Cascade Locks casino vision merits support
March 30, 2004
IN MY OPINION: Vic Atiyeh
I was glad to hear recent news of Hood River County Commissioner Carol York's encouraging a new tribal casino in the city of Cascade Locks. For more than seven years the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs have worked patiently with the people of the Columbia River Gorge to forge a common vision for the transition to a new tourist economy. Now is the right time to make this vision a reality. Oregon needs clean, job-producing economic development that is consistent with our economic needs and our environmental values.
A compromise, proposed by York, has all the ingredients of a classic Oregon solution to the complex issue of where to site the casino that the Warm Springs Tribes are entitled under federal law to build.
The people in Hood River, understandably, do not want the casino on tribal trust lands east of Hood River. That location is outside the Hood River city limits in the Columbia Gorge Scenic Area and straddles the Mark O. Hatfield State Trail. Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, the tribes have had every legal right to build there now. But they have not -- out of respect for the people of the Columbia River communities who think it is a flawed site.
Thankfully, the federal statute, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, allows the secretary of the interior to take certain lands into trust for gaming purposes. The secretary must determine -- after consulting appropriate state and local officials -- that a gaming establishment on newly acquired lands would be in the best interest of the tribes and their members, and would not be detrimental to the surrounding community. The governor must concur in this determination for the decision to stand. This legal right opens the possibility for York's compromise to become a reality.
The people of economically depressed Cascade Locks want the Warm Springs casino at a little-used industrial site. Building a gaming facility at this compromise site would mean nearly 1.8 million hours of work for building and construction workers -- a payroll of about $50 million.
Once opened, a casino in this former mill town would provide 1,000 much-needed full-time jobs and an invigorated tax base. Our Columbia River Scenic Act and Oregon land-use law encourage economic development within the city limits of towns in the scenic area. I understand that is why several Columbia Gorge Commission members have expressed support for this project.
Leaders in Cascade Locks wisely have sought the Warm Springs casino to give their community the economic boost that these clean tourism jobs provide. An additional environmental benefit would be the chance to preserve those scenic, sensitive lands east of Hood River.
We all are greatly concerned about the harsh economic and social realities on Oregon's largest Native American reservation -- more than 50 percent of the tribal members are unemployed. The economic recovery of the Warm Springs Tribes is beneficial to all Oregonians, and lessens the Tribes' dependence on any taxpayer programs in these budget-constrained times. A casino at Cascade Locks will generate the funds to pay for basic health, housing and education services -- ensuring hope for a better tomorrow for tribal members.
I sincerely urge Gov. Ted Kulongoski to meet with the leaders of the Warm Springs Tribes and take advantage of this historic opportunity to bring so many benefits to so many Oregonians. The need is great and the time is right.
Vic Atiyeh served two terms as governor of Oregon in 1979-1987.