Indian Casinos in WA (Seattle, Arlington: hotel, homes, taxes)

[KidBlue]

I live in El Dorado Co. in NorCA but hoping to get the heck out of here as soon as possible. We are having a huge fight between the residents of the county and the local Miwok Tribe over a proposed gambling casino and hotel complex. The city of Plymouth in Amador Co. in NorCA is dealing with this same issue.

I won't get into the politics of this issue, but I was wondering if WA has similar problems with the casinos. I saw a few when I visited earlier this year, so I know WA has casinos. Where there problems when the casinos were built? I would also like to know if WA has restrictions on where the casinos are built and how big they can be. Also, are there any proposals for new casinos in the Elma/Montesano area?

Most of the problems in NorCA are stemming from the casinos being located in rural areas with very few people and few existing buisnesses. The casinos are very large hotel/casino/restaurant complexes where the backers of the project are from Minnesota and not even from California.

Any input you may have would be helpful.

[Baciobabe]

Originally Posted by KidBlue

I live in El Dorado Co. in NorCA but hoping to get the heck out of here as soon as possible. We are having a huge fight between the residents of the county and the local Miwok Tribe over a proposed gambling casino and hotel complex. The city of Plymouth in Amador Co. in NorCA is dealing with this same issue.

I won't get into the politics of this issue, but I was wondering if WA has similar problems with the casinos. I saw a few when I visited earlier this year, so I know WA has casinos. Where there problems when the casinos were built? I would also like to know if WA has restrictions on where the casinos are built and how big they can be. Also, are there any proposals for new casinos in the Elma/Montesano area?

Most of the problems in NorCA are stemming from the casinos being located in rural areas with very few people and few existing buisnesses. The casinos are very large hotel/casino/restaurant complexes where the backers of the project are from Minnesota and not even from California.

Any input you may have would be helpful.

Hey Kid Blue,
I lived in Washington most of my life, the Seattle area, my mom lives in Satsop and grew up in Elma, those towns are so small that you don't know if you've left one and are in the other. Summer of 2005 My husband, myself and 3 kids moved to Oregon where my husband accepted a job as an Executive Master Chef for an Oregon Casino, this was the second he had worked in. He resigned from both. Ironically we now live in Minnesota, we had to move twice, summer to summer. My poor children have suffered the most.

I too have worked in two casino's, one in WA and the other in OR. The political climate working inside these toxic environments can be very spiritually unhealthy. Perspective is the key. When I worked in WA it was as a small casino and the people of the tribe had given up some of their tribal housing grounds to build the casino. They really took a gamble in hope for a better life. The casino, in Arlington was small, not far from a much larger casino but they did well. It was known as "The Friendliest Casino on Earth". It did not employ alot of tribal people but I do believe that each year when profits were distributed it did help especially the elders with a better life. These were good people, that just wanted to run a business where they could help their people. Unfortunately Native American people are left with few options. Now, I don't know much but I do know that there is alot of red tape that the tribes have to jump through and if they do it well they can avoid alot of taxes and that can mean more money for the people in the tribe.

The casino I worked in, in Oregon had a wonderful apprentiship program for tribal members. Individuals were given the opportunity to work in each department for a period of time and offered positions within the casino. Tribal members were always given preference for career advancement and hiring. I detected anamosity among other employees that were not tribal and personally observed some abuse of the system but more often than not, the good and right paths were followed.

A board of elders is whom typically makes the final decisions so my dear, all we can do is sit back, trust the Gods and pray and it seems when I am still the wisdom and answers come my way, then and only then do I grow. All I keep with me is the magestic Washington mountains and the emense beauty of the Oregon Coast. ODAT Patsy

[Brutal Attack]

As far as I know, Indians can only have casinos on their reservations thank God.

[KidBlue]

The casinos may not be as much of a concern in WA state. When I studied the map of WA, it appeared that most of the Indian reservations were pretty large and were a well defined area of land.

What's happened in our area is that years ago the mostly rural counties agreed that the Indians would live on small areas of land within small rural towns. The land is Indian land, but is not a reservation. Now the Indians are building casinos on small parcels of land surrounded by rural communities. In El Dorado Co. the Indian land is only 160 acres (4 parcels) and only 10 families occupy the 160 acres. Now they are trying to build a 380,000 square foot casino/hotel right in the middle of rural homes. This is the same situation in Amador County.

Another wrinkle in CA is that the Governor got the larger tribes to sign an agreement that they will pay 25% of their earnings to the state. So the casinos have to be really big to make enough of a profit. Thanks Arnie. Grrrrrr