The Barstow City Council on Monday, October 5 will take up a proposal to revive the long dormant effort by the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians to develop a casino and resort proximate to The Outlets mall at the south end of the city.
First proposed in 2001 and then accepted by the city in 2006 as a joint venture with BarWest Gaming LLC and its principals Marian llitch, and Michael Malik, who had developed the MotorCity Casino in Detroit, the project was stymied by protests from other tribes which contended that the Los Coyotes, whose aboriginal tribal lands are in San Diego County, did not have standing to locate a casino in Barstow, geographically removed from the boundaries of their reservation.
With those tribes having now dropped their opposition and the Bureau of Indian Affairs having given clearance for the project to proceed, the plan is moving forward. BarWest has dropped out of the picture, and The Los Coyotes have offered the city the twin inducements of providing land for and partially defraying the cost of constructing a police precinct and a fire station on two of the 40 acres the tribe is acquiring for the venture.