Ridgecrest, California Mayor Peggy Breeden, who is preparing to begin her third term, said last week that she is unsure what the future holds for the proposed Timbisha Shoshone casino project—an issue that has divided her city for several years.
“What’s going to happen with the casino? I do not know,” she told the Democratic Club of the High Desert last week. “I do know that on the next Ridgecrest City Council agenda we will have an agreement to close the escrow and whatever happens. We will either have part of it or we won’t have part of it.”
The escrow period for the tribe to buy the land for the casino from the city has expired. The mayor told the group “Escrow was not closed, no money was deposited in the escrow account by the developer, we have to close the escrow without fulfilling it.”
She said that she wouldn’t be surprised if the developer and the tribe didn’t look at other properties that wouldn’t require city approval. Some of these would instead require approval by the Kern County Board of Supervisors.
The mayor was obviously against the tribe going outside of city limits since the city would lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual payments that were agreed to in the 20 year municipal services agreement the city already signed with the tribe.
She told the audience, “There are plenty of areas. The Fairgrounds was more than willing to have them come out there and have a casino at the Fairgrounds. There is opportunity on Highway 395 and China Lake Boulevard if indeed the city is willing to say we would like to look at annexing that property.”
