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StumbleBoard OKs pursuing stimulus money for F Street project
Members of the Coalition to Stop the F Street Closure march on City Parkway under a U.S. 95 overpass from F Street and Bonanza Road in downtown Las Vegas to City Hall to attend a redevelopment agency meeting Wednesday, January 7, 2009.
Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009 | 7:05 p.m.
Sun Archives
- Senate overrides F Street veto; cost estimated at $45M (6-1-2009)
- Senate panel advances initiative to reopen F Street (5-15-09)
- F Street: Taking on the Road to Nowhere (5-14-2008)
- Protesters march against closure of F Street (4-18-2009)
- Roadwork works up West Las Vegans (12-1-2008)
The state Transportation Board has agreed to apply for federal stimulus money to help reopen F Street -- a link between the historically black neighborhood and downtown Las Vegas.
“This was the right decision,” says Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, who pushed a bill through the 2009 Legislature to get this project started.
The transportation board agreed Wednesday it would use an undetermined amount of money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the project.
Horsford said government agencies are in the process of estimating the cost and doing the design.
The Las Vegas City Redevelopment Agency is committing $2.5 million for design, Horsford said. The city of Las Vegas would allocate $20 million from the revenue collected from a 5-cent capital construction ad valorem tax.
The bill approved by the 2009 Legislature directed city and state transportation officials to “work collaboratively to fund the construction of the project.” The state was told to seek other sources of money and it must be designated a “high priority project” if additional money is found.
The bill also directed the state transportation department to provide money to cover the costs of design of the project if the amount exceeds $2.5 million contributed by the redevelopment agency.
The cost of the project is estimated to be anywhere from $25 million to $70 million. The Las Vegas City Council voted in 2006 to close F Street as part of the job to widen I-15 from the Spaghetti Bowl to Craig Road in North Las Vegas.
Horsford said this project is necessary to open the access of West Las Vegas to the city and to prevent possible litigation.
An environmental study must be done but that should take only about 18 months since much of the work has already been done, Horsford said.
The bill that included the F Street project was vetoed by Gov. Jim Gibbons but was overridden in the Assembly by a 29-13 vote and in the Senate 17-4.
Gibbons is chairman of the transportation board that approved pursuing stimulus money.
CORRECTION: This story was changed to reflect that the transportation board agreed to seek stimulus dollars for the project, instead of that it approved using stimulus dollars for the project. The Sun regrets the error. | (August 27, 2009)
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What a COLOSSAL waste of taxpayers money.
more "feel-good" legislation from the liberal left, so Horsford can brag about what he has done for "the people of his district."
So you want to spend $70M dollars to avoid litigation that might cost a few million at the very most?
Traffic engineers know F St should be closed. But apparently they don't know as much as politicians and angry community organizers.
This job is not shovel-ready.
What will we blame our bad neighborhood on now? Oh, that's right, it's the isolated schools keepin us all down in West Las Vegas.
What a glaring example of fiscal irresponsibility and government arrogance. That's money that could have gone elsewhere -- someplace where it's needed. Instead, it has to be appropriated to fix something that should never have happened in the first place. This is just sad and disappointing and totally discouraging. Not because the street is reopening, mind you, but because of the overall misjudgment and mismanagement on legislators' part -- the folks who supposedly represent the taxpayers.
What a total waste of money.
Because these people didn't pay attention to what was going on in their neighborhood, my tax money has to fix it.
And this has nothing to do with race, just lazy people.
UNREAL.
Desert Girl
that is the entire ROOT of the PROBLEM with government.
government NEVER runs anything efficiently or wisely.
government NEVER spends the taxpayers money with the same care a person or private business uses when spending private money.
this is why Obama and Reid's numbers are going down so drastically.
people are finally starting to realize that by "hope and change" Obama really just meant bigger and more obtrusive government, out of control government spending and more waste.
paid for how? that's right, more TAXES.
the same election of "hope and change" gave the democrats control of the Nevada legislature for the first time in many years, and this huge waste of taxpayer money on F street is what we get.
hope and change indeed.
To average joe, before you blame the liberal left.
You should take a look at on makes up the board, starting with the dumb ass Governor.
I point the finger more at the people who OK'd the closing of F Street in the first place. Not the folks who are trying to correct that mistake. Ya know?
joey9: Exactly!
joey9
the governor VETOED this waste of taxpayers money.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jun...
our liberal left legislature OVERRID his veto.
you should try to keep up with current events, before you post uninformed opinions on them.
