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Richmond council approves casino contract

RICHMOND, California – As reported by the Berkeley Daily Planet: "On a divided vote, Richmond city council members last week approved a contract to provide services for a casino planned for unincorporated North Richmond.

"Pressured by community groups eager for promised jobs and enticed by the promise of substantial new revenues, the council approved a pact that will give the city $335 million over 20 years, primarily in return for providing police and fire services.

"With the city agreement in hand, all the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo-speaking Native Americans needs now are federal approvals of their plans to buy the 29.87-acre site on Richmond Parkway and to build a 225,000-square-foot, 1,940-slot Las Vegas-style gambling parlor.

"One key element of the Richmond council's action offered a major step in that direction in the form of a guarantee that the city would support the tribe's bid for federal approval.

"…What remains to be determined is if the Bureau of Indian Affairs will grant the tribe permission to establish a reservation on land to which critics say it has no historic ties…"

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