Kenny battling Harney to keep District F seat

Adrienne Packer

Thursday, Oct. 22, 1998 | 12:30 p.m.

Republican Steve Harney's 14 years as a Nevada state trooper have made him nearly an expert on the valley's traffic woes.

He has strategies to address those problems and also has plans to help the county accommodate growth, he said.

Whether his ideas are enough to beat popular County Commission incumbent Erin Kenny won't be known until the final votes are in Nov. 3. The race is expected to be close and judging by the past few weeks, not a friendly one.

During her four-year tenure as county commissioner representing District F, Kenny has concentrated mostly on air quality. She formed the Clean Air Task Force II and voted to spend more than $10 million to pave dirt roads throughout the valley, with the idea of reducing dust in the air.

"There is nothing that will shut down this community faster than bad air," Kenny said during a recent debate with Harney.

Directly tied into cleaning up the air in Clark County is doing away with standstill traffic. The Las Vegas Beltway and 15 new interchanges that will be open in the southwest by 2001 will remove motorists from side streets, she said.

Kenny said the Spring Valley master plan is one accomplishment of which she is most proud. The 37-year-old Democrat said she inherited a plan that had commercial development smothering her district.

By the time her new plan was approved, she had taken commercial zoning scattered across her district and lumped them together in "nodes." She also reduced the amount of multi-family buildings and created more rural residential preservation areas.

"Not only are we doing a good job," she said. "But we're playing catch-up to the Nth degree."

Kenny said she would support a quarter-cent sales tax to help pay for improvements to the county's water delivery and treatment service.

Kenny graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor's degree. During her stint as county commissioner, she has been a member of the Regional Jail Commission, Southern Nevada Government Efficiency Committee, Clark County District Board of Health and the Parks and Recreation Advisor Committee.

Her opponent, Harney, graduated from UNLV in 1971 with an associate's degree in criminal justice.

The 47-year-old highway trooper said transportation and traffic are the most pressing issues facing county residents.

Harney said the county has spent millions of dollars on roadways without considering how to allow for better traffic flow. An example, he said, is the lack of bus pullouts on major thoroughfares. He said the cost to add the turnouts would be minimal when compared to the result.

"Twenty thousand dollars is pretty cheap when you're blocking a million-dollar roadway and stopping traffic," Harney said.

Harney said the sudden, dramatic increase in population in the county prompted sporadic building and rushed planning, which has led to traffic congestion among other problems.

"We have the land, what do we want to be in the next 50 years?" he asked. "What we did in the past was fine, now we need to do something different."

Harney said he hasn't accepted money from the gaming industry, which has resulted in a smaller amount to spend on his campaign. In the end, however, Harney said if he is elected, he won't owe anybody any favors.

"Money doesn't buy you an election," he said. "I didn't want somebody telling me what to do. I won't be bought."

Harney said demographers are predicting that the Las Vegas Valley will continue to grow and the county needs to be prepared. Careful planning and assisting businesses will keep the economy strong.

Harney, a father of four, has volunteered for the AIDS Foundation and the American Cancer Society. He also has worked with the SAFE Kids Foundation, the BEST Coalition and Boy Scouts of America.

In his spare time, he coached youth basketball and soccer teams.