LETTER: Taxpayer extortion

Re: Your July 29 editorial on Badlands. My good friend lives in Queensridge. When he bought his home, it backed up to a beautifully manicured practice range. Today that area is nothing more than dry desert.

The original proposal from the developer, EHB, called for several thousand housing units to be built on the golf course property. If the original plan had been approved, my friend would have had a five-story condo/ apartment building within 50 feet of his property. This plan was rejected.

As a taxpaying citizen of Las Vegas, I want to know what additional plans has EHB submitted to the planning commission? And if the plan or plans were rejected, why? This should all be public knowledge. The city has already incurred several million dollars in legal expenses and is at risk of having to pay EHB millions of dollars for reverse condemnation damages. If EHB has plans to build out Badlands, the city should let it go forward.

In the years that EHB has owned the site, however, not one road has been built and sewer and water lines have not been installed. In other words, EHB has not built the basic infrastructure that is necessary to start the build-out of a new community.

Before EHB can extort millions in taxpayer money, I would ask that the Review-Journal perform an in-depth analysis of the Badlands fiasco.