Sycuan, Which Lied to People of California on Gaming Compacts NOW want more Land

Remember when Sycuan promised they'd help balance our state budget if ONLY we'd give them more slots, only to find out they hadn't even approved the move through their own tribe?  We wrote about it Sycuan Bails On Gaming Compact

Blaming a punishing economy, the Sycuan band of El Cajon on Thursday walked away from a multibillion-dollar gambling agreement that it had pursued for years and spent $6 million to defend.



The deal authorized an expansion from 2,000 slots the tribe now operates to as many as 5,000 machines plus an option for a second, off-reservation casino on newly acquired lands that include the former Singing Hills Country Club.
The agreement, or compact, was signed more than two years ago by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sycuan Chairman Daniel Tucker. But it was never ratified by the tribe's 78 adult members, as required by a little-noticed clause.


The decision ultimately could cost both the tribe and the state billions of dollars

NOW, Sycuan wants CA to give them more land.
The Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Indians wants to expand their reservation, but county supervisor Dianne Jacob says she is against the idea which would put more land into the tribe's federal trust.

Jacob is concerned the quality of the tribe's Environmental Assessment is poor. She says the report fails to look at the possible resort and casino related projects that could be built on the property after it becomes part of the tribe's trust.

“A project of this scope and undertaking justifies a more detailed evaluation of the environmental consequences and alternatives than is provided in the Environmental Assessment," Jacob said in a letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The tribe says they are only trying to annex property they already own, property which they say was originally part of the reservation, said tribe spokesperson Adam Day.
The tribe wants to place an equestrian center, a RV park, and a facility for their annual Pow Wow on the new property. The annexed land would also include the Sycuan Resort, also known as the Singing Hills Country Club.

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