And I endorse their action, dammit! Hunter Lake Road to W. Plumb Lane was a twolane dead end when I moved here in 1971.
A growing population and completion of the southwest quadrant of the McCarran loop made connection to McCarran necessary. It took decades.
While it had been in the planning stages since the 1950s, the upper crust in southwest Reno prevented completion of the loop for decades. Even then, they only allowed one lane to be paved. A huge right shoulder in each direction became a dirt road. After 30 years or so, the system was finally allowed to pave the outside lanes, so motorists had to navigate a well-worn middle lane with a seam bordering the new right lane. Bumpytown for many years thereafter.
Much the same thing happened with the completion of US 395/I-580. People with lots of money and political clout got the long-planned freeway extension to Washoe Valley and Carson City delayed, then shunted across S. Virginia Street thru the southeast and over Pleasant Valley. Southwest ranches remain rural.
The resulting American Stonehenge bridge is a monument to legal fees, political juice, construction delays and cost overruns. The first contractor quit because the high-rise bridge was too dangerous for his workers exposed to the prevailing westwinds of Washoe Valley. It has cut the travel time to the capital city by about 12 minutes at the cost of tens of millions with a few lives lost on the Pleasant Valley five-lane destruction derby in the process.
W. Plumb has had flashing signs and traffic warnings posted for years. Parents have made signs pleading “imagine your kid living here.”
RPD has made money for the city busting errant speeders but motorcycle cops can’t live there every day.
In desperation, folks have apparently resorted to (I’m not making this us) posting official deer crossing warnings. I guess they convinced city hall that big critters are making it alive across McCarran and wandering W. Plumb toward Park Lane.
I won’t question it if it makes that street safer for the moppets I witnessed watched over by a grandma on Monday.
If nothing worked to slow down self-absorbed speeders, perhaps such selfishness can be utilized, sorta road rage jiu jitsu. A four year-old can’t dent your Lexus very much. But a 160-pound buck with full antlers? Man, that’ll increase your insurance rates for damned sure! And make you late for golf.
KAMALA ON THE LINE. California Democratic Senator and presidential candidate Kamala Harris will picket the Stead General Motors parts distribution center with striking United Auto Workers at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2. It’s located at 6565 Echo Ave. (Reno NV 89506) near the Stead Airport.
Fellow Donkeyite Tom Steyer joined the strikers last week. Ms.Harris will then rush to a noonish rally at the UNR Student Union.
Monitor NevadaLabor.com for strike updates.
THAT SINKING FEELING. All Democrats are running basically the same standard campaign against a mad king with a big, well-funded army. You can’t beat a TV folk hero with garden variety vinegar-filled toy balloons. The Donkeykongs continue playing on Trump’s turf. (See last week’s Barbwire quoting Damon Runyon, Doonesbury and Sun Tzu.)
I’ve had a borderline brilliant crazy idea and have started bicycling it around. For a hint, read “Audience of One,” NY Times TV critic James Poniewozick’s killer new book you can order at Grassroots Books on W. Grove Street.
ST. JOAN RETURNS. Reno Councilmember Jenny Brekhus is up for re-election next year and courageously enters the cave of the bear this afternoon. She will advocate establishment of a Tenants Issues and Concerns Board charged with exposing rent gouging. It will provide a forum for the aggrieved.
Based on my research, some of which ran in The Guardian of London/UK last July, many renters are too scared to come forward in this evict-at-will-without-much-warning state. Nevada’s leading tenant rights advocate, Sen. Julia Ratti, D-Sparks, will probably attend. The item lies late on the agenda, so perhaps mid-afternoon. Or you can watch on the city’s Spectrum cable channel.
“We should be taking steps to benefit our struggling tenant households at the same time we are creating financial incentives for the housing industry,” St. Jen sez. Watch Rentvolution.org for updates.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR for the Oct. 19 Reno-Sparks NAACP’s 74th Annual Freedom Fund Dinner at the Grand Sierra Resort. We will remember Tribune alumnus and Barbwire Molly Ivins Memorial Hall of Flames honoree Dennis Myers at the gala.
In 2015, Dennis and his Reno News & Review crew received the inaugural Bertha Woodard/Eddie Scott Human Rights Advocacy Award for their years-long report age on human rights issues. It’s the organization’s highest honor. We will remember our friend at the gala.
Presidential candidates have been invited and a few might even show up. Reservations and updates at RenoSparksNAACP.org/
Be well. Raise hell. Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Barbano is a 50-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com and first vice-president of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his comments are strictly his own. and Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988. E-mail
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