Malik's legal appeal for right to develop houses and a marina on Harsens Island moves forward

7.30.08

Harsens Island development appeal heading for final pretrial

By Nicole Tuttle
Voice Reporter

The appeals process for two development companies looking to build a housing project on Harsens Island will take another step forward.

St. Clair County Circuit Judge Daniel J. Kelley ruled last week that the final pretrial hearing for Grand Pointe Development LLC and Lucky 7 Development LLC will be Aug. 25.

The date was set after Kelly heard the pretrial for the case July 21 in chambers. The case originally had been scheduled for Circuit Judge Peter Deegan's courtroom, but was moved after a conflict of interest surfaced when attorneys involved learned that Deegan's court reporter, Kathy Schweikart, is a member of the Clay Township Planning Commission.

The case is in court because the developers are appealing the planning commission's decision to reject a request for a special land use. The developers planned to create a 348-unit cluster housing development on the former Boys' Club property on the North Channel. The developers appealed the decision to the circuit court March 19.

Clay Township John McNamee said the judge will want to review documents, such as possibly the minutes of the planning commission meeting and what the commission considered before rendering a decision.

He said that he and Gary Fletcher, attorney for Grande Pointe Development LLC and Lucky 7 Development LLC in the case, will need to determine which documents relating to the planning commission decision can be submitted to the judge for review.

"The court wants us to reach an agreement as to what is the appropriate record for review," McNamee said.

Once this process is complete, the judge will set a schedule for attorneys to submit briefs, Fletcher said.

In addition to the appeal, developers applied to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's Land and Water Management Division in 2007 for dredging and a marina operating permit. The project would impact 16.6 total acres of wetland with excavation and fill activities. Existing roadways would also be impacted. The DEQ will make a decision on the permit on Aug. 28.

Click here to return to story: http://www.voicenews.com/stories/073008/loc_20080730009.shtml

NOTE: Grande Pointe Development LLC and Lucky 7 Development LLC are entities controlled by Detroit-casino syndicator and developer Michael J. Malik, Sr. Mike Malik shares an office at the headquarters of Ilitch Holdings, Inc. and has partnered with Mrs. Marian Ilitch on various casino ventures.

Developer still in pursuit of Harsens Island Bridge despite set backs

7.30.08

Harsens Island bridge stalled in negotiations

By Nicole Tuttle
Voice Reporter

Developers of the Harsens Island bridge [aka Harsens Island Crossing] are currently negotiating roadblocks to their progress with the Department of Environmental Quality.

The bridge, which would link the Algonac mainland to Harsens Island over the North Channel, is the project of the Detroit International Bridge Company. The private company seeks to build the bridge as a commercial venture.

The Harsens Island Transportation Authority met with the bridge developers July 15 at the Harsens Island Lions Hall. Don Verslyte, a member of the HITA who led the meeting, said that Bridge Company President Dan Stamper told HITA they were working to overcoming the objections that caused the DEQ to deny them a permit to build the bridge. The DEQ denied the permit last year.

One objection was the question of riparian rights. The bridge plans interfered with some privately owned property. Verslyte said Stamper told the HITA they had overcome this by purchasing a marina.

Another objection related to interference with the spawning ground of sturgeon. Verslyte said Stamper told the HITA there was no spawning ground where the bridge would cross.

"They resolved that by taking pictures of the bottom," Verslyte said.

Verslyte said Stamper told the HITA the company would be willing to provide funds to help build a spawning ground on Dickinson Island.

The third objection related to interference with wetlands on the island side of the bridge. Verslyte said Stamper told HITA the issue was still under discussion with the DEQ, but the company anticipates resubmitting for a permit with the U.S. Coast Guard within 45 days.

Stamper did not return messages by Voice deadline.

Robert McCann, a spokesman for the DEQ, said the company has not actively pursued an appeal of the denial. "They have the option to appeal or start over with new plans," he said.

Discussions of the issues, particularly the sturgeon and wetlands issues, are still under discussion with the DEQ and the Department of Natural Resources, McCann said.

"We have been discussing the issue with them," he said. "We have heard both for and against from the public."

The DNR is still in discussions with the developer regarding the sturgeon issue, said Mary Dettloff, a DNR public information officer. She said that the DNR has caught sturgeon in the area.