25 to 70 million would pay for alot of bus service for the west side.
it would even pay for alot of scholarships for the disadvantaged children of those who live in the area - IF helping residents were the real purpose of this project.
this project is about Horsford being able to claim that he took on the governor and won, and look at what he brought back from Carson City for the people of his district!!!
I wouldn't be surprised if they name it "the Steven Horsford F Street Reopening Underpass"
Once it reopens they'll be complaining of too much traffic. I hope they get more noise then they can handle.
Joey9,
"Because these people didn't pay attention to what was going on in their neighborhood... ...just lazy people."
Apparently the people on G & H streets didn't receive notice of the hearing. But more importantly, it's the responsibility of the city council to not railroad this through and to consider how it will affect constituents. But office holders in the Vegas Valley line their pockets and sells constituents down the river, all the time.
Average Joe,
Your view of the world is that of a cartoon. Government IS capable of running some business rather well. The USPS will come right to your house, pick up your envelope, and hand deliver it to anywhere within the entire country, for 44 cents. FedEx or the guys in brown shorts? Their cheapest rate starts at $14.48, I believe. That's about 3,300% the USPS's charge. The publically run library systems in Clark County, and throughout the nation's community, are well-run, superb, inexpensive services. Each of the four branches of the U.S. military, is without peer on the entire globe.
As for "the same care a person or private business uses when spending private money,"...... after witnessing all the monumental destruction of capital -indeed, the near obliteration of our entire economic system- by the thieves of the private sector, how can you presume to lecture others about believing in this fantasy of yours?? And here YOU are telling Joey9 to "keep up with current events???"
In normal times, I actually prefer privately run enterprise to government intervention. But corporate bureaucracy is just as corrupt and inept as big government, with the added component of selfishness. There is NO WAY I want the same crooks who build cracker-box housing developments with faulty wiring, below-code plumbing, and poisonous Chinese-made drywall, to be running the show with our public infrastructure.
By the way:
"our liberal left legislature OVERRID his veto"
"Overrid" is not a real word.
DTJ
yep you sure do have a realistic view of the world don't you. the USPS LOSES over 5 BILLION dollars per year while UPS, FEDEX, and multiple other delivery services EARN BILLIONS of dollars per year. "well run, and superb" indeed.
more government efficiency in action.
and the four branches of our military ARE without peer on the entire globe. BUT, having spent half of my adult life in uniform, both as an enlisted soldier, then later as a commissioned Naval Officer, I got a bit of news for you sweetpea.
our military, while undoubtedly the finest trained, best equipped and most capable in the world, certainly has MORE than it's share of fraud, waste, and abuse. and before you try to take my comments out of text, this is NOT any disrespect to any member of the military, current or past. but the fact remains, the military WASTES billion, if not trillions of taxpayer dollars every year. much of it in the form of giveaways to defense contractors, caused by our elected leaders NOT SPENDING OUR MONEY WISELY. ever hear of the $400 pentagon toilet seat? the $80 hammer?
how bout we touch on government "socialist" health care while we're at it? the VA health care system is the laughing stock of the US health delivery system. or then again, it might be slightly better than the Indian Health Service.
perhaps before you try to lecture others, you should spend some time reading about world history. socialism, and socialist policies, have, and always will fail.
why?
because they are directly contrary to human nature.
you can only get people to work so hard when you take from them most of what they have earned, to give to those who thrive simply on taking without earning.
as they say, the problem with socialism is you eventually run out of other peoples money.
and I submit that our big, obtrusive, out of control government is well down the road to socialism.
DTJ
you should check out this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XTi-WdOu...
even the "hero of the masses" Obama disparages the USPS that you so obviously love...
btw, is is your daddy or your wife that works for the post office?
Average,
"I got a bit of news for you sweetpea..."
"Sweetpea," eh? Don't be getting any funny ideas. And no, you don't have any news for me. We all know about the $400 toilet seats. Those were PRIVATE contractors plotting and ripping off the taxpayers, though.
