If the Chumash Tribe had waited until 2007 to start their bid for casino expansion, perhaps Santa Ynez would have had a different landscape along 246 in the future. Maybe if the SY Valley had seen the effect of new indian casinos around the country for the last seven years, actions similar to those of Woodland in Washington State would have been taken. From The Columbian:
Woodland to consider anti-casino resolution
BY JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian staff writer
Woodland could become the third city to pass a resolution opposing the proposed Cowlitz casino and threatening litigation if the federal government approves the project.
The Woodland City Council will consider a three-page draft resolution Monday night that says the casino would have a negative effect on the city's schools, roads, affordable housing stock and social services.
"The city of Woodland has identified gambling addiction - which results in crime, bankruptcy and domestic violence and which strains law enforcement and social services - as a significant negative effect the mega-casino will have on city residents and businesses," the resolution says. "The casino proponents propose no mitigation for the strain on law enforcement and social services the casino will cause."
The resolution goes on to argue that federal approval would be "an abuse of discretion, not supported by the evidence and made without following the required procedures."
In May, both the Vancouver and La Center city councils unanimously adopted resolutions opposing plans for a $510 million casino complex on a 152-acre site a couple miles west of La Center.
The tribe was dealt a stiffer setback in June when the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board struck down the agreement the tribe brokered with Clark County in 2004.
Under federal law, the Bureau of Indian Affairs must evaluate the casino's impacts.
1 comment:
What I still find stunning is the behemoth the chumash were able to build right on the hiway, and the short time it took them to do this. In a county where it can take a merchant 2 years to get country approval for a simple awning outside a business, it takes our local tribe virtually notime to erect one of the ugliest buildings in the county.
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