David Mckee's Stiffs & Georges - Monte Carlo fire

Economic recovery in sight?

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:24:00 -0700

Vegas casino F&B directors seem to think so. From our trusty LVA research department comes word that The Orleans and Mandalay Bay are ending their one-price-all-day buffet specials. Better/worse still, Palace Station is hiking the price of its buffet -- by four bucks. One doesn't know whether to applaud this apparent harbinger of better times ahead or deplore the swift yanking of the "Welcome" mat out from under customers' feet.

Contract talks with magician Lance Burton, you'll recall, went right down to the wire. One possible sticking point? Burton has lost his 10 p.m. slot, which as of today belongs to Frank Caliendo, who'll be doing a 9:30 p.m. show four nights a week.

Good move. Burton's family-friendly act seems an odd fit with the late-show crowd. Besides, Caliendo is on network TV regularly, which Burton isn't. Between this, recruiting musical act Zowie Bowie and rolling out Hotel32, Monte Carlo is making a spirited attempt to stay in the limelight, even as CityCenter looms larger and larger next door.

Study Hall. Just what Nevada needs, another "study" of the tax structure. What's to study? At least 27% of the tax base comes from gaming revenues, which have been in decline for 18 months. A comparable portion comes from retail sales, which have been down two entire years and counting. The problem is obvious but the will to rethink it is rather less in evidence. Here's a hint: We need a plan which is not simply another variant of "Soak the tourists."

Burn Monte Carlo, pay $3,500

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:14:00 -0700

That's the determination of the state's testicularly challenged OSHA Review Board. It chose to discredit testimony by the Clark County Fire Department and state OSHA, siding virtually without exception with the guilty party, United Erectors. The latter's 'erectile dysfunction' set the Monte Carlo ablaze in dramatic and unforgettable fashion last Jan. 26. The fire wasn't as bad as it looked -- but it looked very bad indeed.

Never mind that United Erectors was working -- as ace reporter Tony Illia uncovered -- under a window-washing permit. Nor that two review bodies found the company's safety methods rather cavalier. The review board essentially decided that, if United Erectors says so, that's good enough for them.

So the company the inflicted roughly $100 million of damage on the Monte Carlo and paralyzed a major MGM Mirage property for weeks on end gets away with a $3,500 slap on the wrist. Heck, even I could afford that. I dunno if United Erectors has any juice with the review board but they sure could get it up this time.

As for Nevada OSHA, it's going to have get its act together and present stronger cases to the review board, given the latter's 'the defendant is (almost) always right' track record. But with Gov. Jim Gibbons seeking to drown Nevada state guvmint in a bathtub, via a 34% budget reduction, that's not a likely prospect. Welcome to Nevada, where it's every man for himself and devil take the hindmost.

Case Bets: South Point, Gustav, Monte Carlo, Gold Spike, Excalibur, etc.

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:15:00 -0700

Why does a holiday weekend suck? Because it means that instead of having to dig through three days' worth of the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Monday (a depressing task under the best of circumstances), a Tuesday start means at least four days of windfall from what Hugh Jackson calls "the dead tree of record" through which one must cut brush. Solution? Chop it up into Insta-Blog fodder! Like ...

Horse dies at South Point, in front of 500 undoubtedly traumatized spectators. Leaving aside the equine tragedy, if South Point can only rustle up 500 attendees for a Friday-night event, its equestrian center may be even more of a gold-plated albatross than was originally thought.

Gulf Coast casinos ordered to close. Good grief, has common sense taken a leave of absence down there? Why was Mississippi required to force the issue?

Monte Carlo not up to code, says Clark County. Whereupon neither the county nor MGM Mirage takes responsibility for remediating the situation, each putting the onus on the other.

Wall Street comes around. The Street has a manic-depressive attitude toward gaming stocks and is coming out of its latest episode of depression. Even so, some of these stocks look ridiculously undervalued, especially Las Vegas Sands, which The Street used to think was worth three times as much.

Speaking of Sands, there's confidence and then there's foolhardiness. Then again, given the company's genius at protracting litigation to superhuman lengths, its sanguine attitude may be born of experience.

Somnolent editors awake from nap, find that Nevada's economic model isn't working, call for more of the same, go back to sleep. (BTW, here's one of those "Nevada Democrats" the editorial reflexively derides.)

