Pechanga

Three years ago I attended the Tribal Leadership Forum in San Diego, at the Sycuan Tribe's resort and casino. Though not the most formal and organized, I found that conference to be enlightening, especially compared to the more general types, like ATNI or as learned last October, NCAI. I learned then that many of the problems we face in Grand Ronde, not just national issues but internally, are not vastly different among Tribes.
To that point, the conference is being hosted by the Pechanga tribe, whose own enrollment issues made news in Los Angeles, to the point that the Tribe bought airtime before a local news story was aired to defend itself against what would be said in the news piece. Anybody interested can watch the video at the following link:

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/Pechanga_Membership_Battle_Los_Angeles.html

The premise might seem familiar to many of us. Anyway, the conference this year is taking a slightly different tack than in 2006. Many of the speakers and panelists are choosing to focus on national issues, especially in light of the brand new Obama administration. At this point I can't tell if the Indian leaders are more excited about the new President or relieved at the exit of the former one. Many remarks have been made on both.
Pechanga's resort, officially called The Journey at Pechanga, is impressive, at least in comparison with other Indian gaming venues I've gotten to see first-hand. Caution though, I haven't seen either Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, or Mystic Lake. But The Journey is pretty cool. There are nearly a dozen restaurants dispersed throughout the property, ranging from Italian, to Asian noodles (a clear marketing focus here), to steakhouse to seafood. There are multiple bars, one called Caberet, and the usual multi-screen sports fans watering holes. They loved stained glass here. The central circular bar sports a massive stained glass pillar that flashes various colors and must be around 70 feet tall.
A guard stands by the elevator to make sure we have room cards. The waitresses wear cleavage-flashing tops, and from what I can tell, are busy shuttling alcohol onto the floor. One of the hotel's channels seems to be nothing but a constant feed of an instructional video of table games where three actors impersonate Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. and I'm guessing Frank Sinatra. The dealers appear to be real employees. At any rate they aren't actors.
It brings me back to earth because for as pleased as I've been with Spirit Mountain Casino's expansion, this is a reminder that there are bigger seas out there with bigger, and richer, fish. Oregon tribes scrap to be close to Portland, but in California, Los Angeles is the big market. Temecula is within driving distance of LA and San Diego. No wonder the extravagance.