Editorial: Looks like it’s hustle, not bustle

Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2002 | 9 a.m.

The future of downtown Las Vegas has been the predominant theme at City Hall for at least the past 15 years. Elected officials and professional planners remain committed to redevelopment, never allowing failed projects to avert their eyes from the vision of a bustling center city. It's the kind of philosophy that has brought a laser light show and other large-scale commercial development that has kept downtown in business. But where are the projects for people who would live downtown? Where are the services that would sustain them? Where is the integration of residential charm with the city's gaming industry? In short, where is the bustle?

It's not there yet and all the forward-looking planning now under way is not about to make it happen. Something's missing as we marvel at the thought of gigantic shopping centers, medical research facilities, furniture showrooms, office buildings and the like. These are good projects but they seem to be totally dominating the planning, leaving talk of residential development confined to compact buildings stuffed with one-room efficiency apartments. Perhaps it's time to pause and give thought to the past.

In 1905, the year Las Vegas was born, the First United Methodist Church literally put down its stakes in the downtown area. Its first services were inside a tent, and over the years church buildings were constructed and renovated on the site. In the 1960s its congregation numbered 850, and the growth of the city seemed to ensure its founding proclamation, that it "would stand for services for all time." In June of next year, however, 98 years after its founding, the church will close, sell its land and merge with another Methodist congregation in the suburbs.

The congregation was forced to make this sad decision. The average age of its 60 active members is 55. There are no new families joining, and so the church, to avoid running up bills it couldn't hope to pay, decided to end its downtown presence. The closure should bear heavily on the minds of those planning redevelopment. We have a mayor throwing out the welcome mat for young strippers and more nightclubs while a church dating back to the city's founding year fades away. What's wrong with this picture?

Young professionals needing no more than a one-room apartment are needed downtown. But so are families. And so are the churches and businesses such as grocery stores and dry cleaners that will attract them and encourage them to stay.