First Nevada Palace fell and now the Gold Spike is half-renovated. We're going to have to come up with a new shorthand for "bottom-of-the-barrel casino" now that we won't have the Spike to kick around anymore. Stephen Siegel has done more with the place than his predecessors, absentee owners Tamares Group, accomplished in three years (unless you count the offerings they took out, like table games).

Still, Siegel's being a wee bit charitable when he says "most people underestimate the Gold Spike." Stephen, it is impossible to underestimate the Spike, the only Nevada casino for which I would have used "vile" as a description, back in its Tamares days.

Comment threads in newspapers can be a very mixed blessing, but much of the back-and-forth that follows this story about electronic poker at Excalibur is well worth reading, as it provides a great deal of hard information and a player's-eye perspective on the experiment.

MGM's quarter: Not as bad as it sounds

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:22:00 -0700

Although MGM Mirage's latest earnings report inspired some apocalyptic headlines, William Spain of Marketwatch has ferreted out numbers that put MGM's earnings announcement into a less-sensationalized context. True, any profit falloff in 2Q08 was cushioned by the insurance payout from the Monte Carlo fire.

But ... we're also measuring last quarter against an aberrant 2Q07 because, as Spain points out, it was a year ago that MGM booked $264 million from the sale of its Primm, Nev., properties to Herbst Gaming. (Which proved to be Herbst's near-undoing, but that's a story for another day.) Besides, if your occupany fell to "only" 97%, you're clearly doing something right. I can vividly remember a period, during the pre-9/11 boom, when 89-92% occupancy was a sign of vitality.

Headline to the contrary, the Sun story paints a fairly reassuring picture of MGM's health, except for the fact that -- as company execs freely admit -- the company is having its ass kicked in Macao. MGM's business model over there is clearly a dud if Steve Wynn is pulling down 6.7X as much operating profit. Even Las Vegas Sands, which went into a panic shortly after Venetian Macao opened, is doing six times as well as the MGM/Pansy Ho operation. (The Wynn metric is more impressive because it's being achieved with only one casino vs. Sheldon Adelson's two.) Geez, if the numbers get any worse, Stanley Ho will be too embarrassed to keep referring to MGM Grand Macau as "my casino." Maybe MGM's plan to add more VIP-play capacity will start to turn things around.

The shoe's on the other foot in Vegas, where Bellagio is walloping "Megacenter," posting $7 more operating profit than the undynamic duo of Venetian and Palazzo combined. MGM may be reaping the fruits of Steve Wynn's labor (or Glenn Schaeffer's, in the case of Mandalay Bay) but it's also displaying the power of something Sands evidently lacks: brand equity.

Other interesting footnotes, courtesy of Liz Benston: While MGM CEO J. Terrence Lanni acknowledged getting clocked by Wynn in Macao, Adelson seems to have gone unmentioned. Is this Lanni's payback for Adelson trash-talking MGM not so long ago?

And while you'd expect big-ticket entertainment to be an expendable expense right now, Cirque du Soleil's box office is actually up. Which means two things: A) The producers of Believe can heave a sigh of relief, and B) a recession makes people seek the comfort of French-Canadian clowns. Which is the really scary part, if you ask me.

ABBA > Coldplay. So say British pop fans, judging by the fact that a long-available compilation CD has evicted Coldplay from the #1 spot on the best-selling album chart. Couple this with a $200 million-plus worldwide gross for the Mamma Mia! film, and Benny & Bjorn are enjoying sweet revenge on all those people -- like me -- who made fun of them 30 years ago. Now we're doing penance by learning that while "Waterloo" phonates beautifully in French, it sounds bloody awful in German.

Monte Carlo: What the f...?

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:07:00 -0700

You know those fellows who set the Monte Carlo on fire? Well, it seems they were working under a window-washing permit. I kid you not. Tony Illia ran down this gem, which adds to the tragi-comedy of how Union Erectors turned a Strip resort into a big-ass Roman candle.

As for the non-response of the Clark County Fire Department, which declared that since the fire was unintentional no one was to be held accountable, Illia notes that this was supposed to be the new, improved Clark County and its 20-man special-investigation unit, adding "Well, it's certainly off to a bad start."

