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California Casino Plans to Continue with Tribal Deal
February 15, 2020 TamaraTam
The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe of Death Valley has just finished the talks with Californian city Ridgecrest, about its controversial casino ideas. Both sides used to have harsh conflict since the city changed its opinion about the approval of a new casino. Judging by the latest news, the city has decided to move forward with the casino project while putting an end to the dispute.
Background of Idea
According to the Municipal Services Agreement (MSA) signed between Ridgecrest and the tribe in 2016, public land should have been sold to the tribe’s developer, Global Investment Enterprise Ridgecrest, for the construction of the casino. The city backed up the project until 2018 when it stated that the idea did not enough from the public..
One of the tribe ers, Nigel White of GIER was ready to take some steps against the city. Last year he stated:
“Several of the City Council have taken public, personal and official actions to prevent this economic development which is in violation of the City’s agreement to do its part to make it happen. Our legal team is studying years of statements, and actions to determine if the Majority of the Council is personally or collectively liable.”
MSA
Nigel White insisted on the compulsory nature of MSA. He claimed that liability could be as much as $50 million under the conditions of the Agreement. Nigel reminded the officials about the consequences of breaching the legal agreement and potential economic devastations. He used the example of Mammoth Lakes, CA which bankrupted after failing to meet of an agreement for airport development.
Another problem with the tribal casino is in ownership rights. The Tribe has planned to develop such facilities outside of its territory which should be followed by the Department of the Interior (DOI) approval. Timbisha Shoshone followed the procedure and applied for permission, but it has never heard anything from the department. The tribe decided to sue the DOI for not responding to their request, when DOI suddenly authorized the project just two weeks from lawsuit submission.
Conclusion
The previous situation is more than clear for the Timbisha Shoshone tribe. It believes that someone from DOI has stopped the approval. A similar situation has happened with native tribes in Connecticut and the agency is already under investigation from the Department of the Justice. At the end of the day, the city of Ridgecrest decided to stop with the long-lasting struggle which could turn unfavorable.
Source:
„California casino to move forward after an agreement between tribe, city“, Erik Gibbs, calvinayre.com, January 30, 2020.
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It seems that Tribes have a significant influence in the US states. However, the words of legal agreements should be met and Timbisha Shoshone was right.