Randi Thompson has a new piece in Sunday’s RGJ promoting the new “Plan Truckee Meadows” survey.  It has several lies that we should counter.  I’m hoping to see letters to RGJ countering her assertions.

1. “Current development is better planned that older developments.”  She cites Ascente as an example of a good plan with attention to traffic and safety.  Safety concerns weren’t addressed at all.
2. “Community input is valuable and important.”  This is patently untrue.  The county ignores citizens’ input and the Citizens Advisory Board reports.  Lucey appears to be truly owned by the developers, and maybe Berkbigler too.  All the citizen involvement is a sham.
3. “Growth is inevitable.”  Some growth may be inevitable, but EDAWN, Berkbigler, and Sheive are making a special effort to lure businesses to the area through special incentives and tax arrangements.  So, at least some of the growth we’re seeing is artificially stimulated.

It’s easy to hate Randi, but that’s misdirected.  She’s a paid lobbyist for the developers and real estate interests.  I think of her as being like the doctors that spent a generation claiming that cigarette smoking didn’t cause cancer.  They were paid by the tobacco industry.

RGJ will only accept one letter a month per person, and so I can’t submit one now.  Submitting a letter is easy (link to instructions).  My approach is to write a draft, and then go back and pare it down to meet the 160-word limit.  Washoe County is blatantly corrupt with regard to development.  We need to keep this perception at the forefront.