Illia, one of the best journalists with whom I've had the privilege to work, has some strong words for Clark County. Nor do the private-sector players get off the hook: "One suspects this isn’t the first time that MGM Mirage, Monte Carlo’s owner, has taken short cuts to get things done. Union Erectors has worked on other MGM Mirage properties including the MGM Grand and CityCenter. It has also done work at the Paris Las Vegas and Caesars Palace (both owned by Harrah’s) as well as The Venetian."

Speaking of fires ... Arson victim the Moulin Rouge got the go-ahead from the City of Las Vegas to demolish everything save its marquee and brick tower. A new, Ed Vance-designed hotel-casino is slated to break ground next year and open in 4Q10 (which usually means, "As late in December as possible without forfeiting New Year's Eve").

Project approval and rezoning approval have already been granted for what's drawn up as a 700-room hotel, plus at least two nightclubs, four restaurants and a spa, among other amenities. It might seem small-scale by Palazzo standards, but remember that we're talking about something way off-Strip (but very close to the freeway) in a dodgy neighborhood, so it's what you might call a "marketing challenge." I'm assured that Republic Urban Properties has deep pockets (as in $4 billion deep), so it looks as though the long-promised, oft-deferred rebirth of the Moulin Rouge will finally occur.

Real Hollywood disses Planet Hollywood. Someone from the film industry strolled past Trader Vic's recently during the wee hours and was subjected to a limp rendition of "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince, played to a crowd of maybe 20 souls. The verdict? "It wasn't exactly LAX."

Monte Carlo: No harm [sic], no foul

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:13:00 -0700

A major Strip hotel put out of commission for weeks, thousands evacuated, 13 injured and $90 million in damage? No big deal, says the Clark County Fire Department. You see, Union Erectors didn't intend to set the Monte Carlo on fire, so it's all good, per impeccable Fire Dept. logic. Ergo, not even a fine for Union Erectors, even though the company merely assumed it had a valid permit and its fire watch was "ineffective." (Let's see: You're on duty to watch out for risk of fire and a massive conflagration breaks out? Yeah, I'd call that ineffective.)

Move along, folks. Nothing to see here. Just like ...

The spreading stain of renegade remodeling jobs is fanning out beyond Harrah's Entertainment and into some of the companies it has gobbled up, either in whole or in part. First up is the former Caesars Entertainment (née Park Place Entertainment, née Hilton Gaming), which built Paris-Las Vegas, site of some do-it-yourself sauna installation.

Perhaps this one can be traced all the way to the grave of Arthur Goldberg, on whose watch Paris-LV was built. Such a control freak was Goldberg, he was notorious for insisting on signing all checks of $5,000 or more. Casinos formerly owned by the late Ralph Engelstad (what else but Imperial Palace?) and by Boyd Gaming (the Barbary Coast) are also on the inspection list, which gets longer by the week.

Which means it's a very ill-chosen time for Harrah's CEO/President/Chairman/Grand Pasha Gary Loveman to try and push whistleblower Fred Frazzetta under the bus, but a Mar. 18 press release did just that, terming Frazzetta "irresponsible" and lacking in credibility. (If anybody's credibility is eroded at this point, it's not Frazzetta's.)

"The company has not suggested that any of the terminated employees," of shuttered Harrah's subsidiary Roman Empire Development, "were responsible for the improper renovation work," reported the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Which is interesting, because -- back in my days at the Las Vegas Business Press -- one of the first tips we got about the evolving private-equity buyout of Harrah's was that its in-house design operation would be scrapped and outsourced.

So the high-profile sacking of 200 Roman Empire employees may have been a pre-planned cost-cutting move masquerading, at the time, as a forceful response to the Rio/Harrah's LV/Flamingo renegade-renovations debacle. That shiny halo that Gary Loveman wears in Christina Binkley's otherwise excellent Winner Takes All has gotten a mite smudgy of late.

No slam-dunk for Wynn dealers. Liz Benston guides readers through the whys and why-nots of whether a recent California ruling against tip confiscation at Starbucks will have any effect on a similar regime at Wynn Las Vegas. "[D]ealers say Wynn is using the tips to supplement supervisors’ salaries," writes Benston. Hell, that was Wynn's own justification at the time: That he couldn't get any good pit bosses because there was better money to be had by being a dealer. Rather than raise the bridge, Wynn chose to lower the river and you all know how well (or badly) that has gone.

