Letters to the editor Sept. 9

North Carson Street owners tired of getting short end of the stick

I am a business owner on North Carson Street, and am tired of the city redevelopment board continuing to allocate the funds it collects to only downtown projects - except for the two car dealerships and the Walmart redevelopment project.

The businesses on North Carson Street are assessed a redevelopment portion in our tax statements, yet we are not given one penny back in support. Take a look at North Carson Street. There is about a 30 percent storefront vacancy rate and a square footage vacancy rate of about 50 percent of available square footage.

The Carson Shopping Center in the 1800 block of North Carson Street has just redone its roof. It is being funded by the owners without a penny or a finger in assistance from the city and/or the redevelopment department.

We are unable to get any of the baskets, or at least the hardware attached to the poles so we can place our own baskets and take care of them ourselves. Instead, all we hear is the sucking sound of our redevelopment dollars going south to downtown projects.

Thank God there is an election coming up in two months. We would like representation for our money, not just taking our money and not even saying thank you.

Every business and property owner that is assessed redevelopment levies should have a vote on where and how much is spent, not just a handful of Joe McCarthy yes men and women.

Gene Munnings

Carson City

Musings on the price of a gallon of gas

What's the sense in a tenth of a cent? Gas prices are always $2.89 and 9/10 of a cent or $2.99 and 9/10 of a cent. What sense is there behind pricing gas this way? Is this a marketing/pricing pitch to draw more business?

If a person were to buy a gallon of gas and write a check for $2.89 and 9/10 of a cent, would the store or bank round the check off to $2.90 for the gallon of gas, or refuse payment on the check and simply not honor the check written out for this odd amount?

My friend Jim and I were humorously befuddled over the remainder of this 1/10 of a cent and who would profit off this partial amount of a cent in the long run. Food for thought.

Ann Burke

Carson City

Street plan impedes travel for West Carson residents

On May 20, the Nevada Appeal ran a story written by Sandi Hoover about narrowing Carson Street. The vote by the board of supervisors was 4-1, and I voted no.

Since that time, I've received numerous phone calls and e-mails from constituents who read the story and thought that I was in favor of the future plan to narrow the street.

Sandi Hoover is an excellent reporter, and my guess is that her story was edited for space and the vote of the board was omitted.

One of the reasons I voted against the plan was it does not allow for people on the west side of Carson City to have ready access to drive north without having to deal with a bottleneck on the narrowed Carson Street.

The east side has a freeway, improved access on Roop Street and Stewart Street. The lack of access for those on the west side will force more traffic onto Division Street. Minnesota is being cut off for the Brewery Arts Center, and Curry is frequently partially closed for events on Third Street.

Without an adequate travel plan for those on the west side of Carson City, I cannot approve the narrowing of Carson Street.

Thank you for the opportunity to clarify this matter.

Pete Livermore

Carson City supervisor