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Monday, March 29, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Chris Giunchigliani
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With Las Vegas frozen in its tracks, these are, by almost any definition, glum times. Forty percent of our neighbors want to flee the state because they don’t like what they see, a recent UNLV poll found.
Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani thinks this is the time to try to improve the region’s quality of life by tweaking building regulations and zoning codes to improve neighborhoods.
Giunchigliani says she will ask commissioners in May to assemble a five-member panel representing architects, engineers, landscape architects, homebuilders and environmentalists to explore what can be done to improve quality of life.
The Las Vegas Valley can’t be rebuilt. What’s done is done, for the most part. But there are unbuilt housing tracts, empty downtown and suburban lots being developed, older homes ready for renovations and public property that can be better used, she says. What better time — with development stalled — to take a deep breath and revisit what can be revisited, she thinks.
The group might explore whether laws should be amended to make it easier to build sustainable homes with more use of solar power. Or to rezone bankrupt, unbuilt subdivisions to put more space between homes. Or to develop small “pocket” parks on public property for a neighborhood swing set or a place for dogs to safely romp.
“It should be part of our housing recovery: What do we want Las Vegas to be? What is our new life, after growth?” she says. “The Strip has to revise what it wants to be, and we have to ask the same question of our neighborhoods. Do we want more open space? More pedestrian areas? Can we find a way to not force people into cars?
“Personally, I don’t think there’s enough green space,” she says. “And I don’t like zero setbacks and skinny little buildings two inches from their neighbors. Is that the product we want to encourage? This is a time when we can address that.
“We should look at what we did well, and not so well, and fix what we can.”
Giunchigliani, for instance, wants county staff to review zoning policies “that have created block walls” and homeowner associations, and look at ways “to open up our neighborhoods to make them more friendly.” She also wants the county to review its parks policies, including how they are financed and prioritized.
Clark County has relied on developers and revenue collected from the sale of federal land to fund parks. But development and federal land sales are stagnant.
“It’s just sad that it takes a park in a master-planned community 15 to 20 years to get built,” she said. “If it’s a priority, then let’s treat it like one.”
Giunchigliani is reacting to a survey by UNLV sociologists that looked at residents’ views on the environment, neighborhoods and sense of community. Although a large percentage of those surveyed said they had at least a fairly good quality of life, four in 10 said they wanted to leave Nevada. Residents also indicated no strong sense of attachment to their neighborhoods or neighbors, although they told researchers that they thought neighborhoods with parks were “more tight-knit, healthy and stable.”
Researchers said the poor economy, including the fact that about 80 percent of Las Vegas homeowners owe more on their houses than they are worth, is likely a key cause of the discontent.
Associate professor Robert Futrell, who led the study, said he would add only one thing to Giunchigliani’s proposals: Include a sociologist on the committee.
“We can do all the engineering and design that we want, but something like that would really benefit, I think, by including someone who takes the social angle on neighborhoods,” Futrell said.
In addition to “the built environment,” Futrell said there are less tangible aspects, such as public transit access and education, that need to be part of discussions as designers gather to discuss life in Las Vegas.
“Any step in this direction is very positive,” Futrell added.
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less apartments, apartments are always bad for an economy, eventually they become slums.. as we have seen many times in the past..
larger yards always have an upside, more space around people less issues..
the past few years have highlighted the true greed of builders and the poor quality of builds, from obscene construction and edgy builds to uneven (not level) or even upside down power outlets... pure greed and somewhere an inspector or two turning a blind eye..
Wonder if this would have been thought of if this town was still booming..........yea right
Ah. Another Master Of Hindsight.
Such wisdom!
Listen you dingbat we don't want the government in the business of finding out what it takes to make us happy. If the houses are too close together don't buy one! Here's what it takes to make us happy: Do your darn job, cut the size of government and get the hell out of our way and we'll be happy as clams. Keep your progressive social engineering policies to yourself.
The built environment influences health by either encouraging or discouraging walking and socialization. The county's zoning has discouraged exercise and promoted the use of vehicles to do everything. We don't know our neighbors because walls prevent us from interacting. Please include a specialist in public health on the panel.
increase the minimum land area of residential lots so everyone isnt built on top of each other.
How about a 10 year freeze on all but replacement construction.
Stop building strip malls. There are so many vacant strip malls rotting around town.
WHAT PLANET IS THIS COMMISSIONER ON?
NEVADA ONLY GETS .3% PERCENT(THAT'S RIGHT, POINT THREE PERCENT)OF ALL THE COLORADO RIVER WATER THAT FLOWS PAST BLACK CANYON. ALL THE REST OF IT GOES TO CALIFORNIA AND ARIZONA BY INTRACTABLE WATER-RIGHTS LAW.
"...."Personally, I don't think there's enough green space," she says....."
-
AND GET RID OF WALLS? THOSE ARE THE ONLY THINGS THAT KEEP THE METH-RIDDEN NEIGHBORS FROM PARKING THEIR OIL LEAKING CARS IN MY FRONT YARD.
GET RID OF HOAS? HOAS ARE THE ONLY ORGANIZATIONS THAT KEEP PEOPLE FROM PAINTING THEIR HOUSES DEEP PURPLE AND ORANGE, DRILLING FOR OIL ON THEIR PROPERTY, HAVING CONTINUOUS DAILY 'GARAGE SALES', AND PARKING THEIR CARS ON THE SIDEWALK.
AND HOA LANGUAGE IS WRITTEN *INTO THE DEED* BY LAW.
I'M NOT CERTAIN WHAT THIS COMMISSIONER IS DREAMING OF, UNLESS IT'S SITTING AROUND THE CAMPFIRE SINGING 'KUMBAYAH'......