On the move. Another high-ranking Strip exec has "ankled" over to Fontainebleau. First, the Cosmopolitan's Audrey Oswell, now Riviera Holdings CFO Mark Lefever. Glenn Schaeffer is building himself quite a braintrust.

Always look on the bright side

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:42:00 -0700

"If anything, the fire did move the process ahead." -- Monte Carlo Resort & Casino President Anton Nikodemus, explaining that the Jan. 25 fire has caused MGM Mirage to start remodeling the hotel rooms nine months earlier than planned.

Should an earthquake strike Las Vegas, it'll probably happen at the intersection of Tropicana and Decatur avenues. So maybe it's just as well that a high-rise condo project slated for the immediate vicinity didn't happen after all, doncha think?

Just when you try to cut Gibbons some slack ...

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:15:00 -0700

See what I mean about how The Gibber governs best when governs least? Not only is he uttering an empty call to employ all available resources (emphasis mine) in the current hepatitis/HIV scare, it turns out he may have unwittingly -- some would say "half-wittingly" -- made matters worse by keeping the Bureau of Licensure & Certification deliberately understaffed. And with that bureau, like all other state agencies, having to prune its budget to comply with Gibbons' mindless, spineless, simplistic mandate for 4.5% budget reductions across the board, it doesn't look as though the situation is bound to improve anytime soon.

By the way, Gov. Gibbons, shouldn't state-funded programs for treating pathological gamblers be exempted from your "off with their heads" budgetary edict? Since the money provided is entirely derived from slot fees (which are subject to fluctuations in slot capacity but not in revenue) remain solely dedicated to the purpose dictated by the 2005 Lege and not be raided to cover a shortfall in revenue projections? And if that's what is happening, what's to prevent the fund from being siphoned for other purposes, too. After all, Nevada politicians had to be dragged kicking and screaming into recognizing problem gambling as a public policy issue in the first place.

It's over for New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. Already on track to be a one-term governor, today's bombshell makes you wonder if he'll even be able to finish his term. Which is tragic, because Spitzer was a great public servant as NY's attorney general and as a D.A. Unfortunately, he's evidently been undone by intrinsic character flaws, in classic Greek tragedy fashion. Expect a massive, Schadenfreude pile-on.

But then I thought it was curtains for Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) a while back. Wrong again.

Profiles in Cowardice, Chapter II: The Gibber, emerging from his new bachelor pad in Reno, played to a packed house over the weekend and uttered what must be one of the most invertebrate endorsements ever:

"[McCain] is the most qualified individual that I can support based on his military background, his leadership ability, his understanding of the United States and most importantly, he's a Westerner."

Geez, what a mix of shilly-shallying and classic Gibbonsian hoof-in-mouth syndrome. The fact that McCain is "a Westerner" is more important than leadership ability and an understanding of the U.S.? I hope that was a joke. If so, it's right up there with Gibbons' infamously insensitive jape about the Monte Carlo fire. ("I couldn't find my bucket.")

I'll skate past the xenophobic gibes of Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and just note the patronizing tone adopted by state GOP chairwoman Sue Lowden, addressing Ron Paul supporters: "I welcome you to join our Republican party ..." (emphasis added).

What, is there another Republican Party we didn't know about? By supporting Ron Paul, were these voters somehow excommunicated? I didn't know political parties belonged to anybody, let alone Sue Lowden. Whatever happened to "the Big Tent"?

P.S.: The Nevada Democratic "It's All Good" Party has been doing such a good job of self-destructing this year, surely it doesn't need me to give it an extra kick in the shins right now, no matter how well deserved. But I'm serenely confident that the opportunity will arise again, and soon.

Why TV news shouldn't cover gaming

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:09:00 -0700

Today, on the local Fox affiliate's morning news show, besieged anchor Monica Jackson reported that MGM Mirage's excellent 4Q07 results were achieved by buying half of CityCenter. Uh no, Monica, that was accomplished by selling 50% of CityCenter to Dubai World. Slight difference there.

Really, if you follow the casino industry it's almost impossible to watch TV news organizations' fumbling attempts to cover it without wanting to crawl under your sofa. This is yet another case in point

It's not always good to be Lanni

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 18:29:00 -0700

It's got to be bad enough for MGM MIrage CEO J. Terrence Lanni that his unflagging support for Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons was repaid with Lanni being frozen out in favor of rival Sheldon Adelson. It's worse when people make pitying jokes about it in the newspaper.

