The Federal Land in Nevada Adds up to Economic Disaster! See Special Report Page 3 the PENNY PRESS, SEPTEMBER 13, 2007 PAGE 2
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Penny Press Las Vegas, NV Volume 4 Number 51 SEPTEMBER 13, 2007 All The Federal Land In Nevada Adds Up To Economic Disaster! See Special Report Page 3 THE PENNY PRESS, SEPTEMBER 13, 2007 PAGE 2 www.pennypresslv.com The Penny Press is published weekly by Penny Credits: 5010 Productions, Inc. All Contents © Penny Press 2007 Publisher and Editor: Contributing Editors: Letters to the Editor are encouraged. They should be Press Fred Weinberg Diane Grassi Al Thomas sent to our offices at 5010 Spencer, Las Vegas 89119. Logotype Circulation: Doug French Bill Here They can also be emailed to: [email protected] Pointedlymad Charlotte Weinberg John Getter Pat Choate No unsigned or unverifiable letters will be printed. licensed from: Rich Gast Joyce Meyer Wyatt Cox 702-740-5588 Fax: 702-920-8215 Penny Press LAS VEGAS, NEVADA 16 PAGES VOLUME 4 NUMBER 51 SEPTEMBER 13, 2007 Fed Land Ownership Killing Nevada By CHARLES F. BARR Numerous multi-million-dollar resi- the grip of the federal government on our absence of a significant release of federal Nevada Policy Research Institute dential and commercial projects have been land. land for housing and business construc- Special To The Penny Press cancelled or put on hold, resulting in tion, Clark County’s population density thousands of lost construction jobs, simply Significant Issue will increase by more than 75 percent, The federal government owns or con- because the high land prices have made significantly diminishing the quality of life trols 86 percent of the land in Nevada such projects too costly to build. In addi- Federal control of land in Nevada has of its residents. and even more — 89 percent — in Clark tion, construction of affordable two- and been a significant issue for Nevadans since The Las Vegas area currently has about County. The tight federal grip on this three-story apartment complexes has been the state’s inception in 1864. The Nevada 2.65 persons per household, and Clark land is causing economic harm — and, in severely reduced, causing rents for exist- Statehood Act gave the federal govern- County currently has 718,358 housing many cases, genuine hardship — to local ing apartments to rise sharply. ment most of the new state’s land, for the units. If average household size remains developers, workers, renters and would-be The resulting higher cost of living is purpose of selling this land to help pay the constant, Clark County will need to add homeowners. having an increasingly negative impact on Union’s Civil War debts. These sales never about 543,000 housing units between now Clark County’s ability to attract and retain took place. From the Civil War onward, and 2030 in order to accommodate popula- the skilled and unskilled workers needed Nevadans have been fighting the federal tion growth. Maintaining current popula- to support its growing economy. Lack government for control of most of the land tion and housing densities will require the Special Report of housing affordability is a major cause in the state. So far Nevada has been fight- development of an additional 670 square of the current teacher shortage, which is ing a losing battle. Today — 143 years miles of land during that time period. To negatively impacting the quality of educa- after statehood — the federal government achieve this goal, the amount of non-fed- tion for children in the county’s primary owns or controls 86 percent of the land eral land in Clark County (presently about The Bureau of Land Management and secondary schools. in Nevada, most of which is unavailable 572,000 acres, or 894 square miles) must (BLM) refuses to release more than a token A fundamental change in federal land for development. According to the Clark increase by about 75 percent. amount of land each year for construction policy is critically needed to restore hous- County Department of Comprehensive The Bureau of Land Management, of homes, schools, parks and businesses. ing affordability and maintain long-term Planning, about 89 percent of Clark the federal agency that manages federal This artificial, government-induced scar- economic growth in southern Nevada. County’s surface area is managed by the land, has been granted the authority to city of buildable land — in an area sur- Fortunately, Nevada is increasing its politi- Federal government. auction public land in Nevada by the rounded by mile after mile of wide-open cal clout at the national level. Nevada is As of July 1, 2006, the estimated pop- Federal Land Policy and Management spaces — has triggered massive increases now the home state of the U.S. Senate ulation of Clark County was 1,912,654. Act of 1976 (FLPMA), the Southern in the price of remaining privately owned Majority Leader and an early caucus state It is projected