The tribe of Miwok Indians hoping to build a casino in San
Benito County have hired a private company to perform an economic
impact report, which will detail the financial effects the casino
would have on the area, according to California Valley Miwok
Project spokeswoman Nicole Ratcliff.
Hollister – The tribe of Miwok Indians hoping to build a casino in San Benito County have hired a private company to perform an economic impact report, which will detail the financial effects the casino would have on the area, according to California Valley Miwok Project spokeswoman Nicole Ratcliff.
The findings could be made public as early as January in a community meeting, Ratcliff said. The tribe has selected Alan Meister, who has previous experience preparing economic studies for other tribes, to create the report for the proposed Miwok casino off Highway 25.
“The economic study will provide a lot of the meat from tax impacts, employment, and crime,” said Miwok attorney Phillip Thompson.
The law does not require the tribe to conduct an economic study, but members want to show San Benito County residents the economic benefits they believe a casino would have on the community, Ratcliff said. The tribe is hoping that the idea of a casino will be more welcome in the community as a result, Thompson said.
“We don’t even know right now if the county likes us enough to have us down there, so we’ve got a lot of different things we need to do. Right now we’re just trying to get the information that’s going to be necessary to support a lot of the things we believe are going to occur from an economic standpoint,” Thompson said.
The tribe hopes Meister will have enough information from the report to present some of his findings in a community meeting in Hollister in January, Ratcliff said. Residents would receive copies of the report ahead of time, and the meeting would serve as a chance for Meister to address any of their financial concerns, she said.
“Before you start to negotiate, you need to know what kind of numbers you’re playing with,” she said.
Hollister Mayor Tony Bruscia said he assumes traffic, police, sewer and fire issues will be addressed in the economic report, but is more worried about other issues that can’t necessarily be predicted in a study.
“I don’t know if it’s something you can really quantify or measure, but the social and human impacts… needless to say, I think those would be the most important thing. You can build a highway or put more police in place, but you can’t help the guy who can’t pay his rent because he gambled it all away. You can’t help the guy who’s getting a divorce because he can’t stay out of the casino,” Bruscia said.
But Thompson said the tribe is looking to help people better understand all the benefits the tribe believes a casino would bring to the county.
“We’re here now and we are what we are, bottom line. But we hope to be able to answer questions more in-depth in the future. We want people to be able to ask us their questions and give them the complete answers,” Thompson said.
Project Manager Gary Ramos has estimated at different times that the casino would create between 1,000 and 2,000 jobs. The group has previously said the casino would be similar in size to the 66,000 square-foot, 1,700-slot machine Cache Creek casino in Yolo County, but Thompson said Monday it was too early for a concrete number.
But Casinos Represent A Poor Solution (C.R.A.P.S.) Chairman Steve Merrell said no matter what the results of the economic report are or how many jobs a casino would create, locals shouldn’t be convinced the project would bring the big bucks into San Benito County. While a casino would bring local jobs, he said, they would not be the kind of jobs the county needs.
“In the experience of other counties that have gone this route, the studies have shown that it doesn’t have a positive impact on the county,” Merrell said. “Especially where we live… you have to look at counties where there’s a high cost of living. These jobs they’re creating don’t pay enough to live in the county on. They may create jobs, but they’re not the kind of jobs that can sustain an economy,” he said.
Miwok officials haven’t yet said how much the casino jobs would pay.
Crime is another issue San Benito County should be looking at in records from other counties with casinos, Merrell said. In one instance in Kings County, the home of The Palace Indian Gaming Center in Lemoore, 10 percent of the calls to the sheriff’s department in 2003 were directly related to the casino, according to County Sheriff Allan McClain. But the relationship between the county and the tribe has remained positive, McClain has said.
Merrell said he was also skeptical of the tribe’s hiring a private firm: The Analysis Group, whose Los Angeles office Meister works in. Although the Analysis Group is a third party, Merrell doubts the report would be impartial, since Meister specializes in Indian Gaming.
According to Merrell, C.R.A.P.S. has been approached by a group willing to do an economic impact report for the anti-casino organization. He said he was sure this report would show a casino’s adverse effect on San Benito County, but his group will have to do some more fundraising before it can afford the fees for preparing the study.
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at jq*****@fr***********.com.