On the other hand, that MGM Mirage/Dubai World tender offer wasn't such a bad idea. They only needed 15 million shares and were offered 101 million. And the Monte Carlo reopened. So maybe it's not such a bad day, after all.

Case Bets: Station, Air Adelson, Strip, Monte Carlo, Monorail, etc.

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:35:00 -0700

Big company (Station Casinos) buys smaller company (George Maloof's Fiesta), scraps business plan and slogan that made it successful, sacks entire workforce and drives customers into the arms of Suncoast. Fast-forward almost eight years and realization sinks in that Something Isn't Working. Solution? Back to Square One (more or less). Customers not yet buying it (see comments), or so they say.

It's only fair to note that Station is still having to tinker with the flawed formula of what used to be Ameristar Casinos' The Reserve, an African safari-themed property that tanked from Day One. Ameristar's late owner Craig Neilsen was able to offload it in return for bailing Station out of some problems in Missouri (an opportunistic tradeoff that went very much in Neilsen's favor). So no surprise to learn that it still hasn't found its niche. Maybe version 3.0 will be the charm.

Innovative as ever, mega-mogul Sheldon Adelson asks himself, "If cruise ships can offer gambling and the winnings aren't subject to taxes, why can't we take that idea to the friendly skies?" So now Vegas-bound 'whales' can play 14 straight hours of baccarat at 35,000 feet. (What happens if they drop their whole bankroll before they even land?) MGM Mirage says its weighed the idea "for about 15 minutes," then ashcanned it. But never bet against Adelson. Ever.

Asked by an analyst if "there would be any other activity on the planes than just serving as transport, [Las Vegas Sands President William] Weidner again said the company didn't need to comment on the question." Hmmmmm ...

Build it and they will come, goes the time-tested Vegas refrain. Readers crunch the numbers and say (at bottom of page) they don't add up. It's interesting to look at the projects sidebar and see which ones are listed and which aren't, or maybe have been dropped (no Cosmopolitan, no Plaza -- yet, no Trop do-over).

Looking at those project costs, you have to wonder what magic elixir William Yung III has discovered that enables him to continue floating a $2.5 billion-$3.5 billion price tag for converting the Las Vegas Tropicana into what's been described as "the world's largest building," with almost 10,000 hotel rooms and condos. (Jim Murren would probably like to get some of that pixie dust, no doubt, and make those CityCenter costs go away.) And to think that Glenn Schaeffer is ekeing out a mere 4,000 rooms for $2.9 billion at Fontainbleau (below). That Schaeffer sure must not know what he's doing. </sarcasm>

Monte Carlo reflections. UNLV's David Schwartz warns against complacency in the wake of a "noncatastrophe."

Local business reporter mocks tourists en route to uttering some commonplaces about the Las Vegas Monorail, whose problems are far better summarized elsewhere. I'm sure all those players, some of them quite skilled, would be pleased to know that the local paper's tourism scribe considers the Las Vegas Strip a monument to their "gullibility." Classy.

Never mind all that stuff Sen. John McCain said about banning betting on college sports, quoth American Gaming Association prexy Frank Fahrenkopf. Because any potential scandals in that realm are, like, so totally busted. Or words to that effect.

Stunningly handsome former casino executive and sometime U.S. Senator John Ensign takes time off from the links (his handicap is the stuff of legend) to visit Iraq. If he's coming out against permanent U.S. bases in Iraq, then maybe there's hope for Ensign yet. But, just to be safe ... couldn't we leave him there? I mean, he says it's really safe now and all that. What could be the harm?

A.C. Tropicana: let the bidding begin!

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:21:00 -0700

Justice Gary Stein, conservator of the Atlantic City Tropicana, has set Feb. 18 as the kickoff date for the formal bidding process. Although only two cash offers are on the table so far, Stein -- with assistance of Bear Stearns -- is preparing to walk two-dozen or more companies through the process, with the goal of having a deal in place by May 1.

