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Casino Fight Looms May 10, 2003

An overflow crowd of nearly 400 residents concerned about the proposed Graton Rancheria gaming resort filled Andrews Hall Tuesday to hear 1st District Supervisor Valerie Brown say that a casino will be built somewhere in the area even if opposition kills the present suggested site.

Brown sponsored the event in order to provide Valley residents information and to organize opposition against the project planned on 2,000 acres of agricultural land at the corner of Highway 37 and Lakeville Highway. County Counsel Stephen Woodside makes a point during the two-hour meeting about the proposed resort casino on Highway 37 and Lakeville Highway.

The supervisor set the crowd's expectation from the start. "If you came here because you don't believe we should have a casino - because you want to stop the casino - you might as well walk out the door right now," Brown said. There will be a casino somewhere in Sonoma or Marin county, Brown added, asking the crowd to focus on battles they could win - including keeping the land agricultural and making changes in the language of the tribe's restoration agreement to allow for local input.

Both changes mean loads of letter writing. Brown, who spent several years lobbying on behalf of Southern California cities whose card rooms were threatened by Indian casinos, handed out sample opposition letters and addresses for Gov. Gray Davis, members of Congress, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other officials.

"You need to get organized," Brown said and asked the crowd to send the original of all letters to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to her, so that they can be packaged together, as well as copies of all letters sent to other officials. "I realize I just put a big bull's-eye right here," she added, pointing to her chest and referring to potential hostility from the casino developers.

She stressed that people should rewrite the sample letters into their own words and not just sign them and send them in. Obvious form letters would be ignored, she said. "The reality is the only fight I think we have is whether this tribal government can lay claim to this piece of property for a commercial development," Brown said.

By focusing on the large loss of agricultural acreage, the community may be able to guide the project to a more desirable location. "In this county we have an obligation to protect our agricultural land." The second battlefield is the language in the legislation that restored the tribe, Brown added.

It now reads that the Department of Interior "shall" provide land in trust for the benefit of Graton Rancheria in Marin or Sonoma County. Brown wants to amend the wording to say that the department "may" provide land, because this would give the local community a say in the project and any efforts to mitiate its impact.

Cheryl Schmit, director of Stand Up California - an Indian-gaming watchdog group - was able to alter the wording in the legislation for a tribe in Placer County that led to a mutually beneficial change for the tribe and the community. Schmit told the gathering that she began hearing about the Graton Rancheria plans several years ago as the tribe applied for restoration.

At that point they said they were not interested in gaming. Schmit believed this would change. "In 2003 my predictions came true," Schmit said. The process for the tribe is land acquisition, putting the property into a federal trust and then signing a compact with the state.

According to Sonoma County Deputy County Counsel Bruce Goldstein, the land purchase has not been completed. "There are two issues I want to separate for you," Goldstein said. "One is what can we do right now, and the other is what can we do if the land goes into trust." Brown repeatedly encouraged the crowd to visit current Indian casinos to better form an opinion of what they'd want to see at a local casino if the land trust is granted.

"If we get into a position of having to negotiate for concessions, find out what you'd want to ask for," Brown said. Brown and the other speakers answered written questions from the audience. "I've heard it's a done deal, that we should just try to get the best deal we can. I'm for no deal," wrote one audience member.

Brown answered, "If I believed it was a done deal, I wouldn't be standing before you today. I know enough about it, I've seen enough to know it's so new that no one can predict." When asked for a show of people willing to start the grass-roots opposition, most of the crowd raised their hands. "My heart and my soul are with you every step of the way," Brown told the crowd.

At several points during the evening, one audience member spoke up on the rights of the Indians, but he faced a tough crowd. Brown took the opportunity to read a letter from Graton Rancheria Chairman Greg Sarris, who expressed his disappointment at not being invited to speak at the meeting. Two other members of the tribe said afterward that they were upset that both sides weren't presented.

The tribe's 10-point pledge of cooperation was also read - covering items including unprecedented revenue sharing, preservation and restoration of the environment, paying full costs of infrastructure improvements and holding public hearings to solicit community views.

Brown encouraged the crowd to listen and remember, so that if the casino goes in, they can hold the tribe to the pledge. At the crowd's negative response, Brown asked the group to understand that this is a very emotional issue from the American Indians' point of view.

"Understand it and respect it and work on the issues you can actually do something about," Brown said. Steven Woodside, Sonoma County Counsel, discussed tribal sovereignty. "Some will say that tribes within the state have the status of a separate nation. That is not true. The tribes in the United States are in a dependent status defined by Congress," Woodside said.

"The primary place to take concerns is to Congress. They have the right to put restrictions on tribes." Others at the state level have a lot to say, Woodside added. "The governor holds a lot of cards right now on this proposal," Woodside said. "What's frustrating for me is that local government has been left out at every stage."

Woodside echoed Brown's warning. "This tribe will be able to engage in gaming somewhere in Sonoma or Marin county," Woodside said. "The question of where and under what circumstances - those are efforts that we should work hard on." Several residents stayed after the meeting to discuss what they'd just heard.

Bob Avrit, a 21-year Sonoma resident, came to the meeting opposed to the casino. "They don't pay taxes and they can compete where the rest of us can't," Avrit said. "Already the traffic is horrendous - it backs up from Sears Point to the Petaluma bridge. Add all the gamblers and it will be worse. It just brings a lot of problems. Casinos always do and they depend on the community to take care of the services."

Steve Kyle, a 26-year Valley resident, said, "I came to find out how to stop it, or to get it in another location." Another concerned resident, Tracy Gillespie, said, "My husband and I are impassioned by this. It would have a terrible impact." Local resident Patrick Wofford volunteered to lead the opposition.

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