"There would be a loss of aquatic habitat if the bridge is built," Dettloff said.

Dettloff said the DNR has worked with other developers in the past to create "mitigation for loss of habitat" and that would be part of the permit process.

One area that the HITA is concerned with is working out an agreement with the company to control toll rates, Verslyte said.

"That is a problem we have now with the ferry system," Verslyte said.


Click here to return to story: http://www.voicenews.com/stories/073008/loc_20080730007.shtml

U.S. Sen Stevens indicted; Rep. Young still under investigation on related matters

TALKINGPOINTSMEMO
7.29.08

TED STEVENS INDICTED ON 7 CRIMINAL COUNTS

Ted Stevens, the senior senate Republican from Alaska, has been indicted on seven counts of making false statements for failing to disclose on his Senate financial disclosure forms hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gifts he received in Alaska over seven years. He will not be arrested but will be allowed to turn himself in.

The FBI investigation leading to the indictment began almost two years ago when the FBI raided Steven's son, Alaskan State Sen. Ben Stevens, and others. At the center of the investigation were executives from VECO who have plead guilty to bribing at least four legislators includin the younger Stevens. Ted Stevens' Road To Ruin

Wall Street Journal reporters Evan Perez and Jim Carlton write that the investigation has upended Alaska state politics, casting scrutiny on Sen. Stevens -- who is running for re-election this year -- and on his congressional colleague, Rep. Don Young of Alaska, who is also under investigation.

Michigan tribe was first to own a casino in the U.S.; backers seeking third casino

According to the tribe's official Web site, on July 4, 1984, the Bay Mills Indian Community opened the first tribally owned casino in the United States.

Today the Bay Mills Indian Community operates two casinos on its Reservation near Brimley, Michigan: the Bay Mills Casino and Kings Club Casino.

Detroit casino syndicators Michael Malik and Marian Ilitch have been trying, unsuccessfuly, to site a third casino for the Bay Mills Indian Community in the greater Detroit area, several hundred miles off the Reservation, since the mid-1990s.

Ilitch / Shinnecock Indian Nation casino update

7.27.08

Development
Inching Ahead on a Tribal Casino Agreement

By BRUCE LAMBERT
SOUTHAMPTON

CARRYING on a tradition of nearly four centuries of rocky relations, whites and native Indians here have been feuding in and out of court for the last few years over a proposed casino and a compensation claim for land the tribe says was stolen.

Now a glimmer of compromise has enticed leaders from both sides into talks that could result in Long Island’s first casino.

Some Suffolk County legislators have met with Shinnecock tribal trustees about finding an alternate site for a casino away from Indian lands in the Hamptons, where it has been proposed and which officials adamantly oppose.

Many hurdles remain, especially finding an acceptable location. But if that can be accomplished, Shinnecock leaders say they are eager to also resolve their land lawsuit.

“A global settlement would be very welcome,” Frederick C. Bess, chairman of the Shinnecock Indian Nation trustees, said in an interview. “We want to sit down and negotiate something amicable to all of us, a win-win. We’re always trying to be good neighbors. We have to live together on Long Island.”

The overtures have included a pro-casino presentation by tribal members to a county legislative committee and a tour of the reservation in late June by the Legislature’s presiding officer, William J. Lindsay, and its economic development chairman, Wayne R. Horsley, both Democrats.

“I’ve always been a proponent of gaming,” Mr. Lindsay said in an interview. “A facility on the East End is not the smartest thing, because the roads and infrastructure couldn’t support it and the communities are opposed. But Suffolk is a big place, with lots of arteries like the Long Island Expressway and Sunrise Highway and places where it might go, including downtowns that need revitalization.”

What sparked the new talks was progress in the Indians’ decades-long attempt to win federal recognition. They now predict winning recognition in a year or two.

That official status, along with state approvals that the tribe would seek, could legally entitle the Shinnecock to a casino on their reservation — or a site purchased elsewhere.

Anticipating that likelihood, officials like Mr. Lindsay say they want to work with the tribe to find the best location.

Proponents say a casino would generate thousands of jobs, tax revenue and an economic ripple totaling billions of dollars. Critics doubt whether any community would welcome a casino and dispute its local benefits.

