Armed with power point presentations, sub-committees, signs and
a fierce desire to keep a casino out of San Benito County, a group
of about 25 residents met Tuesday night to devise a plan of attack
against a proposed casino.
Hollister – Armed with power point presentations, sub-committees, signs and a fierce desire to keep a casino out of San Benito County, a group of about 25 residents met Tuesday night to devise a plan of attack against a proposed casino.
A group calling itself CRAPS, Casinos Represent a Poor Solution, held its third meeting at Ladd Lane Elementary School to organize ways to rouse community opposition and discussed making the issue a hot-button item in the November board of supervisors election.
The group discussed putting pressure on candidates Anthony Botelho and Anthony Freitas to take a stance on the issue.
If each candidate has strong opposing views on the casino, Botelho said it could become a deciding factor of who emerges the victor in November. At this time Botelho said he’s 75 percent opposed and 25 percent undecided, but Freitas said he hasn’t committed to anything yet.
“This county would be a lot better off without a casino,” Botelho said. “We have the opportunity for sustainable economic growth and diversity in the county without the problems a casino brings.”
Botelho conceded there probably are some benefits of a casino in the county, but said the vast majority of people he’s talked to oppose it. He said he would make his decision based on what his constituents want.
Freitas said he hasn’t heard enough information about the proposal yet, including the economic benefits of a casino for the county.
“To be a supervisor, or anything for the public, you need to be educated, and I don’t have a decision without more studying and listening to constituents,” he said. “If someone comes out and says they’re against or for it without really studying it, then they’re not making a good decision.”
The CRAPS group, which opposes a casino resort proposed by the California Valley Miwok Tribe on a 209-acre parcel of land along Highway 25 in San Benito County, near the Santa Clara County border, is in its infancy but already has about 100 residents who support its cause, CRAPS chairman Steve Merrell said.
“At the end of the day the governor means it when he says he won’t approve a casino in a location where the local people are against it,” Merrell said. “When the people understand what it means and what’s at stake, I think they’ll (rally against it).”
Group members plan to bombard residents with petitions at grocery stores, canvass neighborhoods disseminating information, send mailers to community members and write letters to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other members of government to further their cause.
The group has six different sub-committees, including a community action committee to rally support, a finance committee to raise funds, a public relations committee to keep the media involved and a research committee devoted to researching areas where casinos have opened in the past.
They hope to gather a considerable group of people before a meeting on Oct. 21, when the county is having an informational meeting at the Veteran’s Memorial Building, and before the new board of supervisors comes on board in January.
“If we can have 700 people with signs and buttons of ‘No Casino’ in front of the Vets’ hall saying ‘no, we don’t want it,’ we can make it an event,” Merrell said during last night’s meeting. “It’s a very, very strong message… but we have to mobilize our community.”
David Nicolaysen, the owner of Beaver Lumber, is opposed to the casino for moral reasons. He believes it will increase crime and is a bad solution to the county’s financial woes, he said.
Something needs to be done to help bring revenue into the county, but instead of a casino, Nicolaysen said the community needs to entice retail businesses and developers to the area.
“The supervisors are under a tremendous amount of pressure. They look at something like this as a God send. Here’s somebody willing to pump a bunch of money in,” he said. “The people in this community need to recognize they can’t make demands of no growth and expect the supervisors will be able to balance their budget in hard times.”
He said that the idea of a casino could, if not approved, be a blessing in disguise if the community takes it upon itself to find different options.
“If this group recognizes the opportunity of being held to the fire to not just bring up the negative, but to also propose a healthy approach to a solution, it can help us solve the problem,” he said.
The CRAPS group will hold weekly meetings at 7pm at Ladd Lane Elementary School in the multi-purpose room until the Oct. 21 meeting at the Veteran’s Memorial Building.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
