"About the economic effects of a new tribal-owned mega-casino adjacent to Glendale, we candidly see both good and bad.

The resort proposed by the Tohono O'odham Nation at 95th and Northern avenues will hurt some local Glendale businesses if built, and will sap Glendale of tax revenue. And it will take casino market share from a sister tribe, the Gila River Indian Community. But, likely, it will enhance some nearby businesses.

And about the moral and cultural concerns of gambling houses rising in our communities, we acknowledge things have changed since the 2002 voter-approved ballot measure that ceded casino-gaming rights to Indian communities. While casinos still are limited to tribal lands, those tribal lands are much more within the urban landscape than they were eight years ago. The Valley's tribal casinos have become part of the entertainment landscape.

All that conceded, the U.S. Interior Department decision to allow 53.5 acres next to Glendale to be taken into trust - the first step toward building a casino - is a game changer. An enormous, perhaps irreversible, event."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Glendale casino imperils state-tribal pact (The Arizona Republic 8/1)

Relevant Documents:
Larry Echo Hawk Letter to Tohono O'odham Nation (July 23, 2010)

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