August 23, 2008

August 7, 2008

Lakes Entertainment recently announced their 2nd quarter results. The following is an excerpt regarding a letter from Caltrans to the tribe and the driveway.

Lakes Entertainment 2nd quarter report. http://www.lakesentertainment.com/xml/?func=filings

July 5, 2008

Jamul Indian Village's improved driveway to nowhere

U-T EDITORIAL: EAST EDITION

A nondescript driveway leading to a rural highway is the latest brush war site in Jamul Indian Village's 15-year effort to construct a casino on its property.

Long gone are the dreams of a $100 million casino/hotel complex using adjacent land or a 30-story structure shoehorned into six rural acres that induced only ridicule.

The tribe's concept of a casino nowadays is little more than vague talk – when spokesmen will talk at all – of a one-or two-story casino using bingo-style slot machines.

Despite $44 million sunk into the effort on the tribe's behalf, major obstacles remain. Bingo-style gaming machines might not require negotiations with the state – if any licensed machines were still available. Environmental issues including a stream on the property have not been resolved.

Even more complex, the tribe lacks commercial access to state Route 94 and Caltrans policy statewide is to deny new driveway connections to highways.

The 51-member Indian tribe has an authorized residential driveway near a ridge line on the panhandle portion of the reservation. A second, unauthorized driveway or loading spot was developed years ago, locals say, when school bus drivers balked at loading and unloading students at the tribal driveway because of safety concerns.

So, the driveway has become a war zone in a community that does not want a casino. The tribe's request for a second formal driveway was rebuffed by Caltrans, which told it to study alternatives such as using Melody Road to connect to an existing intersection.

The tribe, meantime, has been pouring money into its sole driveway for major grading, removal of utility poles and shoring up of slopes with concrete walls. All the while, it is careful not to close the gap between the highway's asphalt edge and the private property line.

To what end is the work being done – to run up the tab for its financial backer or to bluff that a casino would be built with renegade highway access?

The tribe recently asked Caltrans for an encroachment permit to connect to an Otay Water District line. (It is switching from an 8-inch pipe to a 12-inch pipe, presumably to facilitate casino construction.) When Caltrans asked for more information, the tribe instead worked out a deal with Otay Water to connect in a place just inches off highway right-of-way.

The tribe has a new chairman, Bill Mesa, who led the infamous eviction of tribal residents from their homes and the macing of trespassing Jamul neighbors as sheriff's deputies stood idle, refusing to intervene.

The tribe's militancy has continued. Yes, it has a new water hookup. Yes, it presumably can erect a casino structure of some sort on sovereign land without gaining approval of some government entity. An empty building, perhaps, but a building nonetheless.

Yet militancy clearly is not the driveway to success. To have a viable operating casino, Jamul Indian Village must learn to deal with the community and world around it. Otherwise, we can picture a casino building with neon lights blinking in the stillness of the rural night, a gaming castle with no bridge across the moat.

June 25, 2008

Photos of the Otay Water employees working in the hole dug by Scanlon Construction. The 16" water main with the 12" wet tap. JAC is disputing the Caltrans right-of-way. The K-rails are less than 20 ft. from the centerline.

June 17, 2008

Photos of the construction at the JIV driveway. Photos were taken on Monday 6-16 and Tuesday 6-17.

The Caltrans right-of-way is 20' from the centerline of the highway. A highway lane is 12' wide. Anyone take a guess on the distance the K-rails are from the centerline? The hole looks to be in the Caltrans right-of-way.

May 23, 2008

Two articles regarding Senate Bill 1201 - Tribal Gaming Licenses

Sacramento Bee (read the comments from readers - add one of your own) http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/961032.html

San Diego Union Tribune http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20080523-9999-1n23casinos.html

May 22, 2008

California Senate Bill 1201 passed in the Senate. Here is an excerpt of the bill:

The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to negotiate and conclude compacts, subject to ratification by the Legislature. Existing law ratifies a number of tribal-state gaming compacts between the State of California and specified Indian tribes executed in 1999. Those compacts set certain limits on the number of gaming device licenses available to each tribe. Existing law provides that any other tribal-state gaming compact entered into between the State of California and a federally recognized Indian tribe that is executed after September 10, 1999, is ratified if certain circumstances exist.

This bill would enact statutory provisions relating to matters addressed in the compacts ratified as described above. The bill would provide that
the aggregate limit of gaming device licenses available for issuance under those compacts shall be 122,000, and would further provide that
certain gaming device licenses available for issuance under subsequent compact amendments shall not be counted in determining whether that aggregate limit has been reached. The bill would require that, upon application by a tribe with a tribal-state gaming compact ratified as
described above, the California Gambling Control Commission allocate gaming device licenses to the tribe in accordance with the tribe’s gaming compact, but would prohibit the number of licenses allocated to a tribe from exceeding the maximum number of gaming device licenses allowed under the gaming compact.

