e-Claire

Cows? Casinos? Jobs? Indians?!?

The "Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria" are looking for a site to build a casino. Yep, a gambling casino. Right here in River City The Country™! Well, not actually that close. They first sighted in on Sears Point, where the Raceway is, but were booed out of the area by residents using environmental flails. [San Pablo Bay Wetlands restoration] Next we hear, the city of Rodent Part Rhonert Park is confabing with the Indians. [Say, weren't we taught that saying "Indians" was rude and insulting? I guess now that the term has "you-owe-me" cache, it's cool.] Indians also get to play by different rules than you or I. They are only held to Federal environmental guidelines, not local or state restrictions. Essentially, the Feds have bigger fish to fry and don't give so much of a hoot about the tiger salamander or the Laguna de Santa Rosa wetlands. No one at all seems to be bothered by the fact that the land in question was declared a community separator by the County General Plan. [That means that the county can just up and decide that a particular property will never be developed so that there will be pretty green space to look at between communities. It is a "taking" of property value from a private citizen. ... but that's a post for another day.] The Indians want to build a 1,900 (or 2,000) slot casino with 120 card tables, a 200 (or 300) room, three story hotel, a spa, a restaurant with wine cellar and a fast-food court, and a 2,000 seat special events/entertainment venue. They have secured an option to buy 360 acres west of the city limits. That's "thousands" of "high-paying, union jobs" for the area. [750 construction jobs for 18 months and 2,200 regular employees with an annual payroll of $67 million] They will also dig their own wells, treat their own waste water, cover police and fire cost increases they incur [$1.6 mil/year], build a public safety building [$2.4 mil] on site, and make road and traffic improvements. They will also share yet-to-be-determined amounts of revenue for schools, parks, and health care. [$6.4 mil/year "because tribal reservation lands are exempt from property, sales, and hotel taxes"] Hot damn, huh? The design of the site is "southern Mediterranean that will complement Wine Country" and "there won't be neon or jumping dolphins." [a traditional Indian theme, jumping dolphins?] "Some people thing a casino will tarnish the city's image." To me this ain't such a worry since RP resembles the ass end of San Berdoo -- without the charm. The City Council is receptive to the increased tax base, jobs, and income to the area. The Supervisor, the local congress-critter, and even Lady Sen. DiFi are all in favor.

Indian tribes are considered sovereign nations and don't have to abide by many local laws once their land is accepted into trust and designated as a reservation by the federal government.

Here is the rub. The Indians are bidding on land wherever it seems advantageous to them, just like any other business. But once the land becomes property of the tribe it is automatically transformed into a reservation where local laws are irrelevant. This makes the Indians the 600 lb gorilla in the neighborhood.

"We don't have to do this [share revenue with local government] and the majority of tribes don't do this," Sarris [Tribal Chairman Greg Sarris ] said.

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