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Letter to Oregon Governor
Kulongoski
from City of Florence July 7, 2003 The following letter was unanimously endorsed by all five Florence City Council members on July 7, 2003, and mailed to Governor Kulongoski on July 8, 2003. Photocopies are available at Florence City Hall. July 7, 2003 The Honorable Theodore R. Kulongoski, Governor 254 State Capitol Salem, Oregon 97301 Dear Governor Kulongoski: In March of this year, we asked you to continue the State’s appeal of a United States Department of the Interior (Interior) ruling that granted restored lands status to the “Hatch Tract”. Restored lands, as we understand it, is a term that allows gambling under the provisions of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). We are grateful that you heard the plea of this community. Your decision to decline the Federal Magistrate’s offer of mediation came as welcome news to many people in Florence. Thank you for responding positively to our request. We come now, however, with a second request: to appeal the District Court’s ruling in favor of the Department of Interior. The ruling, for the people of Florence, represents another in a series of shortfalls in a process that is intended to protect surrounding communities from the detrimental effects of a casino. This started several years ago when the Tribes announced its plans to have the Hatch Tract placed in trust. At that time, Confederated Tribes Tribal Chairman Greg Norton described the land as “…a significant part of the Indian cultural history, and stressed it would be used for cultural and historical purposes,” adding that “no specific buildings have been planned for the site, and the land has not been identified for the purposes of a gaming casino or any other economic development.” In a letter to the Secretary of the Interior, the Tribes again represented that, “at no time relevant to the trust acquisition did the Tribes have any plans to introduce gaming under IGRA on the Hatch Tract”. During the course of the trust process, both Lane County and Florence were asked to comment. The County responded that it would support the trust acquisition for “cultural and historical” purposes but not for economic development purposes. Similarly, the city registered its opposition to the use of the land for casino or other economic purposes. Relying upon these representations (and good-faith assurances from the governor’s office that any proposed use of the Hatch Tract for a gaming casino would be subject to a separate process, presumably with its own surrounding-community safeguards), Florence was lulled into accepting the trust status. The result has been the denial of any opportunity for a “due process” consideration of Florence’s contention that a casino will have a serious, detrimental effect upon the city, its economy, and its community life. We had hoped that even though the impact on a small, rural community was not directly at issue in the appeal from the Department of Interior’ action, the Court would find the State’s legal arguments persuasive. We were optimistic that the Hatch Tract was indeed “after acquired” land under IGRA and therefore disqualified from eligibility for an Indian gaming casino development. The Court addressed both the scope of its ruling and the impacts on this community in its Footnote Number 4 on Page 10 of its ruling. It concluded that its narrow role was to rule on Interior’s authority to determine the restored lands status of the Hatch Tract. It goes on to say that apparently the State and the Tribes had agreed on the Hatch Tract as an intended site for an Indian Gaming facility. Certainly the Court was not asked to consider the changes that have occurred in the nearby community since the Hatch Tract was taken into Trust in 1998. City population is esstimated to have grown from fifteen to twenty (15-20%) per cent in the intervening period. Florence has experienced significant residential growth, all in context with its acknowledged Comprehensive Plan, immediately adjacent to the Hatch Tract. There are several hundred new homes near the boundary of the site. Those facts alone cry out for significant review of Interior’s order, especially when taken in context with the denial of due process noted above as well as the community’s belief that the Tribes would live by their good faith statements – that gaming was not a consideration for the Hatch Tract being taken into trust. In our disappointment at the ruling, we are left to earnestly request you to appeal that ruling. We firmly believe that, if given the opportunity, the system will provide the promised protections both to Florence and to the people of Oregon. Otherwise, we will all be living with a dangerous precedent that places the well being of all the state’s communities beyond the protections intended by gubernatorial concurrence with Department of Interior gaming-site decisions. Securing that opportunity - and preservation of the essential nature of Florence, the place we live, work and rear our children - now depends on an appeal of District Court’s ruling. Please hear our request with the same perceptive ear that listened in March. We fully appreciate the daunting challenges that our State’s troubled economy has created and your efforts in leading us through them. The City of Florence stands ready to assist you in all your positive endeavors. Please feel free to call upon me or Rodger Bennett, our City Manager, at (541) 997-3437. Sincerely yours, (signed) Alan Burns Mayor |
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