If they get anymore lax with their building codes here they may as well not have any. Inspectors are getting freebies,just like I saw in California, and they don't care how anything is built. Cramming houses together is stupid and unsafe. Stop trying to get as many houses as you can on one piece of property. 5,000 and less sq ft lots are totally unnecessary. Give us room to move around our yard. Stop wasteful building leaving empty buildings sitting around drawing problems and running down neighborhoods. Lower the damn property tax so people can afford a house 6 years after they buy it. There are a lot of GOOD construction workers out there out of work, hire some to do the renovations you speak of. I thought California had the crookedest contractors in the world until I moved here. Nevada has them all beat. Make stricter laws regarding working here without licensing and enforce it. There is more to Nevada than Las Vegas, how about targeting some of the other areas? As far as Las Vegas city, I can't believe the strip and all the potential income for property taxes has not been tapped. Who gets the payoff from the Casinos not to be incorporated in the City limits? Can you imagine what income for the city would come from that area alone?
How does the city/county watch housing contractors strip the land, put piles of solid fill on pristine land, and then allow them to simply walk away? Nationwide contractors who simply vanished due to our rotten economy. No BK, they just give us the finger.
Drive to Horizon Ridge at Gibson in Henderson, and look at the empty buildings, some with plywood windows. BK Vantage Lofts a complete ugly joke. Up the hill, partially stripped land left naked. Why does the city of Henderson allow this unrestrained, uncontrolled construction?
You know why. To keep the city plan checkers, engineers and inspectors working. And it continues to this day. My neighbor simply wanted to build a small stub wall on his property, but gave up due to the excessive demands of the city engineering department. Why? Because the city has nothing to do now.
Simple as that. Start more layoffs, please.
Make a law to STOP building new homes. Let us fill what we have, and this will increase the values of the current homes.
markup; An electrician finally explained to me why one of the outlets is upside down in each room. If you plug a lamp into that outlet the switch on the wall should operate it.
The building inspectors are not held accountable for their inspections, they have no liability. That should be the first thing looked at.
Wheres the money for this grand idea coming from?
@ markp, an upside down electrical outlet usually signifies 1 of them works from a wall switch. I also agree that the building codes need to be revised. The nonsense that has been allowed to go on here needs to stop. All substandard builders will eventually go out of business on their own in an economy like this. Maybe the county commission can help this process along.
This is the first time in a long, long time that someone from LV government has said something that makes any sense at all. Now is a good time to hit the restart button. Ms. Giunchigliani for Governor LOL.
haha.
how many of these people got campaign contributions from the construction industry?
this is nothing more than election year "busy work".
there are too many houses sitting there empty and not enough people to fill them. period.
as the crime increases in las vegas, more people will want to move out and property values will drop again.
The Indians are winning. Most Indian Casinos are doing very well. Most residents of Vegas have no clue of how many gamblers stopped visiting Vegas. Biggest reason is because there are local Indian Casino in every state, and in most cases better place to play. I saw it coming 20 years ago. Things will only get worse in the Vegas Casino industry.
The government can stop interfering such as putting section 8 housing in the middle of decent neighborhoods. Talk about ruining people's lives. Duhhh.
I would challenge any politician to study the implications of such diversity in Las Vegas; it prevents it from becoming a "Community" by any definition. Never has been and never will be. Do you know who your neighbors are? Politicians can dream all they want.
If people could afford to live on larger lots they already would. No way to fix this unless you want to start monkeying with land prices. Lot size was very important to me when I was shopping, so I ended up with a 40-y-o house (which I love!) But it wasn't cheap.
How right you are, Chris G. And why now, after all the damage is done and the economy is in the toilet? Where does the money come from? Believe it or not, there are cities that believe that PLANNING is something you do BEFOREHAND, not after a mess has been made. Good luck. Don't ask us to pay more for it now. Put it on top of the agenda for when there's economic recovery. Planning was ignored when the city was rich; why are you bringing it up now that it's broke?
I don't want to spread a rumor about this lady, but one of my friends in Vegas says she's the person responsible for allowing the big corporations to dump their toxic waste fluoride into your water system. I've fought water fluoridation where I live and wanted to know about your water, her name came up. It's not just the toxicity of fluoride that is the issue, it's also the arsenic and lead that accompany the hydrofluoric acid created by the nuclear, cement, fertilizer, and aluminum industries which is then dumped into your water supplies. They don't put the type of fluoride used at your dentists office (not that it's much safer, but at least it doesn't have arsenic) they dump the industrial waste into your water and your city water pays the toxic polluters to do this! Thus, the toxic polluters usually only have to pay off one politician a large sum of money to get the ball rolling and push for water fluoridation. To learn more about the dangers of drinking fluoridated water, visit this website run by doctors: http://www.fluoridealert.org/professiona...
"explore what can be done to improve quality of life"
Too bad Chris G wasn't on the County Commission when they, and their planners, were routinely approving the subdivision of single home lots 2000 to 4000 square feet in size. Many of them, particularly in the 89139 zip code, have become instant slums.
Simply stated, no long term homeowner wants a house "with no back yard". No place for kids to play. No place to sit outside surrounded by some green landscaping.
In contrast, to my knowledge, the City of Henderson has never permitted single family lots this small.
Many years ago, in Southern California, the "standard" single family lot was 6,000 square feet. Then, to pander to homebuilders, the Riverside County Supervisors began to approve 5,000 square foot lots in the Moreno Valley. Soon thereafter, both Riverside County Sheriffs and County Child Welfare officials began to notice a marked increase in domestic violence and child welfare issues, in those jam packed instant slums. At city planning conferences in the 1980's and 1990's discussion of the "negative psychological effect" of small lots was all the rage.
So here, in Clark County, the geniuses in County government, who pandered to developers and monied interests, have irretrievably created an even worse mess, by allowing 2000-3000 square foot house lots, which inevitably become "slum housing".