The talks stem from two federal court cases involving a 2003 Shinnecock attempt to build a casino here and the tribe’s 2005 land claim. The Shinnecock lost the first legal rounds but appealed. Both cases are pending.

The tribe says it deserves compensation for its former territories and desperately needs a casino for self-sufficiency.

Many families on the reservation struggle financially. Their plight is underscored by the surrounding opulence of the modern Hamptons, with waterfront estates and summering celebrities and tycoons — on former Indian land. Some garages of the rich are bigger than the homes on the reservation.

The Shinnecock trace their roots back 10,000 years. They welcomed the first English arrivals here in 1640, but relations soured, and the Shinnecock were forced to sell land. Historians say dubious deals manipulated the tribe out of most of its territory.

“Everything was stacked against the Indians from the beginning,” said John A. Strong, a retired history professor at Long Island University.

Eventually the Indian presence here shrank to an 800-acre peninsula in Shinnecock Bay, the reservation where nearly half the 1,300 current members live.

“On one side of the street you have basic homes, and on the other side you have multimillion-dollar mansions,” Mr. Bess said.

While some Shinnecock have prospered as doctors or lawyers, many are unemployed or subsist on meager incomes.

“They really need jobs,” said John Robert Zellner, former cochairman of the Southampton Town anti-bias task force. “Some people are still living in houses with dirt floors and leaky roofs. There’s a lot of poverty.”

A few Indians profit by claiming a tribal exemption to sell untaxed cigarettes at small tobacco shops along Montauk Highway. State officials have threatened to crack down, and a grocery chain has sued to stop tax-free sales.

The tribe explored various ventures that never materialized: windmills, cellphone towers and a waste depot. They opened a shellfish hatchery that was wiped out by the brown tide and is now back in operation.

Inspired by lucrative Indian casinos around the country, the Shinnecock finally pushed to pursue one with a powerful ally: Gateway Casino Resorts in Detroit, whose principals include Marian Ilitch, owner of the MotorCity Casino. Her family’s enterprises include Little Caesars Pizza and the Detroit Tigers.

Southampton officials recoiled in 2003 when the Shinnecock cleared some trees and had a casino groundbreaking at Westwoods, a 79-acre Indian property west of the reservation. The town spent $3 million fighting in United States District Court to block the project, saying it would be disastrous for traffic, the environment and development.

Upping the ante in 2005, the tribe went to federal court seeking compensation from the state and others for nearly 3,000 acres taken in 1859. The land now includes Stony Brook University’s Southampton campus, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, the National Golf Links of America and the Shinnecock Hills community.

Eventually one judge rejected the land claim, and another ruled that Westwoods was not part of the original reservation and thus the tribe had no immunity from local zoning laws. The tribe appealed both rulings, and the suits are awaiting appellate decisions on upstate Oneida Indian cases.

One consolation in the disputes was Judge Thomas C. Platt’s finding that the Shinnecock are a valid tribe, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs did not take that as binding. But in May the federal government said it might expedite its decision on tribal status.

In the search for an alternate casino location, the Suffolk legislators have declined to specify potential sites. Southampton’s new town supervisor, Linda A. Kabot, remains opposed to a casino here but suggested two possibilities, Calverton or Yaphank. If the casino were in the town, she said it should be in the west, around Gabreski Airport.

Several people in the dispute have described the Westwoods groundbreaking and the land claim as leverage to get a casino elsewhere. The tribe’s chairman, Mr. Bess, said: “We would negotiate for a better site somewhere else on Long Island — the closer to New York City the better. That’s where the population is.”

One Hamptons casino opponent, Marion Boden, former president of a local civic group, said that she sympathized with the search for another site and sensed that the backlash has moderated. “A collaborative effort would be a dream,” she said.

But “not-in-my-backyard” resistance will be a formidable obstacle, said Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., a Republican whose district includes the reservation. “If we’re not the Nimby capital of the world, we’re in the top five,” he said.

Also voicing doubts, County Executive Steve Levy, a Democrat, said, “It would be a hard sell for me to say a casino is the best way to go.” He disputed whether casinos benefit communities.

Mr. Bess is firm about the benefits to the tribe. “We just have to survive,” he said. “We’re fighting to preserve our culture.”

