Contra Costa County, California

Contra Costa County (Spanish for: Contrary Coast) is a suburban in the  of the  of. As of the, it had a population of 948,816. The is.

Pre-human
In prehistoric times, particularly the, portions of the landforms now in the area (then marshy and grassy ) were populated by a wide range of now extinct , known in modern times by the  remains excavated in the southern part of the county. These included s the size of the modern and rhinoceri the size of modern pigs. In the northern part of the county, significant coal and sand deposits were formed in even earlier. Other areas of the county have ridges exposing ancient but intact (not fossilized) seashells, embedded in layers alternating with. Layers of volcanic ash ejected from geologically recent but now extinct, compacted and now tilted by compressive forces, may be seen at the site of some road excavations. This county is an agglomeration of several distinct geologic terrains, as is most of the greater, which is one of the most geologically complex regions in the world. The great local mountain has been formed and continues to be elevated by compressive forces resulting from the action of  and at its upper reaches presents ancient seabed shale rock scraped from distant sedimentation locations and accumulated by these great forces.

Native American period
There is an extensive but little recorded human pre-European invasion history in this area, with the present county containing portions of regions populated by a number of native American tribes. The earliest definitively established occupation by modern man () appears to have occurred six to ten thousand years ago. However, there may have been human presence far earlier, at least as far as non–settling populations are concerned. The known settled populations were hunter-gatherer societies that had no knowledge of and that produced utilitarian crafts for everyday use (especially woven reed baskets) of the highest quality and with graphic embellishments of great aesthetic appeal. Extensive trading from tribe to tribe transferred exotic materials such as (useful for the making of arrowheads) throughout the region from far distant Californian tribes. Unlike the ic native American of the it appears that these tribes did not incorporate warfare into their culture but were instead generally cooperative. Within these cultures the concept of individual or collective land ownership was nonexistent. Early European settlers in the region, however, did not record much about the culture of the natives. Most of what is known culturally comes from preserved contemporaneous and excavated artifacts and from inter-generational knowledge passed down through northerly outlying tribes of the larger region.

Spanish colonial
Early interaction of these Native Americans with Europeans came with the Spanish colonization via the establishment of in this area, with the missions in San Jose, Sonoma, and San Francisco and particularly the establishment of the  (a military establishment) in 1776. Although there were no missions established within this county, Spanish influence here was direct and extensive, through the establishment of land grants from the King of Spain to favored settlers.

Mexican provincial land grants
In 1821 gained independence from Spain, although little changed in ranchero life in the remote province centered upon. The, however, did lead to the beginning of land grants under the Mexican Federal Law of 1824.

Eighteen land grants were made in what became Contra Costa County. The smallest unit was one square league, or about seven square miles, or 4,400 acres (18 km²), maximum to one individual was eleven leagues, or 48,400 acres (196 km²), including no more than 4,428 acres (18 km²) of irrigable land. Rough surveying was based on a map, or diseno, measured by streams, shorelines, and/or horseman who marked it with rope and stakes. Lands outside Rancho grants were designated ‘el sobrante,' as in surplus or excess, and considered common lands. The law required the construction of a house within a year. Fences were not required and were forbidden where they might interfere with roads or trails. Locally a large family required roughly 2000 head of cattle and two square leagues of land (fourteen square miles) to live comfortably. Foreign entrepreneurs came to the area in order to provide goods that Mexico couldn’t, and trading ships were taxed.


 * The same year, 1824, Rancho Cañada de los Vaqueros was granted to Francisco Alviso, Antonio Higuera, and Manuel Miranda (26,660 acres confirmed in 1889 to heirs of Robert Livermore).


 * From 1833-46, three Ranchos San Ramon Mexican land grants were established to Bartolome Pacheco (southern San Ramon Valley) and Mariano Castro (northern San Ramon Valley) (1833, two square leagues), Jose Maria Amador (1834, 1835, four leagues).


 * In 1834 Rancho Monte del Diablo (present day ) was confirmed with 17,921 acres (72.5 km²) to Don Salvio Pacheco (born, died 1876). The Pacheco family settled at the Rancho in 1846 (between the  shipping port townsite and  area, and including much of Lime Ridge). The boundary lines were designated with stone markers. Clayton was later located on sobrante lands just east of Ranch Monte del Diablo.


