European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 11, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Not in Kansas anymore lights illuminate the Quot wizard of of Quot display at the Mem grand. B00min6 on a Roll but hedging its bets on future development a Sphinx like creation looms before a targe Pyramid at the Luxor Casino hotel one of several in Las vegas with a fantasy theme. By John Barbour the associated press hmm Hen the shuttle Endeavor drifted Over by the United states in january one of 1 a the astronauts routinely described the b b lights of los Angeles and san b by b Francisco on the planet below. Andul 1b then Quot Las vegas coming into View. Las a by vegas is outrageously Bright. You can 1 see the strip from 350 under those lights tens of thousands of americans flick their Hole cards at Blackjack tables shove their bets to the red or Black at Roulette Roll the Dice at crap tables and slide their Nickels and dollars into the always promising Slot machines. They shop at fancy shops and Din eat gourmet restaurants an cheap buffets. But what would happen if by some Fluke of political Fortune or Public attitude or excessive Competition from Mississippi riverboats and the casinos on Indian reservations City of gambling should go belly up a a a a a a a. A a. Does the state of Nevada which gets 40 percent of its income from Las vegas and Reno casinos have a contingency plan does this state which gets its second. Most lucrative Revenue from mining have alternative sources of Revenue. ,.henry Cluck Board chairman of Caesars world the Casino giant was asked what would Nevada do if the. United states banned All gambling. Quot secede from the Union Quot he said without hesitation. But the truth is Las vegas and Nevada have thought ahead seriously but somewhat successfully. While Nevada s convention and Trade show business is booming thanks to Low Cost hotel space and huge exhibit Arenas the Casino hotels themselves Are making forays into family entertainment and Meg shopping malls with hundreds of shops catering to All tastes. Kirk Kerkorian s theme Park at his new Mem grand is aimed at the family and Caesars expansion of its forum of shops is impressive. But the City and state also successfully lured 115 companies to their desert valleys in 1993, some Small ones escaping the High taxes of California and some big credit card operations looking for Low rent districts with. Good communications and inexpensive labor. As a result new buildings Are rising outside the shadows of the Casino hotels to House enterprises including Citibank household credit and Ocean Spray. A dozen years ago when the Prospect arose of a twin gaming City on the boardwalks of Atlantic City n.j., there was no panic in the streets but there was a Small tremor of the heart. Gov Bob Miller a proponent of diversification of the stale s Economy remembers it Well. Quot they said there would t be any room for Las vegas or Nevada or Reno Quot he they said the old lady of the Atlantic would Siphon off All the gaming Money from the huge East coast population centers. Jets would Stop jetting to Las vegas junkets would dry obviously that has not turned out to be the Case Quot Miller said. Quot they regulate in a different fashion than we do they re a Little More restrictive. Very few of those properties have been profitable Las vegas and Nevada have a history with the gaming Industry Good times and bad. Quot we grew with the Industry. That s something no one else is going to be Able to do. We grew up with the baby and we kind of matured with it Quot Miller . Obviously the big players in the gaming Industry Are. Quite comfortable in the Nevada Milieu. Quot there s one thing about Nevada that is unique the cooperation of the regulatory body the gaming commission and the political process has. Been. A extraordinary Quot said Cluck. A. What would take years to a gain approval in other states said Gluck can be done sometimes in six months in. Nevada a there the state. Legislature meets every second year but where the state government is keenly aware that gaming allows the state to finance its operations a without an income tax. And Las vegas is at the a Center of it All. Quot we have close to 90,000 rooms in Las a vegas and still climbing Quot. A Cluck said Quot with a very Strong mayor Jones. Infrastructure with highways and airports and things like . The number of visitors to Las vegas has nearly doubled in 10 years to 23 million. They spent one Way or the other almost $15 billion last year. In the last year three new casinos have blossomed in the glitter at an average Cost of about $1 billion apiece. Soaring Over the Las vegas strip is Kerkorian s latest extravaganza the Mem grand its Leonine maw forming the main Entrance acres and acres of Slot machines an gaming tables and restaurants and Heaters with Dorothy s trip through of one of the main themes. Its 5,000 rooms and min theme Park though lacking Disney esque proportions does hint at family entertainment. Caesars has plans for a magical Empire an Enterprise built entirely around magicians and conjures and dining with Heaters attached patterned after the magic Castle in los Angeles. It s due to open next Spring to 3,500 guests a Quot Day. Quot v. A Quot a a it is also planning to Knock out a Wall of the 240,000-Square-foot forum a shopping mall of immense proportions to add 160,000 Square feet where a Square foot brings in an average of $900 in sales per month. Caesars mall offers some sur cease from gambling but on the Way out visitors the casinos again even Cluck is bemused by this. When he walks through Caesars he always wears a business suit distinguishing him from the casual tourist so people seek him put for questions a Quot. Quot. Quot. A a Quot the two most frequent questions Quot he said Quot Are How. Do i get out of Here and where is the men s room Quot. Next door at the Mirage and treasure Island hotels both owned by Golden Nugget make believe takes another turn. A Volcano erupts from waterfalls and a Fuli size British Man of War sails into View to do Battle with a pirate vessel both fully manned by actors. Down the Street in a