Amended D.C. lobbying reports show payments were made by Detroit casino syndicators

Now that the House of Representatives has rejected the Bay Mills Indian Community's plans for a Port Huron casino, D.C. lobbying firm Akerman Senterfitt has filed an amended lobbying registration form revealing that bills for its client Bay Mills Indian Community are being paid Blue Water Resorts, an enterprise controlled by Detroit casino syndicator Michael J. Malik, Sr.

Another firm, Potomac Partners DC (lobbyists Richard Alcalde and Daniel Feliz) filed a similar amendment in April indicating Blue Water Resorts was paying the lobbying bills for Potomac Partners DC's client MJM Enterprises, also an entity controlled by Malik.

Blue Water Resorts was formed by Malik in 2001. Malik's business partner includes Mrs. Marian Ilitch, owner of Detroit's MotorCity Casino, Detroit Red Wings and Little Caesars Pizza.

McClintock media advisor also represents American Plastics Council, Wal-Mart

Bill Criswell, president of San Francisco-based Criswell Associates, is senior political advertising operative for conservative congressional candidate Tom McClintock, GOP nominee to succeed scandal plagued Rep. John T. Doolittle. McClintock moved 350 miles away to Northern California in order to run for th seat.

Criswell's clients include the American Plastics Council and Wal-Mart.

McClintock's congressional campaign has paid "Marketing Communications Svcs., Inc.," more than $130,000. The California Secretary of State does not show any corporation by that name registered in California but the entity has the same address -- 58 Maiden Ln., 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA -- as Criswell & Associates.

McClintock paid more than $130k to firm that's not a registered corporation

Congressional candidate Tom McClintock (CA-4th CD) has paid more than $130,000 to an entity reported as Marketing Communications Svc., Inc.

No such entity is entity is registered with the California Secretary of State.

The McClintock disclosures indicate Marketing Communications Svc., Inc., is located at 58 Maiden Ln., 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94108.

That's the same address of a firm Criswell Associates owned by Bill Criswell who has handled advertising and paid media for McClintock's previous campaigns. TVT can find no records on file with the CA Secretary of State for Criswell Associates either.

Bill Criswell is a member of the Association of American Political Consultants (AAPC). And is apparently behind a Wal-Mart recycling program. His clients also include the American Plastics Council.

McClintock campaign manager involved with Indian casino

Tom McClintock is the GOP nominee to replace scandal-plagued Rep. John T. Doolittle in California's 4th Congressional District. McClintock's campaign manager John Feliz was involved in talks to have Detroit casino syndicators Marian Ilitch and Michael Malik relocate an Indian casino for the Big Lagoon Rancheria (Humboldt County, CA) 350-miles south to the Mojave Desert community of Barstow, CA.

TVT has obtained the "sign-in" sheet from a secret meeting that was attended by Feliz, attorneys at Patton Boggs and Akin Gump (including former Interior Department official Michale Rossetti) and others who promoted the scheme. At the time, Feliz was involved in raising money for then-Rep. Richard Pombo who was at the time, chair of the House Natural Resourcecs Committee.

Feliz is a longtime pal and political operative for Doolittle and former Rep. Richard Pombo. Feliz's son, Daniel Feliz (Potomac Partners DC) is now a Capitol Hill lobbyist for the Detroit casino syndicators (MJM Enterprises and Blue Water Resorts).

McClintock paid almost $11k to Pombo-affiliated firm; and owes another $25k

According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, congressional candidate (CA-4th) Tom McClintock paid nearly $11K for "campaign advice" to Pac/West Communications, the one-time employer of former Rep. Richard Pombo and his top aide Steve Ding.

Although Pombo/Ding no longer appear on the Pac/West website as excutives/employees, there may still be some otherwse undisclosed association with the pair (e.g. consultants). Pombo is ALWAYS trying to cover his tracks after all, and the odd amount of the expense listed in FEC disclosures as $10,964 is curious.

Other filings by the McClintock campaign suggest he owes the Pombo-affiliated firm Pac/West Communications another $25,050.10

A complaint has been made with the FEC suggesting Pombo/Ding are illegally coordinating campaign activities with McClintock's operation. Pombo and Ding are behind an advocacy group, The Parternship for America, which the complaint says is coordinating political activity with Tom McClintock's campaign committee. Pombo's been national chair of Partnership for America since May 2007.