 * On,  aka  (present day ), was granted to Dona Juana Sanchez de Pacheco, in recognition of the service of Corporal Miguel Pacheco 37 years earlier (confirmed 1853, patented to heirs 1866; the grant was for two leagues, but drawn free hand on the diseno/map, and reading "two leagues, more or less" as indicated in the diseno, but actually including and confirmed for nearly four leagues or nearly 18,000 acres (73 km²), but only 10,000 acres (40 km²) were ever shown as having once belonged to Dona Juana.


 * On, Rancho Los Meganos was granted, situated in what is now the  area. 'Meganos' means 'sand dunes.' A "paraje que llaman los Méganos" 'place called the sand dunes' (with a variant spelling) is mentioned in ’s diary on , . Two Los Medanos Ranchos were granted, later differentiated as Los Meganos (1835, three leagues or at least 13,285 acres (54 km²)), to Jose Noriega then acquired by  and Los Medanos (to Jose Antonio Mesa and Jose Miguel Garcia, Pittsburg area, dated  ).

Bear Flag Republic and the statehood of California
The exclusive land ownership by Hispanics would soon end. This change began with the in 1846 when a few settlers from the United States declared a, and immediately petitioning for statehood. Following the of 1847, California was annexed to the U.S. in 1848 and was admitted to the Union in 1850. The land titles in Contra Costa County may be traced to multiple subdivisions of a few original land grants. The grantee's family names live on in a few city and town names such as, and  and in the names of streets, residential subdivisions, and business parks. A few mansions from the more prosperous farms have been preserved as museums and cultural centers and one of the more rustic examples has been preserved as a working demonstration ranch, Borges Ranch.

Contra Costa's creation and division
Contra Costa County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. The county was originally to be called Mt. Diablo County, but the name was changed prior to incorporation as a county. The county's name means  opposite coast, because of its location opposite, in an easterly direction, on. Southern portions of the county's territory, including the all of the bayside portions opposite San Francisco, and Northern portions of were given up to form  in 1853.

1941-45
During, hosted one of the two Bay Area sites of  and wartime pilots were trained at what is now. Additionally, a large Naval Weapons Depot and munitions ship loading facilities at remain active to this day, but with the inland storage facilities recently declared surplus, extensive redevelopment is being planned for this last large central-county tract. The loading docks were the site of in 1944. Port Chicago was bought out and demolished by the Federal Government to form a safety zone near the Naval Weapons Station loading docks. At one time the Atlas Powder Company (subsequently closed) at the town of produced gunpowder and dynamite. The site of the former Atlas Powder Company is located at, part of the.

Early postwar period
With the postwar and the desire for suburban living, large tract housing developers would purchase large central county farmsteads and develop them with roads, utilities and housing. Once mostly rural walnut orchards and cattle ranches, the area was first developed as low cost, large lot suburbs, with a typical low cost home being placed on a "quarter acre" (1,000 m²) lot &mdash; actually a little less at 10,000 square feet (930 m²). Some of the expansion of these suburban areas was attributable to, although in this politically liberal region, the phenomenon was mostly due to larger houses and lots at little additional cost, a desire for a less intensely urban environment, and higher school quality.

Political geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 2,078 (802 ). 1,865 km² (720 sq mi) of it is land and 213 km² (82 sq mi) of it (10.25%) is water.

It is bounded on the south and west by ; on the northwest ( and  Counties); on the North by, the , and  ( and  Counties); and on the east by the.

Physical geography
Contra Costa County's physical geography is dominated by the bayside alluvial plain, the Oakland-, and, an isolated 3,849-foot (1,173 m) upthrust peak at the north end of the Diablo Range of hills. The summit of Mount Diablo is the origin of the Mount Diablo and, on which  of much of California and western Nevada are based.

The runs through the western portion of the county, from Kensington to Richmond. The runs in the south-central portion of the county, from Alamo to San Ramon. The runs through part of Concord and Pacheco, and the  runs from Clayton at its north end to near Livermore. These slip-strike s and the near  are all considered capable of significantly destructive earthquakes and many lesser related faults are present in the area that cross critical infrastructure such as water, natural gas, and petroleum product pipelines, roads, highways, railroads, and BART rail transit.

