STATE OF THE CITY |
It's tempting to think of the current Red Rock casino tiff as the canary in the zone-change mine shaft—if officials will swap zoning near the beloved rec area, where won't they give in? Alas, there's already a pile of dead canaries in the mouth of that particular mine shaft. Cases in point: For years, folks in "rural neighborhood preservation" areas have complained about city and county governments approving apartment, condo and subdivision projects in their back yards. Billy Walters recently won the right to remove two golf courses in gated Stallion Mountain Estates to build 1,560 homes. Residents in the Timberlake subdivision are angry over possibly getting homes where a new park was promised. Ditto for Southern Highlands residents, promised that a small mountain behind their homes would be used for walking and bike trails but instead might get more homes. Check this stat: In 1999, the County Commission approved 97 percent of all zone changes that didn't conform to existing rules. Of course, developers don't have a completely free hand, as Jim Rhodes learned when he lost his bid to park 5,500 homes on top of Blue Diamond Hill. And there's some more hope: Over the next five years, the county's 11 master plans will be updated to make them tougher to amend. Here's hoping it happens before Red Rock becomes just another suburb. |
Our Finest Hour, or How We Spent the Extra 60 Minutes Granted by the End of Daylight Savings Time
Scott Dickensheets: Determined to make the most of this special hour, I set aside GQ and began reading War and Peace. Wait—will that do me the maximum possible good? Probably not. On to Moby-Dick, then. Hold it; is an 19th century whaling saga, however instructive about the mysteries of the human condition, truly good enough for this precious gift of time? No. OK, got it: Proust! Sweeping, probing, offering the world in a madeleine ... aw, too French. Ulysses! Greatest novel of the 20th century, encapsulating all the ... ding, ding, time's up. Hour over. Back to GQ. Hey, nice spread on courdoroy jackets.
Stacy J. Willis: I called people in Arizona to brag about the extra hour we got, that they won't get, because their state won't play along with the rest of the West and change its clocks. One of them told me that Arizona has a spine, unlike Nevada, and that it's a testament to individuality. I chanted, Well I've got an hour and you don't, until I'd pretty much eaten up my hour. But I think I won the argument.
Kathleen Silver: There was some Halloween spooktacular on Lifetime, in which women were victimized in a slightly more suspenseful way than in your typical Lifetime fare. Since I was trying to write and also trying to avoid writing, I watched I've Been Waiting For You, starring Sarah Chalke, Markie Post and Soleil Moon Frye. Terrible. But I fell asleep for the second hour of it, meaning I only watched it for the bonus Daylight Savings hour. Since it was a 25-hour day, I can mentally erase that one hour and tell myself I didn't watch it at all. So there—just a normal day.
Willie Weekly, our lovable mascot: Bottle of Jack. The poems of Jarret Keene. Twenty minutes with Belva, the suicide-hotline lady. Any more stupid questions?
Press Release We Set Aside for More Careful Reading When We Have Time
"The Monte Carlo's Lance Burton may be a throwback to the elegant, tuxedoed prestidigitation of yore and holds forth in The Lance Burton Theatre, but that doesn't mean he's not hip to the hottest punk rock band of the year, Simple Plan ..."
The One-Minute Cocktail Critic: Bacon Martini at the Double Down
"Oh my gawd!" Those are the first words out of my mouth after taking a sip of the bacon martini at the Double Down Saloon. It really does taste like bacon. Bacon fat, actually. No scent to it, but an oily slick rests on top the vodka. I take a second sip. I'm torn. Half of me is stunned into disbelief; the other half thinks the best course of action might be to vomit. I ask the bartender what's in it.
Flames rise up around him, his eyes blaze red, and his laugh is straight from the pits of hell. "It's bacon-infused vodka!"
The vegetarian blonde next to me says, "You know, you're drinking a pig."
No. No, I'm not anymore.
The Scandalous Tie That Binds
Enron's Nevada ties go beyond the $300 million lawsuit it filed against Sierra Pacific Resources, Nevada Power's parent company, over a terminate contract (Enron sued for damages after Sierra's credit rating fell when regulators denied its $922 million rate request). Turns out Enron took bankers whose companies did big business with the bankrupt energy provider on a Vegas vacation in 1999.
According to an excerpt of The Smartest Guys in The Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron, in Fortune Magazine's October 27 issue, Enron executives rented 15 helicopters and flew bankers over the Grand Canyon.
After the trip, the magazine reports, Rob Gray of Bankers Trust praised Enron CFO Andy Fastow in an e-mail: "Dear Andy, thank you very much for the magnificent entertainment that you provided in Las Vegas … I have never seen the Grand Canyon, other than in photographs … we look forward to further mutually beneficial business in 1999 and beyonst that the Deutsche bank balance sheet will be accessible to assist our endeavors!"
Fur, Lettuce, Bikinis, Furniture, Etc.
PETA crowned Miss Black USA as "Veggie Venus" at a Las Vegas gallery—where she allegedly wore a lettuce bikini and urged fans to "Turn over a new leaf—try vegetarian!" But animal and lettuce and beauty pageant lovers beware: The Fur Information Council of America is cranking out the PR tricks, too, with this press release: "Fur lovers, rejoice! No longer are you resigned to patiently wait for the temperature to drop to enjoy the luxurious feel of your fur ... From luxurious throws and luscious rugs to exotic trim on lampshades and stools, fur is emerging as the trend du jour ..." However, to everyone's disappointment, there was no fur bikini-clad beauty queen on hand. Just lampshades.
"Mayday! There's A Giant Casino Creeping Up. Over." "Roger! Duck and Cover!"
Saturday was Red Rock Day at Red Rock Canyon National Conversation Area. Volunteers were scheduled to be trained on how to use two-way radios to communicate with event officials should problems arise.
Er, Huh?
Driving down Maryland Parkway last week, we noticed a poster that said something like, "UNLV Promotes Racism. Get rid of the Saturns." Write in ([email protected]) and tell us 1. How Saturns are racist; and 2. All other reasons that we should get rid of our Saturns.
Watch Your Back, Michael Flatley!
We have it on good authority that Coolio is working a deal to bring a hip-hop show to the Strip.