Here is a link to the bill. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=sb_1201&sess=CUR&house=S

What does this mean for Jamul? The JIV has signed on in support of this bill. Currently their 1999 compact with the state allows for 2,000 Class III gaming machines. The state has reached it's original 60,000 license limit. This is the reason the JIV has stated they are going to Class II gaming. Should this bill pass, then the JIV would be allowed their 2,000 Class III machines as stated in their 1999 compact.

The County of San Diego is opposed to this bill as is the California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion and the Pala Band of Mission Indians. This bill may be used as leverage by the Governor or by the Senate when it comes to budget money and this we will have no control over. Lots of letters to Assembly Member Torrico in opposition are required and letters to the Governor requesting a VETO should this bill be sent to his desk. Also letters in opposition and disgust to the bill's authors, Senators Jim Battin and Dean Florez.

Here is a list of the emails and fax numbers: (Faxing is best)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A Quick History - The Jamul Indian Village became a recognized tribe in 1982 with 23 members. The Village site of 4 acres was given in deed by the Daley family, owners of Rancho Jamul, to five families living on the site in 1978.  The Jamul Indian Village is not, nor ever was given reservation status. In 1992 the tribe and Stations Casinos proposed a ten story casino on the four acre site. Several tribal members opposed the casino project and were dis-enrolled from the tribe and lost their voting rights. The old tribal hall was burned down by angry members who wanted the casino.

The Jamul Action Committee called public meetings and began a lengthy fight in opposition to the Stations Casinos project. Stations Casinos spent $1,000,000 in a land swap with Otay Water District to obtain the land adjacent to the Village, where the fire station sits, for ingress and egress. In 1996, following continued opposition to the project, Stations Casinos withdrew. In 1998, the Stations Casinos organization deeded the parcel to the Jamul Indian Village. This parcel is not in Trust but held fee simple and subject to the County’s zoning. In 1999, the Jamul Indian Village and Lakes Gaming announced an aggressive plan to acquire and put into trust 101 acres adjacent to the four acre Jamul Indian Village. With the acquisition of the 101 acres, the proposed 30 story casino/hotel complex was to incorporate the entire property.

The Jamul Action Committee met and formed a sub-committee called Jamulians Against the Casino and organized community opposition to the proposal. To date, the Department of Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs has not approved the taking of the 101 acres into trust.

In 2002, Jamulians Against the Casino took a vote of the community to determine the opposition to a casino in Jamul. Ballots were sent to all the registered voters in Jamul. The ballots were opened and counted by an independent accounting firm. The count showed that 97% of the Jamul residents were opposed to the casino project. A public hearing was held in 2003 in El Cajon for the environmental impacts of the proposal and acquisition of the 101 acres drew over 1000 people opposed to the casino.

New Game Plan - In early 2006, the Jamul Indian Village and Lakes Gaming announced that they would move forward and develop the existing 4.66 acre site with the planned casino/hotel in two phases. The adjacent 1.54 acres held by the tribe has an easement granted to the Roman Catholic Bishop for access to the .84 acres which is the Indian Cemetery still held in deed to the Roman Catholic Bishop.

JAC/Community of Jamul Reaction - If the tribe/Lakes Gaming decides to go forward, than the community will begin the appropriate steps to stop any proposed construction.

Where we are today - Even though the current tribal faction has begun drilling and grading the site, JAC will continue to fight.

It has been over a year since the Jamul Tribe evicted Walter Rosales and Karen Toggery. The overriding reason for the evictions was for the construction of their long awaited casino. Looking back we see no progress towards a casino - only increased disharmony in the community. Since that time we've experienced the following:

• Deceit by the San Diego County Sheriff's department and a subsequent whitewashing of the incident.
• Lack of support by the San Diego County District Attorney
• Leon Acebedo removed as the tribal chairman and is now an Executive Director of California Nations Indian Gaming Association.
• Bill Mesa being selected as the new tribal chairman
• Passage of Propositions 94, 95, 96 and 97

Despite all of these negatives there has been NO meaningful movement on the development of a casino. During that same period we've also experienced:

• The transition to a Class II facility due to their inability to provide an adequate EIR
• The inability of the tribe to obtain an Encroachment Permit from Caltrans.
  • Any Encroachment Permit will require a completed Environmental Impact Report (EIR) which requires public commentary as well as taking one to three years for review.
  • This has led to the "road to nowhere" - the driveway the tribe has built that Caltrans has already stated cannot be used for patron traffic. This was developed with the intent of telling stockholders that construction had "begun".
• The collapse of the stock price of the corporate backer Lakes Entertainment (LACO).
  • 1/1/07 LACO stock was at $10.85
  • 1/1/08 LACO stock was at $6.92 (a drop of 36.2%)
  • 3/11/08 LACO stock was at $4.10 (a drop of 62.2%)
• Continuing litigation involving:
  • The beneficial owners of the parcels associated with the Indian Village
  • The legitimacy of the current Tribal government
  • Violations of NAGPRA

Other recent posts include the following:

• Open Letter to Analysts
• Open Letter to JIV
• Union Tribune Articles
• Union Tribune Op-Ed's