In a news cycle defined by disappointment, falling expectations and Rod Stewart, there was at least one pixel of cheery news: North Las Vegas might revive its balloon festival. Yet even that bright prospect—a sky full of happy, inflated sacks—was disappointing to some, such was the gray tenor of the week. "All they do is shoot fire and go in the air and get into things," groused one councilman. "But if that's what the residents want, that's what we'll give them."
That willingness, however grudging, to give the people what they want stands in contrast to the way things are done in another arena dominated by gasbags that shoot fire and get into things: Las Vegas City Council. Officials there are happy to give the people what they don't want, specifically, expanded gaming for Tomfoolery, a supper club in the Meadows Mall. Ward 1 residents protested the idea, but the council approved it on a 4-3 vote.
"I felt like they didn't understand any of our concerns," one mother of three told the R-J. "I was very disappointed." The problem: There are more than a dozen schools in the area, and, as the R-J's living section revealed on Sunday, malls are frequented by kids. That puts a whole new spin on things! And so another titanic struggle between Good and Evil was under way, with the future of Our Children at stake. Lucille Lusk, speaking for Good, said, "We need you to keep some family shopping areas free of these establishments." Speaking for Evil, Mayor Goodman said, "We did the right thing," utterly unconcerned about the widespread damage that will be done to Ward 1 by the addition of 10 slot machines, which is what the council OK'd for Tomfoolery.
While I'm still waiting for the R-J Living section to confirm this, I believe that many college students attend UNLV. Disappointment awaits them in the form of U.S. News & World Report's annual college ranking, which breaks the bad news: This isn't the Harvard of the West. Rather, look for UNLV waaaaaay down the list, in the part where, in a kind of mercy rule, the magazine stops assigning numbers to the crappy schools. UNLV's response was predictable—we felt like they didn't understand any of our concerns. Frantic growth, UNLV's status as a commuter campus ... such factors downwardly tweak the school's showing on the list, officials insist. But while their spokeslips are quoting, "We don't think it really reflects where we are," their eyes are saying, Doesn't it totally suck that Reno placed in a higher tier than us?
As if the stigma of rejection by the nation's third-place newsweekly wasn't enough, Chancellor Jim Rogers added insult to insult. "This tells us we're letting too many people in who may not be university-quality students," he said, no doubt minutes after glancing at the roster of incoming students and seeing that I've signed up for a class this semester (tomfoolery 101). Well, when I can't park at the school—1,100 prime spots were lost to construction, we learned this week—the disappointment will be mutual, chancellor. Only the balloons will cheer me up then.
Let's Do the Math! |
+1 Harrah's buys Imperial Palace. Masses greet transaction as a reminder that there is an Imperial Palace.
-2 Resale market slumps thanks to home flippers. Well, maybe Harrah's will buy my house.
-2 At least 14 mobile home parks to close in coming months as property owners eye lucrative condo developments. Where will residents go?
+2 Possible answer to above? Ground was broken on low-cost "tin house" lofts Downtown, while city council approved public-housing duplexes on E. Charleston.
Final Score
-1
Is that a Woodpecker on My Skull or Is this a Stan Vaughan Campaign Mailer? |
"[Morse Arberry] has also been endorsed by pro-abortion Planned Parenthood and pro-gay-marriage group Queer Vegas. Whatever happened to old-fashioned values?"
Thursdays with Oscar |
We Observe the Mayor's (Semi-) Weekly Press Conference so You Don't Have to
Meeting: August 18.
Gist: It was the usual Goodmanian cocktail of fluff and guff, served neat. The guff: "I cannot stand Dr. Laura," he said during a discussion of whether it was proper to let the Tomfoolery lounge add slots, since it's in a mall that's visited by kids—a situation the screechy advice diva would find deplorable. "I'd rather listen to Hannity," he said. Ooh, snap! But, being Oscar, he's not afraid to compound his guff by cribbing from the worst elements of Dr. Laura's script: When Las Vegas One producer Dana Gentry said she, for one, couldn't always accompany her kids to the mall, Goodman laid a Dr. Lauraism on her, suggesting she get a real job—staying home to raise her children. Pause to let the patronizing quality of that sink in. Sheesh. One wonders yet again at the source of Goodman's Teflon. As to why he voted for Tomfoolery when he might've done Lois T. a solid by voting nay (her ward was against it), Oscar said, "I vote my conscience. I don't vote to satisfy anyone's constituent needs." And for the fluff? Goodman noted that he'd been interviewed by ESPN, Voice of America radio, USA Today and Vegas Dog.
Scott Dickensheets is a Weekly writer at large. Give him crap (or cake) at
[email protected].