Casino gets turned back by Oakland

OAKLAND - The Oakland City Council voted Tuesday to oppose a proposed Las Vegas-style casino near Oakland International Airport, despite pledges by a North Bay Indian tribe pushing the project that it will provide the city with $600 million in subsidies if it is approved.

Members of the tribe, the Lower Lake Rancheria Koi Nation, said the 5-0 council vote was a setback for the proposal but asserted the project could survive without city support. They said they would continue work to obtain the federal approvals they need to have the 35-acre site put into trust for Indian gaming.

"It's a blow to us, certainly," said Daniel Beltran, chairman of the landless tribe, whose members live mostly in Sonoma County. "It's also a blow to the citizens of Oakland that the City Council would take this action before determining the total extent of the benefits this project would provide to their city."

Two council members, Desley Brooks and Larry Reid, abstained from voting on the resolution opposing the casino. The project, proposed for a 35-acre plot at Swan Way and Pardee Drive, would include 2,000 slot machines, 100 gaming tables, a seven-story hotel, a spa and 1,000-seat entertainment venue.

Reid accused several colleagues on the council of bowing to political convenience, while turning a blind eye to a project that would provide many benefits the city desperately needs.

"If so many of my colleagues weren't running for office, I guarantee you it would have been a different result," he said, noting that three council colleagues will likely be seeking new posts in next year's elections.

Brooks said she had not yet taken a position on the casino, but she chastised her colleagues for taking a position when a federal environmental review of the project still has not been completed.

"There wasn't an opportunity for the tribe to show us everything they're proposing before we said no," Brooks said.

In the end, the sentiments of the three council members who pushed the resolution opposing the project carried the day. Council members Jane Brunner, Nancy Nadel and Jean Quan drew support from a majority of the estimated 100 people who spoke during a three-hour public hearing.

The speakers criticized the project as a potential traffic nightmare near Oakland's airport, as a threat to an adjacent tract of restored wetlands and as a community scourge whose social impacts will far outweigh the promises of big casino bucks.

"There's no free lunch," Quan said. "More than 50 percent of the people who lose money at casinos earn less than $30,000 a year ... that means millions of dollars from the poorest people in this community that wouldn't be going to kids' clothes, or for the groceries needed to feed families."

The council's stand came despite a last-minute effort by Reid, whose district includes the casino site, to put the proposal up to a citywide vote in May, when Oakland already is holding a special election to replace Councilman Danny Wan, who announced last week he was leaving his elected post.

Brooks strongly supported the idea, asserting it was the only true way to learn how Oakland residents feel about a casino in their city.

"We have 400,000 residents in this city and only about 100 of them were here today," Brooks said. "Let the people have their say."

But Brunner said it was important for the council to take a position before the federal Department of Interior wraps up the public comment period in its environmental review.

Nadel and Quan warned that opening the door to an election would be a decision casino opponents would regret.

"We couldn't begin to match the amount of money these folks could put up for an election," Nadel said.

The council vote came just hours after Koi Nation officials nearly tripled their original offer of cash guarantees to the city if the project is approved. The latest offer would guarantee $25 million in annual subsidies to the city and an additional $5 million to go into a community trust to support nonprofits supporting education, seniors, health care and other services in Oakland.

Beltran said the money would be provided each year of the 20-year gaming compact the tribe is seeking to negotiate with the state. In other words, the tribe says it would provide $500 million in direct city subsidies and $100 million to community nonprofits.

Yes, of course. If it isn’t traffic it’ll be dust or noise or some other complaint. Parts of Oakland, San Leandro, Hayward, Union City, etc all have probably millions of square feet of warehouse space and industrial/commercial property sitting vacant because of just that.

Meanwhile, I know the area a bit and it’s sort of out in the sticks. I don’t think Swan or Pardee are set up to handle much more traffic. Depending on the time of day those roads can be pretty busy because FedEx and UPS both have buildings on Pardee. I suppose that’s due to their proximity to the airport. Then you also have the never-ending string of cars trying to cut through to get to/from Alameda.

That whole area around Hegenberger and Doolittle is pretty jammed up a lot of the time as it is.

This sort of thing is pretty much SOP for Northern California.

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