This is almost certainly going to require a deadline extension from the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, which had provided a 120-day window for selling the casino, while it looks as though Stein will require anywhere from two weeks to months longer. Meanwhile, Trop President Mark Giannantonio, a Columbia Sussex holdover, says, "We're not looking to be mediocre in our service levels. We're looking to stand out." Of course, the Trop has been standing out of late, but not in a good way.

At least Atlantic City denizens are still passionate about their cats and birds, two groups doomed to forever be at odds ... sort of like regulators and Columbia Sussex.

Speaking of which ... a Liz Benston analysis piece explains why the Nevada Gaming Control Board has relatively few options if Columbia Sussex is found to be running the same kind of renegade casinos in Nevada that the NJCCC deemed it to be operating in Atlantic City.

The rubbery Scylla and Charybdis between which Columbia Sussex may find itself are the "foreign gaming" rule, a lightly enforced provision which calls upon the NGCB to look into regulatory infractions incurred by in jurisdictions other than Nevada.

Then there are the penalties that can be invoked if you "reflect discredit" upon Nevada. Based on video and audio evidence gathered by the Culinary Union, some of which I've seen, Columbia Sussex might have a real problem here.

In a separate piece (second item), Benston reveals that Columbia Sussex's bean counters at Lake Tahoe's Horizon Casino Resort (the one from which the landlord is trying to evict Columbia Sussex) had been writing out incorrect paychecks, ignorant of Nevada's overtime rules. Benston notes that the problem is widespread. However, Columbia Sussex has been renting the Horizon for almost 19 years. You'd think somebody would have twigged to this sooner.

This just in ... the Monte Carlo will reopen on Feb. 15. At least 1,200 rooms and most amenities will be back on line, with the remaining retail and restaurants -- plus 1,300 more rooms -- expected to be ready for business a week later. The other 500 rooms will be experiencing what is diplomatically described as "an extensive redesign."

Monte Carlo finger-pointing continues

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:06:00 -0700

There's an unwritten rule here at Huntington Press that anyone who publicly posts a Family Circus cartoon receives a flogging. So I'll merely stipulate that aforesaid Family Circus regularly featured a spectral mischief maker called "Not Me" who, along with sister "Ida Know," was blamed for any mishaps around the house.

It seems that Not Me and Ida Know have moved to Vegas, and taken jobs with Union Erectors, the company that just happened to be welding atop the Monte Carlo when the place caught fire. At least that's how Union Erectors tells it, answering a Clark County Fire Dept. investigation with a resounding cry of "Not me!"

As for Ida Know, she seems to have experienced a sex change, responding to this follow-up column under the guise of "Union Brother." According to U.B. (who purports to have been on the job at the Monte Carlo), slag mats don't do any good, blah blah -- oh, and it's all the fault of that construction foam on the building. Which is a bit like saying there wouldn't have been a forest fire if all those damn trees hadn't been there.

Clark County, meanwhile, seems to be waffling on whether to allow Monte Carlo to rebuild to 1991 standards or to the (more stringent) ones currently in place. The story itself appears to lobby for a laissez-faire attitude, showing photos of four casino-hotels, noting that each "has never caught fire." Neither had the Monte Carlo. Until 10 days ago.

"God hates Reno" So say followers of scum of the earth Fred Phelps. Because of, y'know, gambling and stuff. Hey, it's a catchier tagline than "Get your Vegas on" or whatever that new LVCVA one is.

Monte Carlo: a reader responds

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:46:00 -0700

A regular reader weighs in with a qualified defense of United Erectors, which has been fingered as the culprit in the fire that turned the SW façade of the Monte Carlo Resort & Casino into that of (as seen yesterday) the "Monte Car":

The welders started the fire and it is their fault. But, the R-J story said, the county takes "a few weeks to 2 months--depending on the backlog" to approve a "hot work" permit. How in God's name can they realistically expect any subcontractor to wait that long?

This is how I see it happening in the real world. Mr. Building Supervisor for MBM (Mighty Big Mutha) wants X project done at Kirk's Casino & Resort. He hires Fred's Construction. Fred knows Mr BS wants it done yesterday. He calls Sparky's Welding. Sparky sees big dollars and knows that if he can't do it yesterday that Calliente Welding will get the job, because Calliente has "juice" (or says they do). So Sparky takes a chance, only this time he gets burned. Mr BS is shocked, SHOCKED to find out Sparky isn't legal (Fred is too, but he is sweating so bad he could put out the fire by himself).