Cities and towns


West County Incorporated places

Unincorporated places

Central County Incorporated places

Unincorporated places

East County Incorporated places

Unincorporated places

Other named regions and developments

 * - an unincorporated residential area between Walnut Creek and Lafayette, centered around the site of a (now-gone) interurban train station, comprising much of 94595.
 * - a senior development incorporated into Walnut Creek (not to be confused with the Southern California ).

Adjacent counties

 * - south (all the southern border)
 * - west (via the and San Pablo and San Francisco Bays)
 * - north (via the Carquinez Bridges and Benicia-Martinez Bridge and the Carquinez Strait, Grizzly Bay, Suisun Bay, and Sacramento/San Joaquin River delta and mouth)
 * - northeast (in the delta Islands and via the Antioch Bridge)
 * - east (across the San Joaquin River and many islands and sloughs, most of the eastern border)
 * - southwest (on and on the San Francisco Bay)

Landmark of Mount Diablo
The most notable natural landmark in the county is 3,849' Mount Diablo, at the northerly end of the Diablo Range. Mount Diablo and its neighboring North Peak are the centerpiece of (MDSP), created legislatively in 1921 and rededicated in 1931 after land acquisitions had been completed. At the time this comprised a very small portion of the mountain.

In the 1960s the open space of the mountain was threatened with suburban development expanding from the surrounding valleys. In 1971, when MDSP included 6,788 acres (27.5 km²), the non-profit organization |Save Mount Diablo, was formed and open space preservation accelerated. MDSP was the first of twenty-nine Diablo area parks and preserves created around the peaks, today totaling more than 89,000 acres (360 km²). These Diablo public lands stretch southeast and include the, and s near Walnut Creek, to the State Park, and east to the  watershed and four surrounding East Bay Regional Park District preserves, including  Regional Preserve, , , and s. The new , and , are among the open spaces stretching back to the north. In this way the open spaces controlled by cities, the East Bay Regional Park District, Mount Diablo State Park, and various regional preserves now adjoin and protect most of the elevated regions of the mountain.

The name Mount Diablo is said to originate from an incident involving Spanish soldiers who christened a thicket ‘Monte del Diablo’ when natives they were pursuing apparently disappeared in the thicket. Anglo settlers later misunderstood the use of the word ‘monte’ (which can mean ‘mountain’, or ‘thicket’), and fastened the name on the most obvious local landmark.

Agriculture
The great rancheros of the Spanish period were divided and sold for agricultural uses, with intensively irrigated farming made possible in some areas by the development of canals that brought water from the eastern riverside portions of the county to the central portion. Other areas could used the more limited water available from local creeks and from wells. Orchards dominated where such water was available, while other, seasonally dry areas were used for cattle ranching. In central parts of the county walnuts were an especially attractive orchard crop, using the thin-shelled English Walnut branches grafted to the hardy and disease-resistant American Walnut root stock. In the region, pears dominated, and many old (but untended) roadside trees are still picked seasonally by passers by. In eastern county, stone fruit, especially cherries, is still grown commercially, with seasonal opportunities for people to pick their own fruit for a modest fee.

Commuter railroads
The development of commuter railroads proceeded together with the subdivision of farms into parcels. In some cases, such as the development of, the same developer controlled both the railroad and the development. These early suburbanization developments were an extension of the earlier development of s in what are now considered the highly urban environments of the near East Bay.

Irrigation canals
The, a concrete-lined and fenced irrigation canal still makes a loop through central county and provided industrial and agricultural grade water to farms and industry. While no longer used for extensive irrigation, it is still possible for adjoining landowners (now large suburban lot owners) to obtain pumping permits. Most of this water is destined for the heavy industry near Martinez. As with the railroad rights of way there is now an extensive public trail system along these canals.

Heavy industry
Owing to its extensive waterfront on, , and bays the northwestern and northern segments have long been sites for heavy industry, including the a number of still active  (particularly Standard Oil in Richmond and Tosco - formerly Shell Oil - in Martinez), chemical plants  and a once substantial integrated steel plant,  (formerly ), now reduced to secondary production of strip sheet and wire. The forms a continuation of the northern boundary turns southward to form the eastern boundary of the county. Some substantial "islands" (actually leveed former marshes) are included in this corner of the county.

