Boondoggles? A look at 10 controversial public projects

Iris Dumuk, Special to the Sun

Nevada State Museum building at the Springs Preserve.

Thursday, June 16, 2011 | 2 a.m.

Few would argue that trash pickup, paved streets, law enforcement, mail delivery and schools are not fitting ways to spend tax dollars. But for every success story - like Hoover Dam, the valley's flood control channels, McCarran International Airport or Las Vegas Beltway - there is a government project that divides public opinion.

In many cases, it’s not that the project was a bad idea, it’s simply that the circumstances — drought, recession, growth or the lack thereof — that justified the spending changed.

Here are a few projects that have and will be debated as public spending the way it should happen, or spending gone terribly wrong.

Photo by Cydney Cappello
Springs Preserve

A stone-and-steel ode to Las Vegas’ most precious commodity: water. The attraction was completed in 2007, when the Las Vegas Valley Water District was drowning in money, thanks to connection fees collected as new homes came on line. But even before development and the money dried up, Springs Preserve had failed to draw crowds. And its cost and subsidies for a Wolfgang Puck restaurant became a flash point for public ire. Bond payments for the $234 million facility ($160 million borrowed) over the next 25 to 30 years will total about $11 million.
/Iris Dumuk, Special to the Sun
Nevada State Museum (at Springs Preserve)

Finished in 2009 at a cost of $51 million, the museum has yet to open. The budget bill awaiting the governor’s signature includes $180,000 in state funds and $150,000 in Nevada Tourism Commission revenue to finally open its doors. This after voters in 2002 approved a $200 million bond issue — about $35 million of which was for the museum. And state lawmakers in 2007 approved another $11.5 million to complete the construction.
/Las Vegas News Bureau File
Fremont Street Experience

In the early 1990s, Las Vegas closed Fremont Street and turned over control to a consortium of downtown casinos. Adding to the controversy: The city contributed about $45 million in park funds toward construction of a $63 million electrified canopy to cover several blocks of the thoroughfare. Since it opened in 1995, debate has continued over whether the move paid off. Some cite the street’s troubled casinos as evidence it didn’t: The Horseshoe no longer has hotel rooms; the Plaza closed 1,037 rooms and laid off 400 employees to make way for a $20 million renovation. Some see a more promising area on the uncanopied Fremont East District, which the city also helped at much lower cost — a few million dollars for street and sidewalk improvements and lower liquor license fees to draw businesses.
Photo by Steve Marcus/Sun File Photo
Neonopolis

It’s expected to soon be home to a Denny’s restaurant. But becoming home to the Grand Slam breakfast wasn’t what city officials had in mind. The 250,000-square-foot outdoor mall, which benefited from $32 million in Las Vegas funding to buy land and build an underground parking garage, was supposed to seed downtown redevelopment by drawing shoppers and hip restaurants. A few months after opening in May 2002, a bar/restaurant called the Saloon reported losing $100,000 over two months. It stands mostly empty, and the city is still paying off that garage.
Clark County Low-Offender Jail

Completed in 2009 at a cost of $128 million, the 200,000-square-foot, 1,038-bed jail has never been used. Facing budget deficits, Clark County commissioners mothballed the jail to save $13 million annually. The county still pays $11.3 million a year to lease the building from Molasky Group, and is contracted to buy it at full market price after 10 years. Additionally, more jail space is needed. On Wednesday, the Clark County Detention Center housed 3,243 inmates — the jail’s capacity is 2,984 — plus another 240 in other facilities. Commissioner Steve Sisolak, a member of Metro Police’s Fiscal Affairs Committee, said the facility will get temporary use during renovation of the Detention Center. Inmates working in laundry and food services will operate out of the jail during the first phase of renovation, which will take 14 months.
Photo by Sam Morris
Ranch land for a pipeline

The Southern Nevada Water Authority paid $79 million for property north of Clark County to acquire rights to 34,000 acre-feet of surface water, 6,000 acre-feet of groundwater and 24,000 acre-feet of supplemental water. The reason? The Water Authority planned to build a multibillion-dollar pipeline to supplement water from Lake Mead, which has fallen 115 feet during 11 years of drought. But Mother Nature has intervened. Snowpack on the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains is at near-record levels. During a meeting of the Southern Nevada Water Authority on Thursday, officials admitted Lake Mead's water level might rise 70 feet by the end of the year, equal to more than 10 million acre-feet of water. Conservative estimates say the lake could rise 20 feet. If the weather pattern continues, the pipeline may never be needed.
Photo by Steve Marcus
The third Lake Mead straw

Two pipelines at different levels draw water from the lake. A third intake, to reach greater depths, was approved in 2005 because the ongoing drought is drawing down lake levels. Total cost: $817 million, requiring bond payments of $52.7 million annually. If the drought lessens, it will be considered unnecessary. If not, it will be considered visionary.
Ivanpah airport

When Las Vegas was booming, McCarran International Airport was bursting at the seams. Officials predicted it would hit its capacity sometime between 2011 and 2014. Plans began for a $7 billion airport 25 miles south of Las Vegas to handle another 35 million passengers, plus cargo. Then the recession hit. Passenger traffic is down. Construction plans are mothballed until at least 2025. From 2005 to 2011, planning for the Ivanpah airport cost $38.5 million; plus 6,000 acres purchased in 2004 at a cost of $20.7 million. If the airport isn’t built, the land reverts back to the Bureau of Land Management, with the BLM refunding everything but interest.
/Sam Morris / las vegas sun file
Huntridge Circle Park

With county and Las Vegas dollars supplying $1.7 million for renovation, the three-acre park reopened in November 2003. But instead of bolstering downtown Las Vegas’ rebirth, it became a haven for the homeless. In November 2006, a homeless man knifed to death another in an argument over a broken sprinkler head. The sprinklers had turned into a homeless shower and clothes-washing area. The city closed the park a month later. It remained closed until a few weeks ago, when the city reopened it on weekends.
/City of North Las Vegas
North Las Vegas wastewater treatment plant

It was envisioned in 2005, when North Las Vegas development appeared endless. With the belief that Las Vegas charged too much to treat the neighboring city’s wastewater, North Las Vegas approved construction of a plant. It will cost $300 million when it’s all paid for. Against the wishes of Clark County, last week North Las Vegas began releasing treated wastewater into a county channel that flows into Lake Mead. The dispute is already in court. The big question: Will North Las Vegans see lower sewer rates? To pay off its loan, the cash-strapped city needs to come up with about $18 million a year for several decades.