Columnist Susan Snyder: View of casino is obscured

Friday, Oct. 24, 2003 | 5:20 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4082.

WEEKEND EDITION October 25 - 26, 2003

My old man was a "Pogo" cartoon strip fiend.

I probably was in elementary school before I learned that "Boston Charlie" wasn't part of the original lyrics to "Deck the Halls."

Pogo was a great character because he showed us so much about ourselves. And he came to mind this week as controversy unfolded over Station Casinos' plan to build a 300-foot tower at its newest property in Summerlin.

"We have met the enemy, and they are us."

The Red Rock Station Casino is Red Rock only in name. It's not nearly as close to the conservation area as the planned sprawl will be.

And before you throw the paper against the wall and rant into my voice mail, please understand that I am one of the residents who will be looking at that tower instead of the red rock cliffs every morning.

At least, on the mornings that a yellow, dusty, choking haze doesn't obscure them to little more than a silhouette.

It is curious that residents have come forward in such droves to oppose a project that has been planned, zoned and on the maps for several years.

Did you not visit the model-home centers and see the plans to slap stucco and red tile all the way to the edge of the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area?

There is going to be a shopping mall, too, but I haven't seen the petitions opposing that yet. And no one griped as shopping centers popped up faster than county officials could rack up ethics violations.

Cripes, how many Starbucks outlets do you need in one two-mile area?

Where is the outrage over the incredible number of homes being built by construction crews that are marching west along State Road 159 like Sherman's army? You think Red Rock Station Casino is going to create worse traffic than thousands of homes?

Where are the war cries about corrupting the view when Red Rock Country Club floods the cliffs with artificial light every night?

Where is the outrage over the ridiculously wide streets or the parking citations that are never issued to the hundreds of soccer parents who illegally park in the bicycle lanes near the parks every weekend? They sit right under "No Parking" signs.

Forcing little kids who don't play soccer to ride their bikes into traffic is a community value?

Sprawl disguised as a neighborhood is nothing more than a lie we swallow with our double decaf mocha latte as we cruise along at 40 mph. Sidewalks, bike lanes and parks pass in a blur. We don't notice that distances are too far to actually walk or that walls separate most of us from each other, because for three seconds it looks good.

But it doesn't look good. We simply bought the hype, the picture, the idea.

Sprawl is not pretty, and for ages Red Rock Canyon visitors have been looking at ours every time they leave the visitors' center.

We are what we built. And all the corporate ice cream festivals and cookie-cutter farmer's markets on the planet will not make the pictures in your brochure come true.

When you buy a marketing campaign, you get what you pay for.

If any of us truly wanted to protect Red Rock, we'd have moved somewhere else.

We have met the enemy.