Las Vegas is Home

A CEO of a company who is an acquaintance of mine used the above phrase to describe the weather in Washington, DC, in the summertime, and many would apply it to Vegas.

I disagree: I like the weather here quite a bit.

(If you want to know all about the climate in Vegas, here’s a book about it from the NOAA. It’s everything you need to know if you’re moving here, visiting here, or are just a weather geek as I sometimes am.)

Vegas actually has four distinct seasons, unlike say LA or Miami. One writer, wish I could remember who so I could attribute, wrote that those seasons were “fall/spring, summer, hot as hell, summer again.” Not too far off.

It’s true that it is a dry heat, but for the sake of full disclosure, I will add that when it’s 115, it just doesn’t freakin’ matter that it’s dry anymore.

But I’ll take it over Boston winters. It’s 77 degrees and sunny right now. Tough to beat that.

I don’t mean to pick on Nevada, since I believe the driver’s license is useless in all 50 states given that it does not prove someone can drive well. It’s really just an ID card.

Newcomers to Vegas will immediately notice that drivers here are very aggresive, seemingly for no apparent reason - maybe competitive spirit. I’m from Boston which is famous for aggresive/crazy/inexplicable driving, so I know of what I speak.

But even big-city road warriors will be surprised at the sheer number of accidents listed in the evening radio traffic report. The announcers generally start just talking really fast, sounding like the disclaimer at the end of a used car ad or an auctioneer. “We’ve got an injury accident on the southbound I-15 at Sahara, a crash on the 215 at Warm Springs, and several crashes on the surface roads including Rainbow at Charleston, Lake Mead at Jones, Nellis at Las Vegas Blvd., Tropicana and Eastern, Hualapai at Sahara, Ann at 95 Craig at Rancho, DIatParadiseTwainatMarylandSunsetatPecosMLKatBonanzaflamingoat boulderhighway!!!

I kid, but seriously, it’s crazy out there. Defensive driving really is a necessity in Vegas. Be safe.

I’m rooting for the Las Vegas Monorail to succeed because it’s clear that the central strip area of town is getting more and more congested. I’m hoping for its expansion as well. Anyone who has seen the phlanx of cabs jumping from the red light at the corner of Swenson and Tropicana looking like the start of a Nascar race knows that there have to be other transit options from McCarran if growth is to be accomodated.

Plus, seeing the monorail above while driving down Paradise Road is just cool. It’s sleek and modern-looking, and the fact that we’ll be the first city in America to use a monorail as public transit says something. It’s a symbol of forward thinking which Vegas deserves to be known for but isn’t. Seattle has a monorail, but it’s really a tourist ride more than an effective public transit option there.

However, the monorail has had its problems. It has been shut down in the past, sometimes for months at a time, because of mechanical problems - problems which can prove scary since the trains run 50 feet above the street and are fully automated. That is, they have no driver in the car.

Ridership has been falling, causing the private company that runs it to raise prices in order to make up lost revenue. That compounds a problem: It was too expensive to begin with. Originally $3 to ride (making it more expensive than a New York City subway ride), the price has been bumped up to $5 for a single ticket. Four friends who want to go from say, MGM Grand to the Convention Center could share a cab for less than the $18 it would cost for four tickets (you can buy two tickets for $9). Public transit should never cost more than a cab!

Locals can buy a ticket for $1, but that often proves more hassle than it’s worth. You can’t do it at a machine; instead you have to buy from one of the manned booths provided at some stations at some times. The last time I did this, the guy working in the booth behaved just like a unionized public transit employee from New York or Boston: He acted as though I were inconveniencing him. Then, once I got inside the station, a surly security officer demanded to see my ID to prove I was a local. If the guards don’t have better things to do than make sure I’m not screwing the company out of $4, one wonders if they’re needed at all.

If the monorail is to be operated like a private company (with a profit motive), then it has to attract customers, not repel them. There is a limited customer base for trips behind the eastern side of the strip, and the monorail should do what it can to keep those people.

Having been a business journalist, I understand that the management of the monorail’s operating company has many constituencies to consider. But all become moot in the absence of customers.

I’d like to see the monorail go to the airport, expand to serve the west side of the strip, and perhaps even go downtown. That is several years away, though, giving it time to hopefully tighten up the operation that it currently has.

Everyone’s familiar with the saying “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” I have a proposal for another: “let’s keep Vegas Vegas.” I don’t intend for this blog to become political in nature, but what politics I will discuss have to do with Vegas’s growth, and the influx of people from many places and cultures.

When people move to a new home, they bring their values with them. That’s unavoidable and certainly not a bad thing. However, Las Vegas has a “live and let live” attitude, and laws (or lack thereof) to back it up.

Will the multidudes who come from more conservative or religious cultures try to inhibit the somewhat libertine culture of Vegas - less availablity of alcohol, a more “family friendly” Vegas? Will those from a more liberal or, say, environmentalist environ want to stop folks here from smoking so much, driving so much, or eating so much at the buffets?

