Sunday, May 15, 2005

Ed Lynch nails it in Columbian Op-Ed: Local View: Casino will damage our quality of life

The Cowlitz Tribe has repeatedly proven they don't give a damn about the people of Clark County. If they did remotely care about us, they wouldn't be seeking the least restrictive, least responsive and least compliant status for this "reservation" they managed to shop for... and find.
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The County Commissioners can make all of this go away through the use of eminent domain. Frankly, I am mystified as to why they have not engaged in this action.


Local View: Casino will damage our quality of life

Sunday, May 15, 2005
By Ed Lynch

To borrow a line from Meredith Willson's "The Music Man," we've got trouble, my friend, right here in River City.

We certainly do, but for us the threat isn't a pool hall but a casino. It's the one the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and its partner, the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut, want to construct west of Interstate 5 near La Center. If the tribe succeeds in getting the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to take this 152-acre site into "trust," I'm convinced the gargantuan gambling complex they build will severely damage the quality of life we've worked so hard over the years to develop.

While an environmental impact statement is being prepared, consider that the proposed gambling/hotel/shopping/parking complex (8,500 cars) would be half again as big as any in the state, approaching the size of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Its cumulative impacts will damage forever the surrounding rural community.

If approved, it makes a mockery of existing zoning requirements and shatters any hope for our commissioners to manage growth in one of the state's fastest growing counties.

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