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Columbia Gorge casino draws fire at hearing
Too many cars and too few affordable housing options were the prevailing themes in Monday’s hearing before Hood River City Council. Casino draws fire at hearing September 19, 2008 By Kirby Neumann-Rea News Editor September 25, 2008 Too many cars and too few affordable housing options were the prevailing themes in Monday’s hearing before Hood River City Council. Nearly 70 people attended the hearing to give City Council input on six questions put to the city on the potential impacts of a casino on Hood River. Of the 22 citizens to speak, 19 opposed the casino. Two Cascade Locks residents and one Hood River citizen spoke in support, along with officials from Cascade Locks agencies and Hood River County. The Bureau of Indian Affairs Northwest Regional Office has asked the city to weigh in on the positives and/or negatives of having a gambling center built in Cascade Locks. City Council called the hearing to gather community input, which will be taken in writing through Sept. 29. Bernard Seeger, Cascade Locks city manager, said that his city is well-positioned to respond to demands for increased services given the studies it has done on public services, and the tribe's promises of $1.1 million in annual payments once the casino is up and running. Most testimony centered on the BIA’s question 2, which asked about impacts on “infrastructure, services, housing, community character, and land use patterns.” North Cheatham, of Hood River, said the council must consider the traffic impacts on Hood River, predicting freeway delays of 30-45 minutes; and Holly Lund, of Mosier, said casino traffic would result in bottlenecks that will discourage people from traveling to Hood River and increase the demand on Hood River ambulance and emergency response services, which are already strapped. All input from the public and from city staff, including police, fire and finance, will be considered in a report to BIA. Written comments can be e-mailed to city hall until 5 p.m. on Sept 29: Jennifer@ci.hood-river.or.us The Hood River City Council asks citizens to limit their testimony to the six issues related to a tribal casino being sited in Cascade Locks and how it would affect the city of Hood River: -- Information regarding environmental impacts on the surrounding community and plans for mitigating adverse impacts. -- Anticipated impacts on the social structure, infrastructure, services, housing, community character and land use patterns of the surrounding community. -- Anticipated impact on the economic development, income, and employment of the surrounding community. -- Anticipated costs of impacts to the surrounding community and identification of sources of revenue to mitigate them. -- Anticipated costs, if any, to the surrounding community of treatment programs for compulsive gambling attributable to the proposed gaming establishment. -- Any other information that may assist the Secretary (of the Interior) in determining whether the proposed gaming establishment would or would not be detrimental to the surrounding community. http://www.hoodrivernews.com/News%20stories/2008/077_news_3.htm Active citizen support makes the difference! Your actions for Gorge protection are crucial to our success. Contact your Senators and Representatives using the information below, or check http://www.senate.gov or http://www.house.gov for other offices. Email your Congressional Representative by logging on to http://www.house.gov/writerep/ Oregon: Sen. Gordon Smith - 202-224-3753 http://gsmith.senate.gov/public/ Sen. Ron Wyden - 202-224-5244 http://wyden.senate.gov/contact/ Rep. David Wu - 202-225-0855 Rep. Earl Blumenauer - 202-225-4811 Rep. Darlene Hooley - 202-225-5711 Rep. Greg Walden - 202-225-6730 Rep. Peter DeFazio - 202-225-6416 Washington: Sen. Patty Murray - 202-224-2621 http://murray.senate.gov/email/index.cfm Sen. Maria Cantwell - 202-224-3441 http://cantwell.senate.gov/contact/ Rep. Brian Baird - 202-225-3536 Rep. Doc Hastings - 202-225-5816 Rep. Norm Dicks - 202-225-5916 |
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