Commentary: The real risk of Nugget project: Doing nothing

It seems that the opposition to the Nugget Project can be summarized as not wanting to put the taxpayers at risk, or not wanting to move too fast. Paradoxically, the real risk to the taxpayer is to delay or not act.

Over the past three decades, Carson City has enjoyed unparalleled economic and demographic good fortune. We have been the capital of the fastest growing state in the country. Add to this the economic power of Reno to the north and the splendor of Lake Tahoe to the west. Prosperity was all but assured. Anybody who wanted a job had one, homes appreciated, and tax coffers swelled.

All of this has changed. We are now the capital of the fastest contracting state in the country, property values have tanked, unemployment is 13 percent, and tax revenues are shrinking. Our schools have lost 1,000 students in six years.

The bad news is, it will get worse.

The next legislature will have to address a massive $3 billion shortfall. As the state capital, we should expect to absorb a disproportionate share of the pain.

If we don't do something and something fast, we will see our tax base and receipts contract, and risk falling into a negative feedback loop. What business or individual will want to locate somewhere where basic services, fire, safety, infrastructure, etc., are being slashed? The only other option is to raise taxes to maintain essential services. This is the real risk to taxpayers.

Fortunately, we not only have the opportunity to do something, but to redefine the very essence of the city at the same time. The Nugget Project, and specifically the knowledge center and business incubator, will begin to give Carson City what it has never had, and desperately needs to attract residents and investment - a downtown. We have always had rows of buildings on either side of a state highway. That's not a downtown, and people notice.

The new knowledge center will be the signature building of what will be the New Carson City. It needs to be bold and dramatic. The current library logs 1,000 visits per day. That will surely increase. In real estate this is known as an anchor that develops its own retail space around itself. This is a synergy that can't be ignored. Additionally, the immediate economic stimulus of hundreds of construction jobs will help us at precisely the time it's most needed.

This all can be accomplished on essentially donated land, with a one-eighth of a percent increase in sales tax . Every time someone from Douglas or El Dorado county buys a car or shops at Costco they will be paying for our library. Where's the real risk?

• Jim Foley lives in Carson City. His wife, Sandy Foley, serves on the Carson City Library board of trustees.