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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:
n
Information regarding environmental impacts on the surrounding community
and plans for mitigating adverse impacts.
n
Anticipated impacts on the social structure, infrastructure, services,
housing, community character and land use patterns of the surrounding
community.
n
Anticipated impact on the economic development, income, and employment of
the surrounding community.
n
Anticipated costs of impacts to the surrounding community and
identification of sources of revenue to mitigate them.
n
Anticipated costs, if any, to the surrounding community of treatment
programs for compulsive gambling attributable to the proposed gaming
establishment.
n
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.
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