More and more across Canada, the provinces (equivalent to states) and the federal government impose development bans for residential, commercial and/or mixed use projects. They've also assigned "Green Belt" areas which can not be built upon (I believe there are some areas in the US that also follow this rule).
Build a walmart in every neighborhood. There are not enough walmarts!! They did not have walmarts in my day and for good reason.
Suddenly, the politicians are on the headlines again; must be election time. I don't know where some of you live but to ask for bigger yards is asking for more dust. Have you seen some of these barren, dusty yards we have now? This is not California where you can landscape the yards with real grass but most of our front and backyards are full of rocks. It is very easy to put blames on someone else but all we are doing is "monday quarterbacking" like the lady commisioner. Where were we when we were planning for these developments? These developments were reviewed and approved by the development services dept based on established national and local building codes and for us "wannabe experts" to suddenly criticize what was done is just hypocrisy at its best.
WizardofOz: Nevada takes 3 percent, not 0.3 percent, of the Colorado River water.
YES PUT MORE D**N SPACE IN BETWEEN HOUSES OUT HERE!!! Its ridiculous how close together the houses are. Nothing worse than hearing your neighbors every time they flush their toilets or change the channel. Or how about looking out your window or patio door at a 6 ft tall brick fence thats 4 feet away.. Its so stupid the way they build houses out here and it does attribute to a pool quality of life.
markp...the upside down outlet in a room is now the actual building code requirement. It's not the greed of builders or poor quality. Do you work for a private company or a government entity? If it's a private company I guarantee you they must make a profit to stay in business....do you consider that greed???
I agree 100% with bbtbrain's comments.
Less people in the valley mean less people using the resources of the city. Less people on the roads, less stress on the roads, less people on welfare, less handouts, less thrash, less crime, less students in our schools. I prefer it this way. Now if only government employess can do the same and not complain about less pay instead of obscene amount of salary and still would expect their cost of living raise on a yearly basis then it might just work and improve our standard of living. With people leaving mean less revenue for the city but then again how much revenue can you squeeze out of an unemployed individual. Time for the government to tighten their budget, plan and spend wisely our resources. The city will still attract new residents but not at the rate it experienced during the last decade.
I like a decent size city but not a metropolis like in other cities.
If Vegas had of been "thinking" they would not have to "rethink." I'm not sure if it was greed or ignorance that set this valley on it's disaterous course, but there have been countless poor planning decisions made over the last 10-15 years in this valley.
I visited the Phoenix area a few months ago and saw what great planing can get you. They have their issues, all places do, but it's a far cry better than here.
Vegas had an opportunity and blew it. There's no simple answer for the mess we are in, and there's no simple way out. Our leaders can't turn a blind eye for 10 years and expect to turn it around overnight.
Of course 40% of the people want to leave the valley. The most this valley offered was an industry that allowed workers with little education to make nearly six figures a year. When that opprotunity is gone, so are the dreams. To be a "real city" Vegas has to offer what other cities offer. I have never seen that desire here, ever, period.
This is just the same old, shoot from the hip, stale rhetoric we get from our local officals. We need some thoughtful ideas from people who have built great cities. Sadly I do not see those people here.
Not a rumor, just confirmed. This is the same lady who sold LV down the toxic river of fluoride in 2001: Assembly Bill 284, a mandatory fluoridation law sponsored by assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas http://sonic.net/kryptox/press/news99.ht... also:
The American Dental Association says fluoridation is PERFECTLY safe. The Environmental Protection Agency union of professionals unanimously opposes fluoridation, citing scientific evidence that fluoride causes bone disease, cancer, genetic mutations, and is harmful to the nervous system.
The ADA has been selling its Seal of Approval since 1960. Over 1300 products carry it. 65 brands of toothpaste have the ADA Seal of Approval. He concludes,
The EPA union of scientists, which doesn't earn a dime from its expert opinion, claims fluoride is toxic and causes systemic medical problems -- not the least of which is cancer. The American Dental Association, which "endorses" dozens of fluoride-added products for untold amounts of money, maintains fluoride is perfectly, wonderfully safe. Whom do you believe?
Thanks to this Chris lady, LV now has the worst drinking water in the country with a lot of arsenic and lead (byproducts of fluoride) If you want to improve your city, bee-ouch, why not confess you were paid off by big industry to bring fluoride to this valley then fight to stop this cancer causing agent from being part of the "Las Vegas experience".
Dr. William Hirzy, a senior EPA scientist and the senior vice president of Local 2050, explains that, in 1977, Congress had instructed NIH's National Toxicology Program to investigate fluoride's effects on lab animals, a task that got assigned to the government's Battelle Laboratories. In the tests, rats and mice were given fluoride in their drinking water. Thirteen years later, the results came back, but not until they had been "adjusted" by a senior official of the United States Public Health Service to suggest that fluoride had no carcinogenic effects.
In response, Marcus urged in a May 1, 1990, memo that the fluoride study be "reviewed by an outside panel not related to the Public Health Service, because the PHS has been in the business of promoting fluoridation for more than fifty years." The memo from Marcus said, "In almost all cases, the Battelle-board certified pathologists' findings were downgraded [by the PHS], with the effect of downgrading the study's conclusion from definitive evidence of carcinogenicity to equivocal evidence."
"One of the most telling parts of that study," says Hirzy, who stresses that he speaks as a union official rather than an EPA spokesman, "is that the rats who got bone cancer had lower levels of fluoride in their bones than people who drink tap water with 4 parts per million (ppm) of fluoride would have. But EPA says that 4 ppm is absolutely no danger to your health; in fact, that's the official standard in this country. That conclusion is such a fraud there are no words to describe it." Hirzy adds that Local 2050 has "filed a grievance asking to be given bottled water here in the EPA headquarters, because the tap water has 1 ppm of fluoride, and all the data we look at says 1 ppm is hazardous."
