Frequently Asked Questions

The Point Molate Destination Resort project, a joint venture of the Guidiville Tribe and Upstream-Point Molate, LLC, is a visionary and environmentally-friendly mixed-use economic development project that will unite and revitalize two communities historically connected to Point Molate and the Bay Area: the Guidiville Tribe and the people of Richmond.

The estimated $1 billion development will generate hundreds of millions of dollars of new revenue annually for the local area, creating a dynamic economic engine for West Contra Costa County that also will help support numerous social, environmental, and community programs, preserve the historic Winehaven District, restore pristine wildlife habitat, and create open space and public parks for the community to enjoy for generations to come.

Project Features

• A new reservation homeland and housing for the Guidiville Tribe
• A vibrant world-class entertainment district and destination resort
• Residential and commercial “ecovillage”
• Thousands of direct and induced new jobs created
• Hundreds of union construction jobs and strong long-term union partnerships
• $500 million in annual employee wages and benefits
• Up to $22 million in annual revenue for Contra Costa County
• Estimated average $20 million annually for the City of Richmond plus additional amounts for community programs
• Hundreds of millions of dollars in new tax revenue for the federal government and the State of California
• Job training and pre-apprentice training by multidiscipline local job training programs
• Commitment to a minimum 70% local hiring standard
• Construction stimulus of nearly $1 billion in wages, supplies, and vendor contracts
• Strong tourism influence creating hundreds of millions of dollars into local economy
• On-site remediation and ecological restoration, and long-term regional environmental and social programs
• Historic economic stimulus for local businesses and workers
• Transit partnerships to include enhanced bus service and ferry services
• Restoration and preservation of the historic Winehaven District, registered as a National Historic site

When will the resort open?
The Point Molate Destination Resort project is a joint effort of the Guidiville Tribe, a federally recognized tribal government, and the Tribe’s development partner, Upstream-Point Molate, LLC.

The process to redevelop a closed military base is a long and complicated one that has taken from 8 to 20 years at other sites in other cities around the Bay. With federal and local approvals hoped for by 2011 or 2012, we expect to be under construction by late 2012. (This date could be pushed back a year if project opponents sue to overturn project approvals). Construction and cleanup of the site will yield thousands of jobs over an estimated three-year period, with the resort targeted for opening in 2015. We are hopeful that the City of Richmond and the applicable federal agencies will complete their review of the project and begin final approval steps during the latter months of 2010.

While design, engineering, planning, communications and remediation jobs have already begun, card club owners and their local collaborators have stated that this is too long to wait for the thousands of jobs the project will create, while at the same time, doing everything in their power to slow or even stop the project.

Once the project is approved and ready to build, who will do the construction?
One or more general contractors and numerous subcontractors will be selected once project approvals are obtained. The Tribe and Upstream have committed to the project being constructed with union labor and with special preferences for Richmond residents and Richmond contractors. Training and outreach programs will be provided to help Richmond residents and businesses take advantage of this unique opportunity. The pending union project labor agreement provides for local contractor set-asides, even for some non-union contractors.

Construction will include the casino, hotels, retail center, extension of the Bay Trail, parks and other attractive amenities.

Will you be hiring local residents when the resort opens?
The Guidiville Tribe and Upstream-Point Molate, LLC are committed to a minimum 70% local hiring standard for non-managerial operational employees of the Tribe. That means nearly three out of four people hired for the estimated 4,500 new on-site jobs will be local residents of the City and County.

Who is the Guidiville Tribe?
The Guidiville Tribe is a federally recognized tribal nation originally recognized in 1909, terminated by the federal government in 1960, and restored in 1991 without a reservation homeland. The Tribe’s ties to the Bay Area date back to at least the 17th century when Russians and Spanish traded with Pomo tribes who developed trading routes from Eureka southward to the East Bay Area.

After the United States abrogated an 1851 treaty with the Tribe’s ancestors, the Tribe was forced from its North Bay lands at gunpoint and has spent the last 160 years trying to restore its lands. Documents submitted over the past few years have substantiated the tribe’s origins and its ancestral and modern connection to the Bay Area, which qualifies the Tribe to restore its land base at Point Molate.

The Federal Government terminated the Guidiville Tribe under the Rancheria Act of 1958. The Tribe filed a federal lawsuit for wrongful termination in August 1987 and was restored to federal recognition in 1991, although absent a tribal land base.

Since 1991, the Tribe has been rebuilding its government with the goal of restoring a Tribal Trust land base to sustain and provide for its people. As former federal land that sits within the Tribe’s historic range, the Point Molate property is the core of the Tribe’s land restoration program.

