@MarcACaputo
State Rep. Jeanette Nuñez is enlisting Gov. Rick Scott in an effort to stop the Miccosukee Tribe from getting the chance to turn a Kendall Lakes golf course into a casino.
The tribe acquired the land in 2001 and then, years after it applied, the U.S. Department of Interior last summer granted the tribe’s request to turn it into “tribal trust land,” which effectively makes it sovereign land outside the control of Miami-Dade County or the state.
Miami-Dade objected, fearing that the golf course could be converted into a casino.
Nuñez said in a letter she sent late Thursday that, as she understands the law, Scott could ensure the land doesn’t become a casino if he objects. She said the Interior secretary, who would have to approve the gaming endeavor, would need to find that a casino would be in the best interest of the tribe and that it wouldn’t harm the surrounding community.
“I am not confident that the Federal Government would take into account the detrimental effects to the surrounding community,” Nuñez wrote. “Therefore, I am respectfully urging that you oppose any and all attempts by the Miccosukee Tribe to further their gambling footprint in this residential area that would be negatively impacted by such an establishment.”
Here’s the background and here’s Nuñez’s letter.
Download Nunez
The day after Rick Scott was elected, he took off in his private jet to visit a certain billionaire in Las Vegas. That man, Sheldon Adelson, has expressed a strong interest in putting a Sands owned casino in South Florida.
Is it logical that a tribe owned casino would be detrimental to the surrounding community, but a Sands owned one would not? But I guess in politics, nothing is logical anymore.
Posted by: Ga Vey | March 01, 2013 at 09:33 AM
After 500 years in the New World the white man is still figting the Native Americans. Go figure.
Posted by: pyropat55 | March 01, 2013 at 01:40 PM