"There are three or four very strong anti-fluoridation experts in the EPA union, but we feel there's no scientific basis for their charges," responds Tom Reeves, a national fluoridation engineer at the federal Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. Reeves says that two major studies -- one commissioned by the National Academy of Science, one by the Public Health Service -- "examined those charges and found no truth to them." Reeves denies Marcus' accusation that the data gathered by Battelle scientists were tampered with, though he concedes that the congressional investigation concluded otherwise.
At Harvard, Dr. Phyllis Mullenix says she lost her job at the Forsyth Research Institute, which specializes in dental issues, in 1994, after she insisted on publishing research results in the scholarly journal Neurotoxicology and Teratology showing that fluoride adversely affected brain function. By then, Mullenix had spent 12 years at Forsyth's toxicology department, 11 of them as department chairwoman; she was highly regarded for her previous research demonstrating how exposure to lead and radiation lowered children's IQ levels.
"To be honest, I thought studying fluoride would be a waste of time," says Mullenix. "I mean, it's in the water supply, so it's got to be safe, right?" But Mullenix's research found that rats who experienced prenatal exposure to fluoride exhibited higher levels of hyperactivity, while rats with postnatal exposure suffered the reverse: "hypoactivity -- that is, a slowing down of their spontaneous movements -- sitting, standing, smelling, turning the head, etc. ... The reactions of these animals reminded me of the reactions you'd find from high exposures to radiation."
Mullenix says that her superiors ordered her not to publish her results. "Don Hay, the associate director of Forsyth, came and told me, 'If you publish this information, we won't get any more grants from NIDR [the National Institute of Dental Research],' and Forsyth gets about 90 percent of its money from NIDR. I was really upset. I'd never been told not to publish a paper." Within hours of learning that she was indeed publishing her paper, Forsyth fired her, says Mullenix.
"Dr. Mullenix's claim that I wanted to stop her publishing her results, showing a fluoride toxicity in rats, is false," wrote Donald Hay, after consulting with his institute's attorneys. "My concern was that Dr. Mullenix, who had no published record in fluoride research, was reaching conclusions that seemed to differ from a large body of research reported over the last fifty years. These extensive studies have been reviewed and approved by prestigious organizations (American Medical Association and American Dental Association), and indicated that fluoride at ordinary levels was safe. I brought these concerns to her attention." Hay adds, "Dr. Mullenix's claim that she was dismissed after her fluoride paper was accepted is false. We had no knowledge of the acceptance of her paper prior to the time she left [Forsyth]." Hay says Mullenix was dismissed because of problems with the quality of her work.
But if fluoride's health advantages are at least open to question, why is it still being promoted in the United States? "The American Dental Association and the Public Health Service have been committed to fluoridation as a safe and effective way to reduce cavities for 50 years or so, so how could they now come out and admit maybe it isn't safe and effective?" asks the EPA's Hirzy, who adds that besides bureaucratic inertia, there is corporate incentive. Fluoride is a waste product of many heavy industries; it is emitted by aluminum, steel and fertilizer factories, coal-burning power plants and in the production of glass, cement and other items made from clay. These industries would have to pay dearly to dispose of their waste fluoride if they could not sell it to municipalities for adding to tap water. Hirzy cites a memo written on March 30, 1983, by Rebecca Hammer, the deputy assistant administrator in EPA's Office of Drinking Water, which called water fluoridation "an ideal environmental solution to a long-standing problem."
"In other words," says Hirzy, "this [fluoride] that otherwise would be an air and water pollutant is no longer a pollutant as long as it's poured into your reservoir and drinking water. The solution to pollution is dilution, and in this case the dilution is your drinking water. It's a good deal for the fertilizer industry. Instead of paying a substantial amount to cart this stuff away, they get paid $180 a long ton by the water municipalities."
Fluoridation may be an infamous right-wing cause, but the corporate history of fluoride could stir the blood of left-wing conspiracists as well. The fluoride disposal problem arose during World War II, when demand for war materials meant increased production of aluminum, steel and other fluoride-related products. At the end of the war, with massive amounts of fluoride waste needing disposal, the Public Health Service began pushing to add fluoride to the water in Grand Rapids, Mich., and dozens of other U.S. cities. At the time, the Public Health Service was being run by Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon, a founder and major stockholder of the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa), which had dominated fluoride research since the 1920s. By 1950, as the fluoridation campaign gained steam, the Public Health Service was headed by another top Alcoa official, Oscar R. Ewing, who in turn was aided by Edward L. Bernays, the father of modern public relations and author of the book "Propaganda," who sought to portray fluoride's opponents as wackos.
Whatever its origins, is it possible that America's 50-year embrace of fluoridation has been a terrible mistake? The town of Natick, near Boston, recently reviewed the research and found that there was more than enough fluoride now packaged in our food, drinks and toothpastes; the town decided not to fluoridate its water. Los Angeles, Newark and Jersey City, N.J., and Bedford, Mass., have also removed fluoride from their water.
okay mikedavidson....you have just used up your allotted amount of blog space for the rest of the year.
Thank you, now move along.
Las Vegas needs bottom-up redevelopment, not more zoning laws and regulations. http://reason.tv/video/show/reason-saves...
I'm good, make my point. Enjoy your poison water! Cheers.
Comment removed by moderator. uncivil.
Randy O'Toole's lecture on urban planning:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeUzMpkKB...
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdiIKruJw...
The county needs to rethink how Las Vegas was created. Does Garth Brooks need a personal concerige? Does Wayne Newton need another Tuxedo? Does Bambi need more clover?
it's funny how someone mentioned 89139. i bought a new house right there at jones / warm springs in 2006. now...that neighborhood is pure ghetto.
and haha, did mikedavidson actually think someone was going to read more than 5 words of that rambling nonsense?
haha.
hey, mike...i have a 1600 sq. ft., 1 car garage home in 89139 i'd like to sell you.
