Friday, Aug. 23, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Herbert Groper isn't sure he supports the $120 million public safety bond question that's going before Clark County voters Sept. 3, but Paul Winn is convinced it'll be good for the community.
Meanwhile, Miriam Hymowitz is scared to death of going out at night for fear of being attacked, but she's not sure spending money on more jails is the right approach to fighting crime.
"I feel like we are the criminals, locked in our homes because we're afraid to go shopping at night, or leave the door open," said Hymowitz, a widow of seven years. "Why not concentrate on keeping kids out of jail and from committing crimes?"
The views of those Sun City Summerlin residents and others like them are as diverse as their backgrounds, their jobs and their hometowns. And they're going to be a tough sell on Question 1.
Skepticism about the ability to deliver the goods ran thick at Thursday's town hall meeting at the Desert View Community Center in Sun City Summerlin, the latest stop on the traveling road show for the bond question.
While fewer than 100 people showed up, the ones who did came prepared to grill the top law enforcement officials present about the $120 million bond question.
For months now, Sheriff Jerry Keller, District Judge Nancy Becker and District Attorney Stewart Bell have been traveling around the county with local civic and business leaders trying to sell Question 1. The efforts are paying off, because polls show about 65-72 percent support the bond.
"I've been here 20 years," said Winn, an attorney who worked for Howard Hughes' companies for 30 years. "I've seen this community grow, we need the facilities that come along with it."
But even Winn thinks the bond question will be a tough sell in Sun City, because the seniors don't think officials have delivered on their promises.
"It may be difficult, with the bond issue for the library district, the new county building, and so many promises were made with the last school bond they didn't get to do,' Winn said. "Most people in this community are skeptical."
If approved, the bonds would raise $120 million to help pay for a 1,500-bed expansion of the Clark County Detention Center, new juvenile facilities, and a Regional Justice Center for the three main courts in Clark County.
The bonds would not increase taxes because they would be replacing other bond debt the county is retiring.
Groper doubted that taxes would stay the same.
"The debt on that kind of money is quite big," Groper said. "I don't believe them."
Others wanted to know how that money would be spread around, since the jail expansion alone would cost close to $70 million.
The total cost of the three projects comes to $190 million, with the other $70 million coming from court fees and government contributions, Keller told them, choosing to bond $120 million because that was the maximum they could go without raising taxes.
"I would much rather divide it into three sections and push the ones I feel are worthwhile," Groper said. "None of that benefits Sun City residents, but because I'm civic-minded I suppose I'd support some of it."
Becker, Bell and Keller threw a mix of crime statistics and anecdotes at the audience, trying to show them how necessary the facilities are: 150 people a month released because there isn't enough jail space, a juvenile crime rate that's quadrupled in 12 years, 1,700 inmates in a jail built for 858.
"What bothers me is every year politicians are building more jails, bigger facilities," Hymowitz said. "They should concentrate on finding a solution, so we're not filling up the jails."
archive