Makes me wonder how many projects on the Strip have had welding done without "hot work" permits. The County has to be fast enough in approvals to make people want to follow the law. If the time is unreasonable then they will take their chances.

They burned the Monte Carlo ... and may get away with it

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:50:00 -0700

Clark County has finished its investigation of the Monte Carlo fire. Its conclusion? That United Erectors was conducting a quick and dirty welding job that got out of hand, you might say. Union Erectors is keeping mum, probably on the of advice counsel, which would be the first bit of smarts the company has shown throughout this fiasco.

Much ink has been expended on whether the proper paperwork had been filed. But that's beside the point. Union Erectors was caught doing a sort of 'run and gun' welding job, one that's keeping a massive number of MGM Mirage employees out of work. (To its considerable credit, the company is keeping them on the payroll for at least 30 days; something that will displease Wall Street analysts but should earn MGM plaudits from everyone else.)

Amazingly, the county is still "considering" whether to file charges against Union Erectors. This should be a no-brainer: If United Erectors is not held to account (even though the penalties on the books are relatively puny), there's no reason to assume that the Monte Carlo scenario won't play out again. And again.

Good MGM, bad MGM. With one hand it keeps its Monte Carlo workforce afloat. With the other, it shuts down Mandalay Bay's The Reading Room. Why? So the space can be used to cater to a "younger, hipper" demographic, presumably with high-end retail indistinguishable from 1,001 other emporia along the Strip. Literacy bad! Baubles good!

One less reason to patronize Mandalay Bay; one more to anticipate Fontainbleau.

Engage ostrich mode! The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce is shown worrisome economic indicators, buries head in sand. I hear the boating on DeNile is lovely this time of year. This is the same crowd whose stance on taxes is basically, "Make the casinos pay, not us!" Way to show leadership, guys.

Out in Kansas City, our president has noticed "troubling signs" for the U.S. economy. Ya think? A shrewd man, this Bush.

Profiles in Cowardice. Time was when Sen. John Ensign, and Reps. Dean Heller and Jon Porter were only to happy to use Bush as a big-ass ATM card, advancing their own careers on the big man's coattails. Yesterday, they were nowhere to be seen. Porter slinks into town sometime today, presumably hoping to go unnoticed -- his whole political career in a nutshell.

At least Ensign has an excuse, being off crafting a legislative provision that "requires both parents to have valid Social Security numbers to collect the $300 rebate proposed for children, even if the child has his own valid Social Security card." Nice guy, huh?

Monte Carlo: the saga continues

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:51:00 -0700

Just a few days ago, we read that six or more Vegas high-rises are coated with the same flammable foam that lit up the Monte Carlo parapets last Friday. Now the Las Vegas Review-Journal has identified six of them. For the record they are:

Bellagio

Treasure Island

Caesars Palace

Paris-Las Vegas

New York-New York

Excalibur

Interestingly, every major figure involved with the construction of Monte Carlo (built during a period when then-Circus Circus Corp. was rolling out a series of cost-conscious megaresort-wannabes, like Excalibur) is heading for the tall grass. As is the "I got no comment" welding company that was working on the Monte Carlo when the fire broke out.

A humble suggestion to Perini Building Co.'s Dick Rizzo: If you're using this EFIS foam "probably 95% of the time," you might want to consider cutting back. I mean, if I eat bacon 95% of the time I dine, then my chances of getting a heart attack are looking really good. I'm just sayin'.

The voice of Nevada: When Gov. Jim Gibbons speaks, residents of 49 other states have at least one reason to feel superior to Nevadans. He says he "couldn't find [his] bucket" to help put out the Monte Carlo fire, yuk yuk.

Gibbons' bucket doesn't appear to be the only thing he mislaid.

Bushwa: Freeway traffic was backed up along I-15 as far as the eye could see at 9 a.m. (scarcely rush hour), thanks to a visit from America's beloved leader. But don't get too close or you may have to answer to "the man in the white car." I don't know who he is, but I'll be staying clear of the dreaded nexus of "Southwest and Northwest Las Vegas," just to be safe.