Does it have an RO system to take out the fluoride?
maybe all the foreclosures should be torn down to make more space in the existing high density developments. where HOAs prevail, these developments could provide the maintenance/upkeep on the vacant lots. over time, the value of land will increase and people will also value having more space around their homes and will pay higher prices for those homes with more outdoor space. banks, which have already made the downpayment and perhaps even a few years of mortgage interest can donate these newly vacant properties to the neighborhoods. chris is on the right track with the density issues cheapening the whole of the valley's real estate.
Where was Chris when the developers where getting her approval to build homes 3 feet apart? Isn't it a tad bit disingenuous to point out the planning and design flaws of your neighborhoods after the fact, now that nothing can be done to fix the problem?
RE belongs to the title owner or the bank, and you can't force either to turn it into a parking lot unless someone buys it and decides to do so. I surely hope she isn't proposing that you tax payers pay for turning homes into rock lots, is she? (we all know you don't have the water to turn them into green play lots)
This whole three card monte game from this on the take puke politician (pushed toxic fluoride upon the ignorant and trusting in the on the take ADA masses) is laughable, and the joke is on he people who begrudgingly call LV home.
They say in TX where I was born there's only steers and queers, which we hate hearing but it comes from obviously jealous outsiders. I suggest that in LV, there's only broke people and people waiting to go broke. Or I could say broke people and people waiting to die of cancer from drinking Chris' fluoridated water. Both would be apropos.
So here, in Clark County, the geniuses in County government, who pandered to developers and monied interests, have irretrievably created an even worse mess, by allowing 2000-3000 square foot house lots, which inevitably become "slum housing".
During the housing boom, we on were amazed on the size of lots that homes were being built AND people were stupid enough to be buying them! I remember one development in NLV (it may have been in LV; I do n't remember the cutoff street) right off Decatur and a bit south of Ann Road (I'm sorry, I just can't remember the east/west street) but these home were built literally 2 ft away from the brick wall! The windows were up close and personal with the wall! If you stuck your arm out you'd be able to touch the wall that's how close the homes were. Next to the wall was the 3ft sidewalk and then the street! No easement, no landscaping - the wall and then the street! They had barely enough room in the back for a patio but - if people were buying these things - you can't blame the builder or the zoning people. I always wondered who these people were that bought these houses. I guess they just didn't care. Maybe they never went outside or opened a window on the nice spring and fall days Vegas has!
Everyone knew at the time of the boom or just before, ie 1999-2002, palms were being greased to get building permits. That's why gas stations, CVS and Walgreen's are in the middle of neighborhoods and not on main streets.
"Thanks to this Chris lady, LV now has the worst drinking water in the country with a lot of arsenic and lead (byproducts of fluoride"
I'm curious - does ANYONE drink the water out their tap that has no filter on it? I did it once out of necessity and never again!
If you think Chris G is on the take, well you need to define take.
This systemically broken system we live in has the tendency to grind well meaning people like Chris G into the ground. This is why so few actual good people last in Government. The inherent corruption eventually infects even the most well meaning no matter their desire to be honest or not, it is wired into the system.
The inherent corruption eventually infects even the most well meaning no matter their desire to be honest or not, it is wired into the system.
---------------------
So, we can now use any excuse for bad behavior? Where do I sign up?
Or how about looking out your window or patio door at a 6 ft tall brick fence thats 4 feet away..
I got used to seeing those damn brick walls during my time in Vegas so when I came back to the Midwest, it was like the yards looked naked!! And the fences, for the houses that have them, are all chain link. So when you do go to sit in your yard, you can actually interact with your neighbors because you can SEE THEM and talk to them!! That's the stuff that makes a neighborhood. The brick walls almost prohibit socializing and getting to know who you live next door to. It enforces the transient atmosphere of Vegas. Here today, gone tomorrow kind of thing. And the different shifts people work doesn't promote socializing either.
Also with the attached garages in LV - everyone just drives right in, shuts the door and that's it. Here everyone has driveways, real driveways more than 12ft long, and no attached garages. Again - you interact with your neighbors when they leave the car in the drive. And there is also something to be said for having grass flowers and trees. Again - the neighbors all start BS'ing on how they do this or that now that spring is here. You can't really BS too much over the river rock in the front yard. (I personally miss the desert landscaping - sure beats cutting grass!)
More parks? Please! Clark County parks have not added to their headcount of Park Police for the last 17 years (we had far fewer parks 17 years ago) Clark County parks have maintained only 14 park police to cover 96 parks spread over 1,464 square miles, drawing thousands of crimes and hosting tens of thousands of visitors each month.
Until you fix that problem, please no more parks!
http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/articles...
I really don't want Chris G. designing my next neighborhood either. A 5 member panel with a sociologist? Green zones? Solar? Sounds expensive. I think our commissioners need to address real problems, like the fact that there are at most, 3 park police on duty to cover 96 parks spanning 1,400 sq. miles before they try to revolutionize the homebuilding market and "green" up the place.
Baby steps people, fix what's broken now.
Don't need new laws or codes. Need elected officials who are not in the pockets of the builders, and who will require adherence to the laws and codes.
Good luck with that. When the economy rebounds, it will be business as usual, no matter what laws get passed.
No @Teaser we need to begin, as many are, to question the whole system we are living under. We need to pull back and look at the macro and understand this current arrangement is serving only a few at the top of society. 99% of us are little more than indentured servants. You can convince yourself otherwise but in the end we all are trading labor for debt instruments, i.e slavery.
Little of this is new. The 1987 movie Wall Street nails most of it. Since at least Nixon the Elite have been liquidating America because that what Elite do, rob and blunder.
