Not a Great Track Record of Cooperation
In a recent commentary by Rick Lee, the community was naively assured
that when the Santa Ynez Band seek an amended compact
with the state "there will be plenty of time for public debate and
input" and all interested parties "will play a major role" in
the outcome.
What could possibly support this statement?
In February, Chairman Armenta severed
communication with the County announcing, "Our doors are closed."
both he and Richard Gomez continue to pound the proverbial sovereign drum that
essentially says we will do as we please and this is suppose to indicate
what...cooperation? Am I missing something?
A Brief History
2000 - Overflow crowd of
Valley residents urge tribal leaders to rethink massive expansion plans to
build a large casino at the only public meeting granted by the tribe.
Following this meeting, a letter from Armenta and
tribal council members stated, "Please don't tell us what we can or cannot
do with our business."
2001 - The County sends a
letter to Governor Gray Davis stating the gaming facilities being constructed
"presents an imminent threat to public health and safety and the
environment" because compliance to the compact was not being met.
Various local agencies identified several important health and safety considerations. "The Tribe ignored or inadequately
addressed these issues." The county
requested the Governor "take action." Nothing came of the
county's request.
2002 - Armenta
assures the community, "no plans for a hotel."
2003 - Tribe ends talks
with Solvang and instead builds their own wastewater treatment plant.
2004 - County questions
"serious omissions" in an EA provided by the tribe on the 6.9 acres.
2005 - Bureau of Indian
Affairs approves the 6.9 into federal trust status despite the EA and over
1,000 letters of community opposition (they claim they lost them).
Santa Ynez is now host to a
240,000-square-foot casino, hotel, spa, five-story
parking garage and wastewater treatment plant. Outstanding issues include:
6.9 acquisition pending in federal court, another 5.8
acre application in process and off-reservation properties being purchased to
solely support the gaming operation (a violation of the state compact). The
State will not enforce these violations either.
"Every Tribe asked for 5,000 or more machines, as did ours," Armenta said at a hearing in February 2007 stating
the tribe will, "have conversations about expansion and we’re going to
continue to do it as a tribal government because that’s our right – and we’re
going to do it. Tribes throughout the United States are doing it...and
the county will receive 90 days notice...once an agreement has come upon the
State and our tribe."
There Are Dozens of Transcripts; Dozens More Examples
The national example of gambling expansion tells a very different story
than the story continually spun for this town and anyone thinking the community
will be included in the expansion plans of the tribe is delusional. This Kumbaya moment is reserved only for those that will gain
from expansion, including our elected county officials, and not the community
that has everything to lose.
The sky may not be falling, but there is most definitely a serious
storm brewing on the national horizon as gambling expansion is allowed to
continue via engineered sovereignty that trumps the constitutional rights of
citizens. One only has to look at the exhaustive list of cases
before our federal courts to understand that this conflict is building.
Enforceability of tribal compacts is problematic because of sovereignty
and states simply do not have the resources or the will to protect local
communities. Apparently, campaign bank accounts are a great motivator to
do nothing. Collectively, our county and state officials have the
authority to protect hosting communities, but do not exercise it.
Our representative government has willfully given up the people's
sovereignty to defer to tribal governments who do not answer to constitutional
laws and whose gambling monopolies are not subject to fair taxation and
regulatory laws yet, in turn, taxpayers are expected to subsidize the impacts
of these facilities. It just might be time to throw the tea in the
harbor.
Mr. Gomez or anyone else pontificating that the compacts ratified in
June have nothing to do with the SY Bands' future negotiations with the state
is ridiculous. After Washington State's Governor Gregoire
negotiated a compact for a single tribe in Spokane, 28 other tribes in the
state came knocking at her door. These tribes were granted new compacts
and a few casinos a piece. This scenario is not new.
Using benign language like what's good for one tribe isn't necessarily
good for another is insulting. Just be honest and stop patronizing the
people who live here and who really care about their homes, their children and
the quality of life that will certainly diminish now that we no longer have any
rights to protect our community.
Chairman Armenta's silence today and all his
actions past and present do not spell cooperation -- far from it. It's
time he goes on the record to state what his plans are exactly and how he plans
on protecting and working with this community.