{"id":5866,"date":"2011-03-02T15:22:56","date_gmt":"2011-03-02T23:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=5866"},"modified":"2011-03-02T15:24:33","modified_gmt":"2011-03-02T23:24:33","slug":"case-bets-ferris-wheel-fetishists-rail-fail-aerotropolis-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/case-bets-ferris-wheel-fetishists-rail-fail-aerotropolis-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Case Bets: Ferris wheel fetishists; Rail fail; “Aerotropolis” now?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> better get a move on with that Ferris wheel it wants to build out back of O’Shea’s<\/strong>. A rival project, slated for problematic (and fairly blighted) land opposite Mandalay Bay<\/strong> received approval<\/a> from Clark County<\/strong>. Then again, getting a project past the Clark County Commission<\/strong> is like spotting Holly Madison<\/strong> at a media event: a very routine occurrence. Also, the Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> is not exactly the Santa Monica Pier<\/strong>, in terms of the quality of the view from the top. The “Harrah’s Wheel,” if it opened today — for instance — would have for its western prospect the backside of several hotels and, to the east, a mix of slums and empty lots. To the south, Bally’s<\/strong> and to the north … the butt end of Venelazzo<\/strong>. The Stratosphere<\/strong> observation deck it ain’t. Given the dearth of promising locations, casino owners’ unquenchable Ferris wheel fetish (Phil Satre<\/strong>, Phil Ruffin<\/strong> and several others have toyed with the idea) is truly remarkable.<\/p>\n

Continued problems<\/strong> with China<\/strong>‘s high-speed rail lines<\/a> are making the failing<\/a> Las Vegas Monorail<\/strong> look like an engineering triumph and a sound investment by comparison. (In other words, it’s really bad.)<\/p>\n

One man’s “noise ghetto”<\/strong> is another man’s — mine, specifically — neighborhood. I’ll confess to being less than thrilled with the notion being propounded by authors Greg Lindsay<\/strong> and John D. Kasarda<\/strong>; namely, that solid middle-class citizens like myself be bulldozed aside to make room for “aerotropolis” cities<\/a> like … Dubai<\/strong>. Then again, Las Vegas<\/strong> has already “done” Dubai and we’ll have a hangover for the next decade or more.<\/p>\n

\"\"Also, McCarran International Airport<\/strong> encroaches so closely upon the Strip that Vegas really has no choice but<\/em> to grow around it. Although Silverton<\/strong> owner Ed Roski’<\/strong>s idea of building a college football stadium right underneath a McCarran glide path<\/a> looks like sheer whimsy. Those incoming jet planes practically comb your hair as it is. It’d pretty hair-raising to have one buzz a Runnin’ Rebels<\/strong> game, to say nothing of the noisy, er, distraction it would create. Roski’s proposed rerouting of Swenson Street<\/strong><\/a> (a major traffic artery) appears to necessitate the demolition of the Hilton Caesars Fountain<\/strong>, a campus landmark of UNLV<\/strong> and beloved anachronism for those who appreciate local corporate history. And that’d be a damned shame.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caesars Entertainment better get a move on with that Ferris wheel it wants to build out back of O’Shea’s. A rival project, slated for problematic (and fairly blighted) land opposite Mandalay Bay received approval from Clark County. Then again, getting … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[65,34,134,4,81,7,140,22,11,119,25,12,127,8,9,19,100],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5866"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5866"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5869,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5866\/revisions\/5869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}