West County
The West County is the area near or on San Francisco and San Pablo bays. The housing stock in the region was extensively developed after the great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Much of the housing stock in these areas is becoming quite expensive. As an alternative to moving to either the expensive central county, or the too-distant East County, this area is becoming, with a mix of races and income levels &mdash; a character actively sought by some housing purchasers. The downside of this is a corresponding lack of affordable housing for those in lower paying service jobs &mdash; a problem endemic throughout the region. As the public schools are not of the quality seen in the central county, many of the middle class residents of the area send their children to expensive private schools, further limiting the availability of resources (especially well-qualified but unpaid volunteer classroom assistants and donated class support materials) to the public schools. There has recently been a housing boom or tract housing in and also in the  areas. These gentrifying areas are the most diverse in Contra Costa County.

Central county
 The central part of the county is a valley traversed by Interstate 680, by State Highway 24, and by portions of Interstate highway 580 (the ) and is often called the Tri-Valley Area. It is located between West and East County. The towns east of the hills, on or near Highway 24 and their surrounding areas (, and ) are collectively known as Lamorinda. The major central county cities along Interstate 680 are Martinez, Concord, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, Danville, San Ramon, and unincorporated Alamo. Owing to the high quality of its public schools (due largely to both demographics and added support from prosperous parents), this area has become a magnet for well–off families with children. This has driven (through normal supply-demand ) the price of housing to astounding levels. An original, unmodified one bath, three bedroom large-lot house built in the late 1940s is now priced out of the range of those with the typical median income for the region. As the taxes on long occupied houses are quite low, owing to the tax-limiting, there is little incentive for "empty nesters" to move away, further limiting the supply for new entrants to the market. Proposition 13 has also discouraged the "upgrade move", instead encouraging extensive remodeling of existing owner–occupied buildings. This has led to beneficial stability in some neighborhoods, further increasing the desirability of many locations. While there are small patches where houses are completely torn down and replaced with larger, more modern houses, this is less economically attractive (owing to the high cost of purchase) than is the practice of extensive remodeling, refurbishment, and expansion via the addition of a large master suite and removal of interior partitions to create larger rooms. There are a number of speculative remodelers who will refurbish an unoccupied structure over a period of a year, using high quality materials and finishes, yet making enough profit to provide a comfortable living. Although the pace of housing sales has slowed recently (2004-2007), prices continue to increase and the market remains attractive to the remodeling industry.

In this way the central county region has become a mix of older suburbs, newer developments, small lot "infill" developments, and extensive shopping areas.

East County
Lower cost modern tract developments continue along and into rural "East County" - new "bedroom" communities" to serve the now "edge cities". This results in some incredibly long and slow commutes for some county residents, as roadbuilding is unable to keep pace with the development patterns. Some political control has been established to restrict the development somewhat, with "urban limit lines" now established, but yet to prove their long term effectiveness. The building of new housing in the hot inland areas of California is straining the ability of power providers during hot weather, with peak power requirements statewide reaching levels not expected until 2010 in a 2006 late July heat wave.

Urban decay at the fringes
Other cities in the once heavily industrialized northwestern and western waterfront areas such as and  (formerly West Pittsburg) have fallen on harder times, with Richmond having difficulty balancing its school budget. This may be arguably attributed to a side effect of Proposition 13: it applies also to large industrial and merchandising companies, which have seen their share of property taxes (the bulk of which is used to support local schools) decline severely. As housing prices have not kept pace with the more central and outlying regions and housing turnover is also low (which establishes a new tax base for the parcel), the school districts are having difficulty obtaining proper funding. A lack of the availability of the kind of community support available in the more prosperous regions also contributes to the problem, with higher income residents of some of these declining or gentrifying areas sending their children to private schooling, creating a self reinforcing decline in the public schools.

Technical innovators
In the 1970s and 80s many small and innovative technical firms were started in this county, most of which are no longer present, having either failed, been absorbed into larger corporations, or having outgrown their original location are now elsewhere in the Bay Area.

