Hard Times

Earlier in the year former Council member Angie Blackwell told me she would be the subject of an Oregon Public Broadcasting series. The series is titled "Hard Times" and Angie has been one of numerous people covered. I've always thought radio is one of the most under-appreciated mediums for communication. I also think Angie deserves some credit for doing this. The series has been running since last spring.
There are both written and audio versions of the story. Angie still has a memorable laugh:

Hard Times Part 1
Hard Times Part 2
Hard Times Part 3

Getting Around

Several weeks ago we hosted staff from the Salem-Keizer Transit district, one of whom, by the way, is my mother. Our mutual goal is to increase ridership from Salem to Grand Ronde, the bus route having begun more than a year ago. The numbers have been below expectations, meaning unless things pick up, we could have to cut back on the service.
I have sat on the Mid-Willamette Valley Area Commission on Transportation since my first year on Council. It was one of those appointments nobody would ever volunteer for, so rookie Council members are next in line I guess. I also sit on the Yamhill County Transportation Authority board, which like SKATS started a new route from McMinnville to Grand Ronde. Oddly, it is one of our busiest, if not the busiest, routes. Considering we have more casino and governmental employees from Salem than McMinnville, all I can say is go figure. Of course, the YCTA line runs through Sheridan and Willamina, which might offer some explanation.
Public transportation is hard to figure out. I've seen places where it thrives, like in Europe or in Eugene where I went to college at the University of Oregon. But it has also been non-existent in and around Grand Ronde until now, so maybe the idea of being able to catch a bus from the front of our Governance Center to downtown Salem might be slightly daunting. Seeing a gleaming shiny Salem bus in a predominantly rural community just takes some getting used to.
So just what are we going to do to get people to buy in? Well, we can promote it. Find an event in Salem where everybody on Council who attends can hop on the bus. The downtown bus center is on the same block as the Marion County Commissioners offices, where MWACT meetings are held. It is also two blocks from the Capital, for when we have meetings with the governor. Our state lobbyist's office, where we've held many a meeting over the years, is just across the street.
We can also develop a Tribal policy making allowances for employees choosing to use the bus, as the bus schedule doesn't match up with our usual office hours. Could SKATS offer discounts to Tribal employees or community members? Maybe.
I would hate to see this bus route fail. It is a good example of how the Tribe can partner with local governments and companies. Plus many of our housing residents don't have cars. That is why adding sidewalks to Grand Ronde Rd. was so important.
Like a lot of things, it comes down to awareness I'll wager. Let people know they have options, and invariable they'll opt to use them.

Under the Radar

I've been seeing a lot of red recently, an observation hardly surprising given the holidays and all. What is surprising though is that the color red has taken on a whole new twist following a meeting this afternoon on a problem I never thought we would have to deal with in Grand Ronde: gangs.
Several weeks ago there was a shooting over in Keizer, one in which a young man lost his life. He was a man connected to the Grand Ronde community. I won't get into details like his name or the circumstances of the shooting, those can be found on the internet anyway.
Two years ago we offered a lunch-time presentation to our employees. A police officer with expertise in gangs provided a Powerpoint presentation that featured photos of hand signs, graffiti, tattoos, you-name-it. There is a culture amongst gangs. He explained to us what IPO was, among others. And he told us that it will be a problem in a few years. He was right.
I think everybody knows about the tagging that has been going on for a while. The presentation given us today made me wince and shake my head. Because we got into details that the police didn't want made public that meeting was held in executive session, but I must say what we were shown was stunning. Most of the photos were gathered from the world wide web, MySpace is very popular. A number of the photos were young men in red, with bandanas, some with facial tattoos. They were flashing the numerous gang signs, hands made into W's for Westside, or CK for Cryp-Killer. Every time the portions of the faces were whited out so you couldn't completely identify who they were. Sadly, that didn't stop me from recognizing a few of my fellow Tribal members.
What is worse, I slowly recognized the backgrounds in many of the shots, including our Tribal gymnasium, Community Center, Housing, and even at our Pow wow. In other words, under our noses.
Indian communities have been dealing with gangs probably before I even knew they existed, that is certain. But until now, there had always been a distance between them and the world I know. I knew gangs from television and media, and the wannabe's who infested my North Salem High School in the early 1990's because the gangster "look" was considered cool. But to see people I actually know doing this, and even taking it seriously, was very sobering. There is just something grotesque and disturbing about it all.
We're starting a gang awareness program in Grand Ronde. It will be a new challenge for our community.

Thresholds

Sunday's General Council meeting at the onset seemed destined to be short. Our program presentation on the Spirit Mountain Community Fund elicited almost no questions. The nominations for the Elders' Committee, the one committee where members are elected by peers and not Tribal Council, went smoothly. We entered Other Business 15 minutes before the lunch hour.
But a new former Council member seems to have 1) learned of the terrible unintended consequences of both the 1999 and 2008 Constitutional elections on amending the membership requirements; or 2) is already looking ahead to the 2010 Tribal Council elections. On Sunday he stepped forth to propose then and there an advisory vote of the General membership on whether to move forward with another Constitutional election on the same subject, but focusing especially on the "parent on the roll" portion of the requirements. At the risk of sounding a little bit skeptical, the whole stunt rang of electioneering, because I served on Council with this individual and he was hardly a champion of this issue. At least two others made the same observation on the record Sunday. I would not be surprised if some others thought it.
That individual aside, it sparked debate on the topic, and who knows, maybe even hope. This issue has become dormant. But is it an issue that will every really die? I don't think so. Anyway, a few people rightly observed that focusing on only one portion of the enrollment requirements didn't seem to make much sense as at least in regards to split families it would help some but not all. There was also still the issue of the definition of Grand Ronde blood.
The vote, if you could call it that, went something like 25 to 5, with a number of people present obviously not voting as there was more than 30, and with several people stepping up to clarify that their "no" votes weren't opposed to revisiting the issue, but they opposed focusing just on the one section. Even with what I felt like healthy discussion, there had to be a good degree of confusion still on the subject even as the conversation waned.
Looking back, I wouldn't blame anybody if they asked if 25 votes at a General Council meeting was the new standard necessary for Council action.

Iceland

I spent my Thanksgiving weekend in a most unlikely place: Iceland. For most of my life I've had had a preoccupation with islands. Not sure why, but the idea of a small piece of land surrounded by water has always fascinated me. Doing Robinson Crusoe for a year on some tropical island somewhere was practically a childhood dream of mine.
Iceland is far from tropical. But it is isolated, located in the north Atlantic closer to Greenland than anywhere else. One word stands out when I think of this place: elemental. Water, lava, wind, snow, ice, rock--it is a fierce but not deadly environment. I took tons of pictures, as you can see below. And I learned a lot, some points which include:

• Iceland is heated primarily by geothermal energy, with geysers everywhere, a system decades in the making but bearing fruit now in that the average resident pays anywhere from $50-80 per month in electricity and water.
• Iceland has the world's oldest parliament, founded in 930.
• The Icelandic language is darn close to what the Vikings who settled the island spoke. It has changed so little that literature from the Viking era can still be read pretty easily by modern-day Icelanders.
• Iceland has the highest literacy rate in world at 99.99%. They've only roughly 300,000 people, but still that's impressive. Most Icelanders speak English.
• Reykjavik is the quite possibly the cleanest city in the world. I'll attest to that.
• They eat some pretty interesting stuff, like sheep heads and testicles, pickled fish, reindeer, and ptarmigan (a traditional Christmas food).
• There really isn't much wildlife there, nor trees. Still, there is a beauty all its own.

One Foot Forward

Early today, we had a work session on the "Tilixam Wawa". I requested the meeting myself, because over much of the last month we've talked about reviving the publication, and constantly ask staff to put such-and-such in the Wawa.  But as is often the case, we don't always follow up, and in this instance that is what happened.

So I requested the meeting today in order to start putting together a plan for how the publication will be produced. We talked about deadlines, how often, who would contribute, what would be written, etc. all the normal things those producing a publication talk about. Nobody appeared to have a problem with Council members submitting articles, or expressing opinions, provided they don't go completely beyond the present editorial policy. I think people like hearing from their Tribal leaders.

But the publication cannot be completely Council driven, a point I raised in my attempt at a staff report. I think people will start to view it as grandstanding and campaigning.  In the event that only a few Council members submit anything, stretching that out to an 8-page issue might be difficult. It can't all be Tribal Council meeting minutes because then it becomes too dry to read. So we talked about staff producing articles, and some issues being themed, where we might cover certain topics that members would like to know about, like off-reservation gaming, like culture and history.  And oh yes, enrollment.

At the same time we have formed an informal working group whose main purpose is to stay on top of the Tribal website.  I love the "Tilixam Wawa". Don't get me wrong.  But print media is starting to fade away.  Not that it will completely die out, and for many of our Tribal members who don't get their news by the internet, getting the Wawa and "Smoke Signals" will continue to be how they stay updated on Tribal affairs.  But our website has flexibility and potential that can't be beat.  "The Seattle Times", for example, has gone completely digital.  The instant nature of e-news is hard to resist.

What are our plans?  For starters, we are looking at e-newsletters, press releases, and electronic versions of Tribal publications all accessible by Tribal members who provide us with their email addresses.  We've also discussed the idea of feeds.  In the brainstorming phase is a possible blogging section, one for not only Council but different departments.  Eventually, what I hope for is that any letter, publication, brochure, etc. mailed out or available to the membership can be found as a PDF file on the members-only website.  

I suppose this qualifies as a tangent. That's alright.  A lot of members have complained about keeping them in the dark, and in a lot of ways they are right.  But now, we can't be faulted for not trying.  Not anymore.  A lot remains to be done, for sure, but we've put one foot forward.  

Lean Times

Earlier this week, we sat down with Spirit Mountain's CEO and went over their budget. Despite some predictions of an economic turnaround, we are being more cautious in our projections. That is probably for the best.
I was surprised at last week's General Council meeting, not with the Canoe Family issue, but that more members seem to be indicating they understand that times are tight. In general I think locals have a much different take on the financial situation, probably because they can access more services than non-locals, who usually get the core services of per capita, health care, timber, and Elders security, and not too much else. I look forward to seeing what kinds of comments we get from the General membership during the budget period. We always get some, a few dozen at least, sometimes near a hundred or so.
The two that stick out most from last year were contradictory. One member asked that we eliminate the "Elders only per capita" while another proposed we double the payment. A Tribal member from Portland has come to multiple meetings so far this year to ask that we incorporate a COLA to the Elders Security payment. One Council member last week told us last week this same member was down at the Elders' mealsite urging some of our Tribal Elders to picket. That seems kind of overboard but I suspect we'll hear more about it.
It is strange having to deal with this budget. In years past the casino always improved year after year, thought the annual increase in business got smaller. I personally expected some kind of plateau after 2007 but nothing like this. Economics is an odd science.
Plenty of other gaming tribes are dealing with the same kind of budget setbacks, which is some relief. While we are experiencing clear declines in revenue, it is hardly a cataclysm. Gaming, and vices in general, never suffer that much in recessions. Thus far, alcohol sales are higher than ever at Spirit Mountain, I'm sure because of the new sports bar and nightclub. Our long-delayed decision of serving alcohol on the floor might need to be dusted off.
The casino will be asked to make more cuts. Some of my co-workers say that needs to be in the marketing department but I'm not sure I agree. This is what I feared most about tough times, areas to be cut start getting singled out, and there are debates about what is more deserving. You caught a glimpse of it at the Eugene General Council meeting. At least one member asked why employees, and not Tribal Elders, were getting a COLA/merit increase. Those kinds of discussions, given enough time to go on, could get really ugly.
The two biggest increases on the governance side have been in the Tribal health plan and the Elders Security/SSI, more than $4 million between them. We are having to pick and choose. I knew that eventually our health plan would amount to more than per capita. I just didn't know it would happen so soon.
Warren Buffett, who I remember last year said the downturn in the economy would be worse than expected, is predicting a recovery. I hope he's right.