Fond du Lac Band wants to add to reservation in downtown Duluth

Duluth NewsTribune ^ | December 21, 2011 | Peter Passi

[DManA]

The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has applied for federal permission to increase the size of its reservation property within Duluth

[snip]

Nevertheless, Ness considers the tax implications of losing additional city land to the band troubling.

“An action like this would remove the building from our tax rolls and increase the burden for other taxpayers,” he said.

[snip]

Still, allowing the band’s downtown trust land holdings to grow without Duluth’s consent could set a dangerous precedent, said City Attorney Gunnar Johnson.

“If this happens to one block, what happens if they buy the next block?” Johnson asked.

[]snip]

The city learned of the band’s application to increase its trust land holdings downtown only after the U.S. Department of the Interior requested tax information from the Duluth City Assessor’s Office about the Carter property, located at 17-27 N. Second Ave. E.

The inquiry prompted Johnson to start asking questions, and that’s when the city learned of the band’s plans.

“This came completely out of the blue,” Ness said.

[DManA]

Apparently the Federal Government has the unilateral power to declare parcels of land as part oif an indian reservation. At least this tribes things they do and the agency they applied to is treating it seriously.

This is unvbelievable to me.

[blueunicorn6]

Can’t they play a few gigs and earn some money? A good band can pull in two, three hundred bucks a night if they’ve got a good lead guitar.

[Beowulf9]

“The city has provided precisely no redevelopment of any kind in the area surrounding the reservation,” referencing the Fond-du-Luth site.

The document goes on to say: “This is while the city has spent hundreds of millions of dollars improving businesses remote from the reservation. As a result, the area surrounding the reservation has continued to deteriorate and is a haven for vagrants, hustlers and inebriates.”

Am I wrong to think this might be better for Duluth? Giving the land back to the Indians seems pretty drastic and makes me suspect big money in the casino going under table to white man...somewhere, but it also kicks the bums out and revitalizes the city with something a little more likely to provide work to some.

[markman46]

oh man they want to expand the casino in duluth is all.

[blueunicorn6]

Why do the Chinese have their own countries in the US?

[Eska]

Here in Alaska, the really sad part is that most our Indians are going extinct. Too much alcohol, FAS, child abuse, violence, sadness in the villages on and on. The more the govt gives them, the quicker they die in many cases. They still set fish nets and live off what the land & river provides, but ever since they met us; been downhill for those Indians pretty much; bad deal all around as they are a pretty decent bunch of people. Wish there was a way they could survive & thrive within America.

I bet those Fond Du Lac Indians are 85% White half breeds. Our Indians kinda want left alone, don't want our culture, casinos, and cities.

[cherry]

this has happened in my area...the indians given rights to buy land outside their traditional land and establishing billion dollar casinos...

its funny now because we have a competing indian group wanting to build very near another indian casino,and that casinos people are decrying the "growth" of gambling, etc....LOL

we have no country left folks....lets just admit it...we have no control..no rule of law....

the govt can willy nilly give their favored friends whatever they want..land...money...license to rape and steal...

[cherry]

I think you're right...it seems a large number of "indians" are really causcasian mix...but it doesn't matter....even if 100% indian blood people die off, there is still all those 1/8ers out there with their hand extended....

the maifia didn't think stealing money from the govt would be this easy....absolutely independent casinos with no tax burden and no forms to fill out operating at will and raking in billions and billions....

[Erasmus]

First impression: So a group of musicians need to book extra hotel rooms for their upcoming gig.

[DManA]

Well no that’s not all. It will take the parcel off the tax rolls and out of the city’s control for ever.

[DPMD]

Deny the request on the grounds that the blocks targeted is the white man’s sacred ground.

[DManA]

So if a tribe can convince the BIA to tranfer a parcel to their reservation, a tribe can build a casino anywhere they please and a city, any city anywhere in the country, would have no say in the matter.

[Eska]

Ya know that 1/8 is a bunch of bull. It's how you are raised culturally, not bloodline. I've even had friends who were teachers in Indian Villages and their 100% White kids developed the Indian language and lingo from birth, sound native but are White; kinda funny. I've seen Indians adopt troubled young White kids nobody wanted due to their problems and raise them Native. Indians said no child should be kicked out on their own, (What's wrong with you White People?) no joke. They raised them too. Indians see kids as a good thing, a blessing of sorts. I knew one Indian lady drove from Ak to Calif to adopt a baby girl, (mother was mex/amer prostitute gave the baby up). Indian Lady was trying to give the baby a chance, respectable actually. Us Whites could learn a little from them backward Indians too.

I see the abuse of govt money also. You see, the govt tried getting the Indians on a money based economy back in 50's & 60's. So they started all the welfare type programs, kinda destroyed many of the Indians, but then I know Indians who never want or get anything from govt. They claim if you get anything from the White man, you'll pay in the end and they'd rather do on their own.

[markman46]

hey works for me!!!

[Sacajaweau]

Let them buy it just as we buy it...by warranty deed...and pay the taxes. The problem is “Nation Buying”. They are aUS citizens and capable of buying as individuals or a corporation. Forget the tribal reservation cr**.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Am I wrong to think this might be better for Duluth?

Yes. The band and the city are engaged in a legal dispute over the casino that is downtown. The band paid the city annually in exchange for the property and the promise for no other Indian gaming in Duluth. Recently the band sued to get out of its obligations to pay under a signed contract. The trust fund the city built up using that money is a big reason Duluth isn't bankrupt now.

There is a lot of bad blood here and it's only going to get worse.

[Beowulf9]

Yep. You have to know the real story, as I figured. Lordy.