Tribal Resort Expansion Plans > Rexroad.com

So far I haven't said anything on this blog or anywhere else about the plans of the Rumsey Tribe to dramatically increase the size of their operation in the Capay Valley. I happen to believe in almost complete tribal sovereignty.

As I read the newspapers this morning I learned that Thunder Valley in Auburn also has huge expansion plans. There seems to be some circular justification here. We need to get bigger because our competition is bigger.

Our state policy has been to locate these tribal casinos on trust land. I'm not so sure we didn't make a mistake on this front. We now have what amount to leapfrog development all over California rural areas with casinos that under smart growth principles should be located at the core of urban areas.

These expansion plans involve more than just land use law. I realize that. However, as a state policy I believe that California has completely shattered general land use policy on the issue of tribal gaming. We have chosen to throw transportation, land use, ag land preservation, and planning principles out the window in an effort to put tribal business practices on historical tribal controlled lands. Why?

Some will say that this was necessary because this is where the tribal members historically lived. So what. One thing I am 100% confident about is that the large tribes and their teams are great business people. They want to hunt where the ducks are. They would love to be in urban areas.

I believe that these casinos are located in rural areas because the large voting populations of San Francisco and Los Angeles did not want gaming located near them. They supported ballot measures and policies to push rural trust land casino development becasue of a Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) attitude toward casinos -- ignoring all the other issues involved.

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