Now is no time for new City Hall

To the editor:

In response to the Nov. 21 article "Goodman criticizes Culinary's protest":

We live in a republic form of government, where we elect officials to conduct business and lead us in the right direction. But it appears unresponsive for the City Council to ignore the Culinary union's call for the city of Las Vegas to hold up on the construction of a new City Hall and let the public vote on it. It also seems arrogant for Mayor Oscar Goodman to remark that a public vote on the matter wasn't necessary because "voters' voices had been heard when they elected him and the current City Council."

To go ahead with the $150 million project now, with the economy in the toilet and people losing their homes, is not sending the right signal to the folks who vote that the city fathers are watching out for the financial well-being of the community. This is not the time to construct a new City Hall and hope that it will attract the downtown growth needed to pay for it.

The recent federal bailout package was a hope too, and economic upturns have yet to materialize. In fact, the stock market has gotten worse, and more people are losing their jobs and homes. It was hoped that the bailout would encourage the economy. It hasn't. You can't base the future on hope alone, and certainly not the future of an entire city. The mayor must remember that he represents only a portion of Clark County, but the decisions he and the council make have a dramatic impact on the image of Southern Nevada as a whole.

We are slashing government budgets, contemplating possible layoffs, facing a reduction in public hospital services and maybe a reduction in emergency response. We're also staring at a dismal education picture for our kids. But let us not worry, because the mayor and council were elected to approve a new City Hall.

SAM BOWLER

LAS VEGAS

Bad deal

To the editor:

Our legislators have decided to balance the budget by using a line of credit (Saturday Review-Journal). How can the debt (line of credit) balance the budget? I suppose there is some logic, but it escapes me.

This idea is just one more reason for drug testing our elected representatives. The debt makes about as much sense as giving a taxpayer-funded house to a welfare recipient, then making the statement, "They are now financially independent."

Is it any wonder our economy is in trouble?

Wayne P. Brotherton

AMARGOSA VALLEY

Despicable attacks

To the editor:

As a longtime customer of the Review-Journal, I have found that there is one section of the newspaper that is usually geared to entertainment purposes only. That section is the Neon, the part of the paper that lets readers know what's happening in the city, what movies are playing, and so on.

Unfortunately, columnist Doug Elfman and the Review-Journal decided to devote an entire page to Republican bashing, the bashing being cleverly disguised as an "interview" with the notorious Bill Maher, the far left's hatchet man.

It seems to me that the article would have been better positioned on the Op-Ed page of the newspaper. At least there, readers would have seen the piece for what it really was: an attack ad. Instead, it is passed off as entertainment.

This is the same tactic used by celebrities when they voice their political views while they are in a performing venue. They ambush the customer with their own personal lunacy.

Mr. Maher is supposedly a political satirist. Satire is supposed to be funny. Attacking Sarah Palin during the election is one thing, but attacking her now that the election is over? Worse yet, Mr. Maher insults Ms. Palin's motherhood and her children. This is not funny. It is despicable.

To have Doug Elfman and the Review-Journal glorify it is even worse.

Ron Moers

HENDERSON

Listing ship

To the editor:

Sunday's column by Review-Journal Publisher Sherman Frederick, in which he shines the light of truth on the four headless horsemen of Congress -- Sen. Chris Dodd, Rep. Barney Frank, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- gave me the shudders. I say "headless" because they are brainless when it comes to accepting their part in bringing the Wall Street mess to our doorsteps.

Mr. Frederick's use of the word "vindictive" to describe Sen. Reid's approach to running the Senate says it all.

As for Sen. Dodd and Rep. Frank, the czars of the banking committees for the past two years, the word that suits them is imperialistic. Yet both of them adorn the crown of innocents for the boondoggle they had a hand in fueling. Only someone who assumes their position makes them infallible is imperialistic.

As for Speaker Pelosi, she is like the Energizer Bunny. Only she walks, she talks, beats a drum and every two years her voters put new batteries in her and she keeps going and going and going, but hasn't the slightest clue of where the heck she is going.

Yes, I shudder. The ship is foundering and the best we can get for a crew is these four and a Democrat Congress and president? Start the pumps, y'all, we are about to take on water.

Louis Frederick

NORTH LAS VEGAS