Columnist Geoff Schumacher: Wanted - Fresh voices on growth

Geoff Schumacher

Saturday, Aug. 23, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Observing the Southern Nevada growth debate is like watching a Marx Brothers movie. Everybody is running around in circles, throwing out one-liners and thumping each other on the head, but nothing much actually happens.

Our technicolor farce, however, isn't nearly as funny.

Despite more than a year of high-volume discussions, not a single government body has adopted a measure to tackle the Las Vegas Valley's rapid growth.

Meantime, the highways are still congested, the air's dirty, schools are on double sessions, the water quality is suspect, the jail is overcrowded, the parks are insufficient and zoning is haphazard.

The main problem is most of the officials charged with doing something about these problems either don't have the will or the wherewithal to make it happen.

An admirable number of "town hall meetings" and "summits" focusing on growth have been held recently, but the same narrow collection of "community leaders" and "stakeholders" is always invited.

So far, this group, essentially representing the sentiments of the gaming and development industries, has failed to come up with any intriguing plans to improve our quality of life.

In fact, real solutions to the problems don't come up much at all. If the discussion doesn't deteriorate into political fingerpointing, it turns to how tax dollars can be raised or diverted to pay for the infrastructure to ensure that the valley's V-8 growth engine keeps humming along.

With this in mind, I thought it might be worthwhile to bring new voices into the growth debate.

I didn't find any cure-alls, but I did discover some views far more thought-provoking than the warmed-over rhetoric offered by our current crop of community leaders.

Donald Mosley

Mosley, a district judge who has lived here since 1970, laments that "the character of the town has changed markedly." He believes the change came with the arrival of Howard Hughes, who poured millions into the Strip in the 1960s and '70s.

Like everyone else, Mosley's frustrated by the traffic congestion. He also has spent the past 15 years as a vocal opponent of commercial encroachment into the older neighborhood in which he lives.

As an elected judge, Mosley's not prone to publicly lambast his policy-making colleagues in city and county government. Still, he has some strong opinions on growth.

"I think our priorities have been skewed," he says. "We should concentrate on qualify of life, not quantity of life."

He is dismayed by the excitement generated when a new megaresort is proposed. Sure, it will create thousands of new jobs, he says, "but we don't have an unemployment problem in Clark County."

"All it does is add to the problems with infrastructure," he says.

Mosley believes an impact fee on newcomers would kill two birds. It would help pay for public facilities and it would slow growth by making Las Vegas less attractive to investors.

Stressing that the idea needs a lot of study, Mosley proposes an impact fee based on a point system. A proposed development would be assessed based on its calculated impact on roads, schools, crime, pollution, etc.

"You'd need to fashion something that's fair," he says. "So far, no one's had the backbone to do it."

Mosley is particularly concerned about growth's effects on existing neighborhoods. He notes that at last count, there were 77 neighborhood preservation organizations in the city of Las Vegas alone.

"That's a sad commentary. We must not be doing the job if they think they need to create these organizations to save their homes."

Frank Wright

Wright, a historian with the Nevada State Museum and Historical Society who moved to Las Vegas in 1968, sees a greater commitment to our history as an important way to build community pride and counter the negative effects of growth.

He is a key player in preserving the 1930s-era residential neighborhood surrounding the old Las Vegas High School, now the Las Vegas Academy magnet school. Many of the homes are being preserved and used as offices for lawyers and other professionals.

"It's the only neighborhood left that gives you some idea of what life was like in Las Vegas back then," he says.

Wright also advocates preserving the architectural style of the Woolworth building on Fremont Street. The dime store is closing, and the city has big plans for the block on which it has operated since the 1940s.

"The building is not the Taj Mahal, but it is the only remaining example of a popular architectural style from the 1940s," he says, suggesting an upgrade that maintains the exterior.

He also would like to build broader public awareness of the museums and other historical attractions available in the valley.

"There's an interest in our history," he says, "but people don't know where to go to find out about it."

Ed Von Tobel Jr.

Mosley and Wright are relative newcomers compared with Von Tobel Jr., who was born in frontier Las Vegas 84 years ago. His father, Ed Sr., sold the lumber that literally built Las Vegas. He and his brothers took over the business before finally selling it in 1986.

Although he feels Las Vegas has gotten "too damn big," Ed Jr. doesn't offer grand proposals to corral growth, believing that "officials can't block progress. ... It's a free country."

He thinks growth should be better planned, but he says it's hard for politicians "because of the system" -- i.e., the need for campaign contributions from casinos and builders to get elected.

Von Tobel says the problem with the valley's growth is the loss of friendliness that the community enjoyed when it was smaller.

He can remember walking down Fremont Street when he knew everybody he passed by. Now, he can't get an appointment to get his oil changed.

He says some family-run casinos still "imbue a feeling of friendliness among their employees."

"They get the local business because they give them a good value for their money," he says.

Von Tobel's biggest concern is that officials aren't putting aside money for the "hard times." He's seen the local economy rise and fall, and "these good times don't go on forever. It's just a matter of when."

It's clear that Southern Nevada would benefit from adding new voices to the growth debate. A more diversified discussion group could cut through the politics and search for some real solutions.