[CPEO-MEF] REUSE: Point Molate (CA) Casino

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

For Guidiville Band, a casino isn't the main point

Tribal vice-chairperson Donald Duncan was in good spirits on Tuesday. 
The Contra Costa Board of Supervisors had just unanimously agreed to 
support the tribe's casino project at Point Molate.

By Phoebe Fronistas
Richmond Confidential (CA)
November 13, 2009

The Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians doesn't talk about the proposed 
casino resort at Point Molate without bringing up their history. 
Opponents are concerned about urban gaming, social ills and 
environmental dangers to the Richmond promontory. But for the Guidiville 
Band, the salient issue is their quest for a homeland large enough for 
the entire tribe to live on.

"Point Molate is the culmination of a 160-year effort for lands that 
were taken away in 1850," vice-chairperson Donald Duncan told the Contra 
Costa Board of Supervisors on Nov. 3. The main challenge the tribe faces 
is to persuade West County residents that they (and their enterprise) 
would be good neighbors.

The Guidiville Band's lawyer, Little Fawn Boland, works for the Native 
American-owned Rosette & Associates. She is a member of the 
Piro-Manso-Tiwa of the San Juan de Guadalupe Pueblo. Her tribe applied 
for federal recognition in 1970. They are still waiting. "When you have 
no land and lack recognition, it is hard to stay together, the tribal 
membership ends up moving away and becomes a diaspora," she said. "It is 
hard to maintain to maintain your culture, your language and you have a 
brain drain. That's why you need to create opportunities on your own 
land. Gaming is just a way to pay for it all."

...

For the entire article, see
http://richmondconfidential.org/2009/11/13/point-molate-it’s-a-long-way-to-tipperary/

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


_______________________________________________
Military mailing list
Military@lists.cpeo.org
http://lists.cpeo.org/listinfo.cgi/military-cpeo.org