Civic leaders in both counties say it’s too early to take
stances for or against a tribal casino that is being proposed for
state Highway 25 near the Santa Clara-San Benito county line.
First, they say, they want more information.
Hollister – Civic leaders in both counties say it’s too early to take stances for or against a tribal casino that is being proposed for state Highway 25 near the Santa Clara-San Benito county line. First, they say, they want more information.
“What they want is details, and that’s exactly what we don’t have,” Rachael Gibson, land-use aide to Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage, said Monday. “It’s sort of nebulous at this point so far.”
Area investors and their tribal partners envision something similar to the 66,000-square-foot Cache Creek Casino Resort north of Sacramento, according to Phillip Thompson, a lawyer representing the group.
The Cache Creek casino employs more than 2,000 people, according to Yolo county Supervisor Mike McGowan. It has 1,762 slot machines, 120 table games, a luxury hotel and spa and eight restaurants, among other amenities. A golf course is in the works.
A few local leaders are already speaking out against building something similar here.
Local Amah-Mutsun Indians say it’s unjust for the California Valley Miwoks – a tiny band that is federally recognized but landless – to set up a casino on the Amah-Mutsuns’ ancestral territory.
“Our main objective is honoring our ancestors,” said Anne Marie Sayers of Hollister, who belongs to an Ohlone band related to the Amah-Mutsuns. “I am personally not opposed to gaming, but ceremony and gaming I think have a hard time co-existing.”
San Benito County Supervisor Ruth Kesler, whose term on the county board ends in December after an unsuccessful re-election bid in March, also opposes a casino. In her experience of talking with other counties’ supervisors, she said, “Those that have (casinos) don’t want them, and those that don’t have them don’t want them.
“They say get as much out of them that you possibly can,” Kesler said. “I don’t want them, period. I don’t like to see young people borrow somebody’s I.D. card so they can get in and gamble.”
San Benito Supervisor-elect Don Marcus has met with investors three times in the past 60 days, he said. He said they recited a “shopping list” of improvements San Benito County could use, and that the group could provide. He wants to study the related issues further before taking a stance, he said.
“I really don’t believe we can close our ears to any community or individual venue that’s making a proposal to us,” Marcus said.
San Benito County Sheriff Curtis Hill was one of the first to publicly oppose it, saying a crime spike would accompany a casino.
Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith, however, is waiting to see what the community says. Police agencies traditionally oppose casinos, sheriff’s spokesman Terrance Helm admitted. If the community supports one in Santa Clara County, his department will police it, Helm said. Deputies also would educate the public about the types of crime it could bring, Helm said.
The Gilroy and San Benito County economic development directors, meanwhile, see the casino as an opportunity for jobs and tourist dollars.
“I’m not a gambling guy,” said Al Martinez, who directs the San Benito County Economic Development Corp. “I don’t like Reno, I don’t like Vegas. And I don’t particularly care what gambling does to people. But it’s economic development. It’s a big job provider, and that’s about the only thing I see.”
Hollister Mayor Tony Bruscia opposes the concept that Indian tribes can run casinos, while others can’t, he said.
“Fundamentally, I’m opposed to it,” he said.
He added, however, there are potential positive impacts as well, which can’t be ignored.
“If we can make it work for the community and bring in jobs and tourism, we’d have to look at something like that.”
Staff at the Gilroy Visitors Bureau say it is normal for people to walk in and ask where the nearest Indian casino is. Office Manager Pam Gimenez said she can recall at least a dozen such requests this calendar year.
“In fact, I had two little old ladies come in just last week looking for the closest Indian casino,” Gimenez said. “They were so cute.”
Gilroy Mayor Al Pinheiro said he has mixed feelings about a casino on his city’s outskirts.
“I right away start worrying about access to gambling and what that would do to families around here,” Pinheiro said. “But then I think, ‘Yeah, but what about families who have to deal with alcoholism, and you have places that serve alcohol around here?'”
Pinheiro also recognizes that a casino could bring tourist dollars into Gilroy, he said.
“They’re not just social impacts; they’re all kinds of impacts,” he said.
Three or four months ago, Pinheiro said someone asked to meet with him about building an Indian casino in or near Gilroy. The meeting was canceled, however, and Pinheiro said he never learned the caller’s identity.
Examining how other casinos have worked in the Bay Area might help predict this one’s success, Gilroy City Councilman Craig Gartman said. The proposed location “out in the middle of no where” could work for or against it, he said, especially considering the condition of the roads leading to the property.
“We’d need to make some major improvements to the (U.S.) 101 and 25, and that’d be a huge project in and of itself,” Gartman said. “But I’ve been to some casinos that are pretty far out there, too, and their parking lots were jammed. Some people don’t want to go to Vegas or Reno to gamble. They want to stay local.”