Let’s hope not. I came here not to change Vegas but to embrace it. Not everyone agrees: A majority of Nevada voters passed a controversial smoking ordinance last November. Many establishments are flouting the law. I say good. There has to be one place in America where adults can make their own decisions, and if not Vegas, where?

Hello all!

Welcome to Home Turf Media’s latest city-based blog, Las Vegas is Home.

I’m Paul Geary and I’ll be blogging about anything and everything Las Vegas. While the blog will come from a resident’s perspective, tourism is obviously a main staple of Vegas’s economy and happenings that will interest visitors will be part of the landscape here. Anything and everything that impacts people in Vegas will be fair game (though we’ll keep it PG rated). While it may be true that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, what we talk about here will be available worldwide, to anybody who’s interested in coming here for the vacation of a lifetime, or to stay for a lifetime.

Like most people who live in the Vegas Valley, I’m from somewhere else: Boston. If you’ve taken our monorail, you’ve heard the stat that 150,000 people lived here in 1970, and that number is now nearly 2 million. In fact, more than half of the people serving in the Nevada Legislature were not born in Nevada.

I’ve lived in several cities in the northeast as well as California and Texas, and I’ve chosen Las Vegas as my home. It’s vibrance, culture, diversity, and dynamism rival that of America’s great cities. Las Vegas has become much more than a tourist town - a fact that would surprise the tourist who spends a week not veering from the Strip. (Of course, there’s enough to do on the Strip to keep one busy for at least a week.)

Please feel free to contact me with comments, opinions, and ideas about what you’d like to see covered here. Let’s make this interactive - more stuff from more people will make this blog as informative as it can be. I look forward to hearing from all the fans of Vegas as well as the rest of you!

Paul

The Las Vegas Motor Speedway is going to be hustle and bustle this weekend with the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 slated for this Sunday, March 11th. It seems some people are questioning if it’s going to be a weekend like it was for the NBA Finals with 160,000 thousand race fans in town.

Several reports from that weekend focused not on the game itself but the chaotic atmosphere surrounding it — interminable flight delays at McCarran International Airport, standstill traffic on Las Vegas Boulevard, and a sense of lawlessness on parts of the city’s prime tourist area, The Strip. “Vegas screwed up,” wrote ESPN columnist Bill Simmons, who took the city to task for not putting enough police on the streets.

Columnist Jason Whitlock of AOL.com agreed, calling All-Star weekend “an unmitigated failure.” The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported 403 arrests over the long weekend, with 231 of those arrested coming from outside Southern Nevada, and 239 for prostitution-related crimes. And now here comes NASCAR, which according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority brought 94,875 people and a non-gaming economic impact of $129.3 million to town last year.

[tags]las vegas, nascar, DaimlerChrysler 400[/tags]

Movie tickets are not cheap these days. After you add in popcorn and soda, the cost soars through the roof. There are several places online to get free movie passes to special screenings. All the ones that we have gone to seem to be at Brenden Theater at The Palms. This is a great place to see movies. Just sign up below and you will get emails telling you where to get your free movie passes.

Las Vegas Movie Insider

Review Journal

Have fun and ask for extra butter!

[tags]free movie passes, las vegas movies[/tags]

Here I am again with the celebrity gatherings as seen through the eyes of Norm Clarke. It was a busy weekend here in Las Vegas.

Joe Simpson, father of Ashlee and Jessica Simpson, celebrating his 49th birthday Sunday at Social House (Treasure Island). Also there: former United States Olympic gold-medal sprinter Maurice Greene.

Charles Barkley and Tiger Woods, partying at Light (Bellagio) on Sunday night. Barkley had the crowd raging when he climbed on the stage and worked the stripper pole with some ladies.

At ghostbar (Palms) on Sunday for the Mitchell and Ness party: Akon, Dave Chapelle, Darryl McDaniels of rap pioneer group Run DMC, Adam “Pac Man” Jones, Antonio Gates, Anthony Peeler, Felipe Lopez, Dikembe Mutombo, Ed Lover, Grand Master Kane and Monie Love… Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Penny Marshall, Ron Artest and “Sugar” Shane Mosley, dining at N9ne. … Busta Rhymes, Young Joc, LaDanian Tomilson, Deion Sanders, Shawn Marion, Gabrielle Union, Mosely, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Jermain Taylor, Kenyon Martin, Darryl McDaniels, “Girls Next Door” star Kendra Wilkinson and “Pac Man” Jones, at Diddy’s sold-out “Black Tie Affair” on Sunday at Rain nightclub (Palms).