Las Vegas has been thrown under the Bus in the name of a few and profits. The God of Growth and Development must be fed. Resources must be exploited to feed the interest in a debt-fiat monetary system. If not fed, the whole patched-up meat grinder comes to a halt naturally because it is all bs to begin with. If it was sustainable it would not stop.
It is time to question the foundations. No greed is not good and ridiculous development is asinine.
Las Vegas has alot to offer. Its a friendly weather state. It just needs some kind of technology jobs or more industry of some kind. All those house that they built that nobody is living in should all be torn down. who's paying the taxes on them?
Tear 'em all down. They were all pretty much slapped together with cheap grade 3 materials on postage stamp sized lots like a storage facility. Return the land to desert conditions and take the pressure off water demand. People are leaving town anyway, so might as well just tear 'em down before they all become junkie flop houses, and Meth labs..
stephenrblv: I am well aware of the slave mentality to which most of our society is oblivious or about which it is in denial. ("Serf's Up!") I also think that the odds of changing this are very poor. We're talking about a social setup that's been in existence since we crawled out of the muck (or were spontaneously created in our entirety some 5000 years ago, whichever one prefers). In my experience, we could set up the most amazing form of government in existence (some would say we already have), and it wouldn't matter. It's the PEOPLE who make any system work or not work. Even our "it's inevitable that they'll be corrupted" elected representatives still make CHOICES about how they wish to behave. Ultimately, I'm more curious as to why you're trying to defend the behavior of someone who's already in that system. If this person is truly the person of good character you describe, then why doesn't she just resign and act according to that good nature?
"It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me." - Batman
the elite robs and plunders?
i think the poor rob and plunder by squirting out kids they can't afford and taking money from MY paycheck to pay for them.
I have no idea why a Chris G or anyone else doesn't give it up. I suspect like most, she lives with bad conditioning and a false sense of reality.
Well stevem then why don't you find yourself a flat down on B street, find a ho and start a familia?
BTW jack you aren't making squat but a pile of day passes so you can run over to the San Diego jail on weekends. Sun yourself and work on your delusion you are a Free-Man.
Translation. Pass the bong pipe.
What hasn't worked: Crooked Politicians, Illegal Alien work force, more laws, more taxes, more commissioners, Crooked Builders in cahoots with Crooked lenders, the total lack of regentrification of older neighborhoods, the democrats in charge, anyone with the last name Reid, and corporate ownership of Casinos.
What to bring back: The Mob(life was never so god here and besides we need a new movie and this is for the ones who think greed ruined the city), Mike Galardi(this way we can keep track of the crooked politicians, since they like to hit up strip club owners for money), drag races down Spring Mountain Road, motorcycle gangs, supermarkets that you don't have to stand in line an hour to checkout because of WIC, Pharmacies sames as supermarkets, The skyline(the state bird "The Crane" has become extinct), Ralph Lamb, drive-in theatres, Steve wynn owning the Golden Nugget, and most of all the water level in Lake Mead.
Over the last tweny years this city has been ruined.
Here is my one and only solution I will provide to supplement the local budget shortfall. This is not for up north. Las Vegas needs to separate themselves from northern Nevada as northern NV doesn't do anything to earn money for the state and yet gets a hell of a lot of funding. This is so obvious it is really sad that this hasn't been done before. Put a toll gate from LA to LV and charge five a person or ten bucks a car!!!!! You think a five dollar a person or ten dollars per carload will stop these visitors from driving up here on the weekend? No, and this would generate some local money for local coffers and might improve car pooling, which in turn reduces pollution. They drink our water, pollute our skies, yet the casinos get all the money and don't want their taxes raised.
It has been ordinances, regulations, and licenses that have "developed" us into the blight we have in spots all over the city. It is "development" that is going to fix the problem now? Riiiiight.
Cities in Europe that have timeless, lasting beauty, could not happen in America today because nothing would be up "to code." We have created ordinances that require big parking lots to create ugly moats around buildings and they are all little islands unto themselves, not given in any way to any real foot traffic or door-to-door browsing. Cars dominate the rules and requirements. We are building cities for vehicles, not humans.
I think this is a good idea. Las Vegas badly needs more of this kind of progressive thinking. True some may argue it is too late to change the mess we have but better late than never. Las Vegas leaders need to understand sustainable development. It is not that they need to know the finer points but simply the basic notions of why it is a wise path to take. Key to the success of our future will be the ability to attract a lot of high tech business to our area.
We need to be attractive to educated workers who are not interested in living in a ten year old high density stucco slum.
The current landscape is neither attractive to high tech business or its workers. Crime is out of control, gangs are widepsread, our schools are at the bottom, and most of Las Vegas is not so attractive in the light of day. It makes sense that a city based on casinos would eventually degrade to this condition. Chris G. can have meetings every day for years and it will change nothing. What is needed is action on the part of leadership. Action is not as easy as meetings. The path of least resistance via meetings and studies will not solve this currently well defined problem. Decisive action is long overdue.
Why do people keep speaking of greed? I try to make as much money as possible to provide a better life for my family. Is that greed? Don't any of you do the same?
I'm working hard now and saving as much as possible to leave my children a decent inheritance in the future, is that greedy. Does that make my children greedy?
I am invested in the stock market and I own shares of MGM stock (which I bought at $7 a share) which I hope will continue to rise. Is that greedy?
If investing and taking financial risks is considered greedy....then so be it. I will not change course.
It seems like those who talk of "greed" with such disgust and hostility in their writings must have envy in their hearts. I suppose they are a bunch of whining underachievers who never accomplished much.
Ross Perot said it best when he stated "There are two types of people in this world, those who talk of doing things and those who actually do things".
Is there a bigger PHONEY on the planet today than "MIKE DAVIDSON"???
