Las Vegas Sun

"It seems to me building inspection could adopt a reasonable compromise to open the hotel and still have the questionable material ordered removed."

I agree. But at some point in time, burning styrofoam architectural details will happen again, on another hotel tower.

The people to be blamed for the continued risk to public safety are the past and present Clark County's Commissioners, County Executives and Senior Building Department decision makers, who let themselves be unduly influenced.

Since the time the Monte Carlo was built, the Uniform Building Code has said that parapets and mansards are to be constructed of substantial, safe materials. But here in Las Vegas, the casinos have lead Clark County officials around like they have rings in their noses.

The burning parts of the Monte Carlo were not mansards or parapets. They were cornices. A distinction without a difference ... unless one is an ethically compromised public official like Clark County's chief building inspectors over the past 20+ years...bending over to accommodate the casino builders desire to get the most flash for the lowest cost.

Anyone who watched the "live" TV coverage of the Monte Carlo fire could see the styrofoam decorative cornices on the top of the hotel, as well as cornices several floors below, burning like crazy.

Trying to make like there was no fire risk, Clark County now claims the styrofoam was coated with fiberglass and stucco, so that it was "not a fire hazard" and was "up to code".

Stucco did not insulate the styrofoam cornices. Fiberglass coating did not insulate the styrofoam cornices. Clark County knew that years ago, when these styrofoam architectural details were allowed.

It was and still is well known that styrofoam gives off hideously toxic gases when burned. That is what was making the black smoke coming off the walls of the hotel....not the roof coating burning. You could clearly see that on TV.

After the MGM Fire, Las Vegas hotel/casinos succeeded in convincing their customers that the building codes had been changed so a fire in a hotel tower could not become widespread. The Monte Carlo fire proved that public relations message wasn't true.

In 2007 Clark County (in the person of the head building inspector and county executive) looked the other way, refusing to address complaints about fire safety code violations at the Harrah properties...until the LVRJ spent money for experts to bring these county employees' moral corruption to light. That same crooked head building inspector was on TV yesterday and today, telling us that the County is investigating. He is temporarily keeping the hotel closed "so that debris does not fall" and harm anyone.

The hotel and casino will re-open quickly. There will be no retrofitting at any casino which has styrofoam based exterior details. The Clark County Commissioners, County Executive, Chief Building Inspector Lynn are wholly owned by the major casinos. Nothing will change.

What's even worse are the stories of hotel tower guests, reported in the newspapers today, telling about the hotel's half assed, belated evacuation of the property. Can you imagine what this disorganized, public relations driven evacuation would have lead to if the fire had moved inside?

Anyone who watched the "live" TV coverage of the Monte Carlo fire could see the styrofoam decorative cornices on the top of the hotel, as well as cornices several floors below, burning like crazy. Fire was quickly spreading across the face of the hotel towers. It was like watching flaming, melted marshmallow at a campfire, with flaming goo falling onto the lower levels of the hotel and even onto the pedestrian plaza below.

Trying to make like there was no fire risk, Clark County now claims the styrofoam was coated with fiberglass and
stucco, so that it was "not a fire hazard" and was "up to code".

Stucco did not insulate the styrofoam cornices. Fiberglass coating did not insulate the styrofoam cornices. Clark County knew that years ago, when these styrofoam architectural details were allowed.

It was and still is well known that styrofoam gives off hideously toxic gases when burned. That is what was making the black smoke coming off the walls of the hotel....not the roof coating burning. You could clearly see that on TV.

After the MGM Fire, Las Vegas hotel/casinos succeeded in convincing their customers that the building codes had been changed so a fire in a hotel tower could not become widespread. The Monte Carlo fire proved that public relations message wasn't true. Take a look at how much more "faux stone detail" is found on the outside of the Paris, Venetian, Palazzo, and Bellagio towers. All styrofoam based.

In 2007 Clark County (in the person of the head building inspector and county executive) looked the other way, refusing to address complaints about fire safety code violations at the Harrah properties...until the LVRJ spent money for experts to bring these county employees' moral corruption to light. That same crooked head building inspector was on TV yesterday and today, telling us that the County is investigating.

They are investigating squat. The Clark County Commissioners, County Executive, and Chief Building Inspector are wholly owned by the major casinos. Nothing will change. There will be no retrofitting.

