Road rules

Everybody done got them old NIMBY blues again. (NIMBY— Not In My Back Yard).

Well, maybe not everybody, but lots of folks out there in the land of Rosewood Lakes and Hidden Valley do. For a long time, they’ve fought the good fight against the much-debated southeast connector, which would join Geiger Grade to Sparks. But now, all ye Rosewoodians, I’m afraid it’s time for you to lay down, roll over, thrust your buns to the sky and beg for the powers that be to be tender as they finally have their way.

Look, folks, I know you like your homes and the area in which those homes reside. You like things the way they are now. We all can relate. It is nice out there. Your neighborhoods are pleasant. I know the prospect of a big, busy, loud, four- or six-lane street with lots of signals and traffic isn’t attractive. We all understand that. And we’re sorry for the nastiness that’s about to go down in your part of town. It’s just, well, we just gotta have it.

Reno is no longer the Biggest Little City in the World. It’s now just another Little Big City, and when I say Reno, I’m including Sparks and all the county residents who live in the Truckee Meadows. Stead isn’t in this discussion, and neither is Spanish Springs nor Verdi.

There are now over 300,000 people living in the Meadows. Projections, unfortunately, forecast that there are going to be many more people living in the Meadows in another 13 years, maybe up to 500,000. I don’t have to tell you, fine folks of Rosewood/H.V., that traffic is not going to be a big bleeping problem in 2020. It’s a big bleeping problem now. You live here. You have to deal with it just like all the rest of us. You know what I’m talking about.

So please, all you Nimbists who keep bitching at the Regional Transportation Commission every time they pick a route (Bulletin: They just picked the valley corridor route, the most economical, sensible and unpopular choice), please, the time has come to take that big chill pill. The time has come to stop making this project sound like Three Mile Island. The time has come to submit. The time has come to take one for the greater good. We just gotta have this road, Rosewoodians. We needed this road yesterday, to tell the truth. And we sure as hell need it for tomorrow.

The city of Reno futzed around for decades about the train trench, and instead of it costing 4 million bucks, it ended up with a price of 250 mill. The city, one would guess, won’t make that mistake with the southeast connector. So when this thing is finally built, (which won’t happen for a while), you do have options. You can (1) get a louder TV, or (2) move. Again, sorry ’bout that, but as the onslaught of ‘Fornians relocating here carries on, I don’t recall any laws being passed that guaranteed that Rosewood Lakes and Hidden Valley would be exempt from feeling the crimp a bit.