Phoney baloney. Old, old balogna! Spoiled.... thrown out with the trash, and yet, back in your refridge...
Hmmmm....
Las Vegas is like all other communities in the US. It has people in it and they have decided to buy the small lot homes, if there wasn't a demand for such things there would not be a supply. I like the brick walls, I dont want to see a beach whale bathing next to his/her pool I dont care how cute the small bathing suite looks up there butt. As for everything else is concerned get out there and get to know someone.. Govornement cant do that they cant regulate who your gonna be friends with and why. I do believe we need to increase the activities that we do have and open the schools up for such events. Really the government really needs to start charging for what it cost to do these activities without the buracratic bs. Lets not spend more money on studies lets start using what we have and expand on it rather.
Unfortunately nothing will result from the work of this panel even if a sociologist is included, no matter how appropriate or progressive their recommendations may be. The problem is the good ol' boy/girl network that continues to thrive in Clark County government even after major players leave, retire or are imprisoned.
One example - that network appointed a sociologist with no qualifications other than having the right friends in Clark County government as Director of the Clark County Department of Air Quality to supervise professional engineers. That individual now oversees the local dog pound, which the county funds to the tune of several million dollars a year.
Until voters elect commissioners who are qualified by virtue of their education, professionalism, and ethics nothing will change.
The home spacing problem is really big issue in the valley. Most of the foreclosures I see vacant are the houses that were crammed on tiny lots. They are no better than apartments and nobody is buying them now that there are better options available. What should be adopted is a minimum lot size based on the the size of the house and a minimum of 20ft between houses. Any homes that don't meet this should not be allowed to be called single family homes in real estate listings.
example:
below 1500sq ft - 4000sq ft lot minimum
1500-2000sq ft - 5000sq ft lot minimum
2000-2500sq ft - 6000sq ft lot minimum
2500-3000sp ft - 7000sq ft lot minimum
and so on.
These small lot cookie cutter homes were only bought because people couldn't afford $300K+ homes with bigger lots in 2005. I lived in the 89148 (S. Durango / 215). I rented and it was a brand new home and the neighborhood was quiet and great. I noticed investors were buying the majority of homes in this area. I remember one day my brother was visiting me about 6 months after I moved in and he saw a shopping cart laying right off the street on private desert land. He stated, "That right there is the birth of a ghetto".. I still can't believe how right he was. The investors gave into Section 8 and after that a neighborhood that wasn't even a year old had now become a Section 8 battleground. I still remember the people that would knock on my door and ask for a diaper or to use my phone! Becaue they could see my PlaySkool slide on my patio, which I got fined for by the HOA since you could see it from the street. I had no backyard, just my side patio. After that I moved to Henderson. At least this city is halfway decent until I can relocate.
One city our council may want to take a long hard look at is Boulder Colorado. I moved here from there and it is the ideal that Chris G. has in mind in the above article. Boulder represents what a good government can do to create a very good city. By restricting sprawl, creating vast open space, and being a beautiful environment Boulder is a mecca for high tech business.
In order to reduce the spreading cancer of sprawl Las Vegas would have to reject the mind set of people like the director of the water district with plans to enable the illogical sprawl addiction regardless of limited resources.
Missing from the entire process of local "leadership" are proven concepts from the realm of urban ecology and sustainable development. The days of those who believe that all growth is a good thing are rapidly comming to a close. Nature can not survive this way nor can a city. The current physical and economic state of the Las Vegas Valley is confirmation of the folly of ignoring well known facts of urban ecology and sustainable growth.
Boulder, CO is expensive. It is expensive to keep people like the ones who live in Vegas out. Coastal California does the same I'm sorry you had to move from there to here.
I have seen those homes and lots in Las Vegas and they are to small for a family.With the high winds Las Vegas has,one house on fire could take out a block or two fast.
The lots should be 80x100.Single story 2000' under air min.,2000+ two story. This will give you breathering room from your next door neighbor.
THUMPER!
TOM, HERE'S PAT MULROY's ANSWER FROM A SUN INTERVIEW DATED MAY 1, 2009
"...(Q:)There has been a lot of talk about how small Nevada's allotment from the Colorado River is. Can we go to the federal government and ask for more water?
Um, no. In 1922 the seven states of the Colorado (River Basin) entered into a compact that divided the water in the Colorado River between two basins. The Upper Basin is comprised of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming. The Lower Basin is California, Nevada and Arizona. Each of the basins received 7.5 million acre-feet.
In the Lower Basin that water was then further divided among the three states, among Arizona, California and Nevada. California, because it had the largest agricultural production, got 4.4 million, Arizona got 2.8 million and we received the remainder, 300,000, because there was no agriculture in Southern Nevada and that was the driver on where the water was going to go...."
SO I WILL CORRECT 'PERCENTAGE' TO:
.3 'MILLION ACRE FEET' (POINT THREE 'MILLION ACRE FEET')
AND, INCIDENTALLY, THAT'S TWO HUNDRETHS (.02) (AND ALSO NOT THE 3 PERCENT YOU HAD MENTIONED, EITHER) OF THE TOTAL OF ALL THE WATER IN THE COLORADO RIVER FLOWING PAST BLACK CANYON, OUT OF THE NEARLY 15 MILLION ACRE FEET OF WATER FOR EVERYBODY ELSE.
.3 MILLION = US IN NEVADA
14.7 MILLION = THEM ELSEWHERE
OR SIMPLY, 49 TIMES AS MORE THAN WE GET.
