Letter: Neighborhoods want to protect quality of life

Tuesday, May 21, 2002 | 8:50 a.m.

Carl Icahn's pastime used to be terrorizing companies such as B.F. Goodrich, Phillips Petroleum and TWA through hostile takeovers. Mr. Icahn's new hobby is to terrorize neighbors who find his proposed roller coaster ride at the Stratosphere Casino in bad taste.

In "The Book of Business Wisdom," Mr. Icahn states, "I enjoy collecting money. Obviously, I've got more money than I am going to spend and more material comforts than I need. But I love winning." For Mr. Icahn, the real "thrill ride" is the process of tormenting the residents of a decent, historic housing development adjacent to the Strip in order to get what he wants.

The single most offensive tactic used by the Stratosphere is to threaten the job security of the Stratosphere workers and blame the neighborhood opposition for possible job losses, all of which has created unwarranted animosity between employees and the neighborhood residents.

The residents, such as myself, want the Stratosphere and its employees to be successful, but not at the expense of the neighborhood. The residents have invested significant amounts of time and money into their homes, and are going to fight to protect their quality of life. There is no shortage of creative and appealing alternatives that could be considered for site development at the Stratosphere. Sadly, Mr. Icahn is not "turned-on" by win-win scenarios.

THEODORE WOOD