And even if he does care about fire safety, the new County Fire Chief is politically smart enough to protect his job by obfuscating and acting nice and naive when asked about fire safety risk at ANY of the big hotels.

What's even worse are the stories of hotel tower guests, reported in the newspapers today, telling about the hotel's half assed, belated evacuation of the property. Read those stories and pray that the next big hotel fire, like the one in 1980, doesn't kill 89 people, or even one person.

Of course, the Uniform Building Code says that parapets and mansards are to be constructed of substantial, safe materials. But here in Las Vegas, the casinos lead Clark County officials around like they have rings in their noses.

These were not mansards or parapets. They were cornices. A distinction without a difference ... unless one is a whoring public official like Clark County's chief building inspectors over the past 20+ years.

Anyone who watched the "live" TV coverage of the Monte Carlo fire could see the styrofoam decorative cornices on the top of the hotel, as well as cornices several floors below, burning like crazy. Fire was quickly spreading across the face of the hotel towers. It was like watching flaming, melted marshmallow at a campfire, with flaming goo falling onto the lower levels of the hotel and even onto the pedestrian plaza below.

Trying to make like there was no fire risk, Clark County now claims the styrofoam was coated with fiberglass and
stucco, so that it was "not a fire hazard" and was "up to code".

Stucco did not insulate the styrofoam cornices. Fiberglass coating did not insulate the styrofoam cornices. Clark County knew that years ago, when these styrofoam architectural details were allowed.

It was and still is well known that styrofoam gives off hideously toxic gases when burned. That is what was making the black smoke coming off the walls of the hotel....not the roof coating burning. You could clearly see that on TV.

After the MGM Fire, Las Vegas hotel/casinos succeeded in convincing their customers that the building codes had been changed so a fire in a hotel tower could not become widespread. The Monte Carlo fire proved that public relations message wasn't true. Take a look at how much more "faux stone detail" is found on the outside of the Paris, Venetian, Palazzo, and Bellagio towers. All styrofoam based.

In 2007 Clark County (in the person of the head building inspector and county executive) looked the other way, refusing to address complaints about fire safety code violations at the Harrah properties...until the LVRJ spent money for experts to bring these county employees' moral corruption to light. That same crooked head building inspector was on TV yesterday and today, telling us that the County is investigating.

They are investigating squat. The Clark County Commissioners, County Executive, Chief Building Inspector Lynn are wholly owned by the major casinos. Nothing will change. There will be no retrofitting.

And even if he does care about fire safety, the new County Fire Chief is politically smart enough to protect his job by obfuscating and acting nice and naive when asked about fire safety risk at ANY of the big hotels.

Obama talks the talk, in terms of opposing Yucca Mountain. But one of his top 5 contributor groups, in terms of dollar volume, are employees and owners of a company which produces nuclear energy technology. They vehemently support the opening of Yucca Mountain.

Remember the scene in Legally Blonde II? The oh-so-upstanding Democrat woman congressman changes her stance on legislation simply because one of her biggest contributors threatens to cut off reelection funds? To me, there is very little difference between that fictional congresswoman and Obama on the Yucca issue.

I think that if we have a President Obama, the same thing will happen with respect to Yucca.

That's why it is critical to examine the names and businesses of all large contributors to ANY candidate.

60,000 members of the Culinary Union. Would someone please take a rough guess at how many union members voted today. Sounds like a few thousand at most.

Looks like Kihunen knew what he was doing, walking precincts despite the Culinary's endorsement.

I realize that the State of Nevada switched from primaries to caucuses to save money. However, Harry Reid & Co. listen to me. The caucuses are a really bad idea, because they cause individual groups of Democrats to be hostile to each other live and in person. It's going to be hard for the losing group of Democrats to stomach voting for the other candidate in November...given the real emotion I saw today. Next time, PLEASE have a primary!

Eat my shorts Pilar and D.

Just a guess, but if Obama wins by a margin traceable to overweighted votes at the Strip caucuses, I think you will start to see a strong blue collar Democrat backlash against the Culinary's members. Perhaps INS raids at the casinos as a means of getting blue collar Democrats to vote Republican in November.

Thank you InTown for the interesting information.

That, plus the description the brains behind Obama's national campaign, David Axelrod, found on stubs off Wikipedia, seals the deal for me.