OPINION
6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 2017
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
OUR VIEW
Casino’s opening is
not likely to impact
the North Coast
o matter how we may individually feel about the wis-
dom and social costs of organized gambling, there’s
no denying the April 24 opening of the Cowlitz Indian
Tribe’s $510 million Ilani Casino Resort gaming complex
between Longview and Vancouver, Washington, is big news
for the regional economy.
After becoming federally recognized in 2000, the Cowlitz
set about obtaining reservation land and succeeded in 2010, in
the form of a 152-acre La Center tract near Interstate 5, spe-
cifically intended for a casino. The tribe’s 4,100 members are
scattered around living productive lives, primarily in west-
ern Washington, and mostly will not reside on the reserva-
tion. Protracted legal battles ensued, with U.S. Supreme Court
recently refusing a last-ditch effort by competing gambling
interests to scuttle the resort.
Although it initially will not have an on-site hotel, the
resort will include a performance venue and 15 restaurants,
bars and retail stores, according to a news release. It will
have 2,500 slot machines, plus a large area for seven differ-
ent types of table games, including roulette, blackjack and
craps. Running all this will require a staff of between 1,200
and 1,500, with most wages expected to cluster near $30,000 a
year plus benefits.
N
Jackpot?
Posing the headline question, “Ilani casino: A jackpot for
region’s economy?” an April 9 analysis by The Daily News
in Longview came up with a somewhat nuanced answer.
The number of jobs compares favorably to some of the larg-
est developments in southwest Washington in recent years
— for example 900 in a relocation of PeaceHealth corporate
staff to Vancouver in 2012 and 500 in a Kelso chicken-pro-
cessing plant in 1998. However, the casino’s relatively low
wages equate to an annual payroll total of $30 million, which
is dwarfed by PeaceHealth’s $130 million.
Other economic benefits include an estimated $40 million a
year to purchase locally provided goods and services, contri-
bution of 2 percent of profits to arts and education programs,
and help to state and local agencies in dealing with impacts.
As a sovereign government, tribes aren’t subject to state and
local taxes, the usual mechanisms for making sure developers
pay their own way for things like police protection.
Many of us don’t regard gambling as a smart use of soci-
ety’s finite amount of money, but initial expectations are that
the Ilani casino is more likely to sap money from other nearby
forms of gambling, as opposed to sucking money from other
social goods. It may be, for example, that Portlanders divert
some of the money now spent on the lottery to instead vis-
iting the casino. If enough do so, the lottery might not be
able to provide as much as it now does for things like K-12
education.
In the immediate vicinity of casinos, researchers found a
net positive economic benefits after everything settled out:
Competing card rooms and restaurants may close, but the
increased number of visitors and casino employees — all
spending money in and outside the casino — tend to improve
business conditions overall.
Little impact locally
What might all this mean for our coastal area, 75 to 100
miles away from this new powerhouse?
The nearest competing Indian establishments are the
Shoalwater Bay Casino in northwestern Pacific County, Spirit
Mountain Casino in Grand Ronde and Chinook Winds Casino
(with no connection with the Chinook Tribe) in Lincoln City.
They all are likely to be somewhat impacted by the Cowlitz’s
new facilities. However, none generates much tourist traffic
through our area, so impacts beyond their own operations are
unlikely.
Will money be spent at the Ilani that might otherwise be
spent here? Possibly. It is one more attraction competing for
dollars. But the coast and Astoria possess unique charms that
can’t be duplicated. Our “audience” is distinctive. And it’s
possible to imagine casino workers sometimes coming here to
visit on their days off.
Will Ilani jobs worsen an already tight labor and housing
market? Reports suggest it is in its vicinity. But the distance
involved suggests little potential for such impacts to ripple all
the way here.
It must be said the Cowlitz Tribe has been reaching out
and doing good work here in the form of salmon habitat res-
toration. And few residents here, surely, will begrudge any
Northwest tribe finding a path to financial wellbeing after
centuries of harsh struggles. So good luck to them. It will be
interesting to see how it all works out.
GUEST COLUMN
Way to Wellville tastes
local flavor at gathering
By SUE CODY
Special to The Daily Astorian
C
latsop County’s Way to
Wellville has a chance to
share the local flavor and
scenery as it hosts fellow Wellville 5
communities from
Tuesday through
Thursday. The
national gathering
is a chance for the
Wellville 5 to share
successes, chal-
lenges and ideas, face to face.
“We learn from each other on
how to build healthier communi-
ties,” says local Wellville Strategic
Council member Paulette McCoy.
“Even though we are spread across
the U.S., we all have similar goals
and obstacles to face in making
our communities better places to
live and thrive as healthy people in
mind, body and emotional health.”
