European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 13, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse The 4,032-room Excalibur hotel opened in Las vegas in june Bills itself As the world s largest hotel. In a City fuelled by hype who will argue Las vegas gambling on growth new York times out in the desert suburbs far from the casinos Bright lights workers Are hurriedly building monuments to the Assumption that Las vegas will always come up a Winner. As fast As stucco can dry subdivisions apartment complexes and shopping malls Are rising in the Sandy wastes to accommodate the horde of newcomers that according to preliminary figures have contributed to a 49 percent Rise in Nevada s population in the last 10 years. The increase was the largest of any state in the 1990 census. Most of that growth took place in Las vegas and surrounding Clark county. Many new Las vegas developments have aquatic names like Bay Breeze Sunset Bay and Bermuda Springs As if nomenclature could defy the dust and Pale Rock that surround them. The rate at which they Are being built More than 1,000 single family Homes each month contradicts the trend almost everywhere else in the country. In the 1980s, americans continued their Long migration to the warm climes of the Southwest. But recently the Sun Belt dream of limitless space for unending growth has faded. It has fallen victim to the polluted Haze of los Angeles traffic and turned sour with the Phoenix real estate slump. Not Here. Quot in Las vegas we believe in looking Forward and making big plans Quot said James Cashman Iii president of a construction and mining equipment company Quot sometimes we maybe make our plans too big on purpose but that a because we expect to grow and want to grow and that very attitude makes it and there is Little nostalgia for the ways of a Small City left behind in the 1960s As Las vegas took on Urban problems like Street gangs drug abuse and overtaxed Public services. Quot this is not a town of looking Back people Quot Cashman said. Since the mid-1980s rapid expansions of the gambling and tourism industries have fired up the Las vegas Economy creating thousands of jobs. Gambling receipts climbed 30 percent in the last two years enriching the state government which collects a 6.4 percent tax on Gross gaming Revenue. Also the absence of any personal and corporate income taxes and the availability of relatively cheap real estate 280 Miles from los Angeles have proved a powerful draw for retirees and businesses in effect making Las vegas into Southern California s most far Flung suburb. Only the first apprehensions Over growth Are being whispered Here. Quot i could not have imagined a traffic Jam in Las vegas even a few years ago Quot said Cashman a rare third generation native. Quot now we re starting to get them a Little ones compared to anywhere else a and it makes me wonder whether we could t just take a breather to catch up some before we keep on in the 1970s, the City a population grew a substantial 31 percent but Over the fast decade it mushroomed 92 a sometimes we maybe make our plans too big on purpose but that a because we expect to grow and want to grow and that attitude makes it James Cashman Iii president of a construction and mining equipment company percent to 256,900, according to the preliminary 1990 census released in August. Clark county s population grew 59 percent in the 1980s, to 735,892, with some towns like Henderson now a Las vegas suburb growing nearly 150 percent the census showed. School enrolment figures show the Overall population growth accelerated during the second half of the 1980s. In september 1985 of students in the Clark county Public schools was up 2 percent Over the previous year in every year since then the rate of expansion has increased the District expects enrolment to be up about 7.6 percent this year. And it is in the schools that keeping up with growth has proved most difficult. Several schools have twice the number of students As they were designed for according to Ray Willis a school District spokesman. As a result he said classrooms have been partitioned so that they could be used by two classes at once and several schools Are holding two sessions a Day obliging half of their students to begin classes at 6 30 . And the other half to stay until late afternoon the school District has undertaken an aggressive building program. It opened 11 schools for the first Day of school this year and has eight More under construction. For the first time several prominent candidates for local and state offices Are campaigning on promises to take account of the costs of rapid growth to the environment and Public services. For example gov. Bob Miller a Democrat who will face the voters in november proclaims Nevada is at a Crossroads and that Quot the time has come to define our the debate in the Las vegas area which is Home to about 60 percent of the states population still focuses on whether efforts should be made to manage growth while encouraging it. So far there has been no Large audience for the kinds of proposals to restrain growth that Are now regularly debated elsewhere in the West. A it has t happened yet but you can sense that a political change is coming Quot said Jeff German a columnist for the Las vegas Sun. But for the moment Las vegas is still reveling in what Many people Here perceive As a Radical improvement in its image. Quot we Are starting to be seen As More of atypical City Quot said German. Quot even though we still have the gambling and the Glitz the rest of the country no longer thinks of vegas As a sin capital run by organized crime now there is Legal gambling All Over whether it is state lotteries Casino ships or Atlantic the spread of gambling has not Only legitimized Las vegas but also presented it with widespread Competition. In response the big corporations that now run Many of the major hotel casinos have gone after the convention Market and developed new attractions that Are virtual theme Parks under a single roof. A two such establishments have opened within the last year to vast and