LETTER TO THE EDITOR

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

March 11, 2013

Economic Development: Casino? Hotel Entertainment Complex?

At the general meeting last week, questions were raised as to the financial responsibility in sending 5 representatives to Tucson, Arizona for a casino conference. There has been money received by the Mohawk Council from the province of Ontario to investigate economic development opportunities for Akwesasne in Ontario.

Would it not have been better to send a director and one chief instead of 4 chiefs to capitalize on the maximum usage of the money? Should we not as a community be fiscally responsible in allocating the grant? The provincial government is trying to raise money as well.

There has been a moratorium in Ontario for a number of years. Casinos on border communities have lost large amounts of revenue for the past few years, due to the tighter border requirements. How would a casino here do any better?

The location for a casino resort development as stated by Chief Thomas at last week’s meeting is to be Hamilton Island. There needs to be massive infrastructure done to facilitate this development. Water and sewer has to be installed. A new bridge would have to be built that would be big enough to accommodate the bigger vehicles and amount of traffic that a casino would bring to the island. The next question is there enough land to complete the project?

Mohawk Council has not endorsed any new full time leases on Hamilton Island due to the septic and water issues. Will the current leasees want full time leases if the water and sewer are installed? Will there be water and sewer provided for the entire island? Who will pay for this project?

Will the current residents maintain their lease if a casino is built?

Hamilton Island is currently functioning as an investment property for the members. Should we not look at polishing what we have rather than destroying the serenity of the island?

Hamilton Island belongs to all of us not Mohawk Council. We have a say in the future development of the island. Don’t be swayed by council’s ideas. Think issues through before monies are spent frivolously to attend golf tournaments.

People remember how former chiefs and employees squandered money to promote Turtle Island Coffee and would joke about golfing at every casino that they contacted.

Is the resort development going to be another Turtle Island Coffee fiasco?

Is there enough traffic flow through highway Number 2 that will support a hotel casino development? There are many questions that have to be answered before making a decision of this magnitude.

Are there other locations on the territory or off of the territory that would better fulfill the requirements of a hotel entertainment complex? This will be a joint venture with the government of Ontario and other municipalities.

Another issue that arises is that of security. Who or what agency will be providing security for the casino project? There are currently a number of agencies that freely travel Hamilton’s Island to patrol for illegal activity. Will a casino project increase the presence of illegal activity?

The infrastructure and road development will have a hefty price tag. It could be in the 20 to 30 million dollar range and nothing has been built.

Why don’t we purchase a property for 5 million that would meet the criteria? This is intelligent thought process.

These are all questions that need to be answered before sending the chiefs to the R D and E conference in Las Vegas on May 1 and May 2. Is this going to cost another $10,000 to send 5 more individuals to this conference?

Cordially,

Beverly Pyke