Columnist Susan Snyder: Primm gets proper options

Monday, Feb. 23, 2004 | 8:23 a.m.

Waiters scurried around the Primm Valley Resort's ballroom on a recent Saturday, placing salads and plates of butter pats on tables for the 800 diners due to arrive about an hour later.

"We're working 13-hour days," one of them said. "I'll get off whenever y'all get out of here tonight and be back at 6 o'clock in the morning to set up breakfast."

That meant he left after 11 p.m., drove 40 miles home to Las Vegas and rose at 4:30 a.m. to be back in Primm on time. Lucky for him, the convention lasted only three days.

"Might be a little tired tomorrow," he said as he trotted off to set up another table. "So be patient with us."

Forget the U.S. 95-Interstate 15 Spaghetti Bowl at rush hour. The commute to Primm can be the commute from hell.

"I'm not going to do that. I brought my clothes and I'm staying here in the hotel," said Don Jarman, a waiter for a temporary staffing service who also worked the convention at Primm Valley two weeks ago.

About 2,300 of Primm Valley Resorts' 2,700 workers drive from homes in the Las Vegas Valley to the three hotels that sit on the Nevada-California border about 40 miles away, Lynn Holt, Primm Valley spokesman, said.

Holt said it typically takes him about 25 minutes to drive from his home in Silverado Ranch to his job in Primm. He has friends whose commutes inside the urban valley take longer, even though, distance-wise, his actually is longer.

The drive to Primm is less stressful in terms of traffic congestion, Holt said. But even so, it's understandable that some workers simply don't want to do it day after day.

Those who work double shifts have the option of staying at one of the hotels, he said. Others -- about 350 -- live on-property in 142 trailers located on the Primm Valley side of Interstate 15, just north of the hotels.

Employees pay monthly rents of $60 to $100 a month. But higher rents -- and better digs -- are coming.

Primm Valley Resorts, owned by MGM MIRAGE through its Primadonna Co., is building a 436-unit apartment complex behind the Primm Valley property, on the site of a former recreational vehicle park.

Once employees move into the apartments in May, the trailers will be demolished to make way for a new RV park, Holt said.

The complex will have studio apartments, units with one, two or four bedrooms and a community center with a grocery store, laundry facilities, swimming pool and volleyball courts, Holt said. Monthly rents will range from $350 to $575.

Workers who still live in Las Vegas will be able to continue to use the free shuttle Primm Valley provides. The company-subsidized buses have three pick-up locations in the Las Vegas Valley and make 5,000 round-trip journeys a week, Holt said.

"We're trying to give people some options," he said.

Jarman says for now, he'll exercise the option that lets someone else do the driving -- someone who hasn't waited tables for five hours.

"I parked my car at the MGM (in Las Vegas) and rode the bus out here. A lot of us do that," Jarman said. "It'd be crazy to get off at midnight and come back home."