The Guidiville Tribal Council is led by Chairperson Merlene Sanchez. Mr. Michael Derry heads Black Oak Development, the Tribe’s economic development arm, as well as the Tribe’s environmental sustainability program. Michael has worked on tribal projects throughout California, including a 48-megawatt biomass power plant and a tribal eco-industrial park.

Who is Upstream-Point Molate, LLC?
Upstream-Point Molate, LLC is a Northern California-based community investment and development organization with extensive experience in complex environmental, infill and Brownfield real estate redevelopment projects. Upstream principals have worked on diverse public and private projects, from downtown redevelopment to the largest habitat restoration projects in the region. Upstream specializes in public-private collaborations and was selected by the City of Richmond to assist with the redevelopment of the Point Molate Naval Fuel Depot after an extensive public solicitation process and numerous public hearings.

Significant projects by Upstream principals include:

• Reclamation and cleanup of the Point Isabel “dog park” in Richmond
• Reclamation of a major asbestos mill in California and stabilization with native plants
• Finance and construction of one of the largest wetland restoration projects in the Bay Area
• Cleanup and redevelopment of Brownfield properties throughout the East Bay and Silicon Valley
• Reclamation and redevelopment of a quarry property in the North Bay
• Upfront planning and design integrating new office buildings adjacent to historic buildings in San Francisco

Upstream principals are involved in wind power and biofuel projects, and have a proven track record for job creation, and successful pioneering and environmentally sustainable economic development.  For more than two decades, Upstream principals have participated in civic and governmental activities around the Bay Area, including appointments to state and regional governmental positions.

At a national level, Upstream principal, William Cohen, is a former US Senator who served as US Secretary of Defense under President Bill Clinton. Upstream has sponsored and assisted numerous community programs in Richmond and the greater Bay Area, including educational programs for inner-city youth and a minority scholarship endowment at the UC Berkeley College of Engineering.

Upstream has sponsored and assisted numerous community programs in Richmond and the greater Bay Area, including educational programs for inner-city youth and a minority scholarship endowment at the UC Berkeley, College of Engineering.

How will the project affect the environment?
Despite the typical environmental reaction against major redevelopment projects, Guidiville’s designs for the Pt. Molate project call for building within the existing “heavily degraded” developed footprint. The project will also result in significant improvements in conditions for native plant and animal species as the project will fund preservation and restoration of native habitats in open space areas. Guidiville’s efforts will be critical to stemming the advance of invasive species which have come to dominant on-site ecology.

The Point Molate project has been designed with leading 21st century environmental technologies, which will provide much-needed economic and social benefits to Richmond while generating a minimal environmental footprint. The project will incorporate on-site renewable energy, advanced lighting design including daylighting, a recycled gray water system, stormwater capture, passive cooling and heating, and recycling and food waste composting. The project aims to set a new standard for resort development, and thus the environmental benefits will go far beyond the project site boundaries.

In addition, as codified in agreements with the City, the project will provide a sizeable new funded and maintained set of public parks and open space for the community. The project includes the construction of 1.5 miles of the Bay Trail, 150 acres of dedicated hillside open space, public plazas and shoreline parks along the entire site.

The Guidiville Tribe and Upstream have invested some $3 million in a comprehensive Environmental Impact Report to ensure adherence to National Environmental Policy Act guidelines, required on all federal land projects, as well as to even stricter California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) mandates.

These independent reports indicate that the project will not significantly impact local wildlife, endangered species or the Bay ecology, and that impacts can be reasonably mitigated. Hundreds of mitigation measures developed to ensure superior environmental performance of the project will be part of the enforceable agreement between Guidiville and the City of Richmond.

Does tribal government gaming really benefit tribes?
While tribes throughout the nation are engaged in a number of different businesses, from agriculture to green technologies to traditional manufacturing, they have not had the immediate and long term positive impacts that tribal government gaming has delivered.

After losing their land base, Tribes need new economic development to generate revenue to care for their people. Tribal government gaming is the dominant mechanism provided for by the United States government to allow tribes to acquire lands to replace those taken from them, and provide services to their people including housing, healthcare, educational and vocational opportunities, and proper care for elders, while giving them the ability to preserve and protect their history, culture and traditions for future generations.

