Take I-5 south past Fife. The Emerald Queen Casino, Resort, and Hotel sits on Puyallup Tribe of Indians trust land, in clear view of the freeway. From the freeway it is one of the most recognizable Tacoma-area landmarks: a multi-story resort on tribal property, lit at night, anchored by a casino that has been operating since 1991 and a newer hotel and conference complex.
Now take the southbound exit. Look at the underpass that crosses I-5 to bring you to the casino entry on the public-right-of-way side. Look at the lighting. Look at the pedestrian path. Look at the encampments under the deck. Compare what you see in the underpass with what you see across the property line.
The tribe built the second picture. The federal government, Washington State Department of Transportation, and Pierce County built the first.
The Puyallup Tribe of Indians signed the Treaty of Medicine Creek in 1854. That treaty was broken almost immediately and continued to be broken for a century. The federal Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 did not undo what was done to the Puyallup land base. The tribe built its current economy, including the Emerald Queen properties, through decades of compact negotiations, federal-court litigation, and tribally-managed reinvestment. The 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act allowed the compact. The 1991 first Puyallup gaming compact with Washington State allowed the doors to open. The current Emerald Queen resort, expanded in stages through the 2010s and 2020s, is the cumulative result of that work.
The casino is a private-sector economic engine inside Washington's 10th Congressional District. According to Puyallup Tribe of Indians public statements and Washington State Gambling Commission reports, the EQC complex employs thousands of WA-10 residents directly, with thousands more in adjacent hospitality, transportation, and food-service positions. The tribal-state compact directs a publicly reported share of gaming revenue to the State of Washington's general fund. The cumulative compact contribution from Puyallup Tribe operations to Washington State is in the public record at the Washington State Gambling Commission and the Office of Financial Management.
The public approach is federal, state, and county responsibility. The southbound I-5 exit and the underpass that carries vehicle and pedestrian traffic from the freeway to the casino-side property line are not on tribal land. They are part of the federal Interstate Highway System operated by Washington State Department of Transportation under federal-aid highway rules. Lighting, pavement, pedestrian facilities, and adjacent right-of-way conditions are state and federal jurisdiction.
Pierce County and the City of Tacoma have repeatedly documented homelessness encampments along the freeway corridors that include the Emerald Queen approach. Pierce County point-in-time counts show an unsheltered population that grew sharply between 2020 and 2025. The southbound exit corridor is one of the places that growth is most visible. The encampments are a symptom of a regional housing-and-services failure, not the cause of the underpass condition. The infrastructure was inadequate before the encampments grew, and it is still inadequate now.
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where Representative Strickland sits, is the federal committee with jurisdiction over the federal-aid highway program. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021 expanded both the federal-aid highway program and the Tribal Transportation Program, the latter specifically designed to fund tribal access roads, bridges, and pedestrian facilities. The Federal Highway Administration administers the Tribal Transportation Program annually with congressionally directed funding.
A search of public Strickland office records and the Federal Highway Administration project database for federal-aid or Tribal Transportation Program earmarks specifically targeting the Emerald Queen southbound corridor returns the records currently identified in the receipts list of this story. The campaign is publicly inviting the office to identify any additional federal investment targeting this corridor specifically.
What good representation would look like, in plain terms. A T and I Committee member from the district that contains the largest tribal gaming facility in the South Sound files a Community Project Funding request, or a federal-aid highway program request, for the southbound underpass corridor. The request is developed in consultation with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, not for the tribe. WSDOT, Pierce County, and the City of Tacoma coordinate scope. Funding from the Tribal Transportation Program and the federal-aid highway program is matched to state and local funding. The result is a public approach to a tribal economic engine that matches the dignity of what the tribe already built. No press conference required. The work is the press conference.
What would change this story. If the Strickland office can identify a Community Project Funding request or federal-aid highway program request for the southbound Emerald Queen corridor in any of the last five federal appropriations cycles, that record changes the framing. If the Puyallup Tribe of Indians government has publicly said the federal investment in the corridor is adequate to the tribe's needs, the campaign defers to the tribe. If WSDOT has a scheduled rebuild of the southbound exit corridor in the current Statewide Transportation Improvement Program that the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funded, the gap is closing on the timeline that document records. The campaign is publicly inviting all three parties to provide the documents.
The accountability question is positive. The tribe built the destination. The federal government's job was the public approach. The public approach does not match the destination. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the federal-aid highway program, and the Tribal Transportation Program are the levers. The Puyallup Tribe should not have to ask twice. The office should be asking once. That is what good representation looks like.