Most people responding to the Argus-Courier’s April 12, 2012 online poll believe that the state legislature should choose not to ratify a gaming compact that would allow a large casino to be built in Rohnert Park.
Nearly 80 percent said they were very concerned about the issue. Here are some of the comments.
Here are some of the comments by people who responded to the survey:
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“Bad idea. Jerry Brown up to his old tricks again. This is going to be the biggest crime magnet you’ve ever seen in Southern Sonoma County. It’s going to draw all the meth heads and gambling freaks, not exactly the types you want in your back yard. Maybe the solution would be to get River Rock to file suit as it’s going to wipe them off the map. And what’s this claim about the sacred Indian land in Rohnert Park right behind the Costco and Home Depot? Give me a break! Rohnert Park may get some benefits but we’ll all pay the price. Many thanks to Jerry Brown for wrecking another pristine piece of California.”
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“I already drive to Rohnert Park to shop at Costco, Target and Home Depot. Now I will have entertainment as well. And it will bring badly needed jobs.”
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“Bad idea, more traffic”
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“I don’t plan to ever visit it, nor do I think it will have a negative impact on me — so I don’t have a problem with it being approved and built.”
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“Fallout from the proposed casino will be devastating for all in Sonoma County: crime, traffic, embezzlement, stolen cars on residential streets, people sleeping in yards, and as one senior from New Orleans indicated, needles in our parks rendering the parks useless.”
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“Finally the Native Americans getting a piece of the American Dream?”
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“If anything it will help by bringing new jobs to the area.”
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“Glad there will be a casino in Rohnert Park. I won’t have to drive as far now. As far as impact to Petaluma: How? Because money will be going north over the hill?”
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“Highway 101 can’t handle the traffic. Urban casinos are a bad idea.”
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“How anyone can agree with this project is beyond me. Native Americans should be ashamed of themselves. It’s all about money and greed. Why can’t they go out and get jobs like the rest of us instead of these get rich schemes? More places for our poor to waste welfare money.”
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“I guess after you buy diapers at Walmart and nails at Home Depot you can just stop in to the casino to see if you can win back your money.”
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“I live in Rohnert Park with my family. I am raising my four children here. There is so much crime already and desperation in our city. In our upscale neighborhood, our cars have been broken into which is very shocking. Traffic alone in Rohnert Park is awful already and to add this on top of it? A casino doesn’t belong in our ‘friendly’ city.”
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“I live in the aftermath of a casino and can guarantee the negative outweighs the positive.”
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“In every community where a casino has been built, the local residents eventually regret it. Casinos destroy communities and negatively impact the quality of life for residents within their ‘target area’ — about 20 miles. Property values dive and the influx of the ‘service industries’ which cater to addicted gamblers and casino developers, as well as the human parasites that follow in their trail, increase crime rates. Casinos are predatory by their very nature and should not be invited into any community.”
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“I think the casino in Rohnert Park will positively benefit Petaluma by bringing more people to town to enjoy our restaurants and other attractions.”
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“It seems like Indian casinos will be as common around these parts as Starbuck’s. Enough!”
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“More jobs, more tax revenues.”
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“I would say OK to this project if we had guarantees that the Indian casino would pay a substantial percentage of their gross earnings to police and fire protection. They should not have a free ride. I would assume that all the money they will net will help educate their children. Hope to see a lot of doctors coming out of that group.”
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“Just say, ‘no.’ In Oregon, I saw billboards along the freeway for gambling addiction help. Is that what we need in Sonoma County, yet another type of addiction?”
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“It is incomprehensible that Gov. Jerry Brown would even consider that this would not adversly affect our county, environment, traffic or lifestyle. What a travesty! Please convey to our legislature our disappointment and extreme anger over this decision. Not only is this not acceptable but it is truly a crime committed against our whole way of life.”

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“Quality of life includes availability of water. The canino will pose a significant decrease in water availability to all of Sonoma county, not just Rohnert Park. It will also negatively impact traffic from SF to Healdsburg to say nothing about the negative social impacts.”
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“The casino EIS, which is wildly flawed, nevertheless admitted that the 2,000 slots then envisioned would increase 101 traffic in north Petaluma (7 miles from the casino) by 10 percent. Now that there are to be 3,000 slots, 101 traffic in Petaluma will be increased by 15 percent, without one nickel of mitigation required for 101. No legislator in their right mind would vote to ratify this compact.”
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“The casino is going to be the size of about eight to nine Walmarts. The traffic will be unbearable, not to mention the issues of water usage (we have none), crime, etc. The idea is to draw people from all over the Bay Area to come there. How is this going to work out? It’s a bad, bad, bad idea.”
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“The casino will cause major congestopm on Highway 101 and will bring crime to the area. Indian casinos were originally approved for tribal lands, but greed has taken over.”
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“The problem is that people were kept in the dark about Proposition 1A, which allowed the proliferation of Indian gaming casinos. You can thank the media for that. The laws that the proposition created basically don’t leave any recourse for any opposition to these casinos. The only bit of good news is that the land this casino will be built on is flood-prone. Building on that land is a disaster waiting to happen.”
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“There may be more traffic, but that is part of reason highway is being widened. Think of all the jobs it will create, especially for students who may not be able to afford the rising costs at Sonoma State Univesrity. It will create jobs for the waning construction industry as well.”
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“The Santa Rosa Groundwater Plain is in overdraft and has been for years. The casino has a federal water right and will eventually force the basin into adjudication. They will have no choice. We only have 22 adjudicated groundwater basins in California, they are extremely distasteful and extremely expensive. The casino has lied repeatedly about just about everything, so don’t believe a word they say about water. The real money is the water. Petalumans, and everyone else in Sonoma County, will pay through the nose if this disaster is allowed to proceed.”
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“The state needs to recognize the negative impact these casinos have on local communities. It is not what the original measure intended — it’s reservation shopping.”
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“This is a horrible idea for sure. I feel like the wheels ‘were greased’ for this to happen. As if traffic isn’t bad enough, just look what an eyesore the one in Geyserville is. When this Indian casino comes into Rohnert Park, goodbye property values along with many other problems.”
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“This would be a terrible mistake for Sonoma County. Rohnert Park is just looking at dollars, but this will not help their community. If I lived in Rohnert Park, I would be moving out. I appreciate Mike Healy’s stance on this.”
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“This would be the first urban casino in California. In very short order, we could have five more on Highway 101, including the land owned by Dry Creek south of Petaluma.”
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“Traffic will be insane.”
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“The traffic will undo improvement from the recent third lane addition to Highway 101.”
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“You can’t blame the traffic jams and failure of past City Councils to actively get Highway 101 widened on this Casino! Let’s face it, the freeway has been widened at least twice in Novato (since it became a freeway) and nothing has been done north of Novato to the northern boundary of Petaluma because of the anti-growth mob of years past in Petaluma. This same group is still vocal in Petaluma Politics, but with Tiffany Renée running for Congress maybe, just maybe we may be done with her left of Bejing politics. Build the Casino, and they will come. Heck just build something!”
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