LETTERS: Editorial on city-county dispute gets it wrong

Fairness to taxpayers

I am surprised at the Review-Journal's position in its Oct. 15 editorial ("Dash for cash"). The city of Las Vegas is accused of being petty in its desire to recover nearly $4 million it is owed by Clark County. The editorial writer calls this "a relatively nominal amount of money." Since when is $4 million of city taxpayer money considered nominal?

Through the recession, the city has done an excellent job managing its finances. This is evident by the city's strong bond ratings and current fiscal outlook. The city achieved this financial stability by looking for more efficiencies, cutting costs and examining old agreements to make sure they were being executed properly. The latter is what led to the discovery that the city is owed millions of dollars for fire services in the northwest area of the valley. In fact, that total figure could be in excess of $12 million.

City leadership is being reasonable and looking to recover only a portion of what is truly owed. Granted, former city leaders should have identified this omission years ago, but the fact is the problem was found and the city taxpayers are owed the money. The city and county are in a dialogue to find a resolution to this issue, and I am sure we will get this worked out.

In the past, the Review-Journal has been critical, and rightly so, of government waste. But now the same editorial writers are saying the city should stop being "petty" and simply absorb millions of dollars it is owed. You can't have it both ways. At the heart of this issue is fairness for the taxpayers of the city.

Bob Coffin

Las Vegas

The author represents Ward 3 on the Las Vegas City Council.

Veterans deserve choice

The editorial on the Department of Veterans Affairs supports privatizing the VA hospital system ("Privatize VA," Monday Review-Journal). Now you're finally on to something.

Not long ago, President Barack Obama signed a "new and improved" VA bill, and clearly it will save those in Congress from votes, but it won't fix the real problems with the VA. Modern-day warfare has just as many battlefield injuries as prior wars. In today's environment, fewer combatants die because modern medicine turns them into the permanently disabled. The need for our country to provide for their care has dramatically increased, while available health care resources, primarily the VA, continue to fall far behind.

Once again, there is a movement afoot to expand the VA system due to slow and limited access. Simply adding more physicians will not solve this problem. Expanding the VA drains the pool of available resources for everyone else, a zero-sum game. Military veterans should choose their own hospitals and doctors. Access and quality care are the central issues, and the American hospital system can handle nearly all of our veterans' medical needs more efficiently than the VA.

The 175-hospital VA system is large, but it represents only a small fraction of America's health care facilities. The U.S. is engaged in never-ending war; 32,000 people die every year on our highways and 11,000 die from gun homicides. Those injured every year in America's permanent war zone far exceed that death toll. Public and private hospitals already treat our civilian walking wounded, who survive to lead productive lives.

Privatizing the VA is a political hot potato. Our representatives were elected to do the right thing, not just juggle hot potatoes. It's time they gave our vets a real choice of where they get their care. Give them all universal health care and federally paid access to most health care facilities, not just the VA hospitals. Freedom of choice is what our vets fought and died for.

Richard Rychtarik

Las Vegas

Vegas traffic zones

I am kicking myself for my lost investment opportunity. If only I had put my money into traffic cones, I would now be a wealthy woman. Every street I travel greets me with a maze of bright orange cones and barrels.

I keep expecting someone to collect money for the exhilarating experience of dodging in and out of the barriers. Fortunately, there are no workers around to get hurt.

Darlien C. Breeze

Las Vegas