Who’s in Favor of the Sheepdip Parkway?

There are a myriad of Nor'Town issues that are getting ignored during this election season, especially by incumbents who are relying on the unfortunate, but tried and true, method of building huge campaign treasuries and sending out mountains of pleasant, if uninformative campaign mailers with pictures of kids and dogs on them.

However, the proposed Sheep Mountain Parkway is an important issue during this election cycle,  because the folks who will ultimately be making decisions about it sit in the U.S. Congress, the Clark County Commission, and the State Legislature.

Nor'Town will be having its little municipal election early next year, believe it or not, and although the issue might be a part of the back and forth of that election, the city council will, I suspect, have the least influence of all the other government entities that I've mentioned. Even if a mayor who was vehemently opposed to the parkway were elected, she or he probably won't make much of a difference.

And, unfortunately again, most incumbents try to avoid actually dealing with issues because issues distract from nice pictures of kids and dogs and endorsements by the special interests that fund their incumbency.

There are a few Nor'Town candidates, however, who are either opposed to the parkway, or at least willing to consider alternatives before pouring concrete over the environmentally and archaeological sensitive areas up there.

Gary Hosea, a Republican running for the Clark County Commission has stated to me in a recent e-mail that "It [the parkway] is in my district and it is not going to be built!!!."

His opponent, Mr. Clancy Tom Collins, has simply waffled on the issue.

Linda West Myers, a Republican running for Assembly District 1, has suggested she would prefer to see the Bruce Woodbury beltway completed before considering building yet another beltway.

Andrew Martin, a Democrat running for Assembly District 13, is against the parkway because it would be built on top of the fossils in Tule Springs. Mr. Martin is the only candidate I know of who has made the protection of Tule Springs a part of his platform. His opponent, Chad Christensen, judging from his campaign materials, has never heard of the parkway.

State Senator Steven Horsford claims he's willing to consider "alternatives" in transportation, at least that's what he seems to have said in an earlier post. However, sometimes Mr. Horsford's sweet talk makes it's difficult to tell if he's talking about an issue, or simply espousing his support for puppies and small children.

Where do the rest stand on the issue? Who knows? The big loser in this election is Nor'Town, and it will remain a loser unless it learns how to inject it's agenda into regional politics.

More info: Tule Springs Ice Age Park.