Sunday, March 14, 2010 | 3 a.m.
View more of the Sun's opinion section
Reinventing ourselves in a renewable way.
It is no secret, in fact it is a matter of community pride and a recipe for continued success, that Las Vegas — every time it needs it — reinvents itself.
This was true in the 1950s when the concept of a few dozen rooms gave way to hundreds of hotel rooms, expanding the market and increasing our city’s ability to entertain the millions of tourists who would visit us annually. In the 1960s and into the ’70s, a man named Howard Hughes brought with him the idea of corporate ownership, multiple licensing and established banking relationships that allowed us to grow our way through a down cycle and into the upside of a long growth spurt.
At the end of the 1980s and into the next decade, Steve Wynn gave us volcanoes and themed resorts, and MGM brought us 5,000 rooms in a city of entertainment. The Venetian brought us canals, midweek conventions and the confirmation of that age-old idea that a man and his dreams are a powerful combination. The Bellagio added stunning beauty to the skyline.
This is the century in which Steve Wynn invented a perch atop the incredible Wynn Las Vegas and did it again at Encore. And, in the midst of whatever kind of depressing recession we are in, CityCenter invented an urban city core in the middle of the Strip.
It is now 2010, a full decade into the 21st century, and Las Vegas, once again, needs a jolt. It needs to reinvent itself in a way that will foster the kind of dynamic growth that will keep us at the head of the pack, leading the way for the rest of the country into the decades ahead. It appears that one great way to do this is to become something else, something in addition to the Entertainment Capital of the World.
The announcement Thursday that the Chinese power conglomerate, A-Power, was teaming with a Texas renewable energy group and my family’s real estate development company to build wind turbines in Southern Nevada could be just what the economy doctor ordered to provide the basis for the kind of recovery we so clearly need.
For years we have been told by those most knowledgeable that our little part of the world had the ability to lead the renewable energy charge throughout this century.
Whether in solar, geothermal or wind, Nevada could and should be the leader — never the follower. We have heard over and over again that this state and this city had the opportunity to make green by going green.
A-Power’s commitment to build an assembly plant in our valley, which will encourage others to follow suit, means not only energy production throughout the United States, but also significant job production here at home.
It is in this context that I have been thinking a great deal about Nevada’s senior U.S. senator and the majority leader, Harry Reid.
On a personal note, I am sure I speak for all Nevadans in wishing Harry’s wife, Landra, and daughter, Lana, speedy and complete recoveries from the injuries they suffered after being hit by a reckless driver.
On a professional note, it is incumbent upon me to say that none of this — the wind turbine plant, the hundreds and thousands of high-paying and sustainable jobs (and construction jobs, too), the entrance of Southern Nevada in a major way into the energy business, the clasping of hands between China and the United States — would have happened without Harry Reid.
I listen to the point of distraction to so many people who don’t know what they are talking about and, yes, to some who actually know better but are swayed by their political ambitions to defeat Harry this November, and I just don’t understand why.
Winning a race can’t be nearly as important as creating a job for someone in Nevada, can it?
Knocking off Harry Reid, however big the political plum might be, can’t be nearly as important as attracting a long-term economic partnership between China and the United States, knowing that such a partnership could foster a century of cooperation and friendship that has so far remained elusive, can it?
Convincing Nevadans to vote against their own interests — we have done it before — can’t be nearly as satisfying as being part of a reinvention that will propel our state to the front of the pack, leading the way through this recession and into a recovery that will put Las Vegas back on people’s minds and on the tips of their tongues. Can it?
It can’t be but for some reason there are people who will claim it is and others who will believe it. This time, though, there is no other side to the story.
The majority leader of the U.S. Senate used his considerable clout to advance the economic interests of Nevadans while benefiting the United States of America. No other politician could do that or even think of doing that. And, certainly, none of the folks running for the chance to topple Nevada’s political giant would have a clue how to do what Harry just did.
Those who want to take advantage of Sen. Reid’s politically vulnerable position, by taking advantage of politically naive Nevadans, continually ask, “What has Harry done lately?”
I think catapulting Nevada to the front of the line for green energy jobs and, perhaps, helping us reinvent ourselves, at a time when all inventions are accepted, is the latest answer to that question.
We might ask the others who seek his job, “What have you ever done, lately or otherwise, to help Nevada?”
