Walter’s Plan to Improve Elko
Bring New Stores, Restaurants, and Businesses to Elko
Elko residents should never need to drive to Twin Falls or other cities to go shopping or have a meal. Elko is large enough and growing enough to both support our amazing local small businesses, and also support new stores and restaurants. Elko should have Hobby Lobby, Chick-fil-A, Sportsman’s Warehouse, Red Robin, Best Buy, Texas Roadhouse, and, yes, a Costco!
For too long, our City has held back growth out of misguided fears. The reality is Elko residents are already shopping at these businesses. Allowing and attracting these businesses to Elko will simply ensure that the jobs and tax revenue stays local, instead of going to Idaho or Utah. Growing the diversity of Elko’s shopping, dining, and entertainment options will also help us recruit and keep more professionals (like doctors), encourage mining companies to move more headquarters jobs to Elko, and help diversify and stabilize our economy.
As a City Councilman, I will actively recruit these companies to open locations in Elko. I will also dedicate myself to supporting local small businesses grow and thrive. This includes tearing down the bureaucratic hurdles that make it so difficult for entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams in Elko.
Fix the Housing Crisis and Make Elko More Affordable
Elko has a serious housing shortage. It is way too hard to find an apartment for rent or a house for sale. Worse yet, even when you can find someplace to rent or buy, the prices have become too expensive for normal working families. We need to build new housing and make Elko more affordable again.
The first step is to fix the problems within the City of Elko Building Department. It can take up to 3 months to obtain building permits, versus a matter of days or a couple weeks in neighboring areas. This directly contributes to the cost of new construction, which gets passed on to buyers and renters. Elko also needs to slash its California-style regulations that needlessly inflate the cost of building new homes. For example, Elko has adopted the same extreme energy conservation code as California. This alone can add over 10% to the cost of building a new home in the City of Elko versus Winnemucca or other rural Nevada communities.
Elko also needs to open more City-owned land for development. The City owns and controls large amounts of land on the edge of current development, which could become new housing if the City completed its infrastructure projects (like the Errecart Boulevard extension/connection), and sold the adjoining land. The City should prioritize selling this land to developers who will quickly build new apartments, townhouses, and other housing that is affordable for ordinary Elko workers and families.
As a City Councilman, I will use my legal experience and expertise to rewrite City regulations and codes to better reflect our current needs and situation. I will also work collaboratively with architects, builders, homeowners, and others to find creative common-sense solutions to increase the supply and affordability of housing.
Clean Up and Revitalize Downtown Elko
Downtown Elko has too many abandoned buildings and empty lots! We need a City Council that will more actively tackle this problem.
There are many reasons for Downtown Elko’s decline, but ultimately the city government culture is discouraging or actively preventing development/redevelopment. As with the housing crisis, Elko has too many California-style regulations and bureaucratic roadblocks. These create endless delays, which make it too difficult for entrepreneurs to create or grow small businesses in Elko. Our outdated zoning and parking codes further stymie Downtown Elko’s incredible potential.
Downtown Elko should once again become the pride of our community, filled with vibrant small businesses, new apartments and condos, and beautiful mid-rise buildings that contribute to a walkable community. Downtown Elko could become a 24/7 home and destination for miners working rotating shifts, while also recruiting and keeping the educated professionals (like doctors and mental health professionals) we desperately need more of. Downtown Elko can also encourage new corporate headquarters, businesses, and other jobs to move to Elko, thus growing and diversifying our economy and tax base.
As we work on growing and redeveloping Downtown Elko, we also need to preserve our heritage and hold property owners accountable. The City should support property owners who want to preserve and improve their historic buildings both financially and with common-sense variances. By the same measure, however, the City should strictly enforce ordinances against neglect and blight.
Reduce Crime and Protect Elko’s Children
Elko is an amazing small town, but we have too many big city crime problems. Even when fully staffed, Elko has around 25% fewer police officers per capita than other rural Nevada cities, like Winnemucca. The Elko Police Department has also struggled to maintain staffing in the face of higher salaries offered by the mining industry and other law enforcement agencies.
We need to ensure that the Elko Police Department is fully funded and has the resources necessary to keep us safe. More specifically, we need to better staff patrol shifts, rebuild the drug task force, and create a dedicated cyber/computer forensics investigator to tackle the digital crimes plaguing our children.
Elko should also revise the City Code to create mandatory minimum jail sentences for repeat offenders. This is especially critical for property crimes. Many businesses do not even report thefts, knowing that the criminal will likely receive only a slap on the wrist. Mandatory jail sentences will not only deter repeat thieves, but also encourage businesses to report crimes.
Finally, we need to provide the Elko Fire Department the resources necessary to keep up with Elko’s growth and ensure rapid response times to keep us safe.
Invest in the Infrastructure Elko Needs
Elko needs to invest more in our roads and infrastructure to keep up with existing and future growth. This starts with completing the Errecart Boulevard extension/connection, but should also include a new connection from North 5th Street to Mountain City Highway. We also need to improve our existing roads, including adding new traffic lights at the busiest intersections (like Mountain City Highway and Cimarron/Terminal Way, or Mountain City Highway and Jennings Way).
Hold Government Accountable With Zero-Based Budgeting
Like too many government entities across the United States, Elko operates on the assumption that each department’s budget should be adjusted up or down (almost always up) by a percentage each year. This means that we often continue the same spending as 10 or 20 years ago, regardless of how priorities have changed.
Zero-Based Budgeting operates from an assumption that every budget is $0. Departments then present a menu of options to the City Council on what services they could provide at what cost. By reviewing every cost every year, unnecessary or wasteful spending becomes easily identified and eliminated. This both protects taxpayers and frees up money for more important goals. Zero-Based Budgeting also holds departments accountable, because they must explain why funding is needed and how the money will directly benefit the citizens of Elko.