At OPM (Forum Shops at Caesars) on Sunday for the annual Ballers Ball / Women Standing Tall / After School All Stars charity event: Hip-hop star Kanye West, Elaine Wynn, Miami Heat guard Gary Payton, R&B singers Akon, Ray J and Tyrese, Pittsburgh Steelers defender Joey Porter, rappers Ludacris, Yung Joc, E-40, Young Jeezy, Lil Flip, Lil Jon, Chamillionaire, Lil Wayne and the group Bone Thugs and Harmony, comedian Katt Williams, champion boxer Jermain Taylor, actress Kim Whitley, Los Angeles Clippers’ Doug Christie and Mad Mike of MTV show “Pimp My Ride.”

Wild child Nicole Richie, joining boyfriend/deejay Joel Madden of music group Good Charlotte at Revolution lounge (Mirage). Also in the house: rap stars 50 cent, with members of the G-Unit crew in tow, and Busta Rhymes.

On Saturday, ESPN analyst and former UNLV star Greg Anthony having dinner at BOA Steakhouse with former teammate Clinton Clausen, BOA exec. Also dining at BOA: Phoenix Suns star and UNLV product Shawn Marion, as well as Scott Padgett of the Memphis Grizzlies. Actor Mario Lopez and James Pickens Jr. at BOA on Sunday.

Ladainian Tomlinson, Shane Mosley, Bernard Hopkins and their wives and friends, along with three bodyguards, having a 1 a.m. dinner at N9ne Steakhouse (Palms)…Slam-dunk champion Gerald Green of the Boston Celtics, at N9ne Steakhouse (Palms) on Sunday, doing a photo shoot for ESPN The Magazine. Afterwards he went the N9ne kitchen and signed the “Shakedown Door” for Chef Barry Dakake, before the two had dinner together…Indianapolis Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney, celebrating his 27th birthday at N9ne with a dessert platter.

Actress Eva Longoria and San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker, dining at Spago (Caesars Forum Shops) on Sunday after the All-Star Game.

Comedian George Wallace, attending longtime Las Vegas showman Earl Turner’s final show at Palace Station on Sunday.

The whole point of bring the NBA All Star game here was to prove to the NBA commission that Las Vegas could be the next home of an NBA team. Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman has been trying to get a team here for over a year now, and hopefully after all that happened this weekend they will still want to come.

We had four shotings in two incidents resulting in three people who were critically injured, and over 300 arrest on various charges. To say I am disappointed is putting it mildly.

One man was shot in the hip inside the parking garage of the MGM Grand. He declined to press charges, and police are not following up on the incident, Montoya said.

Instead they are focused on the more serious shooting, which occurred outside the Minxx strip club on Wynn Road near Tropicana Avenue.

Three people were shot after three or four patrons of the club were escorted outside for fighting. One of them opened fire, wounding two employees and a patron near the club’s entrance, police said.

Blood spatter could be seen Monday morning on one of the double doors at the club.

One worker was shot in the chest, one was shot in the arm and leg, and a female patron was grazed in the head by another bullet, Montoya said. He said all three victims were hospitalized in critical condition.

Montoya said police had heard speculation that NFL cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones of the Tennessee Titans had been involved in the shooting, but those reports had not been confirmed. Jones has had several run-ins with authorities in West Virginia and Tennessee.

Montoya also said he did not know whether any other celebrities were at the club during the time of the shooting. There were reports that rapper Nelly was among the celebrities who had been in the club just before the shooting.

Jones’ agent, Michael Huyghue of Axcess Sports & Entertainment in Jacksonville, Fla., said late Monday afternoon that he knew nothing of the incident and would have been told if his client were the subject of a police investigation.

Because Jones is not a “poster child” for model behavior, he has become “an easy target for people to say he’s involved in this kind of thing,” Huyghue said.

As part of the effort to identify who fired the bullets at Minxx, police were interviewing about 40 witnesses who had been at the club, Montoya said.

Everyone is in town this weekend for the NBA All-star Game including all the celebrities. Once again Norm Clarke gives us the inside scoop on who is here in town and what they are doing.

NBA legend Michael Jordan chatting it up with an unidentified blonde at Pure nightclub at Caesars … Also at Pure, music producer Jermaine Dupri hanging out with former Blink 182 frontman Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler, who recently reunited after a bitter split… At The Beatles Revolution Lounge (Mirage): actor Lawrence Fishburne…Rapper Nelly with a small entourage of friends and security heading toward valet at Treasure Island.

Starr Jones Reynolds, spotted shopping at The Art of Shaving and Lush Puppy at Mandalay Place (Mandalay Bay).

Michael Jordan, getting an early start on the NBA All-Star Weekend. He showed up at Jet (Mirage) on Monday with pal Charles Oakley. Also there: actor Laurence Fishburne, Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, spotted dancing on VIP tables and booths, and Cee-Lo Green of Grammy award-winning group, Gnarls Barkley. Former boxing champ Bernard Hopkins, dining at Fix (Mirage).