Corporate headquarters
During the 1980s and early 1990s, many corporations that were formerly housed in the more central metropolitan area followed their employees by moving to large suburban and edge city office areas and office parks.

A number of large corporations now have headquarters in large developments along what is called the 680 corridor, that segment of Interstate Highway 680 that extends from Concord in the north to in the south, continuing into inland  from  to.

By the early 1990s, more square footage of office space had been built in the 680 corridor than in San Francisco's Financial District.

Redevelopment
There are currently political fights over the potential redevelopment of the county seat, with long term residents and many elsewhere in the county concerned that it will lose its remaining small-town charm and utility in an effort to become more like the county's major recreational shopping center of.

The inland portions of the have been declared surplus by the Federal government and this area is expected to provide what is likely the last opportunity to plan and build city-sized development within the central county. This area will become a portion of the city of Concord and it is expected that development will be confined to the lower and flatter portions of the depot, with the remainder becoming a substantial addition to the county's. As much of the land to be developed is largely relatively flat grassland space, with the most prominent structures ammunition bunkers that will be removed, the planning of future uses of the property will be largely unconstrained by previous uses.

Railroads
The western termini of several original transcontinental railroad routes have been located in, in , Including , , and railroads. From Oakland, there are two primary routes east:
 * The former Southern Pacific (originally ) line north through, closely hugging the coastline to , where it crosses  on a drawbridge before proceeding to  and the crossing of the  via.
 * The former line which runs east through Niles Canyon,  and over  en route to in a north-easterly direction to  and the  canyon/ crossing of the Sierra Nevada.

The current owner of the Santa Fe Rairoad's assets, has the terminus of its transcontinental route in. Originally built by the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad in 1896, the line was purchased by the shortly thereafter. The line leaves Richmond through industrial and residential parts of West County before striking due east through Franklin Canyon and on its way to,  and.

These railroads spurred the development of industry in the county throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly driving development of the (now ) refinery and port complex in Richmond.

There were a large number of short lines in the county between the late 19th century and the early 20th century. The rights of way of a number of these railroads also served as utility rights of way, particularly for water service, and so were preserved, and in the late 20th century enhanced as walking, jogging, and bicycle riding trails in the central portion of the county.

Reorientation of the county
Prior to 1903 most travel to central Contra Costa County was by boat or rail to on the northern waterfront and from there to the industrial areas east along the waterfront as well as farming regions to the south.

In 1903 the first tunnel through the Oakland hills (now Old Tunnel Road) was built, principally as a means of bringing by horse, mule, or ox-drawn wagons from central and eastern agricultural areas to feed the s that provided the power to public and private transportation in the East Bay at the time. The tunnel exited in the hills high above the crossroads of with the road continuing on to, , and. The road was just wide enough for one car in each direction, and had no shoulders.

Formed in 1909, the Oakland Antioch Railway was renamed the Oakland Antioch & Eastern Railway in 1911. It extended through a 3,400 foot tunnel in the Oakland Hills, from Oakland to Walnut Creek, Concord and on to Bay Point.

In 1937 the two-bore for road vehicles was completed, making interior Contra Costa much more accessible. After the tunnels allowed waves of development to proceed, oriented toward Oakland rather than the northern shoreline, and the northern shoreline cities began to decline. The tunnel has since been augmented with an additional bore, with the central bore reversed in direction to accommodate commute traffic. Owing to extensive reverse commuting and general increases in traffic, a fourth bore is being planned.

Major highways

 * [[Image:I-80.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:I-580.svg|23px]]
 * [[Image:I-680.svg|23px]]
 * [[Image:California 4.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 24.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 160.svg|23px]]
 * [[Image:California 242.svg|23px]]
 * [[Image:California 123.svg|23px]] -- formerly [[Image:US 40 (CA).svg|20px]]
 * and San Pablo Dam Road
 * -- connection between East County and Livermore in

Mass transit

 * runs its line to  and  line to  and  through stations in Richmond, Martinez, and Antioch-Pittsburg.
 * High speed system, which functions as the  metro system.
 * provides local service in West County in addition to western Alameda County, Transbay commuter service to San Francisco, lines and the bulk of All Nighter service for the.
 * provides local service in Central County and connecting service to Dublin and Pittsburg in addition to service to Oakland.
 * provides local bus service in East County and connecting regional service to Martinez, Livermore, and Stockton.
 * provides local bus service in northern West County with connecting service to BART and transbay service to the city (San Francisco).
 * Golden Gate Transit provides connecting transbay service between San Rafael and and  BART stations via the.
 * and transit provide regional feeder service to the BART in El Cerrito from.
 * provides commuter service between the Vallejo Ferry Terminal and BART in Concord through in Solano County.