Tribes typically cannot attract the large investments to acquire new land bases by relying solely on small retail or manufacturing businesses. While those businesses are fine, they are not enough to generate the necessary capital to purchase and redevelop a property like Point Molate.  Despite the card clubs’ rhetoric, independent studies do show that Indian gaming offers long-term job growth, revenue generation, and immediate benefit to the local and regional economy. It is part of a gaming and entertainment industry that will continue to grow in the future.  For this reason, Point Molate will attract new tourism, and add significantly to the local economy.

How does Indian gaming fit into the national economy?

In 2008, the National Indian Gaming Association’s Economic Impact Report found:

• Tribes generated $25.9 billion in gross gaming revenues
• Tribes produced another $3.2 billion in gross revenues from related resorts, hotels, restaurants and other lodging or entertainment venues
• Tribal gaming stimulated 636,000 jobs nationwide, both at tribal enterprise and in related businesses
• The United States government gained $8 billion in federal taxes paid – for income tax, social security tax and excise tax -- and revenues saved from unemployment and welfare payments it didn’t have to make
• States received $2.5 billion in taxes, regulatory payments and revenue sharing, resulting from state tribal gaming compacts
• Local governments received more than $100 million from gaming tribes
• Nationally, charities garnered $150 million in contributions from gaming tribes
• A 2007 study commissioned by the National Indian Gaming Association found that 75 percent of those polled concurred that Indian nations are benefiting from gaming

Tribal government gaming-related jobs in 2008:

• In 2008, tribes created nearly 284,000 jobs related to gaming. Of those, 202,000 jobs were in the gaming industry, while another 82,000 jobs were in hotels, restaurants and other enterprises that are connected with gaming facilities.
• Another 102,000 jobs were created when tribal gaming workers spent their wages.
• Many more jobs were created in outside companies that provided goods and services to tribal gaming facilities. Construction and expansion of new and old facilities resulted in 42,000 jobs. And an estimated 208,000 jobs were created by suppliers of other goods and services to the tribal gaming industry.

Wages, taxes and other benefits in 2008:

• Wages earned by tribal workers totaled more than $8.3 billion in 2008. Another $12.4 billion was paid to workers employed by businesses related to tribal gaming. Put together this $20.7 billion in wages generated $6.4 billion in federal tax. Of that $6.4 billion, $3.2 billion was paid in federal income tax payments and $3.2 billion was paid in Social Security tax payments.
• The U.S. Government also saved about $1.6 billion in welfare payments and unemployment benefits that it didn’t pay because tribal gaming employed people. As a result, federal treasury revenues increased just over $8.0 billion in 2008 because of the economic activity surrounding tribal gaming

How has Indian gaming benefited California’s economy?
In the decade since passage of Proposition 1A legalizing Class III gaming on federal Indian lands in California, the benefits of tribal government gaming have reached well beyond reservation borders and into homes, schools, businesses, cities and counties, and community and charitable groups statewide.

With more than 87% of Californians living within an hour’s drive from the state’s 59 tribal casinos, the reality is that millions of Californians who have never visited a tribal casino are nonetheless reaping benefits.

Revenue from tribal government gaming has not only transformed tribal economies and the lives of thousands of Native Americans; it has also created approximately 58,000 jobs directly statewide, most occupied by non-Natives.

These jobs, in turn, generate employee benefit packages that consistently rank above gaming industry standards nationwide along with hundreds of millions of dollars in wages annually. These wages are then spent in businesses and communities large and small, directly creating job and economic stability statewide.

Overall, California tribal gaming generates billions of dollars in ancillary economic activity annually, making the industry a dependable economic engine even in times of great economic uncertainty.

The state itself is directly benefiting from tribal government gaming with tens of millions of dollars going to state coffers each year. The tribally-funded Revenue Sharing Trust Fund also provides non-gaming tribes with consistent revenue while the Special Distribution Fund grants tens of millions annually to local governments, helping offset public services impacts from tribal gaming facilities.

Moreover, local governments are benefiting directly through long-term public services agreements guaranteeing tens of millions of dollars annually from nearby gaming tribes.

Tribes throughout the state are embracing generations-old traditions of giving back to those in need, with charitable contributions totaling hundreds of millions of dollars over the years.

Each year, major donations continually flow from tribes to local schools and universities, local and national charities, community groups, food banks and homeless shelters, emergency relief organizations, senior centers, hospitals and clinics, and much more.

The generosity of California tribes is felt literally worldwide. For example, tribes banded together to provide millions in assistance to those affected by Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia. With tens of millions of Californians and others worldwide as its beneficiaries, California tribal government gaming continues to reach well beyond reservation borders.