McClatchy recently reported that Pombo’s group is organizing a $660,000 independent campaign in the 4th congressional district.

You may also want to review these related posts:

• Tangled web of corruption in race to replace Rep. Doolittle; includes ties to Detroit gambling interests
• Pombo and Ding out at Pac/West Communications?
• McClintock's campaign manager has ties to scandals involving Reps. Doolittle and Young

BNSF retiree helps railroad secure funding as Mayor of Barstow

from the BNSF's Barstow LMIT employee newsletter, December 2002

Lenwood Road grade separation study coming

Despite state budget shortfalls, funds remain intact to conduct a grade separation study of the BNSF tracks at Lenwood Road. Barstow Mayor Lawrence Dale, retired director LMIT, said the city’s portion of the study will be $50,000.

Preliminary work began with review of access needs for nearby businesses and residents. The study will reveal whether an overpass or an underpass will be most efficient for traffic flow. Dale said he was pleased the project moved ahead even when many similar studies in Southern California were eliminated due to budget constraints.

Completion of the study will occur sometime next year, Dale said.

You may also want to review these related posts:

• Barstow likely to lose fifth city manager in four years; Mayor blamed
• Did earmarks guarantee exclusive casino developmen...
• Federal Earmark: Lenwood Road Grade Separation, Ba...
• Barstow's Official 2008 Lobbying Priorities
• Did Wal-Mart & Detroit casino financiers influence...
• Members of Congress aren't the only elected officials flying around in the private aircraft of Detroit casino syndicators
• Barstow Industrial Park LLC acquires property with a $22,500,000 mortgage

Barstow's Mayor & his aide artificially inflate real estate values to benefit pals

In late 2000, Lawrence Dale defeated Barstow's incumbent Mayor Katy Yslas-Yent. Dale had never ran for political office but was a very loyal retiree of BNSF Railroad and a candidate of the local good ol' boys -- the Barstow area's establishment ... businessmen who've controlled things in Barstow for years and who meet every morning in Leonard Purdy's auto garage at Barstow Tire & Break.

In 2001, Dale immediately hired Ron Rector as Economic Development Director for the City of Barstow. Rector was previously executive director of a failed Hi-Desert economic development consortium.

While the turn over at Barstow City Hall has been unusually high since Dale's been Mayor; Ron Rector, despite his failure to make any measureable progress in Barstow's economic development the last seven years, has remained on the payroll.

Since 2001, Dale & Rector have used their positions to manufacture circumstances that articially inflate property values to the advantage of the local land speculators, some of whom are among the contingent of those who meet each morning for coffee and Purdy's garage.

In particular, Dale & Rector have unfairly helped their friends obtain land in tax foreclosure and bankruptcy for pennies on the dollar -- land their friends flipped to wealthy investors from outside the area for thousands more than they paid.

They've promoted public works projects that require state agencies to acquire land at inflated prices owned by their pals.

Frequently involved in their schemes are real estate broker Joseph W. Brady and real estate syndicator Quang Pham (or Pham Quang). Also involved are Santa Clarita-based intimates of Rep. Buck McKeon including Hunt Braly.

Since 2003, Dale & Rector have used the city's PR machine to suggest that Barstow would be home to a casino resort and a large Wal-Mart distribution center, plus large-scale residential real esate developments among other things -- but nothing ever materializes.

These projects have yet to be built, let alone break ground -- and in fact, the casino project has been turned down multiple times in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. There has been no official word from the Wal-Mart corporation on the future of the 1 million square feet distribution center.

But the Mayor's continued promotion of these two projects has grossly inflated land values in and around Barstow to the benefit of the Mayor's friends. And among others, the business partners and family members of Barstow City Councilman Steve Curran have benefited financially from artificially inflated real estate sales prices.

In 2006, an entity known as Barstow Industrial Park LLC acquired land from Overland Lenwood LTD near the proposed Wal-Mart facility and took out a $22.5 million mortgage to do so. The same property had a previous assessed value of just $2.8 million. Property in Barstow generally ranges from $5,000 - $25,000 and acre.

In 2004, Quang Pham (or Pham Quang), with the City's help, obtained land through tax sale for pennies on the dollar and then one year later sold it to Irvine-based National Trails Properties LLC for nearly $7.3 million. The property's assessed value is only $1.2 million.

