"The Chumash have created a thriving business empire. They own hotels, gas stations and other businesses and have their sights set on even more growth.
Most communities would be happy to have such a dynamic business operating in their midst, but the folks who live in the Santa Ynez Valley chose this bucolic spot because of its peace, serenity and wide-open spaces. They’re wary of development of any kind, and many of them feel that the tribe reaps all of the benefits of its activities while its neighbors suffer all the impacts.
Santa Ynez Valley residents are certainly the loudest critics of any effort to take more property “into trust,” the legal term for adding land to the tribe’s sovereign reservation.
And so it was last week, when tribal officials sponsored a public meeting to open a dialogue between the tribe and its neighbors about the use of the tribe’s latest acquisition, nearly 1,400 prime agricultural acres east of Highway 154. That meeting was cut short when Tribal Chairman Vincent Armenta felt that the dialogue had devolved into rancorous debate."
Get the Story:
Editorial: Camp 4 exemplifies long battle of wills
(The Solvang Valley News 1/31)
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