[9162]

I was vacationing in LV back in July and stayed at the Rio; went back in August, and stayed at Planet Hollywood. It seemed every casino was packed. Downtown was packed, and it was, like 115 degrees, I don't see how LV is hurting...

[las vegas drunk]

Originally Posted by 9162

I was vacationing in LV back in July and stayed at the Rio; went back in August, and stayed at Planet Hollywood. It seemed every casino was packed. Downtown was packed, and it was, like 115 degrees, I don't see how LV is hurting...

The city itself is not hurting and is doing fine. It is the people who live here that cannot get jobs, me included.

[unf0rgiven6262]

The causes of what creates a city that's hurting goes far beyond seeing people walking around. In some respects things are improving and in others it's not. Spotting the tips of icebergs and declaring the depth of the iceberg can be a fun game but don't mix things up.

[ScoopLV]

There isn't any building going on. So 1/3 of our economy -- the LOCAL economy, not what gets distributed to major casino shareholders -- was erased at a stroke.

Out of work tradesmen is our biggest problem. When they make money, they spend it locally, and the wheel goes 'round. When gamblers lose money at Caesars or Rio, Caesar's Entertainment says thanks a bunch, and pays dividends to their shareholders. (Sure the casino workers spend locally, but losing all those construction guys was a huge blow to the economy.)

[Buzz123]

More people are coming to take advantage of the lower room rates, but they aren't spending as much money when they get here. It's not as bad as you'd think, but what is hurting us most is the crash in the RE market. Thousands of people in the housing industry lost their jobs in Las Vegas alone. For twenty years we were building the equivalent of a small city every two months here in the Valley. Housing includes jobs like dry wallers, plasterers, brick layers, laborers, electricians, plumbers, cement workers, suppliers, furniture stores, architects, designers, real estate agents, mortgage people, title company people, bankers, landscapers, pool builders, and on and on. Go from building 3500 homes a month to maybe 300 on a good month, and you see the problem we face. Casinos are not the only employers in Nevada. Actually, mining is second, and they are doing very well, but they are mostly foreign companies taking our resources, IMO. Nevada produces more gold than anyone, but the gold mines are mostly owned by Canadian companies. And I believe that China and Russia as well as other countries are mining various minerals in Nevada. Name a mineral and we've got it here.

[m73m95]

Originally Posted by unf0rgiven6262

The causes of what creates a city that's hurting goes far beyond seeing people walking around. In some respects things are improving and in others it's not. Spotting the tips of icebergs and declaring the depth of the iceberg can be a fun game but don't mix things up.

Very good post!

Also The Strip appearing to be "packed" is dependent on your definition of "packed".

I can remember 4-5 years ago (end of the boom years), when Wednesday afternoon looked like Saturdays look now. The weekends were impassable. Saturday night on the strip, there were so many people, you couldn't find a slot machine to sit down on.

I'm not sure the levels of the boom years will be seen anytime soon (Maybe never again), but I've been down on the strip a fair bit in the last few months, and while there are a lot of people, I still don't think its as busy as it was.

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

There isn't any building going on. So 1/3 of our economy -- the LOCAL economy, not what gets distributed to major casino shareholders -- was erased at a stroke.

Out of work tradesmen is our biggest problem. When they make money, they spend it locally, and the wheel goes 'round. When gamblers lose money at Caesars or Rio, Caesar's Entertainment says thanks a bunch, and pays dividends to their shareholders. (Sure the casino workers spend locally, but losing all those construction guys was a huge blow to the economy.)

And another +1

The "new" mayor-ette was correct. Though our unemployment is still in the teens, ~10% of that is tradesman (Me included). I also think that 10% number is very low. I know of a lot of people that have left their families here, to go work in other states...so they don't collect unemployment, but are still "unemployed" at home.

Vegas will never be "out of the hole" until someone decides to build something. The train from Cali, The Ferris wheel, The Trop being rebuilt, the Sahara being rebuilt (As opposed to them both just being remodeled), Echelon, the mall behind the Red Rock, Fountain Blue.....I could go on...are all just a carrot on a stick. Everyone talks of work coming back, but it seems nothing ever happens.

Echelon alone would put over 3,000 people back to work INSTANTLY, if it would begin again.... How the city/state/NGC could allow a contractor to just roll up the carpets and put that many people out of work in 1 day, is beyond my comprehension.

[Buzz123]

Even after the recession hit and everyone had lost their jobs, that ID 10 T in Washington closed down Yucca Mountain for purely political purposes, and there went a few thousand more jobs. The other ID 10 10, Clinton, killed the Test Site for the same reason. Not only have we lost thousands of high paying jobs with these closures, we have lost so much of our brain trust that it's scary. Meanwhile, China and Iran are building nukes underground and pretending they aren't a threat.

[las vegas drunk]

Originally Posted by Buzz123

Even after the recession hit and everyone had lost their jobs, that ID 10 T in Washington closed down Yucca Mountain for purely political purposes, and there went a few thousand more jobs. The other ID 10 10, Clinton, killed the Test Site for the same reason. Not only have we lost thousands of high paying jobs with these closures, we have lost so much of our brain trust that it's scary. Meanwhile, China and Iran are building nukes underground and pretending they aren't a threat.

Sorry Buzz, but only an idiot would want our state to be a nuclear waste dump. C'mon now, who cares about the high paying jobs. Our health is MUCH more important.

[m73m95]

All of our nuke stuff has to go somewhere....

Its like prisons. Everyone agrees we need them, but no one wants one in their neighborhood.

Our entire military runs on nuke power, and we have a lot of nuke power in the country too....that all has to go somewhere after its spent. What's wrong with "out in the middle of no where" Nevada?

[dynimagelv]

Originally Posted by las vegas drunk

Sorry Buzz, but only an idiot would want our state to be a nuclear waste dump. C'mon now, who cares about the high paying jobs. Our health is MUCH more important.

I am, avowedly against Yucky Mountain....
and NOT because its nuclear waste because I do believe that it would be safely stored there...

I am against it because the Federales said we HAD to take it and we got NOTHING in return.....if you want us to accept something....PAY for it.