California

P.O. Box 225
13350 San Pablo Avenue, Suite 1A
San Pablo, CA 94806-9902

The East Bay Coalition Against Urban Casinos is a coalition of citizens, clergy, community leaders and others who oppose allowing urban casinos in our community.

When Proposition 1A passed in 2000, legalizing tribal gambling in California, we were told that casinos would be placed on historical tribal lands, in rural parts of the state. Since then however, casino proposals have sprung up in cities around the state, particularly in the Bay Area where casinos have been proposed in Oakland, Richmond, and San Pablo.

The East Bay Coalition Against Urban Casinos believes that urban casinos in the East Bay would irreparably harm our community by attracting crime, creating increased numbers of problem gamblers, placing even more traffic on our already crowded roads, and damaging the local economy. 

POLO 
P.O. Box 722
Los Olivos, CA 93441
website: http://www.polosyv.org/index.htm 
email: info@polosyv.org 


Our Mission
Preservation Of Los Olivos (P.O.L.O.) is a group of Los Olivos citizens who are interested in preserving the quality of life in our rural community. Our mission is to be actively involved in the creation of guidelines and goals in order to ensure a balanced community plan. We endeavor to protect our water, air, open spaces, habitat areas, cultural resources and our heritage that make up the quality of life in our community.

Using tribal sovereignty to remove constitutional rights and private property rights is wrong. When placed before a federal court, as it was in the City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation case, there can only be one answer when the Constitution is the law of this land.

STOP THE CASINO 101 COALITION (STC101)
is a non-sectarian, multi-cultural group founded in in August, 2003, by Rohnert Park, CA minister Pastor Chip Worthington, in response to plans by the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria to build a massive Las Vegas-style urban casino on the outskirts of town.

The proposed casino would be located midway between the two largest urbanized areas in Sonoma County: Santa Rosa and Petaluma. The site is a Community Separator consisting of sensitive vernal wetlands habitat which forms the headwaters of the Laguna de Santa Rosa, a rare vernal lake. Ordinarily, no one would be permitted to build on this site, but Native American tribes aren't subject to the same laws that govern everyone else in America.

Federal policy allows Indian casinos to ignore all local zoning and planning. These neighborhood casinos are outside the jurisdiction of state and local government and law enforcement. They create "islands of non-jurisdiction", making it virtually impossible for communities to address the changes - and problems - casinos create.

Although it once seemed that there was little a town could do to protect itself from these huge casinos, the tide has begun to turn and now, everyday people, along with local, state and federal officials, are taking a stand to stop the spread of Las Vegas gambling into their hometowns.

There are now five proposals for California's November, 2005, ballot that would drastically change the future of Indian gambling in this state. In city after city and county after county, people are standing up to demand an end to urban casinos.

STC101, working in conjunction with other pro-community groups in the area, has successfully mounted a vigorous campaign of protest and public education. STC101 has been able to expand its efforts to the regional, state and national level, and we will continue our efforts to stop the construction of a "monster casino" on the outskirts of Rohnert Park.

We're in it for the long run.