The economic benefits to California include:

• Nearly $2 billion in wages and benefits
• Billions of dollars in overall economic activity
• More than 150,000 jobs created indirectly, generating billions more in wages and benefits
• Nearly $450 million in federal and state payroll taxes generated annually
• Tribes also donate an estimated $70 million annually to local charities and community groups.

As mandated in the Tribal-State Compact, payments made by gaming tribes to the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund to benefit California tribes operating casinos with fewer than 350 slot machines or with no gaming operations at all, totaled $641 million by December 2009

Since 2006, California gaming tribes also have contributed more than $360 million to the Compact-mandated Special Distribution Fund, established to provide millions of dollars in grants annually to local communities impacted by tribal casinos

What about Indian gaming and its effects on local economies?
Riverside County, California currently is home to 10 tribal government gaming facilities. In 2003, a study was conducted to examine the economic impacts of tribal government gaming in the county.

The results revealed:

• $2.4 billion in overall economic activity
• Total combined direct and indirect economic impact of tribal government gaming generated 54,677 jobs and $1.3 billion in payroll
• Total impact of tribal economic activities resulted in over $1.1 billion in purchases
• Tribal government gaming operations employed over 10,000 county residents
• Tribal government gaming operations generated $460 million in payroll
• Tribes purchased $330 million in goods and services from local suppliers
• Tribal government activities resulted in $124 million (directly), and $220 million (indirectly) in federal and state income and payroll taxes

Are Native Americans obligated to pay state and federal income taxes?
Native Americans absolutely do pay income taxes. All residents of the United States, including American Indians, must pay federal income tax.

Members of federally recognized tribes do not pay state income tax if they live on a federal Indian reservation or Indian trust allotment, and work on the reservation or trust allotment. If they live or work off the reservation or trust allotment, however, Native Americans must pay state income tax.

For example, in 2002 alone, Native Americans paid $4 billion in personal federal income taxes. In California, tribal government gaming generates more than $400 million in federal, state and local taxes each year.

It is important to remember that under federal law, tribal government gaming cannot be taxed like a business. The tribal governments own the facilities.
Like the California lottery, which does not pay taxes on its revenues because it is owned by the state, Indian casinos don’t pay taxes because tribal governments own them. Governments cannot tax other governments.

Some people say Indian casinos increase crime. Is that true?
No. Studies actually show that crime does not increase. A Harvard University study done in 2001 found rates of certain crimes actually fell in areas surrounding tribal casinos. Plus, the U.S. Department of Justice has found no evidence of an organized crime element in the Indian gaming industry after years of investigation.

Statements by law enforcement agents in gaming jurisdictions across the country, including former City of San Pablo Chief of Police Joe Aita and Contra Costa Sheriff Warren Rupf, also refute critics’ claims that gaming causes crime. Twenty-four sheriffs and chiefs of police submitted their findings to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC), stating there was no connection between gaming and crime in their jurisdictions.

Gaming opponents want people to think that there is a direct link between Indian gaming and increased crime. In fact, research shows that the social problems in communities with casinos are no different than those in communities without casinos.

A 2007 Massachusetts study by the Middleboro Casino Gambling Study Committee cited a U.S. Department of Justice report that examined the effects of casino gaming on towns found that crime did not rise as a result of a casino.

A study issued in 2000 by the General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress, found “no conclusive evidence on whether or not gambling caused increased social problems….”

A popular myth perpetuated by gambling opponents’ claims that the introduction of casinos causes a rise in street crime. However, recent studies refute this claim. Communities with casinos are just as safe as communities without casinos.

A 1997 study by Peter Reuter of the University of Maryland provided additional evidence refuting a causal linkage between crime and gaming. In his Report for the Greater Baltimore Committee, Reuter concluded the following: “In no case is there any evidence that casinos have had a major impact on the crime rates of towns or metropolitan areas in which they are located.”

In 2000, the Public Sector Gaming Study Commission reached similar conclusions, finding “no link between gambling, particularly casino-style gambling, and crime.” In fact, the 2000 report recognized that casinos are more of a crime deterrent than an instigator. According to the report, “ The security on the premises of gambling facilities, the multiple layers of regulatory control, and the economic and social benefits that gambling seems to offer to communities are effective deterrents to criminal activity.”

Is the Indian gaming industry regulated?
Indian gaming is more regulated than any other form of gaming. Before a tribe can enter into gaming, it must first work with the state to negotiate a tribal-state compact. Once a tribe has met the state requirements, their gaming operation is then monitored on six independent levels.

