Supporters of the proposed $600 million Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tejon by the Tejon Indian tribe near Bakersfield, California have launched a public relations campaign to build support for the project as federal and state approvals begin.
The campaign began with postcard mailings touting the project’s ability to boost tourism, add jobs and generate commercial activity as well as create opportunities for tribal members in education and housing.
The casino site is on 52 acres of farmland near Highway 99. The project could create 1,000 construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs putting $59 million in salaries into the local economy.
The mailers solicit support by asking recipients to consider attending a public hearing and to be on a mailing list.
The card declares, “The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tejon will bring significant economic benefits and new entertainment options to Kern County while creating a new economic future for the Tejon Indian Tribe. Show your support and help us make this exciting project a reality!”
No public hearing is yet scheduled, but project spokesman Scott Nielson said the goal is to build support early. A public hearing later this year will be part of the project’s environmental review by the Department of the Interior.
Nielson, interviewed by the Bakersfield Californian, explained, “What we would like to do is tell our story and raise support for the project from people who are naturally inclined to support it.” He didn’t say how many postcards were mailed.
The casino resort has already garnered support from Kern County officials, the Kern Economic Development Corp. and Tejon Ranch Company, an agribusiness and real estate development company that owns a retail and industrial park near where the casino would be located.
The casino resort would include a 400-room hotel and a 165,000 square foot casino next to a 22-acre RV park. The land would also house tribal offices, a clinic and tribal housing.
Cheryl Schmit, of Stand Up for California, a perennial opponent of Indian gaming and a gaming watchdog, told the Californian the project could be hampered by organized opposition. “In the past, when there’s been sustained opposition, the Department of the Interior has been slow to approve Indian gaming projects,” she said. “And in a couple of projects, the department actually denied an application.”
Schmit’s group hasn’t taken a formal stand against the project, but it points out that it is discretionary because the casino wouldn’t be located on existing reservation land. It is governed by the so-called “two-step” process for putting land into trust that, unlike most land-into-trust actions, requires that the governor of the state concur.