to rise to about 3,358,456 Nevada Public Land Management Act of land, to the point where the average family for the 2008 presidential election. The time persons by the year 2030, creating a sus- 1998 (SNPLMA) and the Federal Land can no longer afford the mortgage pay- is ripe to use Nevada’s growing political tained demand for both housing and retail Continued on page4 ments for a median-priced home. leverage at the national level to loosen services in the Las Vegas area. In the The Conservative Weekly PAT CHOATE PAGE 5 Voice Of Las Vegas FRED WEINBERG PAGE 6 Penny Wisdom DOUG FRENCH PAGE 7 Inside: The Ten Commandments BILLHERE PAGE 8 contain 297 words, the Bill AL THOMAS PAGE 10 of Rights 463 words, and Is Harry The Far Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address JOYCE MEYER PAGE 12 266 words. A recent federal WYATT COX PAGE 13 Left's Whore? directive regulating the price of cabbage contains 26,911 PET OF THE WEEK PAGE 15 words. See Editorial Page 6 —New York Times THE PENNY PRESS, SEPTEMBER 13, 2007 PAGE 4 Blame The Feds For The High Price Of Las Vegas Housing Continued from page 3 Transaction Facilitation Act of 2000 (FLTFA). Since 1999, the BLM has auctioned only D. Taylor put it, “Las Vegas was the last city left where a housekeeper could buy a home. 20 square miles of public land in Clark County. This is far short of the 29 square miles That’s not true anymore.” of suitable land per year needed to maintain Clark County’s current population density. Federal land policy is also helping to fuel a continuing shortage of elementary and These three pieces of legislation have failed to stimulate adequate land disposal by secondary school teachers. In the not-so-distant past, Clark County’s relatively low cost the BLM. The SNPLMA allows for sales of a restricted area of land surrounding met- of living was a major selling point for teacher recruitment. “However, with dramatically ropolitan Las Vegas. The amount of land still available for sale within this boundary is escalating housing costs and with new teachers more interested in purchasing power around 50 square miles, and some of it is unsuitable for housing. than retirement benefits, recruiting teachers is becoming increasingly difficult,” says a Current legislation also gives state and local governments first pick of land for recent report by statewide school officials. “. [S]ome teachers, after initially accept- “public uses.” The specific parcels of land to be sold are determined by the Secretary ing an offer to teach in Clark County, subsequently rejected the offer after visiting Las of the Interior and local governments that have jurisdiction over those lands. No official Vegas and finding the housing available to them within their budget to be unacceptable procedure allows private parties to have any say in which land is made available. The for their families.” law does allow for land to be released for affordable public housing, but does not take Excessive federal ownership of land in Southern Nevada hurts low-income families into account the positive effect an increased supply of private housing can have on the most, because they are forced to pay out a larger proportion of their income into the affordable housing problem. increased housing costs created by this policy. As of 2004, 11.6 percent of families in the Ultimately SNPLMA has not succeeded in alleviating the burden that public lands Las Vegas area had incomes below the poverty line. According to a December 8, 2004 put on the housing markets. Instead it has fostered complacency and erected further bar- article in the Las Vegas Sun, most families designated as “low-income” were paying riers to policies that would actually help Clark County. The FLTFA and the FLPMA are more than one-third of their income on housing costs. Given the sharp rise in housing also of no assistance to Southern Nevada. Both laws leave the decision to sell public prices and rents since that article was written, that percentage is almost certainly higher lands to the Secretary of the Interior, subject to several requirements. Unfortunately, today. those requirements are designed to favor the federal government’s retention of the Not only does the artificial scarcity of land drive up rents and home prices — it land. The most conspicuous example of this policy is the portion of the FLPMA that also triggers other cost increases and dampens the region’s economic growth. Industrial allows land to be sold for the benefit of local communities only if that benefit cannot be and commercial rent increases are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices, achieved with lands remaining in the government domain. This positions BLM not as an while cancellation of residential and commercial building projects leads to the loss of entity that exists to manage public lands when no private owner is available, but as an thousands of construction jobs.