Reno railway debate should change tracks
by Johnathan L.Wright, Outpost contributor
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The railway through downtown Reno has to change, but does it have to be a trench? Photo by Stig Overaas. |
Some Reno city and Washoe County officials say lowering the tracks into a trench will reduce traffic congestion and eliminate train whistles that keep hotel guests awake. They say the trench will allow emergency vehicles to travel cross-town without delay and provide room for about 40 trains a day to move through Reno. They say the result of this mammoth undertaking will be a downtown more attractive to businesses.
But the thicket of studies, statistics, opinions and promises luxuriating about the trench issue makes it hard to for taxpayers to form considered opinions about it . And taxpayer input is vital to a project that may cost upward of $200 million and, if started, inconvenience tourists and residents for years.
Public officials owe us some straight answers. And while this list is by no means exhaustive, here are some things about the project that I think need explanations. Perhaps this will help officials and citizens get the explanation process underway.
Is the trench the only way to accomplish the above
goals?
The Reno Public Works Department estimates work on the 2.1-mile-long, 33-foot-deep, 54-foot-wide trench will begin in November 2001 and take about three years to complete. Washoe County Commission Chairman Jim Galloway, an opponent of the project, says underpasses, overpasses or a shallower train trench will be cheaper and quicker to build and will take care of the trains, traffic and whistles. Galloway has spent years studying the trench issue, and the alternatives he mentions deserve a closer look, something he says Reno officials haven't done.
Reno Councilman Tom Herndon, a supporter of the proposed trench, says it is the best option because it greatly reduces the chance of a major accident occurring.
Assuming the trench gets the OK, what's it going to cost
us?
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Train traffic through Reno brings a pain that is hard to cure. Photo by Stig Overaas. |
Galloway says the final cost could be as high as $400 million because city officials don't know how much money it will take to compensate inconvenienced businesses, to clean up any environmental hazards and to move utilities now lying beneath the tracks. Gary Horton of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources says the city has underestimated project expenses in 14 areas. And the most recent Comstock Bank report on Nevada business blasts the trench as "economically unproductive."
Herndon and Reno Mayor Jeff Griffin, among others, say the city is not ignoring any costs and has hired consultants to review the proposed trench. Still, the National Bowling Stadium--which ended up costing about twice what it was supposed to--provides a needed reminder that despite planning and good intentions, cost overruns on public projects can happen all too easily.
What's up with the sales tax money collected to help with
the cost?
Without a public vote, the Washoe County Commission last December raised the county sales tax a quarter of a cent to 7.25 percent. Only Galloway voted no. Anti-tax commissioners Ted Short and Pete Sferrazza had yet to take office.
Half the increase (an eighth of a cent) was earmarked for flood control and a public safety center, the other half (an eighth of a cent) for the railroad trench. From April 1, when it went into effect, through August 31, the tax hike added about $5 million to county coffers. Half of that-- $2.5 million--should be available for trench costs. Specifically, that money and future trench sales tax money will be used to help repay the $85 million Transportation Department loan.
Now here is where things get tricky. What is the life span of that one eighth of a cent sales tax increase? If the trench is completed and the federal loan repaid, will the increase be eliminated? If the trench costs more than $192 million to build, will money from the sales tax hike be used to cover the excess? In other words, will we be stuck with the increase longer than we might otherwise have been?
And what if, after all the bellyaching and the brouhaha, nothing is done to the downtown Reno railroad corridor? What then will happen to the sales tax increase money?
In a controversial decision, the Washoe County Commission voted on Oct. 19 to use $8.25 million in flood control sales tax money to help build the public safety center. What assurances can commissioners give us that they won't make similar redistributions with trench sales tax money? This question is especially important because under Nevada law, money obtained from sales tax hikes cannot be used for certain purposes unless the hike was approved through a public referendum, something that didn't happen last December.
What should city and county officials do now?
They should assist an independent party, say, the Attorney General's office, in producing a brief, non-biased assessment, written in plain English, of the major questions surrounding the trench project, including arguments and evidence pro and con. The report could be published in area newspapers or posted on the Reno and Washoe County Websites and updated as necessary.
Admittedly, putting together and maintaining the report will cost some money. But at least taxpayers will have a convenient, one-stop place to get information on the trench project. The assessment could even provide a model of how to handle controversies over future high-cost public works projects.
What should citizens do now?
You've heard it before, but it's true: Do your homework and get involved. Agendas for Reno City Council and Washoe County Commission meetings are posted at public buildings around town and on city and county Web sites. You can review support documentation for City Council agenda items at the city manager's office on Ninth Street. You can request Washoe County sales tax collection numbers from the Nevada Department of Taxation.
Attend meetings where
trench issues are on the agenda. Stand up and ask questions
about the trench. Urge officials to consider the idea of the
information report. Do the same in letters to these
officials and in letters to the editor in local newspapers.
Public officials respond to pressure; apply some.
City
of Reno
Washoe
County
Nevada
Department of Taxation
U.S.
Department of Transportation
The Department
of Transportation site includes links to Federal
Highway Administration and Federal Railroad
Administration.
Increasing public safety. Reducing traffic congestion. Improving Reno's fraying downtown. Few Northern Nevadans dispute the worthiness of the goals behind lowering the railroad tracks. We just need to be sure that the railroad trench is the right way to achieve the goals. And if it is the right way, we need to know what the trench is going to cost. Our concerns are reasonable; the information report would be a reasonable way for public officials to address them.
Posted Nov. 18, 1999
Copyright 1999 Nevada Outpost
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