Monte Carlo: the catastrophe that wasn't

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:21:00 -0700

Although everything worked out about as best as could be hoped during the Monte Carlo fire, I'm not sure whether to be reassured or disturbed to learn that it could have been a lot worse, up to and including the locking of evacuation doors. Given the corner-cutting found recently at The Rio, Harrah's Las Vegas and the Flamingo, there's been altogether too much laxity and penny-pinching of late where fire-safety issues are concerned.

Hopefully, the silver lining in the Monte Carlo smoke clouds will be a more urgent discussion (accompanied by action) to nip this problem in the bud. After all, if these problems are cropping up at second-tier Strip properties, I shudder to think how much more serious they might be at some of the real dowagers in town, particularly those that have been afflicted with cash-flow issues in recent years.

As for whistleblower Stroud "Stan" Maldare, instead of imposing a gag order on him, MGM Mirage management ought to be promoting him to an oversight position, as he obviously is more on the ball than some of his higher-ups. We should all have employees who care so passionately about their workplace. If there's a hero in this saga, Maldare seems to be it.

As for Super Bowl Weekend guests booked into the Monte Carlo, I'm told MGM Mirage is taking it a day at a time and will accommodate them at other MGM properties. Good thing they've still got Circus Circus.

Oh, shoot: Now it's happened at Foxwoods. Not a good week for MGM Mirage (Foxwoods' business partner).

Pinnacle comes to Baton Rouge ... or not. Voters will decide the issue on Feb. 9; in the meantime, there's a grass-roots movement to block Pinnacle Entertainment's proposed riverboat-casino project near Baton Rouge, which would gobble up a chunk of rural flood plain. The pros and cons are laid out, along with some comparisons between the proposed Pinnacle boat and the extant Penn National and Columbia Sussex vessels.

Since Pinnacle is not shy about investing in its properties (a spirit that evidently doesn't extend to its prospective competitors; see below), one would think that the Baton Rouge community would be on board with the project, but apparently not. What's more, Penn National would probably put off or scrap a plan to send Argosy Lawrenceburg to Baton Rouge, while Columbia Sussex has other problems with which to cope right now.

Also, a Penn National-commissioned study predicts that Pinnacle's advent would be the pits for Penn and Columbia Sussex, with one or both boats forced out of the market. If Penn postpones upgrading its casino because of impending competition that'll be what we call a self-fulfilling prophecy. Live by the free market, die by the free market.

(Not that I put much stock in Penn's worst-case-scenario prediction.)

My sympathies are somewhat with the NIMBYs: Build it ... but in a different site, if possible. As for Penn and C.S., what they're asking for smacks of protectionism and should be backhanded by the voters. Did Steve Wynn's megaresorts push older, mustier casinos out of business? Probably. But that's how markets evolve.

Ill-timed headline of the week

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:55:00 -0700

"Remodeling: Harrah's may face more heat" -- Las Vegas Review-Journal, the day after the Monte Carlo fire.

Monte Carlo: the real story

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:26:00 -0700

In a sidebar, inconspicuously tucked away, Review-Journal reporter Lawrence Mower nails the forward-looking angle on the Monte Carlo fire. If you're like me, you were probably alarmed at the alacrity with which the rooftop blaze spread. (The good news is that the internal fire-containment systems worked the way they're supposed to. Score one for MGM Mirage.) According to the main bar, the culprit is thick foam, clad in a "cementacious material" (great terminology), which turns out to be fire's best friend.

In his sidebar, Mower makes several worrisome citations, including that "six to eight high-rise buildings in the Las Vegas Valley" are cosseted in this fire-friendly stuff. Also, state law gives them a pass on current, more-restrictive regulations governing the use of this flammable faux-stucco material. Here's hoping that the owners of those high rises take a proactive course and replace that construction foam on their own initiative, without having to be compelled. The Monte Carlo fire was a wake-up call.

Will we heed it?

Monte Carlo is burning

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:53:00 -0700

... although the damage appears to be largely confined to the resort's façade. How ironic then that one of this morning's lead stories in the Review-Journal is a profile of the whistleblower who drew attention to corner-cutting on safety by Harrah's Entertainment (not the owner of the Monte Carlo). As Mr. Frazzetta points out, companies that receive only token penalties -- Harrah's was fined less than $12,000 -- may be advised by their resident bean counters that the profits to be gained from scrimping on safety measures far outweigh the potential punishment.