Where I Stand 1973 — Hank Greenspun: Monorail would help with LV traffic woes

Friday, Dec. 15, 2000 | 11:31 a.m.

Note to readers: This column by Sun founder Hank Greenspun appeared on Sept. 6, 1973.

Las Vegas now enjoys world prominence because its community leaders have had the "forward look."

Future needs have been anticipated and there was little reluctance to abandon the status quo, in favor of a project or an idea that was starting or new.

Elsewhere in the nation, major cities are strangling in man-caused fumes which pour forth from factories, furnaces and internal combustion engines. Plans to solve the problem are being discussed in a crisis setting because of rapid destruction of economic and esthetic values.

This must not be allowed to happen in Las Vegas; there must be action while there is still time. The physical health, as well as the economic stability, of the area is at stake.

Among the alternatives being discussed is a monorail to move people from McCarran International Airport to the central business district by way of the Strip and it is imperative that this proposal be fully explored.

While other cities discuss mass transit proposals, Las Vegas should move in concrete fashion to engineer a system that will curtail vehicular traffic. It is vital to reduce substantially what is now recognized as the major contributor to the poisoned atmosphere that plagues many other cities and which, if not eliminated, will some day render them uninhabitable.

The proposed monorail is an acceptable approach as far as this newspaper is concerned, if it is established that the limited construction now proposed will not interfere with future federal grants that will help solve the problem of moving people throughout the entire Las Vegas Valley.

Pollution control agencies in other areas are discussing gasoline rationing, elimination of off-street parking and expansion of bus systems in the attack upon noxious fumes which plague the inner cities, but a monorail system is a much more attractive alternative.

Of itself, in a recreation-oriented city such as ours, it can become a tourist attraction if found to be feasible.

The monorail concept fits the Las Vegas image. It is innovative and it goes to the heart of a problem that becomes more threatening with each passing day. It is essential that some method be found that will speed the movement of passengers to and from the airport, with current crowds presenting a mob scene at peak arrival and airline-departure hours.

Elected public officials whose responsibility it is to find solutions to pending problems must make every effort to determine the soundness of the monorail planned and allow it to stand or fall on its own merits.

Interested citizens can contribute to community progress by making their own investigation of the plan's feasibility and its future impact on the problem of moving people by a method which will not ultimately destroy one of this area's major attractions, pure, clean air.

We support the concept of the monorail and the project itself if it is determined it will in no way interfere with future federal mass transit systems that will solve the people moving problem of the Las Vegas Valley.

Therefore we urge the sponsors of the project to forge ahead full speed with the required preliminaries, financial feasibility studies and actual design.

The elected public officials who will make the final decision on the monorail plan must maintain an open mind until the facts are in and the merits of the proposal can be assayed.