Fuji Park talks better late than never

To their credit, Carson City officials are laying out their vision for the future of Fuji Park and the fairgrounds in a series of meetings concluding today.

They want to hear the opinions of residents, who should inform themselves and then make clear their preferences. Speak now, the saying goes, or forever hold your peace.

Of course, we're more than a year into the debate over what should happen at Fuji Park. And Costco went in, starting the ball rolling toward development of the area, with little thought to the consequences on the park lands.

Better late than never, we guess.

In addition, both the Carson City Parks Commission and the Fuji Park Users' Group already have been through a long process of trying to figure out an acceptable place for Fuji Park, the fairgrounds or both. They didn't like what they saw.

Two key pieces of the puzzle are still missing - where the fairgounds might go, and what might end up on the land.

There are potential sites, including federal property, in the area. But not much has been done to plan for any of them, which means it's premature to be talking about moving the fairgrounds.

Only one site makes sense for everybody: Stewart. But state officials won't even talk about it. That's unfortunate, because one solution lies in state cooperation at Stewart.

The other missing piece - what might occupy the land - leaves residents in the dark. All city officials will talk about is the "pressure" from some unnamed companies or developers.

Fuji Park supporters keep pointing out there is plenty of developable land in private hands in the vicinity of the highways 395-50 intersection. Until somebody can explain why the city is in the property-development business, that debate won't go very far.

Nevertheless, it's handy that the issues which are on the table can all be found in the same room - Senator Square at Carson High School, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today - for residents to make up their own minds.