Gambling opponents in California seek arbitration of local concerns

Don Thompson

Thursday, Aug. 10, 2000 | 9:19 a.m.

SACRAMENTO - Five months after voters approved Indian gambling in California, dozens of residents from across the state came to the Capitol Wednesday to complain it will hurt their communities.

They were joined by several county supervisors in calling on Gov. Gray Davis and the Legislature to require tribes to pay for improvements to highways, water and sewer systems, law enforcement and fire protection that are needed because of the casinos.

Davis said the gambling compacts negotiated by his office already require the tribes to "make good faith efforts" to negotiate with local officials - though there's no requirement they reach agreement. He suggested the citizens and tribes exhaust those local talks before turning to state officials.

A portion of the gambling money the state collects also will go to help local governments affected by the casinos, added Davis spokeswoman Hilary McLean.

Jacob Coin, executive director of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, said Indians weren't consulted for generations, until their bid to build profitable casinos suddenly threatened white residents' quality of life.

"It used to be the only good Indian was a dead Indian," said Coin. "Now the only good Indian is a poor Indian."

Organizers said they have no hope of stopping the casinos, and denied any desire to keep the tribes from profiting.

However, they said Davis hasn't done enough to require tribes to resolve potential environmental and legal problems, including the status of tribal land and disputes over which Indian bands can legally be considered "tribes" for the purpose of operating casinos.

Sonoma County Supervisor Paul Kelley joined Alexander Valley residents in asserting that a proposed million-square-foot casino there would ruin the valley's agricultural atmosphere and overwhelm local resources.

"We can't afford to let these gaming facilities overrun us and crush us, and let local taxpayers pay the brunt," Kelley said.

Robert Coffin, an attorney who lives in Wildcat Canyon east of San Diego, complained that the expanding Barona Tribal Casino is sucking the water out of the canyon's vulnerable aquifer for its new golf course and destroying the rural ambiance.

"I believe this has to be resolved on a statewide basis," Coffin said. "The counties are not equipped to deal with this."

Placer County Supervisor Paul Weygandt said the tribes' status as sovereign nations strips county officials of their usual tools for requiring developers to pay costs that otherwise would be borne by local taxpayers.

Coin, of the Indian Gaming Association, and San Lorenzo resident Bing Hojlo, both noted the irony that Indian tribes pushed long ago to vacant, unwanted land are once again running into opposition from whites expanding to the frontiers of growing cities.

"They are no longer islands surrounded by acres and acres of vacant land," Hojlo said.