The newly formed group Speak Up! Shasta, which seeks to put the brakes on the relocated Win-River Casino proposed by the Redding Rancheria along Interstate 5 in Northern California, has members who fought in previous campaigns against an auto mall and a big box regional shopping center in the area. It has so far acquired more than 200 signatures to oppose the relocation.
Redding Rancheria seeks to move the Win-River to the west side of the Interstate with a 140,000-square foot casino, a 250-room hotel, convention center, shopping, an event center in Churn Creek Bottom, a 250-acre parcel where the auto mall and shopping center had also been proposed. The tribe seeks to put the land into trust.
Last week Mike Madrid, whose consulting firm GrassrootsLab is working with Speak Up! Shasta, told the Record Searchlight: that his company is also working with the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians, which owns the neighboring Rolling Hills Casino—and which opposes the Redding Rancheria proposal because they believe it would have a harmful effect on their enterprise, which is a 45-minute drive distant.
The organization Churn Creek Bottom Homeowners and Friends, some of whose 200 household members are also members of Speak Up! Shasta, and which also opposes the casino—as they have any development in their neighborhood— is also working with Madrid.
Madrid believes that solid community opposition could convince the BIA not to put the land into trust.
Chris Carmona, a member of that group is optimistic a grassroots campaign can defeat the plan and calls on opponents to submit comments to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Carmona points to a 740,000 SF shopping center that the Shasta Board of Supervisors passed and which was overturned by a county-wide initiative in 2012. He told the Searchlight: “So that alone should show what the community believes this land is worth. I know we’re not talking about the same piece but it’s in very close proximity.” The same group successful opposed an auto mall in 2007. Each time they have framed the question as one of community identity.
Redding Rancheria CEO Tracy Edwards points out that the tribe also has many supporters and adds that, unlike what opponents, the tribe doesn’t intend to bring a Las Vegas style casino to the area. “This will be very tasteful, something that is going to fit in with the landscape,” she told the Searchlight. She adds that when the Rolling Hills casino was proposed more than ten years ago that her Rancheria did not oppose it. “Our tribe feels that each tribe has the right to do what they feel is best for them,” she said.
In the statement released by the Paskenta tribe, they wrote: “We find Redding Rancheria’s unprecedented attempt to take new land into trust — to move an already extremely profitable gaming facility to a new site simply to increase revenues — very troubling. We believe this is not allowed and should not be permitted under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.”
The management of the Redding Civic Auditorium, which hosts concerts and banquets as one of its most profitable enterprises, also feels threatened by the proposed competition. Its general manager, Cory McCandliss, said he would be happy to meet with city and tribal officials about preserving the auditorium as a regional asset.
