Fort Mohave Casino - City and County Have a Voice?

There is a county and city in California that have gone rogue on us.

POLO and company have all along informed us that local governments and communities do not have a voice when it comes to the expansion or new construction of Indian casinos in California.

Well someone better go down to San Bernardino County and tell those people that what they are up to is sheer lunacy.

First of all, somehow the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors got it into their head that a resolution they approved a couple days ago that approves the construction of a Fort Mojave Indian casino near Needles would carry any weight with anyone.

Must be something in that Colorado River water because then the Needles City Council decided that the residents of Needles should also have a voice in the matter so they put it on the upcoming November ballot as Measure H.

Hah! What are these people thinking!

What they are doing is nothing short of madness if we believe what POLO and friends have been telling us these past couple years.

So… is it lunacy or reality?

Turns out those fine people down in San Bernardino County do have their heads screwed on right and in fact they are deciding, not the tribe, whether or not the casino will be built… off- reservation. Imagine that….a voice.

Fours years ago (yes, these things don’t happen in a couple weeks) the Governor signed an original gaming compact with the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe.

The compact required the tribe to prepare an environmental impact report and enter into agreements to mitigate environmental impacts and pay for services with both the City of Needles and San Bernardino County.

Because the location of the proposed casino is 4 miles outside of Needles and the land is off-reservation land, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger required, as a pre-condition to going forward with the plan, that the county and the city of Needles pass resolutions stating that the site is suitable for a gaming facility.

County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, said "The governor looks to the city and county. That's his policy."

Measure H read like this:

Measure H: “Do you approve of the placement of a casino by the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe on part of a 300-acre parcel of tribal land located approximately four and one-half miles west of the city of Needles and adjacent to Interstate 40?”

Measure H, impartial analysis (in part) by Robert Hargreaves, city attorney: “A favorable advisory vote by the electorate of the city of Needles is a precondition to the governor's approval of the casino. Other preconditions include (1) the United States Secretary of Interior determines that the casino would be in the best interest of the tribe and would not be detrimental to the surrounding community, and (2) the Board of Supervisors of the county of San Bernardino and the City Council for the city of Needles approve of the location.”