[MountainBiking]

Originally Posted by frischee112

I believe that in todays eco-friendly world, along with the density of people and buildings on/around the strip and the monorail that the days of blowing up resorts and casinos is over. Anyone else believe this to be true?

The older properties would get blown up but the new billion dollar properties- never. The saddest thing ever was watching the Dunes getting blown up and seeing its sign... the best sign/marquee in the history of the Strip... falling down slowly to the ground below. That made me sick to my stomach.

At least The Marina- one of my favorite all time casino/hotels didn't get blown up. Its now the west wing of the MGM. May the MARINA live forever.

[jfkIII]

Buildings getting imploded....ahhh, those were the days, my friend.

We thought they'd never end.

[radraja]

Originally Posted by swagger

That's just funny.

It's not the mayor you need to convince - it's the businesses that own the properties you're saying should be converted to dorms. (Which ain't gonna happen - ever).

Yep. And he'd also have to convince the residents. I don't think that the citizens of Las Vegas would be happy with the idea of having their city core filled with hundreds of thousands of third world 18 years olds who don't work, don't understand our laws, and speak questionable English.

Not to be mean, but it's true. City residents would be opposed to it.

[ScoopLV]

While I don't agree with turning LV into a third-world education mecca, we really need to become more than a one-trick pony.

Gaming ebbs and flows -- and when it ebbs, the construction jobs tied to gaming shrivel like a sponge in the desert. And then the whole economy falls apart.

Surely we can come up with another industry -- photovoltaic power springs to mind. But we really need something as a backup.

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

While I don't agree with turning LV into a third-world education mecca, we really need to become more than a one-trick pony.

Gaming ebbs and flows -- and when it ebbs, the construction jobs tied to gaming shrivel like a sponge in the desert. And then the whole economy falls apart.

Surely we can come up with another industry -- photovoltaic power springs to mind. But we really need something as a backup.

This old saw has been kicked around for the last 30 years.

Anything high tech likely requires that we fix the University and schools. A few tens of billion dollars should do it. Want to try to sell that to the southern Nevada tax payer?

Note that our nearest neighbors, Phoenix and Riverside/San Bernadino have had no better luck than Las Vegas in this last downturn though both are pretty well diversified. So obviously mere diversification won't do it.

I would think we should likely stick to our knitting and chase tourists and retirees.

[tony soprano]

Las Vegas has one of, if not the, worst performing economies in the US. Virtually every study, white paper, or learned opinion that I've seen to date has suggested that Vegas needs a broader, more diversified economic base.

Originally Posted by The Brookings Institute

“The fact that other metros with different economic bases and stronger, more resilient economic engines have been able to pull themselves out of recession and into recovery underscores the need for a fundamental reflection on the nature and prospects of Southern Nevada’s current economic base,” the report said. “Again, reaching, let alone surpassing its pre-recession size will require Las Vegas’ economy to first end its slide and second post exceptional growth rates in the years ahead. But where will the growth come from? This growth can likely only be powered by a substantially retooled economic engine, one fueled much more than the last economy ever was, by human capital, innovation and exports.”

Economic diversification to be looked at from all sides - Las Vegas Sun

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by tony soprano

Las Vegas has one of, if not the, worst performing economies in the US. Virtually every study, white paper, or learned opinion that I've seen to date has suggested that Vegas needs a broader, more diversified economic base.

As they have for thirty years. Have you noticed the progress?

Note however you need to look a bit more closely at the issue. Las Vegas Metro did worse than Phoenix but better than Riverside/San Bernadino. All three actually did very badly as did much of the non-coastal SW.

So what part is due to the undiversified Las Vegas economy and what part is due to being a part of the SW sun belt that was growing at an unsustainable rate?

[jhiker1o]

The Fontainebleau need to be imploded, it's an eyesore from the ground up. From the view deck of the Stratosphere, the Fontainebleau just ruined the view of the Strip, one massive building blocking the rest of the Strip. It is not even worth it going up on the Stratosphere view deck, the thrill rides blocking access on one side and the Fontainebleau on the other side.

[DavieJ89]

Originally Posted by MagnetMan

Thirty years ago I wrote a letter to the mayor of Las Vegas
I stated that building a city with its economy and citizen effort based on gambling and all manner and hedonism is not only fundamental unhealthy and immoral and therefore already doomed to destruction
but it is also an unimaginative civic policy that will never bring out the higher forms of creative genius in its citizen's children

What I proposed then
and propose again now
is that Las Vegas be turned into an International Center for higher education
All of its casino accommodation rooms make excellent dorms
its kitchens supply excellent food all of its gambing halls and convention facilities
make excellent lecture halls and science labs

If the city offers free education to 3rd World students,
diverting government money we spend right now policing and warring with them
into the cost of training those students to be excellent global stewards
and then send them back home again to do exactly that
not only will Las Vegas become a boom town of constructive economic activity
with a model citizenry enjoying a moral reputation and an endless future of prosperity and creativity
but also be the center for creating peace and goodwill on this good earth

Let's say this utopian idea of yours were to happen ok....

Now if we shuttered all the casinos (killing our economy forever BTW) and made Las Vegas a higher education center like you say, what would happen to the 100,000+ people who work on the strip in a gaming or hotel position, including me, what would we do? How would we live? How can we pay our rent, our groceries, our car payments, ever stop to think of what would happen to all those people who would lose their jobs and their living if YOU had YOUR way in Las Vegas? Get real

And if Las Vegas was an education center like you say for 3rd world students who dont speak english and are used to a diet of dirt and water, I would never want to move here in the first place and why would anyone else? Your idea is as bad as it sounds, personally I dont think that would work in any city on earth

[tony soprano]

Originally Posted by olecapt

As they have for thirty years. Have you noticed the progress?

Addressed by the article -

The issue has long been discussed by the state’s political and business leaders, but has gone nowhere. Many are hoping the economic collapse in Nevada caused by the Great Recession will make that a priority

Originally Posted by olecapt

Note however you need to look a bit more closely at the issue. Las Vegas Metro did worse than Phoenix but better than Riverside/San Bernadino. All three actually did very badly as did much of the non-coastal SW.

Las Vegas Metro did better than Riverside/San Bernadino by what measure? Using the the standard measure for economic activity, GDP, or in this case GMP, Vegas has declined 8.5% from its peak through Q1 2011. This compares to Riverside's 6.6% decline and Phoenix's decline of 3.4%. Las Vegas owns the steepest decline in all the SW.

So what part is due to the undiversified Las Vegas economy and what part is due to being a part of the SW sun belt that was growing at an unsustainable rate?

I suspect those answers can be found at conferences like the one in the linked article. A simple place to start is to identify any metro area whose primary economic engine is tourism and compare their economic growth to the national average. I haven't went through the exercise but I'm reasonably sure they'll all lag behind average.