six disastrous consequences of the casino that would be evident in a year’s time. He never responded.

Nearly eight years have passed. What calamities have we experienced? None that I can think of. Instead, tens of millions of dollars have flowed from the Casino to the City of Buffalo. Hundreds of employees have jobs with decent benefits. A slew of local vendors have a customer that pays it bills on time. Not one single other entertainment venue or any restaurant has been adversely affected. Nothing awful has occurred.

I’m tempted to call Dr. Jackson a Cassandra. But remember that ancient prophetess was right in the end. Jackson was all wrong.

—JACK DUMPERT, KENMORE