Walley's should pay for tunnel

Editor:

Regarding the approval of another 190 units at Walley's, let me see if I have this right. Walley's asked for and got 190 additional units, no questions asked, the usual approach here.

No thought to whether we might be going overboard, like we have everywhere else, by tripling the size of a nice little resort and turning it into, what? Timeshare city? We've destroyed the residential and commercial real estate markets through over-permitting. Time to move on to the resort market. But I'm sure the county knows best.

So let's just assume a modest $350,000 as the value of each unit (by the time it's sliced and diced into timeshares it's probably more). That's over $60 million worth of development. Fine.

But the community had the temerity to ask for just one thing, a pedestrian tunnel so that Walley's customers won't be killed crossing the highway. Something that actually benefits Walley's, not the community.

Walley's said OK, but please pay for half the cost, $150,000. But any public contribution over $100,000 would require that the workers building the tunnel be paid the prevailing wage, which is certainly something horrible to be avoided. So our broke county is only kicking in $90,000.

All because poor old Walley's presumably can't afford to mitigate this negative aspect of its huge project. But why should Walley's pay to fix the problems it creates, when you and I can pay instead?

Now some will say it's just redevelopment money, so who cares? You know, like the $24 million we're giving Jay Timons up at Topsy so he could create a nice big dust bowl for us.

Well, redevelopment money is traditionally used for public improvements that enhance the community. If the county can figure out how to give it away to Walley's, surely it could figure out some way to use it for an actual public benefit instead.

But better, and easier, to just give our money to timeshare and shopping center developers. But not so much that a few construction workers would actually get paid a decent wage.

I'm glad to see that our elected officials have their priorities straight, using public resources to line the pockets of the rich while keeping the average working man down. Way to go.

And at the same meeting they figured out a way to gussy up 395 in town with even more signs, schlocky amateur hand drawn A-frame signs just thrown out on the street, no less. I guess we needed some more clutter to replace those utility lines we just spent a fortune to underground.

What a brilliant economic development strategy: make our town less attractive.

What's next, businesses stringing banners across the highway? Or why not just fill the center turn lane on 395 with those human sign twirlers, all dressed up in Beverly Hillbillies costumes, pointing hither and yon? Now that's a town we could all be proud of.

Ah, the blessings of thoughtful leadership. And more blessings to come, I'm sure.

Terry Burnes

Gardnerville