Foes targeting West Sac's casino deal

By Steve Gibson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Tuesday, November 26, 2002

Opponents of West Sacramento's proposed Indian casino deal Monday began circulating petitions aimed at overturning the agreement.

The referendum asks the City Council to either repeal the pact -- which was approved Nov. 6 on a 3-2 vote without public input -- or call a special election and let voters decide.

"This is a grass-roots movement of people who, for a variety of reasons, think it's high time we discuss this out in the open," said Councilman Oscar Villegas.

Both Villegas and Mayor Christopher Cabaldon voted against the municipal services agreement, which would guarantee West Sacramento up to $14 million annually -- if the casino becomes a reality.

Before the Nevada-style resort can be built, however, the Upper Lake Pomo Indians must win federal approval to place a 67-acre West Sacramento site in trust as well as state approval to operate a casino.

Meanwhile, Cabaldon called the agreement "a turkey, a half-cooked turkey, and we all know how dangerous that is."

Cabaldon said he will seek public hearings on the issue.

The pact was approved by council members Bill Kristoff (who was mayor at the time), Mark Montemayor and lame duck council member Jim Cahill, whose term expired last week.

Kristoff described it as "the best deal we could get," an insurance policy for the city, should the project be built.

He said the vote was cast in executive session because the agreement was part of litigation -- a tentative settlement stemming from a lawsuit filed by the Upper Lake tribe.

Clerk Helen Kanowski said opponents have until Dec. 6 to submit the 1,600 signatures -- 10 percent of registered voters -- required to qualify the referendum.

"Does the community wish to cede land to a tribe for a casino? That's the threshold issue here," said former Mayor Wes Beers, one of those behind the referendum. He served on the City Council from 1990 until 1998.

"It is my understanding that the Department of the Interior does pay attention to the wishes of local communities," Beers said. "We need to let them know, either through public hearings or a vote of the people, how we feel. There's been no documentation of what this agreement is going to cost us. What we've been told is how much the city will get. What we haven't been told is what it will cost (the city) to provide the services required."

In an interview Monday afternoon, Upper Lake tribal chairwoman Carmella Icay-Johnson said, "We are confident that the people of West Sacramento will support the proposed casino."

The Upper Lake Indians, a so-called "landless" tribe, have asked the Department of the Interior to recognize the tribe's right to claim a 67-acre parcel in West Sacramento as part of its ancestral lands.

A private partnership currently owns the property and wants to sell it to the Indians.

"Basically, we do not set the rules on how the City Council conducts itself," Icay-Johnson said. "The council has to do what it feels is necessary.

"But we've done a lot of community outreach in the past year, and gathered 9,000 signatures in favor of it."

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