Save the Liberty Belle! Lashings for the RSCVA!


December 3, 2002

I am cranky. Lemme explain why: The government is ticking me off.

No, this is not going to turn into some Cory Farleyesque rant on what a massive goober George W. Bush is, although there is certainly a mountain of evidence to support such a claim. Like the fact that he cannot, no matter how hard he tries, pronounce "nuclear" correctly. He says noo-kyoo-ler. Get this man "Hooked on Phonics" NOW!

Now that I have made my peace with that issue, on to my main rant , which is about local governmental folks who seem to be trying to take a wizz all over folks who don't deserve it by telling people what they can and can't do with their property.

Example No. 1: The Liberty Belle.

If you have lived in Reno for a while, I am sure you've been to the Liberty Belle. It's a cool place -- lots of old slot machines give it a uniquely Old Nevada decor, which combine nicely with friendly service and damn fine food. If you haven't been there yet, give your self several non-recreational lashings and go dine there NOW, because you may not be able to much longer.

According to yesterday's Reno Gazette-Journal, ownership of the Liberty Belle has until Thursday to accept an offer to move to a new building across the street -- or be unceremoniously condemned. Why, you ask? It just so happens that the Liberty Belle is on the same block as the newly expanded Reno Sparks Convention Center, and the Reno Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority wants the Liberty Belle land to complete the block for parking or another overpriced piece of "public art" or something.

Of course, as evidence that life is not fair and that many public officials need non-recreational lashings, the RSCVA plans to condemn the land even though the restaurant has been there longer than the Convention Center has.

Phil Salerno, a Sparks City Council member and the chairman of the RSCVA board, was more than happy to make himself sound like an ass while defending the possible condemnation, according to the Gazette-Journal:

"I do sympathize with the [Liberty Belle owners], but it's progress," Salerno said. "The convention center is very important to the community. We bring conventions in and it fills hotels up."

"The Liberty Belle is a landmark and that's why people care. It's not going to be easy for anybody to decide what to do," he said.

The convention authority's master plan calls for purchasing all private parcels on the block. The Liberty Belle's three-quarter-acre lot is the last left.

Salerno said it's "mainly aesthetics" prompting the push to remove the Liberty Belle. Since the expansion, the convention center's main doorway is too close to the restaurant.

"Mainly aesthetics"? This is why the government is acting like a bully and condemning a Reno landmark? Dear Lord. And how is destroying a historic Reno icon "progress"?

Not to sound like a whackadoo, but I think it is insanely wrong and unconstitutional and generally blows major chunks that the government can do this kind of thing simply because it wants to. When there's land that the government wants that it doesn't have, the government should NOT be allowed to simply take it, especially for non-reasons like "mainly aesthetics."

If this indeed happens, to balance the universe, I propose that the government condemn all of Phil Salerno's land and turn it into a peat moss manufacturing plant, and that the RSCVA board be impeached and replaced with the Teletubbies.

It's examples like this that give the anti-government forces a shred of legitimacy. When the Powers That Be can violate decades of history, general tenets of fairness and the freedom of ownership, the Founding Fathers must sigh from their perch high above. This isn't want a free, democratic society is all about. Is it?

Jimmy Boegle is a fifth-generation Nevadan who is really behind on his Christmas shopping. His column appears here Tuesdays, and he can be reached via e-mail at jiboegle@stanfordalumni.org. 1