And Dale has served as lobbyists for BNSF. Dale's made frequent trips to BNSF headquarters in Kansas & Texas but never reported any gifts or travel paid for by BNSF; and Dale's used his official capacity and title as Mayor lobbying on Capitol Hill for BNSF's benefit. It's not clear if the Barstow City Council ever officially gave Dale the authority to lobby on BNSF's behalf.

You may also want to review these related posts:

• Barstow likely to lose fifth city manager in four years; Mayor blamed
• Did earmarks guarantee exclusive casino developmen...
• Federal Earmark: Lenwood Road Grade Separation, Ba...
• Barstow's Official 2008 Lobbying Priorities
• Did Wal-Mart & Detroit casino financiers influence...
• Members of Congress aren't the only elected officials flying around in the private aircraft of Detroit casino syndicators

Advertorial: Barstow's Economic Development Schemes

The following is advertorial paid for by Barstow Economic Development Department and published in September 2007.



The City of Barstow: the Crossroads of Opportunity

Location is everything when it comes to goods movement, and Barstow is one of the premier transportation centers in the U.S. With Interstates and other highways all converging in the city, the area has become a natural location for the trucking industry. Barstow is also home to the largest rail yard west of Kansas City. The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are about 150 miles from the city, and freight arriving at the ports is quickly off-loaded and sent via rail along the Alameda Corridor to Barstow for efficient distribution to the western United States.

Since the 2005 announcement that Wal-Mart was planning to build a distribution center in Barstow Industrial Park, the 2006 decision to include the park in the Barstow Enterprise Zone, and the announcement of a rail spur coming in early 2008, the city has seen increasing interest from developers and corporations.

Formerly an agricultural site, the 1,200-acre Barstow Industrial Park is flat, has no known environmental issues, and all utilities are currently extended to the site. With its strategic access to major highways, airports, railways, and deep-water ports, the Barstow Industrial Park is an ideal site for manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution activities.

Because the park is located within the Barstow Enterprise Zone, park tenants have access to special incentives designed to encourage business investment and promote the creation of new jobs through tax incentives. Other state incentives for businesses locating in the Barstow Industrial Park include the Barstow Recycling Market Development Zone, Foreign-Trade Sub-Zone #243, and employment training assistance.

The Barstow area also offers an abundant labor force of approximately 120,000 workers [NOTE: the population of Barstow is only 23,000]. Nearby community colleges and universities provide specialized training opportunities for workers. Currently, 60,000 Barstow area residents commute daily to jobs outside the area. This qualified workforce is available at wages 10% to 20% below the prevailing wages in most of Southern California.

Valmont Newmark International cited Barstow’s numerous strategic advantages and its business-friendly attitude as the reason it selected the Barstow Industrial Park as the location to build its 84,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for spun pre-stressed concrete poles.
Barstow currently has an abundance of low-cost, available land.

To find out how you can join the building excitement at the “Crossroads of Opportunity,” contact Ron Rector, economic development director for the city of Barstow at: 760-255-5106 or rrector@barstowca.org.

You may also want to review these related posts:

• Did earmarks guarantee exclusive casino developmen...
• Federal Earmark: Lenwood Road Grade Separation, Ba...
• Barstow's Official 2008 Lobbying Priorities
• Did Wal-Mart & Detroit casino financiers influence...

Barstow Industrial Park LLC acquires property with a $22,500,000 mortgage

According to records available from various San Bernardino County agencies, on 12.18.06 an entity known as Barstow Industrial Park LLC acquired from another entity, Overland Lenwood LTD, approximately 26 parcels of land (see: parcel map) within the 1,200-acre Barstow Industrial Park (adjacent to the BNSF railroad tracks and within one mile of a public works project financed in part by federal earmarks and known as the "Lenwood Road Grade Separation").

Records indicate there is a $22,500,000 mortgage with Guaranty Bank FSB on the properties. Overland Lenwood LTD made a killing on the sale of the property.

According to records available on the San Bernardino County Property Information Management System the 26 properties had a previous total assessed value of $2,841, 914 in 2006 when they were owned by Overland Lenwood LTD but after they were sold to Barstow Industrial Park LLC the properties were assessed at a total value of $15,060,000 -- a 530% increase in assessed value after the property changed hands. Although the City of Barstow's web site indicates land in the Barstow Industrial Park is zoned M-1 Light Industrial, San Bernardino County's Property Information Management System indicates much of the property is "agricultural" which tends to carry a lower valuation.

