By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer

Hood River City Mayor Linda Streich said on Monday there should be no doubt where the City Council stands on the casino issue.

“They (Cascade Locks) are not going to get a neutral stance because we don’t want it anywhere in the National Scenic Area,” said Streich following the council’s March 24 meeting.

However, she said Hood River does not want to get involved in Cascade Locks city policy-making. So, if a casino is allowed by the federal government and high courts, Streich said it should be sited in Cascade Locks and not on a steep slope just east of Hood River.

The council directed staffers to prepare a resolution that clarified its position for review on Monday, April 14. The elected body meets at 6 p.m. in the municipal courtroom, 211 Second Street.

“We know what our stance is but maybe if it’s clearer it won’t be misinterpreted,” said Councilor Ann Frodel.

On Monday, the council addressed the controversy that arose following Streich’s testimony at a Bureau of Indian Affairs hearing on March 17. Five council members concurred on Monday that she had accurately represented the city’s opposition to a casino within the National Scenic Area.

They supported Streich’s decision to speak as mayor without their authorization. The council agreed that her concluding remark that a casino being located anywhere in the Gorge would have “catastrophic consequences” was clearly a personal opinion.

“I was at the hearing and I heard it exactly the way that it was supposed to be heard,” said Councilor Ann Frodel.

In the follow-up interview, Streich said, after the BIA forum in Hood River, she wondered if she should have made it clearer that the concluding remark was solely her opinion.

“What I have discovered since then is that it wasn’t that I wasn’t clear; it’s that people didn’t like what I said,” she said.

Cascade Locks and Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs’ government leaders expressed ire over Streich’s comments. These officials said she had departed from the council’s decision in 2003 to remain “neutral” on the Cascade Locks casino proposal.

“When it was my time to speak, I was absolutely comfortable expressing my own feelings,” Streich told the council on Monday.

She felt it had become necessary to publicly re-state the council’s position since The Oregonian newspaper recently listed the City of Hood River as a supporter of the project.

The Warm Springs are seeking to build the Bridge of the Gods Casino and Resort within Cascade Locks’ industrial park. The 60 acres that would accommodate the project lies within an urban area and is exempt from NSA land-use regulations, according to the Scenic Act.

Frodel said the city opposes a casino anywhere within, or adjacent to, the NSA. She said while Cascade Locks might gain economically from the gaming center, the city of Hood River could experience adverse consequences.

“What might be good for one community might not be good for the other,” she said.

Councilor Laurent Picard said that increased traffic from a casino in Cascade Locks could create a public safety issue. He said Hood River emergency responders were likely to be called upon for assistance at more accidents along Interstate 84. He said tribal and Cascade Locks officials had not defined how much money would be made available to Hood River for the additional work load.

“That’s something that I worry about; the City of Hood River not being compensated for an increase of services,” said Picard.

He is a Portland firefighter who personally opposes the project until the funding issue had been addressed.

Councilor Paul Blackburn called for council to demand that the Hood River News print a retraction for the March 19 editorial against the mayor speaking at the BIA hearing without prior council authorization or clarifying where her official stance ended and her personal opinion began.

He was also frustrated with a recent article in The Oregonian that placed Hood River on the same side of the casino issue as virtually every other Mid-Columbia agency.

“When the Oregonian lists us as a supporter I get annoyed,” said Blackburn.

“Secondly, I don’t like seeing our mayor get whacked on by the newspaper.”

Councilor Paul Cummings referred to the intent of the prior council to remain “neutral,” but backed up Streich’s position. He said she had chosen not to run the issue by him as council president, which was an option open to her but one that she did not have to take.

“I wish to take this opportunity to express my full support of the major. I always have and I always will,” said Cummings.

Councilor Arthur Babitz said he had spent hours studying official records to learn more about the issue. He believed the city should independently study the legal arguments used by casino opponents as to why the Warm Springs would not be able to build on the Hood River site. He wanted to be sure that the city had protected its constituents from any possibility of a casino being sited nearby.

“As a city government we need to take the narrow supportable path. The council should set out the express wishes of the city,” said Babitz.

Councilor Carrie Nelson did not weigh in on the issue. She has long held the belief that the county should take the lead in decision-making because both possible casino locations lie outside of Hood River’s jurisdiction.