Wednesday, October 13, 2004

A Message from Loni

Welcome to my blog! Thank you for stopping by!

As the Assemblywoman for District 14, I want to make communicating with me as easy as possible for you. I have offices in Sacramento and in El Cerrito, and hold office hours, hearings and town hall discussions throughout the district. You can call, fax, mail a letter or send an email to me about your concerns on state legislation or about our community.

I hope this blog will be an easy, user-friendly way for District 14 constituents to express opinions and offer suggestions on major policy issues. The blog will be dedicated to one topic at a time, so we can share information and explore a variety of viewpoints on each topic. Right now, there is a lot of concern about the proposed expansion of Casino San Pablo and I would like to hear your ideas.

As you may have read in the newspapers the Governor negotiated a Compact with the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians to build a 2,500 slot machine casino on their tribal land at Casino San Pablo. The site is surrounded by the city of San Pablo, and a few blocks from the I-80 Freeway.

This issue has caused quite a stir in the Bay Area and in Sacramento. What would the impacts be of such a large casino? How would traffic on Interstate 80, San Pablo Avenue and San Pablo Dam Road be affected? How can public safety and fire protection be maximized? Are there social and public health problems that might increase as a result of having a large casino in the middle of a dense residential area? What can be done to mitigate these concerns? Will there be benefits to the local community in addition to negative impacts that must be mitigated? What about impacts on the built-up cities near San Pablo; if they share the potential problems, will they share any benefits? How can sovereignty of Indian nations be respected? How can we ensure quality jobs for workers at casinos? Is gambling the best economic development strategy for California? These and other issues need to be closely examined as the community decides what to do on this issue.

So please weigh in, we're waiting to hear from you!

The process is simple.

1. Click on " Post a comment "
2. Enter you name and email address.
3. Finally Click on "Publish Your Comment."

Posts will be read by visitors, so please be respectful of other points of view and keep your comments to one or two paragraphs. I hope that this site will prove to be another valuable way for us to communicate with one another.

No comments: