Vegas on the Columbia? We Can Do Better

I'd like to offer a little wager: that today Meriwether Lewis and William Clark are turning in their graves. This morning's Oregonian reports that Governor Kulongoski has reached an agreement with the Warm Springs tribes to build a casino in the Columbia River Gorge.

In all fairness to Ten Pin Ted, the Oregonian's editorial page correctly points out that the Governor cut a deal. The casino was going to happen whether we liked it or not. By greenlighting construction in an industrial park near the town of Cascade Locks, the Kulongoski has prevented the casino going up near Hood River, which would have been exponentially worse.

But this is certainly no time for celebration. As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pointed out in a speech made here over the weenend (noted in Jonathan Nicholas's column), our natural landscape is "the unfiltered work of the Creator", and that communing with nature is "how we get to discover our own divinity". So one of the most spiritually compelling natural places in Oregon will also be home to a Mecca of gambling.

That said, now that the battle over whether to build a Gorge casino is over, it's time to consider what the casino will look like. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can not recall a single casino in America that is a truly great (or even good) piece of architecture.

Sure, there are lots of bold buildings that desparately call attention to themselves -- the Las Vegas Strip is full of them. But casinos like the Venetian, the Bellagio and New York New York are all just a kind of architectural Disneyland. They have not one molecule of integrity. And casinos built by the tribes are only marginally better. They often reflect the heritage of the American Indian in a superficial, skin-deep way, and have never even attempted to resolve the fundamental disconnect between this deeply spiritual, nature-loving culture and the decadent, corrupting influence of gambling.

If we have to have a casino on the Columbia, why not set a real precedent and make it a great place? It could be a building that embraces and considers itself part of the landscape -- no beheamoth battling the river canyon for our attention but instead yielding to God's Country all around. It could be built green in a manner that reveals its structure and natural materials but also (like some sustainable buildings) doesn't try too hard to wear its greenness on its sleeve. (This is something I think the Ecotrust building, for example, is guilty of). It could break from the casino tradition of dark, lightless spaces and be made with lots of glass to bathe the slot machines in natural illumination. And its form could reflect the heritage of the Warm Springs tribe, but in a way more than skin deep.

The Warm Springs tribe needs to think long and hard about whom it selects as an architect. Ideally they would hold an international design competition, which would benefit them not only in delivering the best possible building but quite likely would generate enormous press. At the very least, the tribe should resist the easy temptation to hire a big service firm that specializes in casino architecture. All the experience in the world means very little if you want to break from the norm -- and no industry needs a fresh architectural start like the gaming industry.

So as disappointing as it is to imagine a casino in our beloved Columbia Gorge, let's think of this not as an inevitable tragedy, but an opportunity to do something great. If Lewis and Clark were able to make it all the way to the Pacific, certainly we can honor the stunning landscape through which they passed with the architecture it deserves.

Comments

[Big Boomer]

I really was hoping an idea I had posted at the Oregon Stadium Campaign would have been taken seriously by the guv, two or more years ago. Back then, the Grande Ronde tribe was willing to financially support the building of a baseball stadium with the agreement that they could build a casino in Portland too.

I suggested locating a mega fun site that all the tribes could be involved in somewhere South of the metro area (say half way to Salem). Casinos, bars, resturant, a water park, a amusement park (Six Flags type), all with a Oregon feel (Cascadian and native american).

I personnel didn't want the "pandora's box" to be opened for all Oregon tribes to be demanded casinos in Portland.

But now, all the tribes will want to have their own off-reservation casinos. They most likely will go to court over it.

Just think of what might have been, under the above plan we could have MLB Baseball without paying for it with taxes on beer and food at the ballpark, plus the state wouldn't need Senate Bill 5 (thats $100-150 million of tax revenue over 30 years going right into the general fund); businesses around the ballpark wouldn't be taxed; a world class amusement/casino complex within easy driving distance from Longview to Eugene; and the Gorge without 3 million visitors there for something other than sight seeing.

We are so short sighted. We have lost our edge, our vision.

BB

[Mike Thelin]

BB makes some great points. We could have had a free stadium, and I can't say I'm opposed to the idea of a casino actually in the Lloyd/Convention Center District as opposed to the suburbs. The District has almost no amenities for convention visitors--unless you count bottomless fries at Red Robin an amenity, and a casino would certainly help our flailing convention business in Portland without spoiling the natural beauty of the Gorge. Additionally, if a casino were housed in the Lloyd District, the PDC wouldn't have to use public money subsidize the proposed convention center hotel, and the District might actually see the economic revitalization that was supposed to occur when the Rose Garden was built. What are we afraid of? I agree with Brian that the casino should be required to have a great design, but I'm afraid this probably wont be a priority of its backers. Building casinos in areas of natural beauty sets a bad precedent.