make believe and turreted Camelot the hotel Excalibur takes an arthurian theme. Nearby Luxor has an ancient egyptian theme. But whatever face they paint on the old lady it All boils Down to gambling dollars. As it now stands All the gaming and sales tax revenues Are collected by the state and doled out to the other jurisdictions. Las vegas and other cities cannot Levy taxes of their own. Nor sell Bonds. Yet greater Las vegas with a population of about 900,000 in a state of 1.3 million generates the lion s share of state revenues. Las vegas mayor Jan Laverty Jones who will run against Miller for governor in the fall would like to revise the Constitution to give More Power to the cities. She says her City has an image problem and wonders whether big business would really want to locate there. Quot people perceive Las vegas As just a growing sin City Quot she said. Quot they think we Don t have neighbourhoods we Don t go to school. You have to overcome that perception first. Secondarily because we have never funded education to what i believe Are appropriate Levels in visitors ride a water slide at the Mem grand. Many cases we can t provide that Pool of technically and professionally trained employees to attract businesses. Quot i think we have a period of time during which Las vegas will still be the major resort gambling destination. We re so far ahead of the other jurisdictions. If you Don t. Take that time to diversify the economic base to really look at How we re going to Structure the government and what we re going to try to build we Haven t faced up to our Jones looks at the possibility of gambling around the country especially in California and it worries her. Quot they May still come to Las vegas for their min vacations but they la shorten their stay Quot she said. Quot and of gaming goes into California should that Ever happen and if you look at the percentage of Las vegas tourism that depends on California it becomes a Tim Carlson who Heads the economic development commission is in charge of luring new business to the state. He is interested in permanent residents permanent businesses. A. A. Quot Quot a a Quot i think we be had a tremendous amount of Luck in. Bringing Industry into this Community As Well As the. State Quot he said. That growth he added is Large part to companies relocating from California to avoid taxes and regulation. A. A when Citibank wanted to set up a credit car operation it looked to first. But new Mexico would t change its banking Laws and Carlson got wind of the trouble and placed a Call to Citibank. The governor called a special session of the legislature and was Able to change the rules in nine weeks. Quot today their building sits up on West Sahara Avenue employing 2,000 people Quot Carlson says. Since then household credit has moved to Nevada and built a 150,000-Square-foot building Northwest of Las vegas to handle the pm card operations. Ocean Spray is building a Plant to produce its drinks and syrups and Lockheed has opened a technical engineering and design operation near Reno. Last year Carlson says the Hundred plus new. Companies and 29 existing ones created More than 5,300. Jobs. A but Carlson is Quick to explain that the new enterprises won t eclipse the gaming Industry. Quot that s not our goal Quot he says. Quot our goal is to strengthen the Economy to Back up our major vegas wants bigger share of West a water by the new York times Las vegas which grew out of bugs Siegel s mid Century vision of showgirls and Slot machines is now a metropolitan area of some 900,000 people. But the nation s fastest growing City stitched to a Mojave desert Valley that receives Only four inches of rain a. Year is running out of water. So rather than try to curb its growth rate the water czars of Southern Nevada have their eyes on the main artery of the american West the Colorado River. The River which runs downhill from the Rocky mountains follows a Cardinal Rule in. The american West water flows toward Money and Power. Las vegas has put Forth an either or proposition to its neighbouring states increase the City s allocation from the Colorado River or the City will try to run More than 1,200 Miles of pipes into a network of underground basins sucking water from More than 20,000 Square Miles of wilderness ranch country and National if the City cannot get the underground water it would like to take a sizeable amount of water from the Virgin River which flows through Zion National Park in Utah curls through the Northwestern Corner of Arizona and then runs into Nevada before emptying into the Colorado. Essentially Las vegas is trying to change what is known As the Law of the River which is basically a seven state pact that determines How much of the Colorado s water courses through the lives of nearly 30 million westerners. To ranchers upstream from Las vegas and desert dwellers downstream this Quot Law Quot is sacred but when the pact was put together in the 1920s, no one imagined that the desert state of Nevada one of the hottest places on Earth could support a booming Metropolis a place made habitable by the invention of air conditioning and the siphoning of the Colorado River. Quot you can t expect that this Community All. These new people and All these babies and these families Are going to just go away Quot said Patricia Mulroy general manager of the Southern Nevada water authority the water. Agency for the Las vegas metropolitan area Quot the old institutions of the West have to. Change a a a. A a still there is a minority in Las vegas who. Viewing the explosive growth that is transforming their City see water As a Way to. Rein in growth. In addition thousands of people have filed complaints against the groundwater plan and the proposed Virgin. River dam both of which could face court challenges and Federal vegas is trying to establish an Urban Alliance with Southern California the biggest consumer of Colorado River water to reduce the grip that agriculture has on the River. California uses nearly a third of the allotment for the seven states in the Colorado River Basin. 18 the stars and stripes wednesday Way h�1994 the stars and stripes 19
