Commentary: Coming to the end of the year

I am preparing this column for the day after Christmas and would be remiss if I didn't wish all who read the Nevada Appeal a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year (Happy Hanukkah as well). There is much to be thankful for in our community. The Appeal itself should be commended for the wonderful Christmas stories it has reported in its pages about businesses, citizens and soldiers and doing all it can to highlight the strength and character of our community.

This has been a very difficult year for most of us; and although the economy is improving there are still many who are without jobs, health care, and even some without adequate food. Yet, this community continues to demonstrate its compassion for those in need with food banks, service organizations and churches, and individual families who reach out in the spirit of the holiday season.

I recently attended a Board of Supervisors meeting in which the board heard testimony about the Carson Nugget Development Project. This is a public/private development effort that, if approved, will give us a state-of-the-art library, business incubators (to develop and stimulate new businesses), perhaps an Imax theater, some downtown residential facilities, and a community friendly city-center plaza. City development staff (Tammy Westergard and Joe McCarthy) along with the Nugget Foundation representatives made a very compelling case for this new effort.

Sara Jones, the library director, received an enthusiastic round of applause for her outstanding work in advocating a library appropriate for our dynamic community. Helaine Jesse spoke on behalf of Western Nevada College and pledged their support in making the Nugget project work. Many other representatives of our community spoke in support of this unique effort. Although it will be difficult to manage and implement, it holds promise for our city's future; and for that promise we should be thankful.

There were a couple of people who were less than enthusiastic, testifying in opposition to the project. They appeared locked into a past that, in my view, does not represent the future.

While on this topic of criticism, this month represents a full year of my writing a weekly column. I am thankful to the Appeal for encouraging a different point of view, and for the many who support and/or appreciate that progressive view, even if they don't always agree. There is also a hard-core group of readers who disagree passionately with virtually anything I have to say. I thank them as well, because they, too, represent an important voice in our political discourse.

• Dr. Eugene T. Paslov, former Nevada superintendent of schools, is a board member for Silver State Charter High School in Carson City.