Regional leaders say they will work in unity to determine what’s
best for the area if two proposed Indian projects go through.
Gilroy – Regional leaders say they will work in unity to determine what’s best for the area if two proposed Indian projects go through.
In a closed meeting, 15 leaders from different South County government agencies – including Gilroy, Morgan Hill, Hollister, San Martin, San Juan Bautista and Santa Clara and San Benito counties – met to discuss a casino proposed just south of Gilroy by the California Valley Miwoks, as well as the possible development of Sargent Ranch by a group of Amah Mutsuns.
“Most of all,” said Gilroy Mayor Al Pinheiro, “is the unified word that we will talk as a group about how we’ll be impacted, as this will impact all the communities around us for years.”
Wednesday’s two-hour meeting at Gilroy City Hall gathered city managers and mayors from Gilroy, Morgan Hill and Hollister, as well as a San Juan Bautista councilman, supervisors from Santa Clara and San Benito counties and San Martin Neighborhood Alliance President Sylvia Hamilton. Gavilan College President Steve Kinsella, Gilroy Unified School District Superintendent Edwin Diaz and San Benito County Superintendent of Schools Tim Foley also attended, as did a representative for Congressman Mike Honda, whose district covers both projects.
Three primary areas of concern were identified in the coalition’s meeting: the social impacts, impacts on infrastructure such as roads, and impacts on locally shared resources such as schools and fire and police staff.
The group is not taking a formal position on either project at this point. District 1 Supervisor Don Gage and aide Rachel Gibson both attended the meeting, and Gibson, who described the meeting as “very constructive and very beneficial,” said it would be premature to take a formal stance now.
“Right now, we’re in an information gathering stage,” she said. “There are so many unknowns, and it’s all so preliminary. First and foremost, we want to get more information.”
The next step will be getting a clear understanding of what exactly is being proposed, Pinheiro said. Regional leaders will hold at least one more closed meeting, perhaps with representatives from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the governor’s office who are knowledgeable about tribal compacts and what is and is not allowed in terms of tribal land development.
Coming together in one place to discuss the projects was and will continue to be necessary as they unfold, Gibson said.
“There’s been a lot of talk back and forth, and we’ve all been seeing various things in the newspapers and reading each other’s comments, but we had never gathered around one table to discuss things together,” she said. “These two issues are just emerging, and we definitely need to stay on top of them.”
Hamilton, of the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance, emphasized that getting accurate information is essential to making good decisions, and right now, accurate information is sparse.
“One of the things we did at the beginning of the meeting was go around and ask what each of us knew and didn’t know, and it became apparent fairly quickly that there’s a lot out there we don’t know,” she said.
Leaders have been made aware of several arguments both for and against the two projects, especially the casino. Proponents tout its potential to boost local economies and provide jobs, while locals raise doubt about what it could do to society and quality of life.
The leaders said they will organize future public meetings for locals to voice their concerns, as well as to hear from members of the tribes involved in the projects.
“I think if we’re wanting to find out about the plans being proposed, then we should talk to the people who are proposing them,” Gibson said.
At this point, the casino is the project of more immediate concern because the Miwoks already have federal recognition, whereas the Amah Mutsun tribal band does not. Gaining federal recognition is one the first steps to officially securing tribal land, which can be developed free of local planning ordinances by tribes that are federally recognized.
But before the Miwoks can build the casino – which they estimate could cost up to $300 million – the tribe has to get approvals from both the BIA and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The governor has said he won’t approve a gaming compact with the tribe unless there’s overwhelming support from the locals.
Last week, a public meeting in Hollister organized by the San Benito County Board of Supervisors gathered a mix of opinions from concerned locals, Hollister city officials and Amah Mutsun tribal members, who say the territory the Miwoks want to build on is not their ancestral land.
Supervisors from Yolo and Sonoma counties, which both have Indian gaming, also attended last week’s meeting and gave their advice on the matter: Once a tribe has a trust and makes compacts with the governor, it is almost impossible to keep the tribe from establishing a casino if they so choose. But it is possible to work with them to find a location for the casino that may be better for the community environmentally and socially, the supervisors said, and to negotiate with them to try to mitigate any impacts casino might have, such as increased fire and police staff.
The controversial projects have jump started the city of Gilroy’s intention to hold periodic closed meetings with regional leaders, an idea Pinheiro said has been on the backburner for a couple of years.
“Certainly these two issues are a good reason why we need to have these kind of get togethers,” Pinheiro said.
Katie Niekerk covers City Hall for The Dispatch. Reach her at 847-7097 or [email protected].