But that, and the $5b. in red ink by the Post Office, is NOTHING. In the first quarter of this year alone, AIG bled $62 billion. And how many billions has GM, Citibank, and the rest of the corporate gang that can't shoot straight, been hemmoraging? That the Post Office is in red-ink in this, the middle of the worst economic downturn in 70 years, doesn't surprise or alarm me. Heck, I'm surprised it's not more for such a huge organization. EVERYBODY is losing money, right now. Again, in the first quarter of this year, FedEx lost a little less than $1 billion themselves (876m). Proportionally, they're on pace to far outlose the USPS. By the way, the USPS is planning to shut down underused stations and further streamline their already well-run services, in order to keep up with a changing economy. They're a well-run org. So is the military, cost-overruns included.
As for government health care, puuuulease... What do you think we have now? We have the worst of all worlds. Private companies ripping off the public with the so-called private health care system we have in place. The rest of the industrialized world all has public health care, and covers ALL of their people while spending 10% of their GDP. Meanwhile, we spend 16% of ours and have forty-seven million people (the majority of them children) not covered at all. Our private system is crap. Costs spiraling out of control. I wish I could remember the exact statistics (but it's late and I want to go to bed), but I do remember reading that the single biggest reason individuals have to declare personal bankruptcy, is because they can't afford to pay medical bills.
The private system is no panacea, and government provided services, can indeed, have a role in society.
Nighty-nite, Joe.
By the way, the "J" in DTJ
stands for "Joe," too.
70 million dollars would buy 700 'distressed' homes scattered across the valley so the people in the F street could get a huge upgrade from the run down area that they now live in.. that area could be then cleaned up and resold for multi-use to recover part of the cost.
Opportunity is knocking but once again no one is home.
The transportation board agreed Wednesday it would use an undetermined amount of money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the project.
[shaking my head!] This money could've gone to something more important.
i'm familiar with this area. once I saw 5 Metro cars in a 2 block area - at 5;30 in the evening. couldn't drive fast enough to get out just in case the bullets start flying.
Dollarbilz has it right.
Why does it cost $70 MILLION to re-open a road? HOW does it cost that much? Thanks for wasting my tax dollars.
Closing off the F street was the wrong thing to do in the first place. It will cost to make it right. But it must be made right.
This is a misuse of the stimulus money. The stimulus money is intended to "jump start the economy". That is why the President said that it would be used for "shovel-ready projects". This project is not ready to go.
I HAVE TO YELL HERE...
THE "F" STREET BRIDGE IS 800 FEET NORTH OF "H" STREET BRIDGE AND 800 FEET SOUTH OF "D" STREET BRIDGE. HOW F*&%ING LAZY ARE THESE PEOPLE??!! WHY WOULD YOU EXPECT TO BUILD THREE FREEWAY BRIDGES IN LESS THAN A THIRD OF A MILE?!! ALL TO SERVE LESS THAN 100 RESIDENTS. THAT COMES TO $250,000 TO $700,000 PER RESIDENT!! WTF IS WRONG WITH OUR POLITICIANS ESPECIALLY RETARDED HORSFORD??!!
ddrabek,
my sentiments exactly.
these liberal fools spending other people's money.
"it will cost to make it right. but it must be made right."
what a crock.
Average,
Thanks for addressing how the private sector raped, pillaged and practically destroyed the world's economy, last year.
DDrabek,
You probably get asked this all the time, but any relationship to THIS GUY?:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hd3qdc3nWUA/SE...
As for the the F Street closing, I'm not sure where I ultimately come down on this. The price tag for re-opening it is HUGE, no doubt. BUT... let it be known that the original plan for widening I-15 did NOT call for closing off F Street. It was the City Council which later snuck in and had F Street closed off. There was some bogus excuse making at the time, something about some accident between a truck and a moped. But my guess is that Oscar & Co. intentionally were trying to seal off the West Side from Oscar's gleaming, pie-in-the-sky Union Park boondoggle. (Hey Average, if you want to go after public sector waste, please start with this one, especially the unneeded new city hall white elephant Oscar wants to build, and then probably slap his name on...) Anyway, F Street was the ONLY THRU-STREET to the Union Park development area. I don't know how Horsford is framing the issue, but the actual West Side residents have rightly identified what is really at stake. They have pointed out that the closure *cuts off the thru-traffic that would naturally flow through their neighborhood,* should the Union Park district actually become a "destination." This would be denying them untold dollars in economic opportunity lost, for years and years to come. The issue ISN'T about traveling a few extra blocks for residents. It's about Oscar & Co. trying to seal off and seal out their part of town from downtown's economic development.