Vol. 4, No. 1, January 2008
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Growing Pains
With the tremendous expansion of the Las Vegas casino market coming over the next several years (see Looking Up, page 48), it’s not unusual that the city is experiencing growing pains. Whether it’s the schools, water, roads or other infrastructure, it’s evident that there are more and more people in the valley wanting more and more services.
What is unusual, however, is the housing slump we currently are seeing. Values of homes have declined rather steeply in the past two years. If we’re so challenged with growth, why is this happening and how long will it last?
No one, of course, has the answers to these questions, but the solution to the growth problem might be just some attention.
Development in the Las Vegas Valley has always been cyclical. Many of us moved here in years past because the cost of living was more reasonable than where we previously lived. Others came here for job opportunities that are still expanding, particularly if you work in the casino industry. So experts tell us that this current downturn won’t last long; that it will once again become the boom town that we’ve all experienced before.
But we can’t continue to grow in the same uncontrolled manner that we have in the past. Maybe that’s why these cycles have occurred: because we’re rushing headlong into the future without any regard for how the future will be shaped.
Now, while we’re in the down part of the cycle, is the time to think about how we’re going to approach growth. And I don’t mean we have to stop the growth or even slow it down to a great extent. What we need is “smart” growth.
The water issue is going to be crucial to the continued growth of the valley. And right now, the decline in the water level of Lake Mead, along with the difficulties of piping water into the valley from rural Nevada must give us pause when it comes to big developments, whether the water, sewer, roads, etc. will be enough to service the people who live there.
No one has all the answers—certainly not me—but there are a raft of questions waiting to be solved:
• How will we pay for the $4 billion in road improvements we’ll need in the next decade? (And what role does public transportation play?)
• Should the BLM stop making sales of large parcels of land it owns until the existing land
in Las Vegas is fully utilized?
• Where will we get the water to fuel this growth when the current agreements expire or are deemed useless?
• How will we continue to build schools over the next 10 years and who will they serve? (And is the dropout rate in Las Vegas really as bad as it seems to be?)
• Will the Las Vegas “suburbs” (Pahrump, Mesquite, Laughlin, Searchlight and others) become so popular that growth becomes an issue there, as well?
• How can we guarantee that Las Vegas and Southern Nevada continues to attract millions of visitors every year?
These are just a few of the issues facing this market. It seems as though some of our our elected politicians seem to turn the other way when we ask these tough questions. Maybe it’s time we appointed a blue-ribbon panel to consider a master plan for growth, to hold public meetings and get input from all the players, both private and corporate citizens.
So who decides who sits on this panel? Again, more informed people than me can make that decision, but I believe it has to be made. There is too much at stake for Southern Nevada to let this situation fester for too much longer. We need to guarantee that the region will continue to grow, and to do that, we need to implement a strategy of smart growth as soon as possible.
