This, on a highway that has seen nearly 100 DUI-related collisions in the past decade. Making matters worse, the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is allowing the casino to serve alcohol before the completion of all the road improvements and before a public hearing on the liquor permit. That includes new turn lanes, retaining walls and signals at critical highway intersections, including next to a fire station. State officials are failing to do their most important job - protecting the public.Ĭaltrans is allowing the casino to open without all the needed traffic improvements in place. My biggest beef right now is with the state. The firm is looking to cash in big time, and to heck with the community. The massive building is in a terrible location, and Penn is trying to put lipstick on this pig. However, when other options were raised over the years, like possibly working with another tribe to develop an alternate location, the Jamul Indians balked.

No one can fault them for wanting to improve their economic situation.

I blame the leadership of the Jamul Indian Village. Who’s to blame for this Hollywood horror show? Now comes the casino, which is expected to add 9,000 daily car and truck trips to the area. Supervisor Jacob, an outspoken casino critic, said in a news conference last month that statistics released by the California Highway Patrol show an increase of traffic accidents along Highway 94 since the casino opened.Ī group called the Jamul Action Committee has been fighting against the casino since plans for it were first proposed by the tribe in the late 1980’s.Locals already consider the road a deathtrap. More than 180 letter-writers were invited to attend the November licensing hearings. More than 1,000 residents of Jamul sent letters of protest to ABC, most citing concerns that casino patrons who have been drinking will make Highway 94 more dangerous.

Lewis, in a letter to “concerned parties” and formally addressed to county Supervisor Dianne Jacob, said he was concerned that emails that had been sent to him could prevent a fair hearing. The agency handed it off to the Office of Administrative Hearings earlier this year after the judge overseeing the hearings recused himself.Īdministrative law Judge John W. The case was first being heard last November by ABC.

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