Holy shit! Tuolumne, CA gets a fucking traffic light!

[Ladyhawk]

I'm SERIES!!!11!!! This is HUGH!!!11!!! I drove the fifteen miles or so to the little town of Tuolumne tonight and they now have a stop light. Wow. :wow: Probably they needed it because of the relatively new Indian gaming casino. For what it's worth, the casino has revitalized Tuolumne. :shrug: The Mi-Woks have a decent health clinic now and have been able to develop some of their land.

I remember when this town only had one stop light. Now we have quite a few. I wouldn't even know how to count them, anymore. And geez, we just got a Little Caesar's. I remember when we didn't have any fast food restaurants or many restaurant chains. The first was KFC, then we got the rest when I was in high school. Now if only we could get a Costco so I never have to shop at Wal*Mart ever again...

[Oeditpus Rex]

1. Tell that to this jerkwater toilet southwest of you

An Indian concern was seriously eyeballing land just outside town for a casino about a year ago. This is one of the most cash-strapped counties in the state, and these guys were talking 1,500 jobs plus impact fees, sales tax revenue, etc.

What happened? The fundies mounted a no-casino campaign — gambling is a sin, y'know — and gave 'em so much shit they said "Screw you people." Last I heard, they went over the hill to Los Banos and were welcomed by the city council there.

:eyes:

[Ladyhawk]

4. Stupid fundies. We have lots of 'em here, too.

Sigh.

[Kickin_Donkey]

8. Sounds like deja vu ...

A tribe has been trying to build a casino/hotel/resort here for several years (just north of Sac).

This is one of the poorest counties in the state, with one of the highest unemployment rates in the state.

A nonbinding resolution was put on the recent ballot, asking yay or nay on the casino project. All the forward-looking elements, including the pro-business newspaper and the local Democratic Club, were for the casino, and it looked like the resolution was going to pass.

However, a RW/fundie county supervisor took up the cause of the anti-casino campaign and got the evangelical churchgoers to come out for the vote. This, plus a thinly-disguised racist flank-movement, tipped the scales, and the "no" vote won 51-48 percent.

The only saving grace was that it was a nonbinding resolution, so the casino isn't dead by any means.

[DawgHouse]

2. Well, there goes the neighborhood.

First it's a stop light. Then comes the Walmart Supercenter. :)

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. Oh, yeah — I forgot

Wal-Mart won't even come here. So you know it's bad.

[Ladyhawk]

5. That is bad. :) n/t

[XemaSab]

6. The foothills hit their cultural forte

sometime around 1850 and it's been ALL DOWNHILL SINCE.

[Xithras]

7. I dunno that I'd call Tuolumne City "revitalized"

They've staved off the grim reaper, but the town is still a shadow of its former self. Like most former logging towns, it really doesn't have a purpose now that the main industry has left. The casino is a breath of fresh air for the town, but there are too many casinos in the state for this one to really bring the town back.

Still, I was offered a few hundred acres outside of TC a decade ago for about $100k. I still kick myself for not taking it.