Card clubs appeal to community in campaign to stop Richmond casino

By Katherine Tam
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 05/21/2010 06:39:26 PM PDT
Updated: 05/25/2010 11:13:57 AM PDT


RICHMOND -- Fourteen card clubs are ramping up their campaign to defeat a proposed casino-hotel resort on Richmond's waterfront and drawing from a growing base of local supporters to make the opposition heard.

The conglomerate Stop the Mega Casino has emerged as a vocal opponent, spending tens of thousands of dollars on a blitz of multi-page mailers, signs, a 30-second television ad and telephone polls. Nearly 4,300 Richmond residents have filled out reply cards attached to the mailers or signed an opposition sheet, the group said, and some are marching into City Council meetings as the election season shifts into high gear. Their goal is simple: show city leaders and federal authorities that the local support they want doesn't exist and ultimately kill the casino.

"Yes, we are an association of card clubs. But the arguments against the casino are very credible and they are resonating with the community," said Chuck Finnie, a consultant working with a campaign strategy firm hired by Stop the Mega Casino.

Developer Upstream and the Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians are seeking federal, state and local approvals for a $1.2 billion resort at the old Point Molate Naval Fuel Depot that would include a casino with up to 4,000 slot machines subject to a state gaming compact, 1,100 hotel rooms, a conference center, restaurants, shops, tribal headquarters, open space and ferry service. Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, which operates Cache Creek Casino in Yolo County, is financing the venture.

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