Latest news with #RegionalTransportationCommissionofSouthernNevada
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trade war, hedge funds, lumber: Nevada congressman talks money
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – The air brake hiss of the bus leaving Chinatown is not a sound commonly linked with the housing crisis, but community leaders tell Nevada's congressional leadership it's a note in their chorus call for help. There are 78,000 acres of underutilized land in the core of the Las Vegas Valley, according to a new report from the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC) and ECONorthwest. Minjia Yan, director of Millenium Commercial Properties, highlighted the report during an affordable housing meeting with U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.). 'Some of these areas are an abandoned Kmart building on Rainbow and Spring Mountain that has been vacant for 20 years,' Yan said. RTC bussing is also a part of the conversation as Yan said the cost of transportation and rent is connected. 'The true cost of housing is the cost of housing plus cost of transportation,' she said. 'Where you live, you have to be accessible to where you work, where you go to schools, where you get access to the amenities that you need in your daily life.' Surrounded by other community leaders, Horsford nodded along with Yan's points and expressed gratitude to the number of viewpoints in the roundtable discussion. 'It's about listening to the leaders in our community who both have the lived experience of housing and affordability,' Horsford said. 'As well as advocates and organizations that are working on the solutions.' Representatives from Compass Development, Nevada Homeless Alliance, Nevada Housing Coalition, Hopelink of Southern Nevada, and the Nevada Housing Division met with Horsford to discuss their view from the ground level of the housing crisis. 'It's about land, lumber, labor, all of which are driving factors in the affordability crisis, not only for low-income and affordable housing but for housing at every level throughout the valley,' Horsford said. 'And that's something that we are working extremely hard on, and that will help inform our legislation.' The cost of construction goods for new homes impacted by the Trump administration's newest tariffs, according to Horsford. During a Wednesday hearing the Nevada representative grilled the White House's top trade negotiator on trade strategy. 'So, the trade representative hasn't spoken to the President of the United States about a global reordering of trade and yet he announced it on a tweet? WTF, who's in charge?' Horsford said. 'It looks like your boss just pulled the rug out from under you and paused the tariffs, the taxes on the American people.' U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the president 'is in charge' and that he doesn't disclose his 'conversations with the president.' Sitting in his office, Horsford told 8 News Now he didn't intend to create the viral moment but instead hoped to focus on the impact on Las Vegas-based tourism. 'I didn't go into that hearing planning to talk about the tariffs and the pause,' he said. 'I actually went into the hearing planning to talk about the effect of tariffs and its impact on our tourism economy, because we've already seen a decline of about 17% of international tourists coming from places like Canada, which is affecting our livelihood and those that work in the tourism.' Horsford said what happened instead was Greer, who advises the president on trade strategy, appeared to be made aware of the recent tariff pause at the same time as others in the hearing room. 'Which then caused me to question, well, who's in charge and who's actually making these recommendations to the President,' he said. 'And then as he's answering the question, it became obvious to me. Oh, this was their plan all along, which led leads into the question was this market manipulation?' The influence on the increasing cost of the Southern Nevada housing market also a target for Horsford who pointed to hedge funds as a major culprit. 'These hedge funds have come in and now own nearly a third of the homes in North Las Vegas in particular,' he said. 'That's one in three homes you can drive down certain blocks, and virtually the entire block is owned by these out-of-state hedge funds.' Horsford said he has introduced legislation to crack down on corporate hedge funds and would address market manipulation. 'I'm about creating economic opportunity,' Horsford said. 'While these other forces are trying to literally take that housing off the market.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawmakers propose study bill on what it would take to build regional rail systems
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada rendering of a proposed light rail along Maryland Parkway. In 2019 the RTC opted to enhance bus lanes instead. Reno Assemblymember Selena La Rue Hatch brought forward legislation on Tuesday she hoped would be the first step to potentially bring a regional rail system to Southern and Northern Nevada. Assembly Bill 256, heard Tuesday at the Assembly Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections, would create a Regional Rail Transit Advisory Working Group to assess the need for mass transit via rail in the state's largest metro areas, as well as potential funding sources for such a system. The group would submit legislative recommendations for the 2027 Legislative Session. 'A fully functioning regional transit system with rail is not a-one session bill,' La Rue Hatch said. 'This is the first step in getting there.' Rail transit would ease traffic and congestion while reducing emissions that exacerbate climate change, La Rue Hatch said. There have been previous efforts to assess feasibility of rail transit systems in Las Vegas and Reno by regional transportation groups, La Rue Hatch noted. State lawmakers even passed legislation in 2017 authorizing Southern Nevada to pursue a light rail system. Upon consideration, Southern Nevada officials in 2019 opted to enhance the bus system instead. La Rue Hatch said there was 'never a plan for how we would make those things get off the ground,' adding discussions and studies assessing regional rail systems were 'all happening in silos' without much coordination. 'The legislature is not fully informed on how we can help support this,' she said. The aim of the bill would be to consolidate efforts, build on the work that's already being done and bring recommendations to the legislature, she said. La Rue Hatch was joined by Gabe Christenson, legislative director for SMART TD, which represents railroad conductors, and Anne Macquarie with the Nevada Rail Coalition, an advocacy group made up of railroad unions and environmental groups, in presenting the bill to the committee on Tuesday. Christenson said with an increased number of people relocating to Nevada, transportation infrastructure is struggling to keep up with demand. 'Building new roads or even expanding existing roads is a massive financial endeavor that takes a very long time,' he said. 'In many cases, by the time the projects are done, it's already time to start expanding again.' While it would be up to the working group to assess funding sources to pay for a potential rail system, 'there are billions of dollars available annually in the form of federal grants for new passenger rail projects,' he said. Neither Christenson nor any of the lawmakers discussed how efforts by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, an unelected adviser and director of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, to slash government services and funding federal cuts could stymie efforts to use federal dollars for a potential regional rail system. The legislation also proposed looking at state, private and nonprofit dollars as potential funding sources. Macquarie said rail systems bring economic benefits to communities. 'Property taxes in the areas surrounding stations can quadruple when they're developed with businesses that serve rail passengers,' she said, while contributing 'to meeting the state's environmental, economic and quality of life goals.' The working group outlined in the bill would include representatives from Clark and Washoe Counties, both counties Regional Transportation Commissions, state lawmakers, labor unions, as people with expertise in rail transit. The study bill received overwhelming support from business groups and environmental organizers. Reno Ward 4 City Councilwoman Meghan Ebert was the lone local elected official to testify in support of the bill. Ebert, who represents a more rural area of Reno, said the number one concern she hears from constituents is about the lack of transit infrastructure and 'ways to get in and out of the North valley into the rest of Reno.' 'I think this is a great option to move this forward and find ways to include light rail or whatever type of train system the study decides is feasible,' Ebert said. Both the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada and Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County supported the proposal. Michael Hillerby, a lobbyist with the RTC in Washoe, said the county is in the middle of its own feasibility study using outside consultants, but didn't specify a timeline for when it would be completed. The Vegas Chamber also supported the bill, requesting the working group include a member from the chamber as well. La Rue Hatch said she was open to adding a representative for a trade association or Chamber of Commerce. The committee took no action on the bill.
