Opinion: Guidiville casino stirs false prosperity

Monday, August 24, 2009  

"One of the greatest mistakes California voters ever made was in 1998 by approving Proposition 5 allowing Indian casinos.

The proposed 415-acre casino-hotel-retail Point Molate development at the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge's eastern end is no exception. It will do little for Native Americans while providing impoverished Richmond with false promises of prosperity.

Marinites consider events anywhere outside the county's boundary as foreign affairs. A proposal that stirs up outrage in Novato, Fairfax or Sausalito is ignored if planted in Petaluma, or in this case, Richmond.

That's a mistake. The negative impact of the proposed casino to Marin is real.

The 112-member Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians is proposing a $1.5 billion complex complete with a 240,000-square foot casino, 1,075-room hotel, a 300,000 square foot shopping center and high-end housing just across the Marin-Contra Costa County line. It's to be on San Pablo Bay, adjacent to the Chevron Refinery, north of the Richmond Bridge's toll plaza.

Not only will the Point Molate gambling hall and related development eventually clog bridge traffic, it will harm Richmond and the entire Bay Area. Casinos are often magnets for drug and alcohol-related crime while promoting region-wide gambling addiction.

The casino's biggest victims will be lower-income folks suckered into frittering away their earnings on slot machines. Expect the casinos' promised long-term employment to be low-paid service jobs."

Get the Story:
Dick Spotswood: Richmond casino is a bad bet for Marin (The Marin Independent Journal 8/23)

Also Today:
Yeas Outnumber Nays at Point Molate Casino Hearing (The Berkeley Daily Planet 8/20)