Bob Fulkerson of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada is backing a petition drive to slap a special tax on casinos built outside of Reno's decaying urban core, supposedly to help pay off the debts of earlier, failed downtown redevelopment schemes.
"This is for fiscally responsible growth," says Mr. Fulkerson. "If downtown declines, taxpayers are going to be on the hook for the debt."
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So, it's "fiscally responsible" to cripple or drive away new suburban development by trying to arrange it so those who might want to build new casinos out where there's less crime and some free parking know they'll have to prop up their failing inner-city competitors?
If deluded political schemes to "bail out" failing urban centers (with suicidal higher taxes, rather than lower taxes and less regulation, which might have a chance) fail in turn, the answer is to spread the cancer further afield, rather than to admit it was a bad idea and swear off such politically motivated redistribution altogether?
This is priceless.
But wait: It gets even better.
In fact, the petition in question, which would have to draw 11,661 valid signatures to make it to November's ballot in Washoe County, was filed by five Culinary Union members whose main goal is to perpetuate the ongoing harassment of the Las Vegas based, non-union, Station Casinos chain.
Station Casinos has proposed to build a new gaming resort at the Redfield Center in south Reno, you see. And this proposal would slap a special tax on that casino.
Any light bulbs blinking on?
Mr. Fulkerson tacitly acknowledges that foiling the new development plan -- the first proposed new casino in the Reno area in more than a decade -- is what this is all about. The proposed new Station casino on the Mount Rose Highway south of Reno would lure tourists out of downtown, which is already hurting, he whines.
What a concept. What will we need next, a special tax on stadiums and race tracks that draw folks away from downtown betting parlors? A special tax on Wal-Marts that draw shoppers out of downtown by offering better hours, better selection, better prices?
Wait a minute: Let's not give these "progressives" any more ideas.
For years the union has failed in its attempts to organize Station's 14,000 employees in Clark County, pointed out Lori Nelson, a spokeswoman for Station. "We are really not surprised by another tactic by the Culinary union to undermine our efforts in Reno. ... We still believe our two projects are good for the entire Reno destination and we will be expanding, not taking away."
Station Casinos' proposed resort at the Redfield Center would create 1,300 new jobs, with another casino near the convention center employing 850 more. The $500 million project would be the first major casino built in Washoe County since the Silver Legacy opened in 1995. Yet the Culinary (and their comrades on the "progressive" political front) would rather see those jobs never created -- more than 2,000 Nevadans go without work -- than to see Station Casinos open a perfectly legal, attractive, upscale casino resort without paying its Danegeld to the union.
