Letters to the editor

Cold beer on the house equals being a guest

Who am I to dispute the accuracy of Herbert Hoover doing an overnighter at our historical hotel?

My understanding of all this was that the president was taken to the subterranean saloon at the hotel during his visit, where the manager bought him a cold beer … on the house. It was a long, hot and dusty ride on the buckboard from the Las Vegas railroad station. That’s being a guest in my book.

I have researched all files at the Hoover Institute at Palo Alto, Calif., and found that the president either stayed at the M Resort or the Cannery. The trail is a little cold. I have also requested that Priceline turn over anything it may have in this matter.

But, please convey my gratitude for our watchful historian’s eye on this important detail.

Did Mr. (Dennis) McBride have any other thoughts on my brief epistle regarding Hoover’s involvement of the creation of this famous cam, and its attendant benefits to mankind for all time?

O.T. Neal

Residents should vote on land, debt issues

Like Nero, residents fiddle while the city disintegrates.

The City Council’s subversion of the city charter and having residents’ voting rights taken away has been disastrous, resulting in flawed contracts, land issues, major financial disasters and voting residents being sued by the administration and city attorney.

They have prevented us from voting on issues, allowing votes only on advisory questions, which poses no legal obligation on the council.

The city attorney advised the mayor (Roger Tobler) not to disclose his ethics violation when he was being investigated (by the Nevada Ethics Commission).

The city was forced by the courts to put a debt limit initiative on the ballot, which they then immediately sued to have revoked.

The city officials presented false figures to the city finance advisory committee, which were condoned by the City Council. The city also transferred dedicated funds to subsidize the Boulder City Creek golf course disaster.

The 2012 financial report found 11 financial deficiencies, ineffective policies and procedures, mishandling of cash, misreporting of revenue, etc. Utility fund transfers could never be accurate and council members expressed no concern over discrepancies in city irregularities on finances, ethics violations or false figures being presented.

The city attorney stonewalled an ethics complaint filed against the City Council, as the state attorney general’s office repeatedly asked for information and was given none. On June 3, 2006, the city attorney says four taxpayer initiatives are qualified to be on the ballot and then immediately sues to remove them, preventing residents from voting. They say by refusing to let people vote, they are protecting the city.

All of this leads up to the present-day land scheme with the bypass involving 775 acres that residents have no vote on. That will blow apart the limited-growth policy, the ordinance passed in 1979. These five people have consistently gone against the preferences of Boulder City residents — a clue as to why they do not want residents to be able to vote.

What do residents of Boulder City want? Why not ask them? But remember, if they ask on their advisory question, it places no legal obligation on them, as they have demonstrated in the past many times.

So fiddle away, residents. You have no say so on what this administration is doing with its land issues, with five people deciding for you how they can spend your money as well. It’s been disastrous. When they decided to do nothing about traffic on the existing bypass fiasco and when they joined the water district, they indebted Boulder City residents to help pay for the $3 billion debt, as well as face continuing annual water rate increases.

Al Wengert

Understanding of bypass will help address its effect

Although I certainly appreciate the views presented, I believe that by visiting the websites www.bouldercitybypass.com and www.i-11bouldercitybypass.com details of the siting process, including much of what was presented as commentary, can be reviewed and will offer detailed clarification of the process.

Of specific interest within the www.bouldercitybypass.com site is the final environmental impact study for the Boulder City U.S. Highway 93 corridor study approved in April 2005 and the record of decision approved in December 2005.

The www.i-11bouldercitybypass.com site includes the Interstate 11 documentation regarding the I-11 routing along with the link to the 2013 re-evaluation. The 3-cent-per-gallon increase in our fuel tax, effective Jan. 1 and detailed on page 10A under “Interstate 11 Funding,” begins the funding process for the bypass.

Fellow citizens, please help our city and our very important business community understand, address and mitigate the impact of what is coming. As the city manager said, “The town needs to be active and creative in promoting what we have here.”

Harold Begley

Railroad museum valuable asset for Boulder City

Once again the Boulder City Review has run an editorial advocating the disruption or closure of the Nevada State Railroad Museum. As a member of the Friends of the Nevada Southern Railway, the museum’s volunteer group, I might ask what do you have against the museum? We note that as compared to other media outlets, there is little or no coverage of our museum events in the Boulder City Review.

This past year we did have more than 30,000 visitors, the highest number in the state museum system. Our annual “Santa Trains” were sold out for three weekends. So we do believe that our museum and its railway operation does have some impact on Boulder City. Our visitors, members and the museum staff do patronize Boulder City businesses.

The state system has accounts with several Boulder City firms. The state has a very substantial investment in the museum facilities bordering on Yucca Street.

Also the museum is open almost every day and we operate trains every weekend except for the month of January. Our railroad right-of-way was built by the Union Pacific for the construction of Hoover Dam, which gave life to Boulder City.

Given all that, we think that the open space north of Industrial Road just might be a better place for Mr. (Howard) Booth’s alternate bypass route. We invite him to stop by and visit us sometime.

Jack Corrick

Editor’s note: The guest commentary by Howard Booth expressed solely the writer’s opinion.

It is not the newspaper’s policy to exclude any organization in coverage of news and activities. The Nevada State Railroad Museum’s Santa Train was included in our story about holiday activities as well as in our community briefs before each weekend’s event.

Asbestos discovery should prompt bypass route review

I agree with Howard Booth that the decision to build the southern bypass should be reviewed. The discovery of asbestos in the soil in that area would make any large development project a threat to all our health.

Asbestos is a strictly regulated substance for good reason and our prevailing winds come from the south. The costs of mitigation would be enormous and the inevitable lawsuits would tie up the city for years.

Nicola Collins