JAMUL CASINO: THOUGHTS on the BOARD of SUPERVISORS HEARING 4/13/2016

Jamul residents pack one of the overflow rooms—viewing closed-circuit TV.

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS PASS "MEMO OF UNDERSTANDING" IN 3-1 VOTE

100 BOGUS JAMULIANS PACK HEARING ROOM

Supervisor Dianne Jacob Casts only "NO" Vote on MOU with Casino Backers
 

PLEASE NOTE: This is my personal account of the meeting I attended last Wednesday. As such it reflects personal observation and opinion, and not the official position of the DV Community Association who remains opposed to the casino development strictly on the grounds of public safety.  —Kim Hamilton, Antler Editor

I attended the 9 AM Board of Supervisors meeting along with more than 70 other Jamulians last Wednesday.  When the first residents arrived shortly after 8 AM, the Board Room seats had ALL been taken.  PENN had packed it with their cronies, their workers, and tribal members claiming to live at the casino site. The pink "OPPOSED" slips had completely disappeared, and the box was packed with (PRO-Casino) green slips.  The slips are posted online: <http://bosagenda.sdcounty.ca.gov/agendadocs/doc?id=0901127e8033070b> A detailed look into the dirty details of PRO-Casino people, found many posing as Jamulians. Here's what they found among the 100+ PRO-Casino green slips:

• 17 people claimed to live at the Casino, including 6 members of the Meza Family and 9 members of the Pinto Family.  No one has lived at the casino site or Jamul Indian Village since Walter Rosales and Karen Toggery were evicted at gunpoint by hired "tribal police" ten years ago. 
• Two people listed an address immediately adjacent to the casino site.
• The third and final Jamul address belonged to Coby Lacy on Olive Vista.  Mr. Lacy turned out to be the Director of Planning & Analysis for Hollywood Casino. 

Also signing PRO-CASINO slips were:

• Numerous members of the Rincon and Campo Tribes.  Interestingly there did not appear to be any representatives from Barona, Sycuan, or Viejas—the casinos most likely to be financially impacted as existing patrons migrate to the closer-to-town Jamul site.  The San Diego casino market is already saturated, so significant numbers of new gamblers are not anticipated.  
• Numerous construction, air-conditioning, and sheet metal workers claimed to all live at the same address on Mission Gorge Rd— Further investigation by Mike and Michelle showed that the address belonged to Union Local #206  
• A half-dozen duplicates were among the multiple slips in the same handwriting but with different names.

Another DV'er attending the meeting had this to say, "

I was in the building at 8 AM and went upstairs immediately. The "suits" we're organizing the people with Jamul Indian Village t-shirts as to which door would be opening to let them in and who should sit where. Others were having people fill in the green slips. I also could not find a pink slip... When the doors were opened I walked in with the crowd and sat in the back between 2 men wearing the t-shirts. One said he didn't live in Jamul; the other smelled of alcohol so I didn't ask him. I also found Bill Horn's comment to be very condescending and dismissive (that we just had to get used to it). I left feeling that the MOU was a forgone result in the minds of the supervisors and we were just being treated to a "dog and pony" show.

I couldn't agree more.

Supervisor Dianne Jacob made a valiant effort to amend the MOU that day. In a strongly-worded oral statement to PENN, she asked (and got) $4 million in additional road funds including intersection improvements at Vista Diego, Otay Lakes Road, and Steele Canyon.
Sup. Jacob also asked for reasonable and ongoing monitoring of hazardous waste and groundwater contamination, but her fellow-supervisors adamantly supported the JIV position that they had no business interfering with the tribal waste management.  It did not seem to matter that the waste is quite likely to end up in our groundwater or flow through the Ecological Reserve to Otay Lakes, a public water source.  She put up a brave and brilliant fight with solid data and information at her fingertips, and was well-versed in all aspects of the impacts of such an enormous commercial project.  By comparison the other supervisors expressed 1) total confusion (Dave Roberts) 2) Praise for tribal casino (Bill Horn) and adamant refusal to do any ongoing monitoring of hazardous waste or groundwater contamination (Rob Roberts).   Her motion for an improved MOU failed on a 2-2 vote.  The Board then PASSED the original Memo of Understanding including the $4 million garnered by Sup. Jacob's actions in 3-1 vote. Sup. Jacob was the lone dissenter.

Perhaps the most insulting comment of the day was made by Supervisor Bill Horn when he assured all of Jamul that the casino would be one of the best things to ever happen to our community.