Letters to the Editor, Feb. 19

Put City Center Project to a public vote in November

A question to the Board of Supervisors: What does Carson Depot Brewery, The Station Grille, Stews Brewery, and B'Sghetti's and now Paradise Cove have in common?

They were all given money from the taxpayers to the tune of $100,000 each, and they are all closed under this restaurant name.

And you want how many millions to squander away on this Knowledge Center without the taxpayers' vote?

Stan Heinrichs

Carson City

Sign the petition to get City Center on ballot

A citizens' petition is to be circulated which could place the Center City Project before the electorate on the November ballot.

All too often the various Carson City Boards of Supervisors have ignored the will of the people, demographics and common sense to use taxpayers' money to support their own pet projects which can only be described as colossal boondoggles. The V&T Railroad, car dealer bailout, Burlington Coat Factory, unneeded green space, etc., come to mind.

Left unchecked, the present board is about to do it again.

I, along with too few others, attended several of the board meetings held to discuss this project. These meetings usually were held at a time when most voters would be at work. Interestingly, the proponents of the project mainly were Carson City Library staffers, Friends of The Library, construction workers' unions, and the Associated General Contractors.

Among the opponents of the project were numerous finance, engineering and construction professionals who collectively proclaimed the project a boondoggle.

The Board of Supervisors, save one brave member, having already made up their minds, promptly ignored the rational observations presented, and voted to continue the project.

Folks, this boondoggle could cripple this city, and is far too important to our citizens be left to the whims of an out-of-touch Board of Supervisors.

Talk it over with friends and family; if you are willing to sign this petition, please give me a call at 775-885-9162.

Ron Orbas

Carson City

Petition would only delay City Center Project longer

It distresses me to read about the petition drive by Day Williams and his group to delay the progress of the City Center Project. The Board of Supervisors, our elected officials who are empowered to make these difficult decisions, has voted in favor of this project several times.

The election of Supervisor Karen Abowd, the candidate for supervisor who ran on a platform endorsing the future project, was a vote by the citizens of Carson City. So, a majority has already made their wishes known.

Does this group of naysayers want to turn down a gift of millions of dollars, the largest gift ever offered to the city? Do they want to forestall funding from other private citizens and corporations who are ready to back the project with additional money?

I say the time is right for the City Center Project to get moving. All indicators show an improving economy. Let's jump on the bandwagon and not just sit on the sidelines and hope something happens to lift Carson City out of the doldrums. Lets put some of our unemployed workers back to work making our beautiful city more attractive and vital.

I'm ready to open up my checkbook and write that check. I know many others who are ready, also. Let's make it happen.

Frieda Ford

Carson City

Board needs to stop gambling with taxpayers' money

In speaking about the voter effort to put the City Center Project to a vote of the people, Supervisor Shelly Aldean was quoted as saying, "We were elected to make these decisions."

I respectfully disagree with Supervisor Aldean.

In my view, our supervisors are elected to make sure we have well-repaired streets, timely trash collection, an adequate number of books in the library, fast response times from the sheriff's and fire departments, all at the lowest possible expense to the taxpayer.

In my view, we do not elect them to enact every expensive and grandiose plan that comes to the table with taxpayer dollars.

Time and time again, elected officials think they are smarter than the folks in the private sector who will not put their money on the line to build these things.

In South Tahoe, for example, there is a big hole in the ground where their City Council promised a wonderful convention center. Reno has had one expensive downtown redevelopment fiasco after another. In each case, elected officials thought they were experienced developers like Donald Trump while gambling with taxpayer dollars.

So I ask, why are the supervisors so afraid of allowing the taxpayers to decide? Why is allowing the people to vote on the City Center Project somehow inconsistent with representing us?

Robert Corkill

Carson City