appreciative crowds. The 3,000-room downtown Smeback a a a a med from Page 13 View. Kalamazoo mtch., which called a a mall City Quot is reopening two blocks of our Block mall to traffic. Eugene ore., loved the kiosks playgrounds rooms and plantings from two blocks of pedestrian mall. Lew London Connecticut brought Back cars. Three Illinois cities a Danville Campaign and Rockford have Given up to in malls. Norfolk a. St. Joseph to. Springfield and Tulsa okla., kept theirs but in Ailer configurations. In the capital of new sey cars will return to part of Trenton c Mons. It some cities find their malls still work the mall in Boulder colo., is a Odout. And traffic choked new York City considering going the mall route by 10 blocks of Broadway number of cities that would like to take their pedestrian malls can to afford to i Houstoun a former official in the Jart ments of Commerce and housing i Urban development in Washington. Fen the malls were built with Federal its no Federal Money is available too them. Houstoun said it can Cost $ 0,000 to $750,000 a Block to take out Quot pedestrian features Quot that give Urban los their character. He old urbane upper Middle class Cago suburb of Oak Park Iii., spent $3.1 Ion in 1988 to take out a mall that had n built 16 years earlier for $1.4 million. I the process 84 Quarter of a Century Pine Oak Trees were removed. Those could be saved were replanted where in the Community of 55,000. Iut Quot it absolutely was not a mistake Quot to d Oak Park mall in the first place said Stine Burdick executive director of a town Oak Park. It helped stabilize what in 1972 had n a declining retail Center and helped us stain a viable retail business Quot she said worked it just became a dds Village manager Neil Nielson a it i de a life like anything Tost Oak Park residents liked their mall Natter what merchants Felt. At the very amp that streets curbs sewers and lighting e being reinstalled citizens voted Doroto 9,273 in a non binding initiative b 1 Volcar Fantas und Hast jobs c Perhai need be the 1 proper to Nea Hole 2,100. Witt More aging Page 14 the stars and stripes saturday october not against tearing out the mall. What happened was five department stores that had been mall a anchors Quot either went bankrupt or moved away and business fell off Burdick said. A res greeting Quot a her term for it a has helped business Burdick said. Sales for the last Quarter of 1989 were up 24 percent Over the previous year 15 new retailers moved in. The occupancy rate inched up from 75 to 80 percent. In its dependence on anchors Oak Park mall More closely resembled on the Highway regional shopping malls than do most downtown malls. Downtown malls said Houstoun typically rely on two different types of shoppers a lower income residents and office workers a whose wants Are not alike adding to the malls difficulty in finding a Market office workers Are important shoppers. One study found that they spend an average of $1,800 a year downtown on food and goods most of it during the lunch break. In retrospect said Houstoun cities might have been Wiser to Clear abandoned buildings from Core areas making Sites available for office buildings that would have provided the customers for downtown stores. The pedestrian mall he said Quot was t a remedy geared to the problem and removing them is not a cure for today s problem not pools and Shade Trees attract tul sans to a downtown mall top skylight court is a feature of Philadelphia a gallery shopping Center above. As a tropical Island Motif with its own erupting while the 4,000-room Excalibur is a medieval world Complete with jousting matches a formula common in the Industry a hotel Casino Obs per room. That would mean More than 10,000 Ted just at the Mirage and the Excalibur a and As Many More to provide the various services y those 10,000 newcomers jew properties Dwarf Atlantic City a newest offering room Trump Taj mahal. Together the new is increased Las vegas hotel capacity 10 percent 70,000 rooms. Another establishment the Sahara j Casino is adding 600 rooms bringing the total to sme of the older casinos announcing layoffs this Summ Industry analysts have begun to ask How much with can be sustained and whether some of the Marks on the Las vegas strip will be Able to compete with the new resorts. Although Las vegas has attracted a number of financial services companies some Light manufacturing and several Large warehousing and distribution operations the growth in the gambling and tourism industries has overwhelmed efforts to develop a More diversified Economy in the years of the City s rapid expansion tourism and gambling have consistently provided about 30 percent of All employment in Clark county and taxes on gambling have accounted for nearly half of the state s Revenue. The dominance of this Industry is Las vegas most frequently cited vulnerability. A Quot if you look at the City s fiscal and economic dependence on this one activity then it is a House of cards Quot said r. Keith Schwer director of the Center for business and economic research at the University of Nevada in Las vegas. But he added Quot if you look beyond the casinos to an entire tourism business and the growing ties to a Market of 29 million people in California then it looks much More in the Longrun the most immovable limitation to Las vegas growth May prove to be water always a contentious Issue in that part of the country. Dennis Stein president of the Nevada development authority a private group promoting economic growth in the area said if development continues at its present Pace Las vegas will be using its entire allocation of water from the Colorado River by the year 2000, with the kind of easy Confidence typical of this City these Days he said Quot that Means that in the decade we will be instituting conservation measures and developing new driving through the desert suburbs where sprinkler systems regularly nourish lawns twice a Day and the excess runs freely Down the gutters reckoning limits and restraints seem far off for now. 3,1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 15
