As a Gerlach resident, I find the presence of the Burning Man event truly obnoxious. I moved out here to enjoy the solace that the high desert landscape provides-- to live in a small, quiet town where I am reasonably certain that I will seldom bump into someone that I don't already know, or to whom I am not related. I generally can leave my keys in my truck and my front door unlocked, that is, until Burning Man time.

Around the time of your "event," the traffic is abominable, with the worst kind of people hanging out at the only store for miles, half-naked and with foul language and attitudes. My friends have to keep their young children away from the store for the entire week, for fear that they will be exposed to this filth. The traffic creates an unsafe condition for the schol bus-- that's right-- school begins that week! People wander around Gerlach into areas where there is nothing for them, poking around people's yards and up to who knows what.

And what is this I hear about "Leave No Trace?" Apparently this is forgotten the moment the hordes of scum come shuttling off the playa. Garbage on the sides of the road, garbage in the parking lots in Wadsworth and Fernley, garbage everywhere. The only worthwhile part of Burning Man are the kick-ass crew who help to deal with all that garbage-- whatever you pay them isn't enough. Their integrity stands in stark contrast to the callous irresponsibility of the thousands and thousands of losers you attract to my community, and dump onto my pristine desert.

While it is very nice that Burning Man provided a solar array for the school, it still has yet to be seen that the benefits will remain here in Gerlach-- any savings from this could easily go directly to the Washoe County general fund (aka Reno). Helping the Ladies' Auxilixary to fix the water tower (and taking all the credit) and providing for the Jeremy Williams scholarship fund is very generous, but does not go far enough to offset the damage that your event has on my community. I say let people opt out of a $1 per ticket tax, which would go to benefit the Gerlach General Improvement District. Our water bills are going through the roof, now that Burning Man has put us on the map and various federal agencies are requiring water and sewer improvements. As far as I can tell, the only person in Gerlach who is benefitting from Burning Man is Bruno, and maybe Metric.

Better yet, I say put a toll road between Empire and Gerlach. Free with a Nevada ID, $5 for others, and $20 for Californians. I am fed up with out-of-state corporations expoliting our Nevada natural resources and exporting the dollars to California bank accounts.

Please consider moving the whole works back to California, and thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
(name omitted)
W. Sunset Boulevard
Gerlach, NV 89412