The Desert Diamond Casino West Valley is scheduled to open December 20 near Glendale, Arizona say leaders of the Tohono O’Odham.
Despite court challenges and a pending bill in Congress aimed at stopping it, the casino is meeting all of its deadlines and will open on schedule. The casino broke ground in August 2014.
Tribal spokesman Treena Parvello led reporters on a tour of the soon-to-open facility last week. It will have 1,100 games, a food court, a hotel, convention center and spa. About 400 machines have been deployed so far and 400 employees have been hired. Another 100 will soon be added.
The tribe won another court battle last week, the 18th in a row, when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously in the tribe’s favor, striking down a 2011 state law, H.B. 2534, that would have allowed the city of Glendale to annex the tribal land into the city limits, preventing it from being put into trust.
The law was signed into law several years ago by then Governor Jan Brewer, two years after the Bureau of Indian Affairs put the land into trust.
The three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld the ruling by the U.S. District Court that the law “directly conflicts with Congress’ intent that the Nation’s land be taken into trust pursuant to the (Gila Bend) Act, and is therefore pre-empted by the Act.” It also said “Under the circumstances of this case, HB 2534 stands as a clear and manifest obstacle to the purpose of the act,”
The City of Glendale no longer opposes the casino, although it did for many years. Last year the city council cut a deal with the tribe. That deal claimed a political casualty on election day November 6 when councilmember Gary Sherwood, who first one election by opposing the casino and then a year later brokered the deal with the tribe, was recalled from office after three years on the job. He was replaced by candidate Ray Mainar in a vote where the challenger had 53 percent of the vote to Sherwood’s 46 percent.
The recall was funded significantly by the Gila River Indian Community, a member of the tribal coalition opposing the Glendale casino.
Tribal Chairman Edward Manuel declared in a statement, “It is time for the state of Arizona to stop its costly attempts to kill more than 500 new jobs here in Arizona. With the opening only six weeks away, it is time to move forward with local communities and the public in support of this positive economic opportunity.”
Manuel noted the city’s change of heart: “The city of Glendale dropped out of this lawsuit long ago after finding that the state’s arguments were unfounded. Glendale supports this major economic development project, together with multiple other Arizona cities.”
Congress passed the Gila Bend Indian Reservation Lands Replacement Act in 1986 to compensate the tribe for land last due to a 1960 federal dam project that inundated the reservation. The tribe used the money from the act to buy 135 acres in unincorporated Maricopa County near Glendale.
Meanwhile H.R. 308, the Keep the Promise Act, which would prevent the casino from opening, could come up for a vote this week. According to Rep. Raul Grijalva, “It’s still on the suspension calendar. Regardless of the outcome, we’re going to ask for a voice vote.”
The companion Senate bill has been voted out of committee but hasn’t been scheduled for a floor vote.
Grijalva supports the casino and opposes the bill. He commented this week, “I think the opponents of the casino, both in Congress and outside Congress, want to do this as quickly as possible, due to the Ninth Circuit Court ruling.” The representative opposes H.R. 308, which he says could cost the government millions of dollars if the tribe isn’t able to open its casino and sues the federal government for damages.
A tribe that hopes H.R. 308 passes is the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, which belongs to a coalition of several gaming tribes that oppose another casino being built in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
According to Gary Bohnee, an employee of the tribe, interviewed by the Glendale Star, “All tribes of the 17-tribe coalition are working under that framework. Yet, the Tohono O’odham Nation decided another path, and as we know now, when making statements in support of the compact, telling voters they wouldn’t build a casino, but behind the scenes, buying land for that purpose. This legislation will resolve that issue until the governor and the tribes have a new compact for the future.”
