County paving plan sounds like a rip-off
To the editor:
I just read that Clark County wants to create 20 new parking spaces near the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign at a cost to taxpayers of $500,000. If I do the math, that comes out to $25,000 per parking space or roughly $195 per square feet of asphalt and concrete.
At that price, I can only conclude that each space will have Italian marble flooring and a private bath.
My average-size concrete driveway at home is 512 square feet and supports my car quite comfortably. At $195 per square foot, if the county had installed my driveway, it would have cost around $100,000, it would be asphalt, not concrete, and would have been half the cost of my home.
The concrete slab that supports my home rests on 1,600 square feet, which by county standards would cost $312,000 - and it would be asphalt. So far, the county would have charged me $412,000 for an asphalt driveway and foundation.
Now I realize that the intricacy of building flat asphalt parking spaces is much more elaborate than building a home. But shouldn't some elected official have taken out a calculator and punched in numbers before the fleecing? That way they can at least say they did their due diligence to the people footing the bill.
R.J. Palyo
Henderson
Strip plan
To the editor:
I have a suggestion for our county commissioners, who want to commission a study on Strip congestion: Get a tank full of gas at taxpayer expense, drive down the Strip on any given night and observe for yourself what zones are "congested" in your battle to stop the smut peddlers assaulting the tourists.
Did it ever occur to commissioners that after the $550,000 is spent hiring a "professional studying firm" and the results are published, the smut peddlers might move, making the study irrelevant? Good grief, Charlie Brown.
Joe Wilcock
Las Vegas
No saints
To the editor:
In regard to Thursday's letter from Bree Wallis on Mitt Romney and his wife:
Mother Teresa was a humanitarian who "chose to serve the poorest of the poor and to live among them and like them." When given the permission to leave her order to serve the poor of Calcutta, India, she had no place to stay, no food and had the equivalent of $2 with her. She chose sandals and a simple white Sari - the dress of the common people of India.
When she returned to Calcutta to begin her work, she was alone and as poor as those she longed to serve. She accomplished many truly amazing things there. One of her greatest accomplishments was creating a place to care for the homeless who were sick and dying. She washed them, fed them and cared for them. It did not matter what religion these people were, and she did not attempt to proselytize them. She simply believed that everyone deserved to die in a loving and caring atmosphere.
If Ms. Wallis had done her homework, she would have realized that Ann Romney is no Mother Teresa.
Teresa Harris
Las Vegas
Who's lying?
To the editor:
There is rich irony in the Justice Department's re-trial of Roger Clemens, particularly since the original mistrial happened only because of the prosecution's errors. And let's leave aside the question of whether members of Congress might have had better things to do than question baseball players on TV.
Mr. Clemens is charged with lying to members of Congress - and he might be guilty. But would you be any more forthcoming when confronted with politicians in search of airtime and ink?
The irony? Those same interrogators have a long and documented history of lying to us - albeit not under oath, just in the context of "I endorse this message." If Attorney General Eric Holder has decided to prosecute Roger Clemens, he's got a really full dance card.
Bob Ashman
Las Vegas
Federal land
To the editor:
As I read the letters to the editor in Sunday's Review-Journal, one in particular - "Don't glorify action of trespassing rancher" - drew my attention. I found it astonishing in that the writer, Mike Ford, was so critical of Mesquite cattle rancher Cliven Bundy's effort to preserve his rights to grazing land.
And then I noticed that Mr. Ford was identified as working for the Conservation Fund and as having had a previous affiliation with the Bureau of Land Management - and that explained the reason for his view of the situation.
I find it inexplicable that there are citizens of our country who are not concerned with the drastic overreach of the federal government.
The amount of federally designated land in Nevada, as in some other U.S. states, is an ominous sign. The reality makes one nauseous.
The EPA and the BLM are on the opposite side from this country's citizenry when it comes to the issue of true economic development.
Joanne M. Campbell
Boulder City
Hospital bills
To the editor:
Your Thursday editorial regarding transparent pricing and medical providers was right on.
I am a retired OB/GYN from California. A number of years ago I had several patients who came into my office to discuss their hospital bills. When I reviewed them, I discovered that some had charges for medications or lab tests that I had not ordered. I began asking my patients who had surgery to bring their bills to me for review. I was shocked at the disparity in costs for patients having the same procedure. Some varied by several thousand dollars.
When I reviewed the charts, I was appalled at how much the charges for exactly the same procedure, medications and lab tests varied. I discussed this with the board of directors at the hospital and got a variety of vague explanations. Some of the variations were due to contracts they had with various insurance providers.
As you noted, even with laws in California and Nevada that are supposed to forbid these variations, they are still occurring. So, I agree that consumers need to get informed by checking on the website you provided, and they should carefully review their bills.
Lyman A. Rust
Henderson
