Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
StumbleLETTER TO THE EDITOR:
Despite sour ending, conference a success
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 | 2:03 a.m.
I am writing in response to two articles in Saturday’s Las Vegas Sun regarding the remarks of New York Times architecture critic Paul Goldberger, who was the closing keynote speaker at the 100th annual conference of the American Planning Association, held here last week. The first article described the speech, the second described the concerns raised by Las Vegas Planning Director Margo Wheeler when she confronted Mr. Goldberger following the speech.
As a member of the conference’s Local Host Committee and co-chairman of Mobile Workshops, and as the former director of planning and development for the city of Las Vegas, having now spent almost 35 years to make this community a better place to live, work and play, I want to echo the sentiments of Margo Wheeler and offer a slightly different perspective.
During Mr. Goldberger’s speech, several local planners actually got up and walked out. Others, like myself, stayed to listen, hoping that in the end he would at least make reference to the fact that he was speaking strictly about the evolution of the Strip and not about the areas outside it that we all call home, and where some great things have been done, especially in our master-planned communities.
Since that did not happen we were quite dismayed that, unlike every other session, and in spite of the fact that microphones were set up on both sides of the room, no time was provided for questions or comments. The session (and the conference) simply ended.
In spite of the sour ending the conference was a great success, and not just in numbers. We received numerous compliments from attendees, many of whom had never been here before, about what they had seen and learned during the conference. The orientation tour took participants throughout the valley and showed not only success stories, but also areas of land-use conflict, which is common to all large cities. We hid nothing and we showed everything from which we felt planners would gain knowledge.
The Local Host Committee worked for a solid year to make the conference a success and we believe we accomplished all our goals, Mr. Goldberger’s remarks notwithstanding.
Discussion: comment so far…
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to verify their identity or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change, read our story about how it works and why we did it.
Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.
No trusted comments have been posted.
Post a comment
Everything Under the Sun
Blogs
The Kats Report
Las Vegas Philharmonic says search for new music director to begin 'immediately' (1 Comment)
With Shenandoah project stalled, Wayne Newton hits back legally (7 Comments)
Where does a Playmate play when she turns 21? Vegas! (3 Comments)
Ice Ice Billy
The road to six-toed cats and Mayor Bubba
The Kats Report
David Itkin tells L.V. Philharmonic officials he's on his way out (14 Comments)
Diamond Dave sells it well as Van Halen pours out the power at MGM Grand (2 Comments)
Entering debut at Tryst, Nick Hissom is a model for a rapid rise to prominence (3 Comments)
- Locally owned and independent since 1950; Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, best news website in the nation & DuPont Award for broadcast journalism
I applaud the combined efforts of APA's local host committee - it was a great conference. I often jump to defend Las Vegas, the city in which I have lived for 30 years. Sometimes I think I jump too quickly - rather than listen to a seemingly negative opinion of my "home" town. I didn't hear the closing speech but have read the articles and I gotta say - I don't think Goldberger's comments were that bad. Living in Las Vegas isn't for everyone. Those who choose to live here should be proud and that emotion should be what inspires us to commit to solving some tough planning, social and identity issues. Maybe, just maybe one of the ways in which we can better understand a different point of view and work together to make this city walkable, workable and livable is to join with other professional organizations. Bridging the philosophical gap should start with the local chapters of the American Institute of Architects and the American Planning Association. Don't give up Mr. Genzer, your sense of humor and knowledge is surely needed to make this one of the best cities in world!