The 0 million casino that California’s Wilton Rancheria wants to build at Elk Grove is stirring considerable controversy as the tribe begins the process of trying to put the land into trust.
The $400 million casino proposed by the Wilton Rancheria would be on 35 acres that are contained within the uncompleted Outlet Mall Collection at Elk Grove, California.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is currently conducting an environmental review of the proposal. The tribe recently applied to put the land into trust.
Meanwhile an unscientific online poll showed that most of those responding oppose a casino at Elk Grove. Of those polled 53 percent opposed the casino, 36 percent supported and 12 percent were undecided.
The poll was conducted over a six-day period. Ninety-one people participated. The largest factor cited for opposing the casino was the feared rise in “crime and other societal ills.”
The tribe has said that if the land is put into trust that it will begin negotiation with the city of Elk Grove to provide services such as public safety.
There have been two public discussions of the proposal including a public forum when Mayor Gary Davis said that he supported the tribe but would not say whether he supported the casino. That meeting followed a public information meeting that the tribe held that was attended by about 300 residents.
Davis has been the subject of an anonymous series of flyers and since he is running for reelection it is likely that his stance on the casino will be a fact in his campaign. The anonymous mailers were distributed just prior to the July 13 city council meeting where the casino proposal was not on the agenda, but which was brought up by residents during the meeting’s open forum. Many residents received robo-calls warning them of the casino.
The mailer asked the question: “What will a Vegas-style mega casino do to our community?” It answered its own question with the words: “More crime, more traffic” and “devastate local business.” It also suggested with photos that such a casino might bring prostitution to the city.
At that meeting the speakers were overwhelmingly against the casino. Their concerns included crime, traffic, the perils of secondhand smoke and the negative factors of living next to a casino.
Some speakers spoke in favor of a casino, arguing that it would generate jobs and that the positives would outweigh the negatives.
Some were outraged by all of the negative and anonymous publicity. Paula Maita, who has lived in the area for 58 years and owns a business, said, “I also want to know who is paying for the robo-calls, who is paying for the mailings. Who’s paying for all of the literature that was left on your front door that you have sucked up and decided that it’s all truth?” She added, “I think the question is ‘Who’s trying to defeat this (project) is something worth knowing. It may be a good thing, it may be a bad thing, but I don’t like my neighbors being so heavily influenced by an unknown source.”
The day after that meeting Wilton Rancheria Tribal Chairman Raymond “Chuckie” Hitchcock, interviewed by the Elk Grove Citizen, called the anonymous flyers “a mischaracterization of the real facts” and added, “My first reaction to the flier was it was egregious and a lot of false propaganda from the opposition. And after last night’s meeting, nobody is taking responsibility for this egregious mailing. So, whoever it is, they should be ashamed of themselves. We can only assume, I’m sure they’re probably not from Elk Grove.”
He characterized the number of people against the project as minimal. “The fact that only 20 people showed up in opposition and actually some people did show up in favor of it, showed that this attempt to drum up fear, or fear-mongering, if you will, didn’t pan out. And whoever is behind this mailer didn’t stand up and take credit for it. So, what does that tell you about the opposition?”
Regarding Davis’s alleged support of the casino, Hitchcock told the Citizen: “Davis was glad to see us be a tribe. But for them to make it as a ‘Mayor Davis supports the casino, you need to tell him to stop,’ he never said that. He sees about his community, he’s here to protect his community.”
While waiting to get a positive answer from the Hitchcock has been working with the county and city to mitigate off-site impacts of the casino. On June 8 the tribe signed a memorandum of understanding with Sacramento County.
