Not in my back yard

Monday, June 12, 2006 | 7:21 a.m.

Its small-town image once caused Henderson to be referred to as Hooterville, a derisive reputation erased by upscale communities such as Green Valley Ranch and Anthem.

Now some wonder whether the pendulum has swung a bit too far away from Henderson's roots. Indeed, in the face of the community's continued strong opposition to mass transit projects, some ask whether it might be more accurate today to refer to Henderson as Snooterville.

Over the past 16 months, two separate Henderson neighborhoods blocked the Regional Transportation Commission's plans for bus transfer centers in a community that lacks one. Henderson residents also voiced the most opposition to a proposed 33-mile light rail system, one-third of it in Henderson.

The RTC opted instead in April to go ahead with a less costly express bus system with dedicated lanes. But the Henderson portion is expected to be the final part built, if it is constructed at all.

The lack of support for mass transit in Henderson is upsetting, said Jane Feldman, conservation chairwoman of the local Sierra Club chapter and member of an RTC steering committee.

Mass transit's potential for reducing traffic congestion and air pollution has not shaped the debate in Henderson. Instead, at public hearings, the issues raised by some residents deal with concerns over transients being in their community or riders urinating near their homes.

"It is just incredible to me that they don't see it as a service for themselves," Feldman said. "They see it as something for other people and they don't want it in their neighborhood. That is entirely perverse. Building walls around themselves is not the kind of way I want to live."

But opponents of the transit projects said neither arrogance nor a knee-jerk reaction to bus passengers' blue-collar image played a role in the community's position. Rather, they say they worried that the bus transfer stations would harm their neighborhood.

In February 2005, the Henderson City Council sided with residents who opposed plans for a bus and rail center on College Drive. Residents of a nearby condominium complex complained that the center would generate noise pollution and crime, reducing property values.

Last month the RTC scrapped plans for a bus transfer center and park-and-ride facility on city-owned property between Boulder Highway and U.S. 95 near Wagon Wheel Drive. Even though no one lives within 1,500 feet of the proposed facility, residents of Rural Mountain Ranch Estates said they feared that it would increase traffic and draw the homeless to the neighborhood, said resident Gerald Jones.

"I don't think we are being snooty," said Jones, a 24-year Henderson resident. "We are all down-to-earth, middle-class working people. I am not against it. It just doesn't belong in a residential area."

Similarly, Henderson resident and RTC steering committee member Beverly Daly Dix said she and other city residents were justified in opposing the light rail plan.

The rail plan would have inconvenienced many residents who drive because of 17 crossings that would stop traffic in all directions, Dix said.

Dix also argues that it is a waste to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for a system that would have low ridership in the car-oriented community.

"Henderson taxpayers are part of the whole Southern Nevada region and they want their money spent wisely," Dix said. "It doesn't make sense to build things if people aren't going to use them."

Longtime Henderson resident Art Plunkett, who developed a Web site opposing the rapid transit route through the city, said some people worried that the plan would harm the community's ambience.

"Even though we have grown to a pretty big size, people want to keep that small-town feel," Plunkett said. "Henderson seems to like to distance itself from Vegas."

Henderson Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers said residents see the mass transit proposals as something that would infringe on their privacy and quality of life. They do not want a bus or rail system passing along the rail corridor, allowing riders to look into their back yards.

Those attitudes could change, she added, if traffic worsens.

"It comes down to how citizens view their lifestyle today and not 10 years from now," Cyphers said. "They are not seeing the need for it. There might be a little bit of traffic but nothing that's frustrating them."

Feldman, though, said Henderson residents need to recognize that they would share the benefits of a regional transportation system. Boulder Highway has some of the highest ridership in the RTC system, demonstrating that there are Henderson residents who need and use the system, she said.

"I think one of the important messages is this is not a poor man's desperation," Feldman said. "There are viable options for all of us."

RTC General Manager Jacob Snow said he cannot fully explain Henderson's opposition, but points out that it is not unique to the community. There also was public opposition, for example, when the RTC wanted to build a bus transfer center on near the south end of the Strip.

Snow said he had not anticipated the recent opposition in Henderson because no neighborhood was close to the proposed transfer center.

"It was so far away that we weren't required to even notify people," Snow said. "I was surprised when we had opposition."