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Point of information: Stevenson/Carson lies in the approximate middle of the county's southern line; the west end is hard by Camas. But you're right, traffic coming from I84 will cross at Hood River (new bridge, anyone?) and west on narrow old SR14, entering Skamania County as it crosses the White Salmon River.

posted 5 years, 3 months ago
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On the Casino: perfect world, the Great White Father would not have removed his children from their ancestral home on the mighty Columbia and they would still be catching plentiful salmon and fleecing euro-americans with their stick game. The Indian Gaming Act would not have been written by Congress as a way to compensate for the many insults perpetrated by our government against the Indian people over the last few hundred years.
That said, the original proposal by the Warm Springs was to relocate their casino to highly visible land the tribe owns in the scenic area proper, just east of Hood River. Someone suggested that it might be more appropriate in an Urban Area, so the tribe entered into discussions with the Port of Cascade Locks.
That Port property could legally be used to host any sort of industrial use - up to and including an LNG terminal. Many of these potential uses make even a gigantic casino look innocuous by comparison.
Again, for opponents to call this a "casino in the heart of a national treasure," is misleading. Urban areas (like Cascade Locks) within the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area are exempt from scenic area regulations.
Cascade Locks has languished while other Gorge towns have prospered. It doesn't even have a pharmacy, let alone a hospital. Visit Cascade Locks, the schools and city hall, and imagine (really visualize) living there.
Remember, Cascade Locks is in Hood River County, one of the counties taking a hit from Congress's inaction on extending the Secure Rural Schools Act, money doled out to counties hit by the curtailed logging on federal forest land within the counties. They can't expect much help from county government.
The Warm Springs have shown outstanding sensitivity to social and environmental concerns. If anybody can bring such a thing into a community in the right way, they are the ones.
The really big guns here are the Grand Rondes, who are afraid some of their customers will be drawn away to the Warm Springs casino. These casinos need to draw from a huge population to succeed. I think it's safe to say that there is only room for one casino in the Gorge, and this one manages to be in a Urban Area that needs the help. The tribe has said it would operate shuttles to transport customers.
The site in Cascade Locks is far better for the Gorge than the Hood River site.

posted 5 years, 3 months ago
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With respect to Broughton: If all of the commentors had read the Gorge Commission's executive director's report, their comments would be far more meaningful. I live very close to the proposed development, have followed it closely for many years, and I am appalled at the disinformation campaign being promoted by the Portland-based Friends of the Gorge.
The commission's staff recommendation specifically bans full-time housing and limits the size of the units.
We are talking about a former industrial site that is separated from the riverfront by the highway and the railroad. By any standard, turning an industrial site into a resort is a downzone. From a scenic standpoint, would you really rather look at an RV park than a stick-built resort? From a recreation standpoint, will a campground be less likely to overwhelm the recreation resource that is the Hatchery State Park?
Is the scale of this propoal appropriate outside of an urban area in the national scenic area? Should the proposed ammendment be tightened up? These are key questions for the commission. An informed public should provide informed input.
I don't think OPB staff framed this topic very well. "Condos and Casinos" sounds slick, grabs the attention and throws up a vision that horrifies the many who love this place, but it misrepresents both issues.
I love this show and see huge potential for it to inform the public on questions of this nature, but each of your topics for today could have filled the hour and more. I guess I see a missed opportunity here.

posted 5 years, 3 months ago
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