Downtown project sounds good, but …

I read the recent stories about Zappos moving from Henderson to downtown Las Vegas: The plan is that the “old” City Hall will be used and not left abandoned. Sounds great — and, I hope, it will be. But please be responsible. Do your homework and don’t forget the past. I start with:

— The land deal the city made for the Florida swampland in the early 1980s. The city got taken.

– The Minami Tower. The city was excited about the new developer. Then we got left with a big hole in the ground.

– Main Street Station. The city put some money into that one. Wasn’t what we hoped for.

– Citibank. It brought a large office to Las Vegas, but we got left with egg on our faces. Remember the little details about naming the new area in town “The Lakes” with an entirely new zip code?

– The Fremont Street Experience parking garage. Not sure if it was a good deal.

– The Clark County Government Center. Good for the city, but the cost?

– Zappos. Sounds like a great deal. I am curious what the city of Henderson will do to keep Zappos in their city.

I realize there is risk in everything, but please pay attention to the little details. Don’t let the excitement of the moment cloud your judgment.

Phil Galvan

Las Vegas

Do your part

To the editor:

President Obama’s fiscal commission has released its recommendations for reducing our national debt. The report contained some unpopular cuts in Social Security and other entitlements, cuts in defense spending and eliminating the the mortgage-interest tax deduction. We’ve heard plenty of public outrage that the government would dare to suggest that we should incur any pain or drain to our pocketbook in order to pay back their debt.

In a country where the people elect and control our government, we cannot behave as if this is someone else’s problem. A national debt of nearly $14 trillion, divided between the roughly 311 million U.S. residents, amounts to more than $44,000 of debt for each of us. That includes our children, our retired grandparents, our disabled, our unemployed, everyone. For each taxpayer, the debt is more than $125,000. For a family of four, the debt is more than $176,000.

I am the father of a family of four. When I consider how an additional debt of $176,000 would affect my family’s budget (if I were held accountable), and the fact that my kids are innocent heirs to this debt, the idea of having to wait a couple more years to collect Social Security, or to have to pay taxes on more of my mortgage interest, doesn’t seem so staggeringly unjust.

My generation did not fight in a world war to save the world from tyranny. We invented easy credit and subprime mortgages and helped to eliminate the practice of saving money to buy things. Now we have the ability to do something heroic for the next generation, and our country is calling us into action.

As the commission releases its recommendations, and as the media report on the public outrage, we should pull our heads out of the sand and ask ourselves how, if we disagree with the recommendations, we would prefer to pay back our share of the debt.

Larry McAllister

Las Vegas

Just a dream

To the editor:

Sen. Harry Reid’s Dream Act is part of the ongoing nightmare characteristic of progressive leadership. He is ignoring his responsibility for the preservation of national sovereignty. He is willing to tolerate millions of illegal aliens claiming squatters’ rights to live in the United States and enjoy the benefits of our society.

Sen. Reid claims that his first priority is to do what is important to Nevada. But he betrays himself with his vigorous support for demands that we share our classrooms with students who are not fluent in English, open our medical facilities to all comers, provide legal protection and comfortable prison conditions for illegal criminals, tolerate voting materials printed in a foreign language and bear the insult of paying taxes to fund these and other misguided immigration policies.

Sen. Reid supports legislation favorable to illegal immigrants for two obvious reasons:

– He shares the progressive political inclination to offer great sympathy for any form of human discomfort, and to demand charity from others as a remedy.

– He expects to gain greater political power by offering confiscated manna to the masses and easing the consciences of his fellow travelers, while they experience little or no personal sacrifice.

I bear no animosity toward any fellow human being, and wish freedom and economic prosperity for the citizens of every nation. History offers many lessons of how that goal can be achieved.

No nation, however, has ever prospered by abrogating sovereignty, mortgaging national wealth and indenturing the productivity of its children, as Sen. Reid and the leadership of the modern Democratic Party are apparently intent upon doing.

ALLEN HAWKES

LAS VEGAS

Whose change?

To the editor:

If the proposal to eliminate earmarks takes effect, why did we send Harry Reid back to Washington for another six years?

He practically promised every minority, union worker and property owner some tidbit for his support.

I know he promised to make my car payments and ensure back-door citizenship for my pet schnauzer if he would sign up for Obedience School University and spend a couple of years in the K-9 Corps.

Seriously, with the tea partiers converging on Washington with the bit in their teeth, it does make traditional politics and politicians from the White House on down look a little ridiculous and even disgusting.

It will be funny if after being promised “change” by the Democrats in 2008, it actually comes from Republicans in 2011.

KENT RISCHLING

LAS VEGAS