{"id":3552,"date":"2026-03-11T11:57:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T11:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/?p=3552"},"modified":"2026-03-11T11:57:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T11:57:18","slug":"vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute","title":{"rendered":"Vallejo Mayor Says City Should Stay Neutral on Casino Dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/rendering-of-proposed-scotts-valley-band-of-pomo-indians-casino-in-vallejo-california.jpg\" alt=\"Rendering of proposed Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians Casino in Vallejo California\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3554\" width=\"300\" title=\"Vallejo Mayor Says City Should Stay Neutral on Casino Dispute\" \/><strong>Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vallejo\u2019s mayor says the city should stay neutral while a federal review of a proposed tribal casino continues.<\/li>\n<li>Two tribes are clashing over the project, with Yocha Dehe leaders challenging Scotts Valley\u2019s claims to the land.<\/li>\n<li>Scotts Valley says the casino could bring jobs and revenue to Vallejo despite the ongoing dispute.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A long-running dispute over a proposed casino in Vallejo, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/states\/california\">California<\/a> is heating up again, but the city\u2019s mayor says she plans to stay out of it for now.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, the <strong>Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation<\/strong> sent a letter to the Vallejo City Council and Mayor Andrea Sorce asking the <strong>city not to move forward with a memorandum of understanding<\/strong> tied to a casino proposal from the <strong>Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Sorce made it clear she intends to take a hands-off approach while the issue works its way through the federal system.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"the-city-should-let-the-federal-process-play-out\">\u201cThe City Should Let the Federal Process Play Out\u201d <\/h2>\n<p>Sorce wrote to the Times-Herald on Tuesday,  <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I have maintained since the outset that I believe the city should let the federal process play out and remain neutral out of respect for that process. My position is that it is not our place to take sides in a sovereign land dispute, nor should we be getting involved in projects while the reconsideration is in process.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scottsvalley-nsn.gov\">Scotts Valley tribe<\/a> hopes to build a large casino complex near the intersection of Interstate 80 and Highway 37 in Solano County, close to the Vallejo city boundary. The <strong>$700 million project would include a casino operating around the clock<\/strong>, 24 single-family homes, a tribal administration building, a parking garage, and a 45-acre biological preserve.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:relative;height:0;padding-bottom:56.25%\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/u9HnXviiLWY?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0?ecver=2\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;left:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"strong-objections\">Strong Objections  <\/h2>\n<p>In a letter dated March 2, tribal leaders said Scotts Valley has no legitimate connection to the land and accused the group of misrepresenting history. The dispute centers on claims involving Chief Shuk Augustine, a Pomo leader who died in 1903. Scotts Valley says Augustine once lived in Vallejo and used the land, but Yocha Dehe leaders say that claim is not true.<\/p>\n<p>The March 2 letter states<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>By its words and actions, Scotts Valley seeks nothing less than erasure of the Patwin connection to our Solano County homelands. We know those are not the values Vallejo stands for, and we ask that you refrain from helping Scotts Valley perpetrate such an injustice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The letter also argues that the city should avoid taking any action while federal authorities review earlier decisions tied to the project.<\/p>\n<p>Scotts Valley leaders strongly pushed back, calling the situation \u201c<em>yet again another example of the owners of Cache Creek Casino putting their massive profits ahead of the Vallejo community<\/em>\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>Chairman <strong>Shawn Davis<\/strong> was even more direct: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It\u2019s offensive and disappointing, but it\u2019s not surprising that Yocha Dehe continues to distort and manufacture red herrings to disguise their greed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Despite the legal uncertainty, Scotts Valley announced earlier this year that it plans to open a smaller preview casino at the proposed site at 200 Columbus Parkway. The temporary setup would use two modular buildings and feature a limited number of Class II <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/games\/slots\">slot machines<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summary: Vallejo\u2019s mayor says the city should stay neutral while a federal review of a proposed tribal casino continues. Two tribes are clashing over the project, with Yocha Dehe leaders challenging Scotts Valley\u2019s claims to the land. Scotts Valley says the casino could bring jobs and revenue to Vallejo despite the ongoing dispute. A long-running [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-industry","category-legal"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Vallejo Mayor Says City Should Stay Neutral on Casino Dispute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vallejo\u2019s mayor says the city will stay neutral as two tribes continue to argue over a proposed $700 million casino project.