What follows is the statement that CARS Chairman Ed Lynch delivered this morning to the Clark County Board of Commissioners:
My name is Ed Lynch, and I’m here today representing Citizens Against Reservation Shopping (CARS), a citizens group I formed more than three years ago to oppose a Clark County casino location. Thank you for allowing me to speak today.
I understand that the county is currently negotiating with members of the Cowlitz casino development team to arrive at yet another memorandum of understanding involving land near the La Center/I-5 junction -- land that the tribe hopes to have taken into trust for a reservation and casino.
Since the commission and CARS have both stated our opposition to locating a casino in North Clark County, I’d like to understand your strategy here. By negotiating an MOU at this time, the commission seems to be going out of its way to facilitate building a casino at La Center.
Last April, when you conducted three hearings on this issue, you heard more than 100 people testify. More than 70 percent of those Clark County citizens told you they didn’t want a casino, and they didn’t want you to negotiate a new MOU. Clark County citizens don’t want a new MOU. A Seattle developer and a Connecticut Indian Tribe do. To whom are you responding?
None of the other cooperating agencies was as scathing as Clark county in commenting on the tribe’s final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The tribe has never even commented on some of the concerns you raised. Before you negotiate a new MOU with them, don’t you believe the tribe owes you that courtesy?
As you know, it’s the tribe that must have an MOU to have any hope for a successful application. The county certainly has no near-term need for such an agreement. The amazingly inferior quality of the FEIS alone means that even were it to be approved, the FEIS would be tied up in court for a long time to come.
You know, too, that until the zoning is changed back from its current “agriculture” designation, the county won’t be able to deliver the level of urban services to the La Center parcel that a casino would require. Why not wait until your appeal on that matter is concluded so you know that the agreement would be legal?
The county has spent many thousands of dollars on legal challenges to protect the 2004 MOU which is now before the court of appeals. Why not wait for the outcome of that process before negotiating a new one?
You appear to still be seeking the near-term security of an MOU to try to ensure that the county receives money from the casino operation in lieu of taxes, all the while declaring you don’t want a casino. How do you do that without sending a strong signal to the federal government that Clark County would really welcome a resort-casino?
The answer is: You don’t.
Stop trying to have it both ways. This is not the time to negotiate an MOU. Meanwhile, a casino that does not belong in Clark County has never been farther from being approved.
Let it lie.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
For more information, check out the CARS Web site:
Who’s behind the proposed casino project?
Many of CARS’ stories about this casino proposal describe it as the work of “the Cowlitz Tribe.” But every time we attribute it to “the Tribe,” we wince.
The casino project is being driven by the Salishan-Mohegan partnership, which includes:
+ the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority (49.15 percent)
+ David Barnett (Salishan Co.), son of the late tribal Chairman John Barnett (sharing 43 percent with the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians)
+ the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians, California (sharing 43 percent with David Barnett)
+ the Mohegan Tribe, Connecticut (7.85 percent)
According to the development agreement, the partnership would receive fees equal to 3 percent of total project costs. The management agreement states that Salishan-Mohegan would manage, operate and maintain the casino-resort for seven years and earn 24 percent of annual net revenues.
We want to be clear: CARS is critical of the casino proposal and the way it has been pursued. Beyond its involvement in the casino, we have no issue with the Cowlitz Tribe.
The casino project is being driven by the Salishan-Mohegan partnership, which includes:
+ the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority (49.15 percent)
+ David Barnett (Salishan Co.), son of the late tribal Chairman John Barnett (sharing 43 percent with the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians)
+ the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians, California (sharing 43 percent with David Barnett)
+ the Mohegan Tribe, Connecticut (7.85 percent)
According to the development agreement, the partnership would receive fees equal to 3 percent of total project costs. The management agreement states that Salishan-Mohegan would manage, operate and maintain the casino-resort for seven years and earn 24 percent of annual net revenues.
We want to be clear: CARS is critical of the casino proposal and the way it has been pursued. Beyond its involvement in the casino, we have no issue with the Cowlitz Tribe.
About CARS
Citizens Against Reservation Shopping (CARS) is a group of Clark County, Wash., citizens formed in June 2005 and led by longtime Vancouver businessman and civic leader Edward Lynch.
CARS opposes the Cowlitz Tribe's plan to build a casino in Clark County in part because it objects to the practice of "reservation shopping." This is the practice of selecting an ideal casino site and then working to have it given reservation status.