The six levels of gaming regulations include:

1. On the federal level, the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) is responsible for enforcing IGRA. The commission is charged with overseeing gaming on all federally recognized reservations, conducting background checks and investigative reports, as well as reviewing management contracts, enforcing civil penalties and imposing fines.
2. Gaming tribes work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), a division of the Department of the Interior, on approving tribal state compacts. The bureau also works with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the U.S. Department of Justice on investigating any gaming violations.
3. The U.S. Department of Justice facilitates the land-into-trust process, plans the allocation of tribal gaming revenues, conducts investigative studies, cooperates with the FBI on background checks, and coordinates with local and state agencies on investigations.
4. On the tribal level is the Tribal Gaming Commission. Also required in the California Tribal-State Compact, each tribe operating a casino must establish a group that is responsible for regulating the day-to-day activities of the gaming facility. Its responsibilities include conducting background checks in association with other regulatory groups, issuing licenses to qualified employees, operating security and surveillance systems, and complying with the Minimum Internal Control Standards as set by the NIGC.
5. On the state level, the State Division of Gambling Control for the California Department of Justice reports to the California Attorney General. The agency monitors, investigates, and enforces violations concerning gambling activities.
6. The tribal-state compacts mandated the creation of the California Gambling Control Commission (CGCC). It is charged with setting policy, plays a role in issuing licenses with the tribal nations, and administering and regulating all matters related to gambling in the state. The department reports to the California Attorney General’s Office.
7. A National Indian Gaming Association study found that in 2008 gaming tribes spent $345.5 million to fund regulation of their industry. Out of that amount, tribal governments spent $260 million to regulate their own facilities. They gave state governments $71 million to fund regulatory efforts.

In addition, tribes with gaming operations provided $16 million to the National Indian Gaming Commission, the federal government’s industry oversight arm, to fund the Commission’s regulatory activities.

What about the issue of gambling addiction?
There is an extraordinary emphasis by all tribes to thoroughly train their casino employees to recognize the signs of problem gambling and provide support to their customers, as well as to organizations providing assistance to problem gamblers and their families. Overall, tribes nationwide have proven very diligent and have stayed out in front of this important issue, establishing problem gambling hotlines and even donating tens of millions of dollars annually to leading problem gambling programs.

While the assumption that problem gambling increases with an expansion of gambling locations, the research indicates otherwise. With commercial and Native American casinos, lotteries, and horse and dog race tracks operating in virtually every states, gambling participation rates doubling and consumer spending exceeding $40 billion annually, the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC) in 1999 determined that the 0.6 percent of pathological gamblers remained the same.

Additionally, the National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago completed the first-ever national (U.S.) survey on problem gambling prevalence in 1999. The study found that approximately 0.9 percent of the population exhibited problem gambling behavior with little fluctuation in that rate.
Do Indian casinos have a negative impact on the environment?

Nationwide, tribes must comply with National Environmental Policy Act guidelines when building and operating their facilities on federal Indian reservation lands.
Tribes must submit comprehensive and exhaustive studies and documentation examining all environmental elements, including traffic, water, wastewater, wetlands, waterways, cultural resources, coastal zones, endangered species, environmental justice and socioeconomic conditions, that could be affected by the proposed facility.

In California, however, tribal-state gaming compacts negotiated and signed since 2003 also call for additional adherence to even stricter California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) guidelines before building a new facility. In the case of the Point Molate project, the Tribe took the unprecedented step of working with a City to undertake a complete CEQA evaluation with the City as the lead agency, and a comprehensive set of mitigation measures enforceable by the City.

For landless tribes, the process is even more complex. Before a tribe can break ground, it must submit what is called a fee-to-trust application to the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, which must meet the requirements of the Code of Federal Regulations for land acquisitions, BIA policy manuals, and other applicable federal statutes.

The application is extremely comprehensive, and contains many elements including exhaustive environmental documentation, historical and regulatory paperwork, and other important items.

There is a rumor the tribe plans to sell the land to a foreign company or even a foreign country. Is that true?
That is false. The Tribe has absolutely no intentions of selling the Point Molate property to any foreign entity. Once the land title is transferred from the City of Richmond to the Tribe, the Tribe will begin what is called the federal fee-to-trust, or “land-into-trust” process. In the “land-into-trust” process, the federal Department of the Interior has the authority to transfer title of the land from the Tribe to the federal government, at which time the federal government holds the land in trust for the Tribe as federal Indian land.

In fact, once the federal government takes title to the property in trust for the Guidiville Tribe, it is impossible for the Tribe to later sell the land to anyone. It will, and must remain federal trust property in perpetuity.