Muskegon, Michigan; Spar-
tanburg, South Carolina; Lake
County, California; and North Hart-
ford, Connecticut; will each send
five members to visit and become
immersed in projects the local Way
to Wellville has implemented.
The idea behind The Way to
Wellville is to have communities
combine their resources, cooperate
and invest in healthy living rather
than spending trillions of dollars
on health care caused by unhealthy
lifestyles.
The annual event helps partic-
ipating communities share what
works and get some coaching from
founder Esther Dyson and the
national Way to Wellville team of
experts.
“The national team acts like a
personal trainer, but for a commu-
nity,” says Dyson. “We advise, we
remind, we introduce community
members to sources of funding,
technical experts, vendors, journal-
ists and the like. But as with a per-
sonal trainer, the client is still in
charge and owns the results.
“One of the principles we
preach is that ideas and intent are
not enough; you need engagement
and commitment. The best way to
make that happen is to do it with
other people: to learn from them,
to inspire them, to compete with
them, to encourage them. As the
saying goes: if you want to go fast,
go alone; if you want to go far, go
together.”
Last year, representatives met
in Spartanburg. “That city did an
amazing job,” says McCoy. “We
are both excited and anxious about
the pressure of hosting The Way
to Wellville national conference
here.”
Clatsop County will be new ter-
ritory for each of the other Well-
ville 5 attendees.
Submitted Photo
Students at Lewis and Clark Elementary School weed a garden as part
of the Clatsop Kids Go program, implemented by the Way to Wellville.
“We are hoping we can have a
bit of sunshine or at least a day or
two without rain to show off our
beautiful county.”
Local flavor
practices using its kitchen garden
and local food producers.
Economic development and its
role in community wellness will be
the focus of Day 2. A tour of down-
town Astoria and discussion of its
remarkable turnaround will include
a tour of the Astoria Armory as
an example of public-private
partnership.
A “pop-up” pay-what-you-can
lunch will be held at the Baked
Alaska Annex, followed by a
screening of “Resilience: The Biol-
ogy of Stress and the Science of
Hope,” at the Liberty Theater. The
film is the follow up to “Paper
Tigers,” which addresses adverse
childhood experiences.
On Day 3, a presentation and
panel discussion will address trau-
ma-informed care and early child-
hood education, which are focus
areas for Muskegon and Clatsop
County Wellville teams.
Three areas of focus for the
gathering are obesity/nutrition,
economic development and early
childhood education. Around these
discussions, participants get to sam-
ple some local flavor, from a tour in
Seaside and a crab feed in Warren-
ton to a trolley ride in Astoria.
Providence Seaside Hospi-
tal will host a lunch and demon-
strate its food-focused wellness ini-
tiative. A panel discussion on food
systems and obesity will follow,
with Wellville 5 representatives dis-
cussing challenges and successes
related to institutional food system
improvements.
Dinner at the Bridgewater Bistro
will demonstrate its farm-to-table
“I believe it is important for
each Wellville team to visit the
other locations to observe each
other in their own environment,”
says Jeff Doemland, the chief mar-
keting officer for Way to Wellville.
All communities come together
to see, teach and experience what
the local environment has to offer.
Dyson says there are two huge
benefits of the national gatherings:
learning from each other and form-
ing connections that last through-
out the year.
Sue Cody, a former deputy man-
aging editor of The Daily Astorian,
works with Way to Wellville.
‘We learn
from each
other on how
to build
healthier
communities.’
Paulette McCoy
local Wellville
strategic council member
Rewards of gathering
LETTERS WELCOME
Letters should be exclusive to
The Daily Astorian. We do not
publish open letters or third-party
letters.
Letters should be fewer than
350 words and must include the
writer’s name, address and phone
numbers. You will be contacted to
confirm authorship.
All letters are subject to editing
for space, grammar and, on occa-
sion, factual accuracy and verbal
verification of authorship. Only
two letters per writer are printed
each month.
Letters written in response to
other letter writers should address
the issue at hand and, rather than
mentioning the writer by name,
should refer to the headline and
date the letter was published. Dis-
course should be civil and people
should be referred to in a respectful
manner. Letters referring to news
stories should also mention the
headline and date of publication.
The Daily Astorian welcomes
short “in gratitude” notes from
readers for publication. They
should keep to a 200-word maxi-
mum and writers are asked to avoid
simply listing event sponsors. They
must be signed, include the writ-
er’s address, phone number and are
subject to condensation and editing
for style, grammar, etc.
Submissions may be sent in any
of these ways:
E-mail to editor@dailyastorian.
com;
Online form at www.dailyasto-
rian.com;
Delivered to the Astorian offices
at 949 Exchange St. and 1555 N.
Roosevelt in Seaside.
Or by mail to Letters to the
Editor, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR
97103