S moke S ignals
APRIL 1, 2019
7
Tribe, Wood Village discussing sale of part of racetrack property
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
The Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde and city of Wood Village are
in negotiations to possibly sell 4.6
acres of the 31.5-acre former Mult-
nomah Greyhound Park property.
The Tribe purchased the for-
mer racetrack in east Multnomah
County in 2015 and announced in
August 2018 that it intended not to
develop the property, but instead
put it on the market.
The Wood Village City Council
voted unanimously on Jan. 22 for
City Manager Bill Peterson to enter
into negotiations to purchase the
land near the intersection of Wood
Village Boulevard and Arata Road.
City plans are to transform the
property into a public park, with
the recreation area named on
behalf of the Grand Ronde Tribe.
The site contains mostly wetlands,
which cannot be developed.
Since negotiations are ongoing,
a sale price has not been released.
The Gresham Outlook reported that
Wood Village has approximately
$650,000 in parks systems develop-
ment charges available that may be
used to purchase park land.
Tribal Council meet in executive
session to discuss an offer from
Wood Village on Monday, March
4, but the issue has not been
brought up in Legislative Action
Committee or a Tribal Council
meeting yet.
Tribal Council Chief of Staff
Stacia Hernandez said during
the Other Business portion of
the Wednesday, March 20, Tribal
Council meeting that the Tribe is
re-assessing its decision to sell the
property because it is in an Oppor-
tunity Zone.
“We are revisiting plans right
now and currently under some
evaluations at the moment,” she
said. “We are working with the
city of Wood Village to sell them
a portion of the wetlands, which
should hopefully satisfy some of
the open-space requirements on
the property, which is good news
for any developer that potentially
might be interested.”
Hernandez said the Tribe has
received interest in the property,
but that it has not been actively
marketed because of the re-evalu-
ation about what the Tribe wants
to do with the property.
The Tribe hired Bruce Thomas
as its new Economic Development
Department director in November
2018.
The Tribe purchased the property
in December 2015. The dilapidated
site, which had not been used for
dog racing since 2004, was listed
for sale at $11.2 million. The Tribe
purchased the property at less than
listed value and was attempting to
sell it for $17.9 million.
In addition to the purchase price,
the Tribe signed an almost $900,000
contract with Konell Construction
& Demolition Corp. of Sandy in
April 2016 to demolish and clear
structures on the site. 
Tribal Council was unified in its support of the amendment
AMENDMENT continued
from front page
parent(s) who were enrolled before
Sept. 14, 1999, and who meet pre-
1999 constitutional enrollment re-
quirements. Applicants also would
have had to meet the five-year
relinquishment requirement if they
enrolled in another Tribe.
Tribal Council was unified in its
support of the amendment, with
all nine members appearing in
videos posted on Facebook and six
members submitting commentaries
that were published in the March
Tilixam Wawa. In addition, there
was no divisive debate about bun-
dled vs. unbundled since it was a
single issue trying to be remedied.
In February 2008, almost 61
percent of Tribal voters favored
eliminating the parent on the roll
requirement. In June 2012, almost
History of Tribal Constitution elections
Date
Yes
No
% yes
Topic
July ’99
757
292
72.1
Enrollment
Feb. ’08
636
513
55
Grand Ronde blood
Feb. ’08
700
450
60.9
Parent on the roll
Feb. ’08
880
277
76
Relinquishment period
Nov. ’11
457
536
46
Enrollment
June ’12
407
222
64.7
Primary election
March ’15
391
220
64
Term limits
March ’15
230
381
37.6
Remove BIA
July ’16
382
670
36.3
Initiatives, etc.
July ’16
412
639
39.2
Enrollment
March ’19
601
345
63.5
Split siblings
(Bold signifies successful amendment elections)
65 percent of Tribal voters favored
establishing a primary in Tribal
elections. In March 2015, 64 percent
of Tribal voters favored a Tribal
Council term limit proposal. None of
those proposals amended the Tribal
Constitution because they failed to
Grand Ronde
Housing Department
Board seeks community input
The Grand Ronde Housing Board is inviting Tribal members
and Tribal housing residents to provide input to assist its mem-
bers in carrying out its advisory role to the Housing Department
and Tribal Council regarding policy guidance. The Housing Board
meets at 3 p.m. the third Thursday of each month in the Housing
Department conference room, 28450 Tyee Road. Its chair is Kristy
Criss-Lawson. For more information, contact the Housing Depart-
ment at 503-879-2401. 
garner the 66.7 percent majority.
Tribal member Angela Criss
vented her frustration at the two-
thirds majority requirement on
the Tribal government’s official
Facebook page.
“Whatever happened to the ma-
jority vote?” she said. “It’s my opin-
ion that having to have a 66 percent
approval is not right. And why
didn’t everyone that registered to
vote actually vote? Very disappoint-
ing results here. We basically just
told our children that one sibling
has more value than their other
siblings. Shameful results.”
In the Tribe’s history, only two
constitutional amendment pro-
posals have ever received the two-
thirds majority of those who voted
– the July 1999 enrollment re-
quirements that created the cur-
rent split-family situation and in
February 2008 when Tribal voters
increased the required relinquish-
ment period from one to five years.
Twenty-six percent of eligible Trib-
al adults registered with the BIA to
vote in the split-sibling election.
“We are truly disheartened by the
results of Friday’s constitutional
election on split families,” Tribal
Council said in a collective statement
released on Monday, March 25. “As
we reflect on the election results,
that more than 63 percent of voters
supported, our thoughts turn to con-
cern for our Tribal families who will
continue to live with the impacts of
Friday’s election and the hurt that
they must feel. We are grateful to
the brave families that came forward
with the courage to share their sto-
ries. Your leadership inspired us,
and a community, to come together.
“We need to consider what our
hopes are for our Tribe and a re-
sponsibility to create the future we
want to see. We need to become the
Tribe that we want to be and we can
only do that by moving forward and
supporting each other. Our work is
not done.” 
LIHEAP program open in service area
The Tribal Social Service’s LIHEAP – Low Income Home Energy As-
sistance Program – is open to eligible Tribal members in the six-county
service area and Clackamas County.
This is a first-come, first-served program and income criteria applies.
LIHEAP is federally funded through the Department of Health and
Human Services and is designed to help low-income households with
home heating costs.
For more information, contact Social Services at 503-879-2034. 