First of all, I have to say that Las Vegas is definitely one of the easiest and least expensive major cities in the U.S. to which to move.
Everywhere you turn, there’s a big banner outside an apartment/condo development touting move-in specials: free rent, big discounts, no credit check, no security deposit. My "coupon" was for $400 off the first month’s rent, so after the proration, I owed $7 for January.
Because I’ve lived abroad, in completely furnished rentals, for several years, the sum total of my possessions fit into two suitcases and a carry-on. When I arrived in Las Vegas, everything I owned weighed less than I do.
Also, having lived in Ecuador, with its rock-bottom cost of living, my frugality in moving back to the States has become a totality. So I outfitted my place from the thrift stores and Dollar stores.
Due to the continuing depressed economy, thrift stores abound; I visited about a dozen Savers, Goodwill, Salvation Army, Opportunity Village, church, and charities second-hand shops within about a 10-mile radius of my new apartment. Many of them are huge and full of good used kitchen, bathroom, office, and closet stuff, almost like a department store at 10 cents on the dollar.
And speaking of the dollar, what the Dollar stores sell for a buck is ridiculous. I’d never been to a Dollar store in my life, but I bought almost all my cleaning supplies, including a broom, dustpan, and mop, brand new kitchen utensils, extension cords, clothes hangers, picture hangers, TP and paper towels, Ziploc bags, laundry detergent, batteries, a clock, and much much more, all for $1 each.
Then there’s the ease of setting up utilities, cable, phone, and Internet. After living in South America for a few years and attending to these basics in a different language, within a different culture, and with varying degrees of technological and human efficiency, it was shockingly easy to do it in English, with 800 numbers and online accounts, servicemen showing up within a two-hour (rather than a two-week) window, Internet speeds about double, and scores of HD channels on the tube.
The newspaper situation also surprised me: delivered, seven days a week, both the Review-Journal and the Sun, for 24 cents a day.
Before I arrived, I shopped online for a used car on a number of websites, found several that I liked, and bought one on my second day here.
The only ordeal was at the DMV (big surprise, huh?). On January 2, Nevada became one of 11 states that now issue a "driver authorization card" to undocumented immigrants, which allows them to drive legally. As many as 60,000 immigrants are expected to apply for the card -- and perhaps half of them were at the DMV, doing just that, on the day I went to get my license plates and update my driver’s license. Even then, the process only took a couple of hours, and I had a good book with me, so it wasn’t all that onerous.
On the sad side, the number of homeless people in Las Vegas seems to have exploded since I’ve been gone. I lived in a poor country and the homeless situation there is nowhere near as prevalent and desperate as it is here. According to the homeless census, the numbers have fallen, from 9,432 in January 2011 to 7,355 in January 2013; as I write, the census was just conducted again for 2014, though the numbers won’t be made public for a couple of months. But judging by the abundance of vagabonds and supplicants on street corners and in the middle of big intersections, the problem seems to me to be as dire as ever.
Of course, there have been a number of changes in the casino industry, especially downtown, with Fitzgeralds now the D, the Lady Luck finally reopened as the Downtown Grand, the Entertainment District around the El Cortez, the revamped Golden Gate, and the Downtown Container Park.
I’ve also noted Silver Sevens, SLS, a couple new Wildfires, the massive High Roller Ferris wheel (visible from the Huntington Press office), the Linq about to open, Hakkasan at MGM Grand, The Quad, Resorts World taking over Echelon Place, the new Bill’s, no more Sirens of TI, even a revamped O’Sheas. And that’s just off the top of my head. I’m sure if I went back and looked at the LVA newsletter's Report Cards for the last several years, there’d be 50 more openings, closings, and progress reports to list.
But I’m happy to sign off with one thing that hasn’t changed at all, and that’s QoD, alive and thriving under the capable care of the Qodmother, Jessica. It’s great to be back in the rotation, at least a little, so far.
