Yakamas’ Project Chief Sees Tribal Land As Rural Canvas Spottedbird Envisions City, Not Just Casino

Lawrence SpottedBird dreams of an American Indian metropolis - a city with independent water and power sources, roads and sidewalks, grocery stores, hardware stores, gymnasiums, casinos and motels.

“You call yourself a nation, and that’s really acting like a nation when you control all these ingredients,” SpottedBird said.

And in his new job as economic development director for the Yakama Indian Nation, he can start working to make the dream come true.

SpottedBird was hired in October as the tribe was preparing to unveil four ambitious projects that are spinoffs of the anticipated Yakama Legends Casino, which is expected to become one of the county’s top 20 employers when it opens next spring.

Meanwhile, SpottedBird last week helped tribal officials sell a plan to build a hotel and convention center to service the casino crowds to the Yakama General Council, which is comprised of all voting-age Yakamas. Future plans also include a golf course, a radio station and a utility district that would buy and sell energy for the reservation.

SpottedBird, 48, a native of Hobart, Okla., and a member of the Kiowa tribe, got some experience in tribal affairs in his last job, executive director of the Indian Center, a nonprofit social service agency in Lincoln, Neb., where he helped clean up an apartment complex that had become a haven of drug sales and other crimes.

He sees a different challenge with the Yakama Indian Nation. Instead of urban decay, he sees a blank rural canvas.

“My tribe has barely 1,000 acres it can truly call tribal land, and here the Yakamas have more than 1.4 million acres,” SpottedBird said. “They’ve already done a great job in managing their natural resources, but the potential is tremendous to generate business.”

Although the Yakamas are better off than many tribes nationwide, they still suffer a 73 percent unemployment rate and a record of failed and stalled ventures, such as the recent closing of the Mt. Adams Furniture factory.

SpottedBird says a top priority for him is reviving one of those ventures - a pink-and-blue-striped building built along U.S. 97. In 1994, the General Council voted to turn it into a retail outlet store at the same time it voted to build a casino. Some Tribal Council members wanted to start offering bingo and other games in the building until the larger casino got off the ground. Signs at the striped building advertised the new casino, but were taken down before the building ever opened. It has now stood empty for two years.

“We haven’t had a lot of success in the past and we’re trying to make sure these projects become an example of success,” Saluskin said. “There’s definitely a lot at stake. If we don’t succeed with these projects to the point that (it) is acceptable to the people, it’s going to be a long time before the people will ratify or affirm any economic development projects in the future.”