It's been a week of ... well, what? Good news, bad news? (Bad: We learned that Nevada ranks last in classroom technology. Good: Thanks to the whopping 144 a day provided by the hooker-friendly Del Mar motel, we're number one in complimentary condoms!) Mirror opposites? (Lake Mead officials were praised for curtailing the use of two-stroke engines; the Del Mar was shut down for encouraging the ol' two-stroke.) Foot-in-mouth syndrome? ("The man's father is a wonderful human being," Harry Reid told students at Del Sol High School, who asked about President Bush. "I think this guy is a loser.")
That's Vegas for you: Just when you think events are sticking to one cliché, they follow another.
Prostitution had apparently become a cliché at the Del Mar; during the city council meeting in which the motel lost its license, an employee said that it wasn't unusual to see men running naked through the parking lot, having just been robbed by a hooker. (Good: The Weekly parking lot is nothing like that. Bad: Except on Wednesdays.) The motel is owned by Ed Wrenn, portrayed by his lawyers as an out-of-touch old guy who didn't realize the manager, his son-in-law Ed Kammer, was courting hooker traffic by, among other measures, putting free condoms along with mints on the beds. Wrenn noted that Kammer "tripled the business," but what he really seemed to be saying was, The man's father-in-law is a wonderful human being, but this guy is a loser. To Wrenn, the real problem was, well, customer service run amok: "They're nice people, very cooperative" he said of his staff, "and I guess they got carried away with their cooperativeness." Perhaps that's the reigning cliché of the week: too much of a good thing. As if to support that idea, Metro showed councilmembers 12,000 condoms seized from the Del Mar.
Carried away with cooperativeness is not exactly how the GOP felt about Harry Reid after his Del Sol comments. A Republican operative said Reid's outburst was "not surprising from the leader of a party devoid of optimism, ideas or solutions to the issues people care most about." Meanwhile, the Bush administration opened millions of wilderness acres to new roads and proposed cuts in funding for school technology—those issues that people care about. Reid apologized for his "loser" comment but wasn't feeling particularly cooperative otherwise. Speaking of the raft of judicial nominees he opposes, the senator promised the Del Sol kids, "President Bush will rue the day he let this happen." Somehow, we doubt day-rueing is common enough in D.C. to be a cliché.
Not wanting to be devoid of optimism, ideas or solutions to the issues people care about—like who to call in case of terrorism—Metro is proposing to spend a million in homeland-security bucks to produce an info pamphlet that would be distributed in the phone book. It's a customer-service thing. "It's important that we get this information out to people so they know how to protect themselves," a Metro spokeswoman told the R-J, sounding suspiciously like a clerk at the Del Mar. Wait, the phone book? Metro will rue the day they let that happen: People only use the phone book to find "entertainers" to take them to sleazy motels.
Let's Do the Math! |
-3 Feds sneakily revive attempt to grab billions from BLM land sales, money earmarked for Southern Nevada.
+3 County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury proposes to thwart land grab by urging cities to block BLM sales. Called "ill-conceived plan" by spokeswoman for dirt pimps ... er, land developers.
-1 Esquire proclaims "every hotel in Las Vegas is an aesthetic disaster," puts Ewan McGregor on cover.
-2 Public skips public meeting on state budget, perhaps scared by ban on "rambling harangues," a standard lawmakers can't even meet.
Final score
-3
Random Quote I Couldn't Fit Anywhere Else |
"Bad behavior by some individuals cannot be changed because of a piece of paper."
Exclusive! |
Our Exclusive Summary of Vanity Fair's Exclusive Wynn Coverage! (All Wynn Quotes Genuine.)
Nice place you have here, Steve! Bet it cost a lot! Two point seven billion? Wow!
"I want people to be transported by the hotel," [Wynn] says. "I'm thinking, 'What is it that would make people be delighted and amazed?'"
Cool waterfall! Nice music, too!
"Very rhapsodic. Now! Here come the very, almost orgasmic—here!—five notes."
Let's cover your background: bingo parlors, Golden Nugget, reinventing Las Vegas, a bit of hubris, sells Mirage Resorts. Now let's talk about Wynn Las Vegas some more.
"It was going to be a place that found its voice by tapping into fundamental human aspiration."
Yes, I like the fake mountain, too. And it's cool that you took me on your jet and we went skiing in Sun Valley. Can you lose your temper once for my big ending?
"I don't give a shit what you write. I have no control over it."
Thanks, Steve! So long, and thanks for all the pix!
Thursdays with Oscar |
We attend the mayor's weekly press conference so you don't have to
May 5
Possibly because he feared the withering scrutiny of these weekly summaries, but more likely because he was invited to the Playboy Mansion, Goodman canceled this day's press gathering. America's most Playboy-friendly mayor was there to decorate the annual Playmate of the Year bash. "I've never seen our mayor so happy," Palms man George Maloof told R-J columnist Norm Clarke. At least until the withering scrutiny commences again.
Scott Dickensheets is a frustrated Melville scholar and is taking it out on you. Give him crap at
[email protected].