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vallejo Mayor Says City Should Stay Neutral on Casino Dispute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vallejo\u2019s mayor says the city will stay neutral as two tribes continue to argue over a proposed $700 million casino project.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CasinoUSA News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-11T11:57:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/rendering-of-proposed-scotts-valley-band-of-pomo-indians-casino-in-vallejo-california.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sadonna Price\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sadonna Price\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute\",\"name\":\"Vallejo Mayor Says City Should Stay Neutral on Casino Dispute\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/rendering-of-proposed-scotts-valley-band-of-pomo-indians-casino-in-vallejo-california.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-11T11:57:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d3abd52bb9d75eb130cd63cd605c76c0\"},\"description\":\"Vallejo\u2019s mayor says the city will stay neutral as two tribes continue to argue over a proposed $700 million casino project.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/rendering-of-proposed-scotts-valley-band-of-pomo-indians-casino-in-vallejo-california.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/rendering-of-proposed-scotts-valley-band-of-pomo-indians-casino-in-vallejo-california.jpg\",\"width\":380,\"height\":250,\"caption\":\"Rendering of proposed Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians Casino in Vallejo California\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"CasinoUSA News\",\"description\":\"Just another CasinoUSA Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d3abd52bb9d75eb130cd63cd605c76c0\",\"name\":\"Sadonna Price\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b8e2464e7f1d051f579e7e8960c012eab7788594ed7d4e832fc6bea70036a9e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b8e2464e7f1d051f579e7e8960c012eab7788594ed7d4e832fc6bea70036a9e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sadonna Price\"},\"description\":\"Sadonna Price has been part of the online casino industry for over a decade, watching it develop and expand across the US. She enjoys playing online slots and table games, as well as Texas Hold\u2019em.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/sadonna-price-2702b642\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.co.uk\/sani23\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/author\/sadonna-price\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Vallejo Mayor Says City Should Stay Neutral on Casino Dispute","description":"Vallejo\u2019s mayor says the city will stay neutral as two tribes continue to argue over a proposed $700 million casino project.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Vallejo Mayor Says City Should Stay Neutral on Casino Dispute","og_description":"Vallejo\u2019s mayor says the city will stay neutral as two tribes continue to argue over a proposed $700 million casino project.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute","og_site_name":"CasinoUSA News","article_published_time":"2026-03-11T11:57:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":380,"height":250,"url":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/rendering-of-proposed-scotts-valley-band-of-pomo-indians-casino-in-vallejo-california.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sadonna Price","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sadonna Price","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute","url":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute","name":"Vallejo Mayor Says City Should Stay Neutral on Casino Dispute","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/rendering-of-proposed-scotts-valley-band-of-pomo-indians-casino-in-vallejo-california.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-11T11:57:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d3abd52bb9d75eb130cd63cd605c76c0"},"description":"Vallejo\u2019s mayor says the city will stay neutral as two tribes continue to argue over a proposed $700 million casino project.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/vallejo-mayor-says-city-should-stay-neutral-on-casino-dispute#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/rendering-of-proposed-scotts-valley-band-of-pomo-indians-casino-in-vallejo-california.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/rendering-of-proposed-scotts-valley-band-of-pomo-indians-casino-in-vallejo-california.jpg","width":380,"height":250,"caption":"Rendering of proposed Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians Casino in Vallejo California"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/","name":"CasinoUSA News","description":"Just another CasinoUSA Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d3abd52bb9d75eb130cd63cd605c76c0","name":"Sadonna Price","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b8e2464e7f1d051f579e7e8960c012eab7788594ed7d4e832fc6bea70036a9e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b8e2464e7f1d051f579e7e8960c012eab7788594ed7d4e832fc6bea70036a9e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sadonna Price"},"description":"Sadonna Price has been part of the online casino industry for over a decade, watching it develop and expand across the US. She enjoys playing online slots and table games, as well as Texas Hold\u2019em.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/sadonna-price-2702b642\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.co.uk\/sani23\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/author\/sadonna-price"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3552\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}