The Saga of the Greater Binghamton Entertainment Authority

By Mark J Trabucco

I entered politics in order to prevent something that I believed would harm my Village.

In 2004, there was suddenly a proposed solution to the underutilization and requirement for subsidy of The Forum Theater and the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. This was the Greater Binghamton Entertainment Authority (GBEA), authored by Senator Libous. All of the news about this initiative concerned only these two venues. From my perspective in Tioga County this appeared to be a matter of concern only for Broome County and the hotel/motel association, which was being required to subsidize it [I wrote a letter to the Editor in early June, 2004]. Later that month, [Thursday before Strawberry Festival], I read the bill (S 6827) online and became aware that Broome was not the only affected county; both Chenango and Tioga Counties were to be included in the bill's provisions. At this point, both the New York State Senate and the Assembly were in session, and the bill had already passed the Senate. I was deathly afraid that the bill could be voted on and reconciled, as many important things are, in the middle of the night, and with few representatives knowing what they were voting for.

I wondered why Tioga County would have been included. We have a movie theater, the Ti-awhaga Players new theatre, a fairgrounds, bowling alley, and so on, but nothing of the size or scope of the Veterans Arena. Why would the Entertainment Authority include us? Then it occurred to me that Tioga Park was going to be redeveloped with Video Lottery Terminals. This would be a major investment and should be a major source of property taxes for the Town of Nichols and the School District.

Back to the bill: Among the GBEA's powers is the right of `eminent domain'. My fear was that the Authority could cannibalize the Park. In Chenango County, at that time, there was proposed a convention center and golf course. Likewise, should this be built it could have been subsumed by the powers of the Authority.

Having slept fitfully, I awakened and determined to do what I could to keep harm from coming to my County. I wrote the piece, "Did You Know ...", printed 100 copies, signed them, and distributed them at the Strawberry Festival. It was reported to me that many concerned and sometimes irate citizens began contacting their representatives. Ultimately, Senator Libous requested an invitation to address the Tioga County Legislature. This was scheduled for Wednesday, June 30, at midday. I awoke that morning at 6:00 a.m. and began working on my remarks. Among other issues, I wished the Senator to hear about was the dissatisfaction our entire body had with unfunded mandates, the State's profligacy in general, which we believed had a great deal to do with our requirement to raise property taxes. As the only Democrat on the Legislature, I was the only individual who dared speak.

The Senator arrived with his entourage and the meeting commenced with some remarks by him. Chairman Borko then asked if anyone had questions for the Senator. I replied "No, but I do have a statement." I then proceeded to air my fears and concerns. When I completed my remarks, Mr. Libous said a couple of things: He said "Mark, you're remarks seem to me to be of two kinds (sic). The first sounds political. If you don't like the job I'm doing, you should circulate petitions and run against me."

I don't, so I am.

The Senator also chastised me, saying, "Mark, you are ignorant and you just don't get it." He characterized my understanding of the bill as flawed, suggested I should have read it with a lawyer and essentially inferred that I didn't understand what I had read. I understood perfectly well what the bill said.

In his further remarks, Senator Libous allowed as how Tioga County would benefit little from the Authority, and if we didn't want to be included, we merely had to vote to be removed. He then thought for a moment and said, "If you don't want to be in it, have Chairman Borko call me and tell me so." He stopped again and said "If you don't want to be in it, just do nothing, and I'll take your name out."

When the meeting ended, I approached Mr. Robert Neilsen, the Senator's [Lawyer and Chief of Staff] and I asked him if the scenarios I had described were possible. When I asked about Tioga Park becoming part of the Authority thus avoiding property taxes and lessening the cost of their doing business, he agreed it was possible and said, "but that is not what we have in mind."

In the subsequent days and weeks, I began to get calls from legislators in Chenango and Broome Counties asking how we got out of the Authority. The rest, as you know, is history. The Authority was never popular as construed with any of the governing bodies and ultimately the effort was abandoned. Score one for the good guys.