News Carson City

Carson City Supervisors, on a four to one vote Thursday night, decided to proceed with further negotiations with the Nugget Casino and its project team to help economically re-vitalize Carson City. Their plan envisions downtown high rise office buildings, new retail stores, a new public library, an economic incubator and a high powered digitial lab cranking out high-end video programming to be shown nationally, if not world-wide. The Nugget’s management team even brought in a “Hollywood” producer with impressive credentials to say the digital lab would be a substantial job-creator.

The financial plan for the project was not set in stone, but one thing seemed clear. The project needs over $40 million in city funds to make it happen. It also needs another $40 million from the Nugget. One by one, many business people in town got up and sang the praises of the project saying that Carson City needs a financial shot in the arm and this is just the thing to do it. Former State Archivist Guy Rocha likened the proposal to the kind of boot straps, staunch rugged western individualism that is part of Nevada’s heritage. He said “Nevada and Carson City are in decline. Does anyone have any better ideas?”

Many business people and those involved with the Library gave the project their full-hearted support.
A few residents got up and gave it their tentative approval, but with reservations about what they described as some uncertainty about financing, long term growth potential and the project’s cost impacts on future city services should the project take up more financial resources than planned. One said that “economic incubators,” which provide research and development (R&D) expertise, moxy marketing insight and production skills, are more common in large cities surrounded by large universities with R&D capabilities, none of which Carson City has. The Nugget team answered that Carson City is a high quality of life area which will draw that expertise. They also pointed out there is a new economic incubator group in Reno, C4CUBE, that is already on the Nugget Team and participating in the project.

Toward the end, Supervisor Pete Livermore tried to convince his fellow Board members to place an advisory issue on the June ballot, asking the public for a thumbs up or down on the project. His idea got nowhere. Mayor Bob Crowell said he understood Livermore’s somewhat critical viewpoint on the project but that there will be more public hearings on the issue. With that the Board voted 4 to 1 to continue negotiating with the Nugget Team (with Livermore voting no). And that the board will send “letters of interest” to the Nugget Team expressing the city’s intent to further negotiate the details of the project.