How Well is Gambling Managed in Santa Barbara County?
Every other November we get together to elect representatives who we hope will balance competing interests with the wisdom of Solomon, and protect us from predatory practices. The competing interests of the Chumash, who have a legal right and desire to have a world class casino and resort in the heart of the Santa Ynez Valley, and the rest of the community, who don’t mind the economic benefits but for the most part hope to preserve the sleepy, rural character of the Valley, are mutually incompatible. Compromises must be made—neither side can have everything they want. The tension between the rights of the sovereign nation in our midst and the desires of the ordinary citizens of the Valley has waxed and waned, as has consciousness of the costs and benefits of the Casino.
Rhetoric Runs High and Tempers Flare
Tension was high at the February 13th Board of Supervisors meeting in Santa Maria, when well over a hundred citizens gathered to petition their elected representatives to take action to slow or stop the growth of the Casino until the potential impacts could be studied. Worried about a potential change to the Chumash’s compact with the State that would allow them to more than triple the number of slot machines, well prepared citizen watchdog groups and concerned individuals displayed polished charts and graphs of statistics they had gathered. Numerous members of the audience made impassioned pleas that the Board assert their interest in having a say over future expansion of the casino and reservation, by passing a resolution or writing to Governor Schwarzenegger.
The meeting was also addressed by Vincent Armenta, Chairman of the Chumash, who expressed deep unhappiness that he had received such late notice of the meeting, saying repeatedly “This could all have been made unnecessary by a phone call.” He explained that the Tribe had withdrawn from the negotiations that were attempting to increase the number of slots from 2,000 to 7,000, and that the County would receive 90 days notice of any significant changes in the compact.
The Chumash Casino Brings Benefits as Well as Problems
Speaking to Frances Snyder, the Stanford educated spokesperson for the Tribe, it is clear that the Chumash feel that they are being unfairly attacked for doing what they have a legal right to do. They believe that their efforts to mitigate the impact of thousands of visitors a day coming to their casino are dismissed or undervalued. They are a sovereign nation, exercising rights granted to them by the government of the United States, are subject to oversight by federal agencies, and contribute tens of millions of dollars to community causes and impact mitigation efforts.
The Tribe has been focused on developing the Resort into a first class destination and wants to diversify their investments, which is why, she says, they have acquired the Scandinavian Inn in Solvang and the former Federico’s in Buellton. The Tribe feels harassed, singled out for suspicion and hostility by a small group of people, and contend that most Valley residents benefit from the jobs and increased economic activity, and are comfortable with the Tribe’s activities.
The Chumash Casino Brings Problems as Well as Benefits
Citizen watchdog groups like P.O.L.O. (Preservation of Los Olivos), P.O.S.Y. (Preservation of Santa Ynez) and Santa Ynez Valley Concerned Citizens protest that the Chumash are corrupting the political system with gambling money, have misled the community in the past about their intentions and express concern that the public won’t be allowed appropriate input into future decisions about the growth of the Casino activities. They point with alarm to the documented ill effects of gambling, both here and in the rest of the country, and challenge their elected representatives to protect us from uncontrolled expansion.
They want accountability and transparency to reassure themselves that their interests and those of their neighbors are being protected.
The Proposed Action
The resolution proposed by the community groups reads,
Resolved: Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors opposes the ratification of any new or renegotiated tribal gaming compacts until the State and all affected counties have an opportunity to adopt policy for any and all new gaming expansion. Further, that Santa Barbara County conduct its own public Environmental Impact Review (EIR), before adopting such policy, to adequately assess the impacts of the current 2,000 slot gaming operation and its effects on Santa Barbara County. The study shall include but not be limited to traffic burdens, crime, economic, social, environmental and infrastructure impacts.
The suggested alternative is a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger, asking that he require the Tribe to be responsive to community input as represented by the local governing bodies. Brooks Firestone, the Third District’s Supervisor (the only district directly affected by the casino), expressed support for consideration of the proposals, which was scheduled for discussion at the February 26th Board of Supervisors meeting in Santa Maria.
Gambling Affects the Surrounding Community
It has been well documented over the past decade that many American communities with casinos have seen dramatic leaps in the crime rate. From violent crimes like murder or rape, to larceny, drugs, and alcohol related problems, gambling has been shown over and over to increase and concentrate criminal behavior in small communities from Connecticut to California and Minnesota to the Gulf Coast. Compulsive gambling is a growing problem with severe consequences—it can lead to embezzlement, fraud, theft and bankruptcy, ruining marriages, businesses and careers.