By Peter Crowley, Katie Niekerk and Kollin Kosmicki
A lot to do before casino is built
Hollister – An Indian tribe and investors interested in building a casino near Highway 25 in San Benito County hope to finish environmental and economic studies of the area by mid-September – the results of which they believe will either propel or deflate the proposal’s progress.
Those studies are on a checklist of necessities the group needs to fulfill before it can seriously consider building a proposed $100 million to $300 million casino, according to their attorney, Phillip Thompson.
Additionally, the group is seeking to buy a plot of land to accommodate a massive casino and the parking lots it would require. And the group must get the governor and federal Bureau of Indian Affairs to sign off on the project, too.
As part of the environmental and economic studies under way, the group has been evaluating sewer capacity, water supply and roadway access to a potential site, among other potential effects, according to Thompson. One city official thinks a new casino could affect the needed capacity at Hollister’s new sewer plant.
The group is conducting similar studies in other counties the group has considered for the casino, Thompson said.
The California Valley band of Miwok Indians and its investors have been courting local and state officials on an idea to build a casino near the San Benito-Santa Clara county line along the rural corridor. The tribe and its investors are evaluating sites on both sides of the county border.
Thompson confirmed Monday it’s the five-member California Valley band of Miwoks, based in Stockton, behind the proposal. They’ve hooked up with two recently-formed Santa Clara County investment groups called Game Won and Game Too.
San Benito County supervisors Pat Loe and Reb Monaco, Supervisor-elect Don Marcus and Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage all have confirmed they’ve held meetings with investors.
Representatives from the group also have held two meetings with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenneger’s top negotiator on Indian gaming, according to Vince Sollitto, a press spokesman with the governor’s office.
The governor has indicated there would have to be “broad and strong” local support before he considers signing a compact agreement to allow gaming activities in the area, Sollitto said Monday.
Through discussions with local officials, Thompson said three main concerns resonate: the likely negative impacts of a casino, such as additional crime; traffic congestion; and sewer capacity. They’d be willing to pony up “fair contributions” toward infrastructure improvements.
Two particularly touchy concerns in Hollister are Highway 25 safety, with more than 20 fatalities there since 2000, and sewer capacity.
With increasing growth pressures, and on the heels of a 15-million gallon sewer spill in 2002, Hollister is building a $38 million sewer plant it expects to finish in late 2005.
“We would make all the efforts – reasonable, financially suitable efforts – to try to help expand that system,” Thompson said.
Hollister City Manager Clint Quilter believes current plans for the sewer plant may need an overhaul if a casino goes up along Highway 25. Quilter, though, wasn’t sure if Hollister or Gilroy would have to take in the additional waste.
“It would completely change everything if you had that much (additional disposal),” said Quilter, who doesn’t know details of the plan and hasn’t talked with members of the group.
Thompson has said the group is willing to listen to local officials’ demands on such a project, along with local residents’ complaints; the group plans to hold public hearings sometime in September or October.
“If we can make it a win-win for everybody, it’s going to be a project that’s going to get done,” Thompson said.
Head of the investment groups, Kirk Rossman, believes a casino would “provide an enormous boost to the overall prosperity of that area,” he said in a press statement issued Monday.
He pointed out that the benefits reach beyond new jobs and added business to local merchants – that revenues from tribal gaming also support educational grants, job training, expanded health services, public safety and charities.
Local governments aren’t guaranteed kickbacks – sales taxes or otherwise – from revenues earned at tribe-operated casinos.
Thompson has indicated they will compensate local government, and Sheriff Curtis Hill, who opposes a casino here, has said the group already offered to build a satellite sheriff’s station near the casino.
“One of the reasons we’re looking at San Benito County is that we haven’t had the firestorm of negative comments,” Thompson said.
Tribes often cut deals with governments to offset negative impacts of building a casino. That was the case in Yolo County when the Rumsey band of Wintun Indians built the Cache Creek casino in Brooks, according to Yolo County Supervisor Mike McGowan.
Thompson has said a casino here would be similar in size to the Cache Creek one – which is 66,000 square feet with 1,762 slot machines and 120 table games.
McGowan, also chairman of the gaming committee for the California State Association of Counties, said the Rumsey tribe fairly compensated local government. He offered advice to other counties, including San Benito, where casinos are being proposed.
“Make sure you’re asking for anything you think will be relevant.”
Kollin Kosmicki is a Free Lance staff writer. E-mail him at
kk*******@fr***********.com
or call (831) 637-5566, ext. 331.
