News 10-30-07 Fire Station Cost Doubles

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Posted by: Justin - 10/31/2007 7:39:02 AM
Lets see how well the city council and developers do at managing/resolving the various other problems that will inevitably pop up regarding the Baseball Stadium project. Like all most other projects downtown, it could be a bumpy ride. For the record, I'm not trying to be negative. I TRULY hope we can build the stadium and make it a downtown success story. However, the Bowling Stadium, Transit Center, 10 North Virginia Street Plaza/Canopy, Train Trench Cover, Kings Inn, Masonic Building, etc. give me pause and really temper my optimism. Heck, a year ago we were promised the ugly, and now useless, Fitzgeralds walkway would be torn down by January and yet it still stands.

Posted by: Brenda Hill - 10/31/2007 9:51:34 AM
What a nightmare already!!

Posted by: Fireman - 10/31/2007 4:11:46 PM
Regardless of what has come to be, the majority of us think this Baseball Stadium will be a great thing for the city. However,I am starting to see who is going to bear the burden of putting this plan to fruition. They have figured out that the City's whole mainframe is in the basement and is somewhat costly to move (5th floor of city hall) but they have found a home for it. That's done! The administration will find office space to rent somewhere which will not likely be city hall for some reason, even though there is plenty of room. (I've heard they're not wanted there but that's just rumor) Either way they're new home will be permanent. Check that one off! Which leaves us the firefighters. The plan is two stations because for years there has been a "response hole" in the area of mill and terminal. It is a dead area that has needed a station for as long as I can remember. So what better way to fix this than to CLOSE both Rescue 3 and Rescue 1 which are two man crews each that respond to medicals and are one of the first crews to do searches for victims inside a structure when it's on fire. These two units will be combined into an engine company and placed on the area at GSR. The other station at 4th & Valley will now only house a Truck and an Engine. What's not being said is this is a reduction in our staffing. On top of this Management often will require a engine to "fill-in" to another station so that crew can go to required training. Guess which engine will be doing that. Correct, Engine 21 the one to be placed at GSR. That now leaves only two rigs to cover all of downtown and the area around mill & terminal. Sounds like a plan, huh? And what about the permanent station? The marching order's were to find CITY OWNED LAND because Reno can't afford to buy land AND build a station. There are several open lots that would work for a new station but the city has said no due to cost. 6th & valley, 6th & evans, 6th & morrill to name a few and the lomger we wait the more the cost will go up due to the stadium. I understand that most things require politics and political savey. I understand that this baseball deal is a political triumph if it goes through (which I believe it will go through). But what I don't consider politics is messing with public safety. Kicking us out of our staion, bulldozing our Firefighter Memorial, boxing up our museum and placing it into storage with no idea of when it will come out, placing us in tents and "Modular Buildings", reducing our staffing and then asking us to be patient for 5-7 YEARS. I am a public servant, and proud to be. I will provide the best protection I can to the public with what facilities and equipment were given, but does it have to be this way? The city has got to step up and do the right thing for both the public and it's firefighters that protect them. 5-7 years isn't temporary, that's if it is only 5-7 years. Many believe we won't see a new station for 10 years. I hope on this one I am wrong.

Posted by: Anakin-Marc - 11/2/2007 12:55:15 AM
My thoughts still center around the possibility of moving the current Greyhound station and consilidating that with the new 4th Street bus station. The land where the current Greyhound station could then be used for a new Station #1. It is a large lot (from the looks of it larger than the current Station #1), practically in downtown, and could result in an even better station than we currently have. In addition, locating the Greyhound station by both RTC and Amtrak would place all major transportation (with the exception of the airport) within a block of the baseball stadium, not to mention it would make transportation more convienant for those coming into Reno on Greyhound. Just a thought, would love to hear some input on it.

Posted by: jim - 11/3/2007 10:30:28 AM
to answer the previous comment...the bus staton lot is in the new "baseball district" that Mark Lewis created. So guess who has first right to build on the land.... thats correct, the developer of the ball park. And do you think a fire station can make him any money? NO. The developer could have incorperated a fire station into the design of the ballpark, but that wouldn't have made him any money either. The firefighters were told that their building had to come down. So they are kicking them out, and now it turns out the building may stay standing and be used in the design of the stadium. Why is it that the developer was able to convince the city that the firefighters had to go, the building had to come down, but now he can incorperate it in the design? Sounds like it's going be a big savings for the developer at the cost of the city getting an ugly scabbed together stadium. Seems to me that the city of Reno has bent over backwards for the developer, and I think he has an obligation to produce a quality product. Another thing..... why is the city GIVING the developer the land and station for 1 dollar, and then LOANING the city 10 million to rebuild somewhere else. First of all, to rebuild a station like station 1, it's going to cost much more than the 7 million left (after the 3 million for temporary locatins) that the city will be lent. Rumor is that it's more like 20 million. So where is the 13 million going to come from? If I told you I loved the land your house sat on, and I wanted you to give it to me for a dollar, and I was going to rip it down..... but don't worry, I would LOAN you the money at 6% interest for you to find a new house..... but only loan you half of what you would actually need.... you would tell me to get lost. I think the people of Reno are being taken advantage of.

Posted by: Mike Van H - 11/4/2007 12:33:41 PM
Hey Anakin-Marc that's actually a good idea. To Jim, the developer does not own the land where the 4th street transit station is going, RTC does. They have been planning for years to put the transit station there, and I have not heard any talk of not putting it there, particularly when the current land of the Citicenter Station is already spoken for and was part of the Baseball Deal. I doubt the developer is just going to slap together some stadium, I have faith it will be a high quality product. These people paid $15 million for a team, and now are going to pump nearly $90 million into a stadium and retail, I doubt they want to sabotage their own project with a mediocre design. Regarding the city being taken advantage of, I don't see it that way when you look at the specifics of the deal. The Redevelopment Agency saw a chance to completely transform a run-down creepy part of downtown that ecompasses multiple city blocks, and tie it to the rest of the their development projects downtown. I really really urge people to do the research; look at other downtown Triple-AAA stadiums in comparable cities, and compare thir success with the stadiums located in the outskirts of town. Consolidating entertainment downtown is urban planning 101, and follows the City's Master Plan of having an entertainment district. And regarding the retail, we're talking about one of the largest mall developers in America; I can't wait to see what they come up with. I will however, be watching the fire station developments very closely, as I consider my neighborhood one of the more at risk neighborhoods with an extremely high percentage of 1920's and 1930's homes. We need good response times here.