Despite represenations by Governor Schwarzenegger office and the project applicants, the only thing San Diego's Los Coyotes Tribe is "sharing" is the Michigan Developer and Casino Resort Manager that designed, and is now bankrolling and directing, the scheme for twin casino resorts in Barstow.
Governor Schwarzenegger's negotiators have indicated in testimony before legislative committee that a Los Coyotes casino project on its own fails to meet the guidelines for approval established by the Governor May 18, 2005. There is, they have confessed, no compelling reason to approve a Los Coyotes casino off-reservation in Barstow. Nevertheless, when signing the tentative agreements in September 2005, the Governor gave as his rational for a Los Coyotes compact the following:
"The Los Coyotes Band already entered into a municipal services agreement with the City of Barstow in October 2004 in order to construct a casino on parcels identified and agreed by the City. The Tribe has also agreed to share its site with the Big Lagoon Rancheria as part of a unified casino project."
Wait a minute ... something doesn't add up here because on July 1, 2004 the City of Barstow approved plans for the Los Coyotes Band of Indians to build a casino on a site not to exceed 20 acres. The municipal agreement referenced in the Governor's comments reads:
"The Tribe will request that the United States take into trust for its benefit land not to exceed twenty contiguous acres, absent written agreement of the City, from the parcel(s) identified in Exhibit A appended hereto (“Trust Lands”). The Tribe agrees that it will not seek other or additional parcels within the City."
Despite representations made in Governor Schwarzenegger's press releases, there have been no sacrifices made nor is Los Coyotes' sharing its 20-acre site. In fact through the agreement with the Governor, the Los Coyotes' tribe realizes a great windfall -- the Los Coyotes Tribe's project alone is 20% larger (up to 25 acres) than what was originally approved in agreement with the City Council and the tribe would have the right to install almost twice the number of slot machines over what it had originally requested.
Approving a Barstow casino for Los Coyotes which fails to meet the terms outlined in Governor Schwarzenegger's own May 18, 2005 Proclamation is tremendously bad form for the Governor -- especially since they were the first two agreements negotiated after issuing the May 2005 Proclamation. And then to realize even the "exception" he's given to rationalize approvals for granting two casinos in Barstow are just plain false and misleading should be great cause for concern among all those involved -- especially the taxpayers and voters of California.
The truth is, the only thing Los Coyotes is "sharing" is the Detroit Developer and Casino Resort Manager that hatched the twin casinos scheme and is bankrolling their legal, lobbying and PR campaign pushing the Barstow location.
Barwest is the exclusive developer and has five year management contracts with both the Los Coyotes and Big Lagoon tribes; earning up to 30% per year of revenue from the twin casinos resort destination for the first five years. The total proposed Barstow Casinos and Resort project is twice the acreage and has combined approvals for more than 5x the number of slots originally believed possible for Los Coyotes -- and then there are the increased revenues from a larger resort, conference and commercial activities developed on the other 75+ acres identified in the lawsuit settlement agreement between the State of California and the Big Lagoon Tribe:
"The Tribe represents that it has entered into agreements with BarWest, L.L.C., a Michigan limited liability company ("BarWest"), the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians ("Los Coyotes"), and LCB BarWest, L.L.C., a Michigan limited liability company ("LCB") for the joint development of two compatibly designed class III gaming facilities sharing access, parking and other common amenities on approximately 126.48 acres of land located in the City of Barstow, California ("Casino Site"). The Tribe further represents that BarWest has agreed to convey to the United States of America, in trust for the Tribe, title to approximately 25 acres of land located in Barstow ..."
Although it's the tribes who have been pushed out front to engender support in the PR campaign, don't let that fool anyone; the attorneys who negotiated the Barstow agreements were handpicked and are paid by the Detroit Casino Syndicate Barwest. These attorneys handle nearly all projects for the organization.
What happened to staying within the 20-acre casino site originally approved by the Barstow City Council back in 2004? ...The site Governor Schwarzenegger apparently intended for Los Coyotes to share with Big Lagoon? Where are the so-called sacrifices talked about as mitigation for the Los Coyotes Tribe's failure to otherwise meet the guidelines for off-reservation casino approvals set out in Governor Schwarzenegger's May 2005 Proclamation?
Governor Schwarzengger could have simply approved a Big Lagoon casino for Barstow and explained the compelling reasons for doing so. Frankly, a Big Lagoon casino alone would probably have been tougher for opponents to defeat and certainly not been riddled with as many flaws and contradictions. What was the real motivation for giving Barwest, of all the possible parties, two casino projects? A lot of weak and disjointed argument has been manufactured to rationalize approval for a Barwest developed and managed mega destination resort with dual Las Vega style casinos -- a master development project with profits and long-term tangental commercial development potential far beyond even Barwest's original dreams.
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