Letters for August 29, 2019

Bowled over

Re “New cop shop?” (news, Aug. 22):

As a former Reno Gazette Journal employee starting on West Second Street and ending up on Kuenzli, I always envisioned the demise of Gannett and the RGJ; the tarnished brass facade would read: “BOWLING, OPEN 24 HOURS,” and not “The City of Reno Police Department.

John Fisher

Reno

Zip file

Re “Fix the spaghetti bowl” (editorial, Aug. 22):

Traffic squeezing down to one lane in construction zones is a perennial problem worldwide, but one approach that significantly mitigates the situation is use of “zipper merge” as found in California, for one. Rather than the current situation, with most drivers playing nice and forming a single line, while privileged characters (a.k.a., “side zoomers”) whiz to the front and muscle in, zipper mergers form two lines and at the front, courteously alternate merging. While not a cure-all, the formerly empty lane can be used to “queue” vehicles as they wait their turn to merge and potentially shorten the overall line of drivers approaching the merge point. Easy-peezy but an educational challenge that might be surmounted with appropriate signage.

Steve Waclo

Carson City

Dennis Myers

He was honest. He had integrity. And for both he was willing to sacrifice. He didn’t come out “on top.” He always remained above and that is why for 30 years, each time he seemed to disappear, I did everything I could to find out where he was. He always turned up somewhere doing his thing as he had to do it, righteously. An under appreciated gift to the community that did not seek to be rewarded for what he did. He did it ever so well. Thanks Dennis. Thanks so much.

Stephen Lafer

Reno

I just learned that our beloved RN&R editor/Master investigative journalist has died. To paraphrase Mr. DBB, “the great Dennis Myers has left the building.” This is so fucking sad. God help us. We are all poorer for this. R.I.P. Dennis.

Craig Bergland

Reno

Score to settle

Re “Scoring the candidates” (editorial, July 3):

I thought you were reviews interesting, and as a watcher of the debates I concur with most of your commentary.

However, I take exception to your dismissal of Andrew Yang’s UBI proposal of $1,000 a month as a “bribe.” Andrew Yang has put together a serious policy as a way to address the future needs of all U.S. citizens in the workplace of the 2030’s his UBI proposal will help those displaced by “robotization” and the “Greening of the U.S. economy” stay solvent. One way of thinking about it is like giving every American stakeholder in our country a return on the GDP.

This proposal will be funded in two ways, one by a VAT on all goods and services (as is done in most other advanced countries), taxes on consumption of goods are difficult to avoid. Secondly, by reducing the need for a plethora of income support programs—such as food stamps, child support, housing support, etc.—and reduce their administrative costs. Folks will have a choice of either collecting from a myriad of federal and state agencies or taking $1,000 a month no questions required no forms to fill in.

I believe the taxes on consumption are a fair way to raise revenues, especially as most businesses are adept at avoiding taxes on income. Amazon, for example, zero federal taxes.

Andrew Yang is the only candidate so far proffering solutions. The other candidates seem to spend most of their time talking about the past.

Geoffrey Brooks

Reno

Correction

Re “New cop shop?” (news, Aug. 22):

The byline on this story indicated that it was written by Dennis Myers. The late Myers wrote our feature story our Aug. 22 issue; however, the news column was contributed by Bob Conrad. We deeply regret the error.