The problems are not unique to the United States. Countries around the world have legalized and then banned gambling as its negative effects accumulated. In addition to Turkey, Trinidad and Norway, the latest to do so is Russia, where President Putin recently re-criminalized gambling in most of the country and relegated it to remote areas like Siberia where its effects can be more easily controlled and affect fewer people.
In the Santa Ynez Valley, according to the local Solvang Sheriff’s Department, their working relationship with the Casino is excellent. The Chumash have contributed money to hire additional full time officers, they have well trained security and off duty police officers on staff, and address problems at the Casino as they arise. The Sheriff’s Department spokesperson acknowledges that it is inevitable that concentrating thousands of visitors a day in one location will result in more arrests and reports, but that he feels the Chumash are handling it responsibly.
The Chumash have definitely increased the flow of money through the community; spending close to $200 million in 2005 employing 1,500 workers, and provisioning for tens of thousands of visitors. They pay for services and supplies for the construction and running of their businesses, and there are ripple effects in our local economy from bringing in outsiders to our area. They have also made very generous donations that benefit the community, for example the new football field for the high school.
On the other hand, there are existing studies of the effects of casinos on local communities indicating that the costs to society, both obvious and hidden, can far outweigh the benefits by orders of magnitude; that the benefits are limited to far too few people while the costs are paid by all; and that local businesses are damaged or lost as the center of gravity in the local economy shifts to the casino. No such study has been published that thoroughly examines the cost-benefit ratio in the Santa Ynez Valley. It is a time-consuming project that has been proposed to the Board of Supervisors but not acted upon so far.
Follow the Money
The conversation about how best to handle the potential ramifications of Indian gaming is complicated by old injuries of race and class, the issues muddied with guilt and victim-hood, hubris, envy and fear. And, of course, money; the power conferred by hundreds of millions of dollars available for political, business and philanthropic contributions. Advertising dollars affect the information available to the community, political contributions affect the terms of the debate and interpretation of existing law, business and philanthropic dollars capture community advocates and allies. There is no balancing force that is as cohesive and focused as the Tribe’s and some in the community find that alarming.
Deep Roots
The small Santa Ynez band of 152 enrolled members has a reservation that has grown from 99 to 126 acres. Many of the tribal members grew up in the Valley, went to school here; the Chairman, Vincent Armenta, was a high school Pirate, worked as a welder and coached YFL football in the Valley as an adult. Some of them have suffered grinding poverty, others built businesses or worked for local business owners, and been deeply rooted and involved in the larger community. The contention and sometimes isolation that has arisen as a result of their enormous success can be painful to them, as it is for all exceptionally successful people.
The primitive conditions on the reservation until the 1980’s are unimaginable looking at the prosperity the Tribe enjoys today. Tribal members want to make the most of their opportunity to create something that will enable their families and descendants to be economically self-sustaining.
Winners and Losers
The sovereignty of the Chumash entitles them to make decisions about who is, and is not, allowed to participate in the Casino revenues. Services and benefits are offered to a wide swath of the community, particularly those with some connection to the tribe, but because so much of the traditional culture was lost and intermarriage is so common, community resentment and suspicion exists over how membership in the tribe is established, given that it has become equivalent to winning the lottery in recent years. As tribes across the country accept members based on idiosyncratic criteria, and then change their minds and kick them out, it appears to some more like a popularity contest than a birthright.
The competitive advantage offered by the sovereignty of the tribes results in an advantage over ordinary citizens, and sovereign immunity insulates them from some of the legal and financial consequences that the rest of us are subject to. The concentration of so much power in so few hands can arouse fear of what the Chumash might do with it, and directly led to the formation of citizen groups to lobby their representatives and air their concerns.
Both sides cite statistics that support their position and dispute the statistics of their opponents. The one fact neither side can ignore is that we are all neighbors, and we have to find a way to coexist the best we can.
The Casino and the sovereign rights of the Chumash are an established fact at this point, and a case can be made that it is tilting at windmills to fight a rearguard action in a fight that was lost in 1988 when the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of Indian gaming. On the other hand, if the 152 members of the Chumash have exclusive power to decide the future character of the Valley because of their money and special legal status, do we leave them to it and adapt or move away, or do we fight to be included in the process? The answer to that question will be decided by you, one issue at a time.
Who will be the new Solomon who figures out what to do with this baby?