Editorial: New agency is off to a good start

Friday, Aug. 8, 2003 | 8:37 a.m.

The polite word these days to describe the Commercial Center on East Sahara Avenue is "transitional." This means that while there are still some attractive properties on the 40-year-old site, several are rundown or unsavory, attracting crime. There are at least two other large commercial areas in Clark County heading in the same direction. One is along Maryland Parkway between Twain Avenue and Desert Inn Road, and the other is along East Sahara Avenue between Boulder Highway and U.S. 95. These three areas are the preliminary targets of Clark County's new redevelopment agency.

Approved just this past December, the redevelopment agency has gotten off to a good start by selecting areas that are truly going downhill. Redevelopment has become a pejorative term in many areas because it frequently has focused on improving the lot of already-thriving developers and corporations, often through misuse of eminent domain. We support the county's entree into the redevelopment arena and hope it remains committed to the simple objective of reversing blight and stopping its spread.

Redevelopment works by using borrowed money backed by the government to repair public infrastructure such as sidewalks, curbs, gutters and roads. The money is also used to improve landscaping and to help existing businesses repair their buildings. Once the area is spruced up, the redevelopment agency is able to attract new businesses to the area. The resulting increase in tax revenue is used to pay off the loans and is dedicated to further beautifying the targeted area. The work and funding formula prevent blight from spreading like cancer.

We hope the county keeps to this simple formula and avoids overly ambitious, grandiose projects that may become the next generation's "transitional" properties.