• Barstow Industrial Park LLC is a Delaware corporation with an address at 515 SOUTH FIGUEROA ST, STE 1600, Los Angeles, CA 90071. The entity's California agent is noted as Murad M. Siam. The entity registered in California on 10.16.06.
  


• Overland Lenwood LTD is a California Limited Partnership with a one-time address at 147 EAST OLIVE AVE. , MONROVIA, CA 91016. The entitiy's agent was noted as Andrew Hsu located at 18725 E. GALE AVE, STE 233, INDUSTRY, CA 91748. The entity registered in 1994 and has since been cancelled. Numerous other "Overland" or Hi-Desert related property owners are located at the Monrovia address.

On 2.17.05 the City of Barstow issued a press release regarding the Barstow Industrial Park and Walmart which included the following:

"From its corporate offices in Bentonville, Ark., Wal-Mart announced today that it plans to build and operate a food distribution center in the area known as the Barstow Industrial Park. Construction on the 880,000-sq.-ft. facility, encompassing 160 acres in the industrial park just north of where Valmont-Newmark is located, is planned to begin in late 2006 with service to stores beginning in 2008. The company announced that some 500 full-time jobs, providing competitive wages, initially will be created. That number could grow to 700 within the first three years."

No progress on a Walmart project are obvious in the Barstow Industrial Park despite pubic assertions by Barstow's Mayor Lawrence Dale; however, Barstow Industrial Park LLC appears to have paid more than premium prices for the land it acquired in 2006. An investment of $22.5 million on property that was previously assessed at $2.5 would have to come with some have some guarantees for the new owners. Somebody was a big winner in this transaction. And somebody(ies) intend to make even more if they were willing to overpay for the property to the tune of $22.5 million.


You may also want to review these related posts:

• Did earmarks guarantee exclusive casino developmen...
• Federal Earmark: Lenwood Road Grade Separation, Ba...
• Barstow's Official 2008 Lobbying Priorities
• Did Wal-Mart & Detroit casino financiers influence...

Originally posted 12.04.07.

Ilitch casino frontmen doing damage control again

Marian Ilitch's casino frontmen are at it again.

Before news could reach Barstow that U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has issued a new ruling indicating off-reservation casinos must be within a 25-mile radius from an Indian tribe's headquarters, Ilitch's Lansing-based PR man Tom Shields and Shane Chapparosa, a member of the Los Coyotes Band of Indians, made an appearance before the Barstow City Council to "unveil" their third plan in five years for a casino in the Mojave Desert town.

There are several acceptions to the new 25-mile rule but it does not appear that the Los Coytes Band of Indians who are headquartered in north eastern San Diego County, more than a 150 mile drive from Barstow, meet any of those exceptions.

Using such tactics to head-off bad news during Barstow's local election campaign cycles have become a strategic political mainstay for Ilitch political strategist Tom Shields.

Barstow's Mayor Lawrence Dale has guaranteed exclusivity to BarWest since his early in his first term and has taken extreme political measures on BarWest's behalf. BarWest principals and agents may have helped Dale secure federal earmarks for his other pet projects from Rep. Don Young and others.

Dale was first elected to office in November 2000 when he upset the incumbent Mayor. He was re-elected again in 2004 and is running for a third term as Mayor in November. Each time he's pledged to make economic development his top priority for the Desert town and the failed BarWest casino resort has been the cornerstone of his plans.

Ilitch and a partner, Detroit-based casino syndicator Michael Malik, formed BarWest and using that entity have been pursuing plans for a Barstow casino since 2001. They made their first plans public in 2003. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger denied their first plan in 2004. The California Legislature failed to ratify a second proposal during back-to-back legislative sessions in 2006 & 2007. The U.S. Department of Interior rejected the second proposal in 2008 after kicking off an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) three years earlier.

You may want to review these related posts:

• Did earmarks guarantee exclusive casino development rights for Young's pal?
• Did Wal-Mart & Detroit casino financiers influence Young's support for Barstow earmark?
• Young used a generic highway earmark as vehicle to slip through approval of Michigan Indian casino