Read it for yourself, here:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/may...
greedy = i can't afford it...so i criticize those that can.
and stephenrblv...seriously...is that nonsense jumble about me the best you can do? for god's sake, man...say something that makes sense. argue me on facts or theory.
yep, brian_d...you are exactly right.
i know that 215 / s. durango area very well. you were probably right there between durango and ft. apache? in 2005 / 2006 it was really nice and new. it wasn't all "filled in" yet. i lived on warm springs between jones and rainbow and sure enough...i started seeing the shopping carts, cars with 4 different colors of paint, people walking pit bulls and i knew it was all over.
i used to walk down warm springs to the corner of jones / rainbow to grab a beer at that bar or get a sandwich at subway and now...i'd never walk that street at night.
So the Title 30 development ordinaces and zoning regulations are going to be reviewed. Why wasn't this done 10 years ago? Ronster commented about Phoenix, Arizona. They experienced just as much rapid growth as Clark County did, yet if you go down there today they have handled it well. We have North Las Vegas, Vegas, Henderson, and un-incorporated Clark County....thats four independent jurisdictions...the Phoenix area has over 10 different municipalities and they all communicate with each other in how to handle development and set standards. There is no standard for NLV, Henderson, CC or the City.......each has there own development standards. Secondly, the airport owns so much land that is "deed" restricted and cannot allow for residential development, and therefore you get all these spotty small developments along the 215 instead of large tracts being used for development. If a developer had more land, maybe a park or more open space could be incorporated, but because the surrounding land can only be used for commercial development (which we have enough of already), the developer has to maximize the development at the cost of some ammenities that might make the development more attractive. The way things are done at the Planning Department need to be looked at, but unfortunately, its too late. The majority of the development has taken place, and there is nothing that can be done to un-do that. The boom that we experienced in 2003-2006 will never ever be repeated again, so a review on the development code may be great, but in the long run it will not amount to much of anything. Hindsight is 20/20. A for effort, but its too little too late.
Mr. Tom Gorman,
Have you, or have you not, read my comments?
Since I have corrected mine, will you or will you not correct yours?
Sincerely,
wizardofOz
Las Vegas is over-developed with just one industry-tourism. Time to diversified so that we have back ups when tourism falls down. I agree on why there are zero setbacks when we have plenty of spaces. Why solar energy is not encourage when we have abundant of sun heat.
If you're not friends with your neighbors maybe they don't like you. That's okay too. I have great neighbors, but not everyone does.
Let me clue a few of you in as to why nobody wants to talk to you. 1) As is the case where I live, there are a lot of Mormons in Las Vegas. Mormons consider anyone that isn't mormon to be a "spiritual shark" ie, the antichrist incarnate, and will avoid even looking at you let alone talking to you (unless they're trying to convert you to their religion). 2) There are a lot of drunks, druggies, people hiding out from the law, people hiding from the mob, child molester types in vegas because you can easily blend in as a tourist here. Most people don't want to know what kind of sicko is living next door. 3) Unless you have kids and your neighbor has kids that play together, don't expect to ever meet your neighbors. Vegas is divided up along religious and racial party lines plus the "outsiders" who want to be left alone only to creep outside at night to hang out by the video poker machines and get drunk.
What a city you folks have here! Toxic water, polluted air, high crime thanks to the illegal aliens (top 10 in the nation) http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/2009/Met... and more violent than Oakland and SF Cali, Miami, worse schools in the nation, and soon, higher taxes due to your failing tourism industry. The bible says that the wages for sin are death. Looks like "sin" city is going to dieing a slow, painful death and soon all that will remain are illegals, criminals, and crack heads as is the case in Detroit.
Amazing how people think increasing minimum lot sizes and banning apartments will increase property values. Obviously real estate is in the toilet in SF, NYC, and Boston while it's booming in Detroit...
While I get that most Las Vegans are content living in their pseudosuburban walled gardens (and with the only local example of dense urban layout being the entirely neglected Downtown, who can blame them?), one size does not, and should not, fit all. If developers want to cater to people who want to live in a pleasant walkable neighborhood, then the law should get out of their way and let the market determine what gets built. I think the results would surprise most of the comments here.
Wizard of Oz,
I'm glad you made your correction. I don't know that I have a correction to make on my part.
"...after I moved in and he saw a shopping cart laying right off the street on private desert land. He stated, "That right there is the birth of a ghetto".. "
LOLOLOL Ain't that the truth?!!
When my ex and I split, I went looking at apartments. My friend and I went to a complex in Desert Shores (I believe the units were condos). It was off of Cheyenne, west of Buffalo. We pulled up to the front gate and there were at least FIFTEEN shopping carts sitting there! I turned to my friend and said "That's not a good sign" but we went in anyway. Man, was that a premonition of what was inside those gates!!
Housing recovery? What housing recovery? The boom in Clark County is over and it won't be back. The local economy is re-setting to a more sustainable level, painfully, and at best we'll be able to develop a steady-state economy based primarily on gaming & entertainment, with limited inputs from the energy & defense sectors.
Need to focus on finding cost efficiencies in govt, improving education, and eliminating the illegal economy.
I wonder why "MikeDavidson" has so much trouble making friends in Vegas...or anywhere for that matter.
I love it when people say the weather in Vegas is great! They obviously have not lived there long enough to enjoy the 110+ degree summers! Which last from June-October....every year we were there, the summers got hotter and longer. Not to mention the absurd wind and dust that leaves you breathless....
Wait till you battery cable melts and leaves you stranded in the middle of I-15 at 12 noon!
Bet you'll love the weather then!!!
CommentWatch...
Ya think???
@rwol2222...so true. This is one of the only places in the U.S. where you have to replace windshield wipers because the blade has melted to your windshield. People say "yeah, but it's dry heat."..well try sticking your head into an oven set at 110 degrees for hours. That's dry heat too! The wind in the summer is brutal. It's like having a hair dryer on high blowing in your face. San Diego has GREAT weather. Las Vegas is brutal. Summer, Winter, etc. The spring here lasts maybe a week or two at best.