“Building a casino? We absolutely will not do it,” he said.
In an interview, tribal chairman Vincent Armenta was unequivocal. Rumors of rampant development plans have been fueled by a hostile local press and a small group of critics engaged in “a cannibalistic frenzy of myopic reactionism,” according to Chumash ally Carl Artman, a former assistant secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs. Dotted with Danish bakeries, Solvang flows more with butter than with blood, but the attorney’s point struck home: Only an outraged public could keep the Chumash from expanding their reservation by 1000% and, unfettered by county or state regulation, build a second casino, a massive hotel, a golf course or whatever else might turn a profit.Ĭhumash leaders say they have no desire to build anything but houses for the tribe’s 140 members on a piece of ancestral homeland.
