 Members of the Bishop Paiute Tribal Council, the Career Development Center and Tribal Employment Rights Office came out Wednesday afternoon for the ground breaking ceremony and blessing of the Coyote Mountain Apartments. Shown (l-r) are Gail Hayden, Don Watterson, Jeremy Vance, Robert Vance, Bill Vega, Freda Brown, Maureen Cardenas, Cleve Barlow, Sheriff Bill Lutze, Jasmine Andreas, Gayle Johnson, Carl Hernandez and Mike Lumsden. Photo by Mike Bodine By Mike Bodine
Register Staff
11-22-2008 The Bishop Paiute Tribe celebrated a milestone Wednesday, breaking ground on what will be a low- to moderate-income, sober-living environment on the reservation.
In the Paiute language, Tribal Elder Freda Brown blessed the nearly three acres at the northeast corner of Pa Ha and West Line that will be the site of the Coyote Mountain Apartments.
Tribal Community Development Department Executive Director and Planner Robert Vance said that, hopefully, in a year, there will be another gathering for the grand opening.
Mike Lumsden, newly hired chief operating officer for the Tribe, said this project demonstrates the Tribe is taking responsibility by providing quality housing on the reservation.
“This shows that the Tribal Council has vision for the future which includes improving the quality of life, with housing a top priority,” Lumsden said.
Tribal Housing Management Officer Gail Hayden said the community has already shown quite a bit of interest in the new, affordable housing soon to be available. According to Hayden, the sober element of the apartments is as attractive as the low rent.
Inyo County Sheriff Bill Lutze was in attendance to offer support of the project. He said the new facilities are long overdue, and not simply to provide additional affordable housing in land-locked Inyo County, but especially because the apartments will be a sober environment.
“This will be good for the tribe and the community,” Lutze said, “and especially good for families.”
Lutze explained that he thought the sober environment of the new apartments is especially important to demonstrate to youth that drugs and alcohol are not necessarily condoned by the entire community.
He said he sees the new apartments as a way of “trying to get kids away from the idea that it’s OK to do that sort of thing.”
Lutze continued by praising the Tribe for the hard work and accomplishments of the past 10 years. He listed the new preschool and community building and upgrades at the gym, improvements to parking lots and water systems, and even the brush clean-up on and around the reservation and improvements to general infrastructure as ways he saw that the Tribe is benefitting the entire community.
“It’s important that kids have something to do – adults can always find some activity – but kids aren’t always interested in the same things. I see the community center offering more activities, which will help kids stay out of trouble,” Lutze said.
The housing site will have six single-story, four-plex buildings for 24, two- and three-bedroom apartments, a meeting room, laundry facilities, a basketball court and fenced playground.
Vance explained that there will be some handicapped-accessible apartments as well as an on-site manager.
He added that the building will utilize the same energy-efficient Structurally Insulated Panels that were used in the construction of a new Head Start preschool earlier this year.
The panels are reported to reduce energy consumption by 20 percent.
Another detail of the new apartment project is that the only driveway into the complex will be off North Pa Ha and the property adjacent to West Line Street will be bermed and landscaped to reduce noise.
The apartments are intended for low- to moderate-income tribal members, but will be made open to the public if housing needs drop on the reservation, Vance said in September, he does not foresee the need for tribal housing diminishing anytime soon.
Applications for the new apartments can be picked up at the Bishop Paiute Community Department at 270 See Vee Ln.
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