What Do You Think About The Current Legislative Session? (Las Vegas: lofts, co-ops)

[tijlover]

Any hopes dashed yet, any surprises, any disappointments?

I'm holding my breath on the Physician Assisted Suicide Measure, praying to several gods that it gets passed! And those that vote against it, I'm ready to bombard them with emails!

There's talk of raising the cigarettes taxes again, and if they wish to do stupid, let them! They just raised the cigarette taxes in the last session, and we lost out on the smuggling revenue to Arizona. CA just raised their cigarette taxes once again, so if with level heads, let's hope they actually lower the cigarette taxes, and let them come over here from AZ and CA to buy their smokes, and pocket the revenue!

[kttam186290]

I read the LV Review Journal almost daily and, I have to say, it seems like this current legislative session in Carson City is one of the most "left-leaning" I've watched in years. Politically, Nevada has been one of the most fascinating states to watch evolve in recent years.

There didn't used to be much of a difference between Las Vegas and Reno up until about the 1990s. Both were Nevada gambling towns with similar populations/demographics/issues/economies.

Nevadans voted for conservative and centrist Democrats locally and usually Republican at the presidential level and, that was that. The state was much more homogeneous and more uniform back then.

I think it's safe to say that Nevada is no longer a "red" state, like it was just 12 years ago. In fact, it's really hard to believe that the state voted for George W. Bush twice over Al Gore and John Kerry .

I don't even know if I'd call Nevada "purple" at this point? It's more like Indigo.

Clark County has always been a Democratic bastion, so nothing new there. The real change has come from up north in Washoe County -- which has become a distant suburb of San Francisco in its politics, it seems. Washoe is very blue, in contrast to the very red neighboring rural counties in California to its west.

The cowboy/redneck/service industry culture up in Reno is being slowly replaced by manufacturing and light tech. Old casinos in downtown Reno are being remade into lofts and creative spaces for artists. Last time I was there I think I counted three co-ops in Reno...which, if you remember Reno circa the 1980s, is really bizarre.

Reno wants to be the antithesis of the glitz of Las Vegas and wants to rebrand itself more as a Pacific Northwest eco-tourism spot / university town in the same vein as Humboldt, Eugene or Ashland.

Las Vegas is fine with being a Southwestern, glitzy, L.A.-influenced big city with International ambitions and a large immigrant population.

Both Reno and Las Vegas are headed in opposite directions, yet, both are also simultaneously pulling the state's politics to the Left.

[nick2788]

Originally Posted by kttam186290

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Both Reno and Las Vegas are headed in opposite directions, yet, both are also simultaneously pulling the state's politics to the Left.

Which is a huge cause of concern to me. And quite frankly, is keeping me from buying a home in this state.
I was born and raised in CA and only moved out to Vegas a year ago.

Looking into moving to Pahrump, I've been thinking of possibly buying a home there. But now I'm not so sure, it seems like Nevada is becoming California Lite.

Too many ex Californians moving here and unfortunately bringing their politics with them.