The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, operators of the casino at Kah-Nee-Tah, wants to build a casino in the Columbia River Gorge, either near Hood River or at Cascade Locks, 20 miles closer to Portland. Warm Springs needs the governor's approval to build at Cascade Locks, but not at Hood River, because the site near Hood River is tribal trust land. The Cascade Locks site is not.
Reading between the lines, Warm Springs strongly prefers Cascade Locks. The Hood River design is an 8-story casino with restaurants built into a hillside. The Cascade Locks design includes a casino and restaurants, and also shops, a pool, a spa, a conference center, and a hotel, none of which is apparently in the Hood River design.
Diane York, the Hood River county commissioner who presented the plans to the Gorge Commission, also prefers Cascade Locks to Hood River, and she may have good reasons for her choice. But I was struck by her comment that locating the casino in Hood River could be "disastrous, economically and scenically." (Her words, as quoted by the Oregonian on April 24.)
I understand how a casino could be disastrous scenically (which may be government-speak for "look ugly"). I don't know how it would be disastrous economically (meaning, maybe, cause Hood River County to lose jobs) if it's in one place in the county, but not if it's in another place. Any ideas?