Letter addressed to Tom Stephens:
If we didn't have Jeff Ackerman to keep us informed as to what the Nevada Department of Transportation is doing (or more aptly put - NOT doing) in connection with the bypass, who would we have? We need someone, you know.
As part of the paying public who contributes that extra money to the price of gasoline so NDOT will be able to provide the bypass for us, I really am concerned about all the delays and excuses and changes. It seems, from week to week, the cost of the project continues to go up, up and away. Up so high it appears we will never be able to afford the bypass.
If the 5 cents on the gas tax is not sufficient to pay for the project, why were we led to believe that's what it would take? We're really desperate for that bypass, Mr. Stephens. Maybe if everyone in Carson City, Douglas, Washoe and Lyon counties would show up at the meeting on Sept. 30 with a can of tuna to give you, perhaps you could sell that tuna to get enough money to finish the project.
Is it rude to ask how much longer? Why has it taken 20 years? I think the public has come to expect that its government moves in slow motion. But the bypass project seems to have slowed to such a pace maybe we should call the mortuary.
Please don't try to intimidate Jeff Ackerman just because he's doing his job. Maybe if you did yours as efficiently as he does his, we would get a "whole" bypass instead of a "half" bypass. Instead of writing notes to the board of transportation about Jeff, why don't you call him in for some common sense suggestions as to how you can give us what we've been promised?
BETTY KRUK
Carson City