Letters to the editor for Saturday, April 19, 2014

Woman was speeding with no hands on wheel

I have written the sheriff’s department and the highway patrol on previous occasions regarding this situation — all to no avail. They ignore and round file my letters! Maybe you can take action —

Tuesday, April 1, 2014, grey Buick van — 11:50 a.m. — south on Roop, cross Colorado — 90-year-old short, petite woman, hand gestures, no hands on the steering wheel doing 45 miles per hour in a 25 zone.

No hands on the wheel! Who’s driving?

Ross Jensen

Carson City

Carson Street change sneaked into tax hike

The Carson City supervisors passed a one-eighth-of-a-cent sales-tax increase for varied projects without voter approval. I would like to highlight that slipped into this was the highly debated reduction of Carson Street from four lanes to two in the downtown district. I would like to focus on some key facts:

1. A small group of businesses raised approximately 4,000 signatures against this proposal in a little over a month.

2. On several occasions, event the proponents of this proposal have called it a “gamble.”

3. City planners have estimated that this proposal would further reduce Carson Street traffic by an additional 3,000 - 5,000 cars per day. Carson Street traffic has already been reduced by as much as 50 percent by the partially completed bypass. Further traffic reduction by this plan and the completion of the bypass will cause irreparable damage to all retail businesses on Carson Street.

4. Possibly most important of all – proponents of this “gamble” initially suggested that this could be accomplished for $50,000, yet the approval of this plan now is $6.6 million!

This plan has many other flaws — increased accidents and congestion, reduced access for emergency vehicles. Kids walking to school on Curry Street, the church pedestrian traffic and the apartments on Stewart Street will all face much higher danger from this increased traffic on these “side streets.”

The supervisors’ initial vote was determined to be invalid and must be retaken. This alone should indicate that this process is flawed. Please, let the voters of Carson City decide this all-important decision.

Daryl Reedy

Carson City