My Point of View/By Rolando Larraz
Before I move on to my memory of the bad things that happened in 2020, and before I start dreaming about all the good things that I would like to see happening in this new year of 2021, I have a couple of things to acknowledge.
First, I would like to thank my friend Jason Oliva for taking me out to lunch to celebrate the arrival of the new year and for the great gift he left in my office for Christmas.
Jason and his kids, Omar and Sahid, also surprised me with a beautiful sixty-five-inch television set for my office, but I am planning to take it home in exchange for the forty-two-inch set I have in my bedroom.
I would also like to thank Attorney Dowon Kang and his son Sebastian for the interesting political exchange of opinions; I never knew such a young man with such an outlook on our political perspectives. I know that Dowon is very proud of his son, but I also assume that Sebastian’s mom is also very proud of having such an intelligent son.
Now, after all the Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year’s festivities, let’s get back to business and the political drama, government malfunction, and the government employees — who believe they are the bosses and forget that they work for us and not the other way around—that Nevadans are facing on a daily basis.
If you have the misfortune of having to call the county code enforcement unit and you speak with an accent, pray that you don’t have the misfortune of having your call answered by a woman named Susie; Susie is very rude, arrogant, controlling and ignorant of the street names in our community and then she pretends that she “does not understand” because you have an accent and acts like she does not have an accent herself.
I just noticed that government entities are acting as collection agencies for other government institutions and perhaps for other local companies.
The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles acts as a collection agency for the Clark County Commission, collecting an astronomical amount from their “basic service tax” and “supplemental government service tax” amounting to thirty five percent of the thirty-three dollars ($33.00) of the license plate cost for something unknown to all (we do not know what it is for), but it was approved by the almighty elected lawmakers in Nevada.
The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles is so busy playing collector for Clark County that they don’t have time to go after the Californians that moved here, but want to keep the habits, the mentality and even the license plates so they do not have to give Nevada any money. The other day I counted twenty-nine California cars in the Walmart parking lot; it seems like they all come shopping here and later go back home — yeah, right!
The parking lot may be a place where the tourists come to play, gamble, and of course, shop, but believe me they are not driving across the state line to shop at Walmart.
But, assuming that the DMV has no way of knowing if they are here shopping or working, the Department of Motor Vehicles can do it the easy way; they can stop “pretending” to be working and start cruising the employees’ parking lot and see how many California license plates are found there waiting for the owners of those cars to finish their shift and then go to Walmart.
I understand that according to the police, code enforcement, and parking enforcement as well, “criminals have rights too,” and violators of the law also have rights; no one may be allowed to ask those California drivers what hotel they are staying at and how long they are going to be visiting Las Vegas “after their shift ends,” and then issue them a violation for breaking the law.
The city of Las Vegas is now a collection agency for the Las Vegas Fire Department despite the fact that the Las Vegas Fire Department has its own independent budget and can establish its own collection agency.
However, the money that the city collects for the ambulance and the Las Vegas Fire Department has to be payable to a company in California; business license fees and parking and traffic tickets are also payable to a company in California.
The people from California come to Clark County, especially Las Vegas, buy property here and then rent out at California prices making it
almost impossible for people to find an affordable decent place to live in our beautiful city.
I do not understand why Nevada elected officials are so infatuated with Californians coming to Las Vegas, doing whatever they want to do
and getting away with it.
Inquiring minds want to know.
My name is Rolando Larraz, and as always, I approved this column.
* * * * *
Rolando Larraz is Editor in Chief of the Las Vegas Tribune. His column appears weekly in this newspaper. To contact Rolando Larraz, email him at: Rlarraz@lasvegastribune.com or at 702-272-4634.
Before I move on to my memory of the bad things that happened in 2020, and before I start dreaming about all the good things that I would like to see happening in this new year of 2021, I have a couple of things to acknowledge.First, I would like to thank my friend Jason Oliva for taking me out to lunch to celebrate the arrival of the new year and for the great gift he left in my office for Christmas.
Jason and his kids, Omar and Sahid, also surprised me with a beautiful sixty-five-inch television set for my office, but I am planning to take it home in exchange for the forty-two-inch set I have in my bedroom.
I would also like to thank Attorney Dowon Kang and his son Sebastian for the interesting political exchange of opinions; I never knew such a young man with such an outlook on our political perspectives. I know that Dowon is very proud of his son, but I also assume that Sebastian’s mom is also very proud of having such an intelligent son.
Now, after all the Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year’s festivities, let’s get back to business and the political drama, government malfunction, and the government employees — who believe they are the bosses and forget that they work for us and not the other way around—that Nevadans are facing on a daily basis.
If you have the misfortune of having to call the county code enforcement unit and you speak with an accent, pray that you don’t have the misfortune of having your call answered by a woman named Susie; Susie is very rude, arrogant, controlling and ignorant of the street names in our community and then she pretends that she “does not understand” because you have an accent and acts like she does not have an accent herself.
I just noticed that government entities are acting as collection agencies for other government institutions and perhaps for other local companies.
The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles acts as a collection agency for the Clark County Commission, collecting an astronomical amount from their “basic service tax” and “supplemental government service tax” amounting to thirty five percent of the thirty-three dollars ($33.00) of the license plate cost for something unknown to all (we do not know what it is for), but it was approved by the almighty elected lawmakers in Nevada.
The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles is so busy playing collector for Clark County that they don’t have time to go after the Californians that moved here, but want to keep the habits, the mentality and even the license plates so they do not have to give Nevada any money. The other day I counted twenty-nine California cars in the Walmart parking lot; it seems like they all come shopping here and later go back home — yeah, right!
The parking lot may be a place where the tourists come to play, gamble, and of course, shop, but believe me they are not driving across the state line to shop at Walmart.
But, assuming that the DMV has no way of knowing if they are here shopping or working, the Department of Motor Vehicles can do it the easy way; they can stop “pretending” to be working and start cruising the employees’ parking lot and see how many California license plates are found there waiting for the owners of those cars to finish their shift and then go to Walmart.
I understand that according to the police, code enforcement, and parking enforcement as well, “criminals have rights too,” and violators of the law also have rights; no one may be allowed to ask those California drivers what hotel they are staying at and how long they are going to be visiting Las Vegas “after their shift ends,” and then issue them a violation for breaking the law.
The city of Las Vegas is now a collection agency for the Las Vegas Fire Department despite the fact that the Las Vegas Fire Department has its own independent budget and can establish its own collection agency.
However, the money that the city collects for the ambulance and the Las Vegas Fire Department has to be payable to a company in California; business license fees and parking and traffic tickets are also payable to a company in California.
The people from California come to Clark County, especially Las Vegas, buy property here and then rent out at California prices making it
almost impossible for people to find an affordable decent place to live in our beautiful city.
I do not understand why Nevada elected officials are so infatuated with Californians coming to Las Vegas, doing whatever they want to do
and getting away with it.
Inquiring minds want to know.
My name is Rolando Larraz, and as always, I approved this column.
* * * * *
Rolando Larraz is Editor in Chief of the Las Vegas Tribune. His column appears weekly in this newspaper. To contact Rolando Larraz, email him at: Rlarraz@lasvegastribune.com or at 702-272-4634.
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