In regard to your editorial on Thursday, there are a number of
your assertions regarding the Amah Mutsun Tribe of Mission San Juan
Bautista and the Sargent Ranch which require correction:
Editor,
In regard to your editorial on Thursday, there are a number of your assertions regarding the Amah Mutsun Tribe of Mission San Juan Bautista and the Sargent Ranch which require correction:
The Amah Mutsun of Mission San Juan Bautista trace their genealogical ancestral roots to the Baptismal records from Mission San Juan Bautista, prior to and including the year 1840. The group represented by Mr. Lopez purportedly traces their origins from Mission Santa Cruz. It is the Amah Mutsun of Mission San Juan Bautista who have the ancestral ties to the Sargent Ranch land and not the Mission Santa Cruz Indians.
The development proposal between the Amah Mutsun of Mission San Juan Bautista and the owners of the Sargent Ranch is for a “self contained” “stand alone” development of an adult residential and congregate care community that will require no services from the city of Gilroy.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs has already stated in a community forum on Jan. 25 that any development on Sargent Ranch would include extensive environmental review. There are numerous developments in counties throughout the State of California that are not within any city service areas within the respective counties.
Your conclusion regarding financial viability is based on faulty arithmetic. The $35.5 million in debt you reference is on 6,500 acres which equates to $5,461.54 per acre. Land acreage in Santa Clara County sells for $25,000 to $78,000 per acre. The $25 Million in land value referenced in your editorial was for only 500 acres of the total 6,500 acres.
The Amah Mutsun Tribe of Mission San Juan Bautista is not divided on the goal of developing the Sargent Ranch without gaming. You continue to confuse it with the Santa Cruz group which has stated that gaming is fine for them.
The missing financier, David Fitzgerald was never a partner of mine or a partner in any of my previous projects. It is he and not I who is the subject of various Federal investigations.
Despite your insinuations, my wife Marci and I are deeply committed to working with the Amah Mutsun of Mission San Juan Bautista, to build a secure future without gaming.
Wayne Pierce, owner, Sargent Ranch