Airports
The county also has two airports that are not currently providing passenger service:
 * , located in
 * , located two miles (3 km) south of

Media
The county of Concord is served by the daily, the  published by the Bay Area News Group-East Bay (part of the , Denver, Colorado), with offices in. The paper was originally a paper run and owned by the family. Since the death of in 1993, the paper has had several owners. The publisher also issues weekly local papers, such as the Concord Transcript which is the local paper for Concord and nearby.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 948,816 people, 344,129 households, and 242,266 families residing in the county. The was 509/km² (1,318/sq mi). There were 354,577 housing units at an average density of 190/km² (492/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 65.50%, 9.36% or , 0.61% , 10.96% , 0.37% , 8.06% from , and 5.13% from two or more races. 17.68% of the population were or  of any race. 74.1% spoke, 13.1% , 2.6% and 1.8%  or  as their first language.

By 2005 53.2% of Contra Costa County's population was non-Hispanic whites. African-Americans made up 9.6% of the population, while Asians constituted 13.1% of it. Latinos were now 21.1% of the county population.

In 2000 there were 344,129 households out of which 35.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.5% were living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.6% were non-families. 22.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.23.

In the county the population was spread out with 26.5% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 30.6% from 25 to 44, 23.9% from 45 to 64, and 11.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 95.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.2 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $63,675, and the median income for a family was $73,039. Males had a median income of $52,670 versus $38,630 for females. The for the county was $30,615. About 5.4% of families and 7.6% of the population were below the, including 9.8% of those under age 18 and 6.0% of those age 65 or over.

The languages spoken are 74.14% English, 13.11% Spanish, 2.59% Tagalog, 1.53% Chinese, 0.78% Persian, 0.57% Vietnamese, 0.49% French, 0.48% German, 0.43% Cantonese, 0.41% Korean, 0.39% Punjabi, 0.37% Japanese, 0.37% Italian, 0.33% Hindi, 0.32% Russian, 0.32% Portuguese, 0.28% Arabic, 0.25% Laotian, 0.24% Mandarin, 0.21% Miao-Mien, 0.16% Urdu, 0.13% Polish, 0.13% Dutch, 0.10% Formosan, 0.09% Greek, 0.08% Thai, 0.08% Indonesian, 0.08% Tamil, 0.08% Hebrew, 0.07% Gujarathi.

Politics
Contra Costa County has become a Democratic stronghold, with even wealthy cities like Orinda and Walnut Creek voting Democratic in recent elections. The last Republican to win a majority in the county was in.

Contra Costa is part of California's, , and congressional districts. All three are held by Democrats:, , and , respectively. In the, parts of the 11th, 14th, and 15th districts are in the county. The 11th and 14th districts are represented by Democrats and, and the 15th is represented by Republican. In the, all of the 7th district and part of the 9th district are in the county. Both districts are represented by Democrats, the 7th by and the 9th by.

Museums and Historic sites

 * (This site also contains a museum of the )
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 

Parks and related places

 * *
 * 
 * 
 * *
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * in is the largest dog park in the country.
 * in is the largest dog park in the country.


 * Adjoining or nearby these parks are lands of the . These require special annual permits for hiking, bicycle riding and horse riding, available for a small fee. At least one member of a party traversing these areas must have such a permit.

Trails

 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 

California casino proposals
Since 2003, four s have been proposed in  and the surrounding area of West.

Proposals

 * to be built on a 10 acre (40,000 m²) site.
 * at from the  band of the  tribe and have 2,500 (originally 5,000) s.
 * to have a luxury shopping mall, 1,100 room hotel/resort.
 * to be located on a 23 acre (93,000 m²) site and have a buffet.