The Dead Kennedys

Did the best cover

Of "Viva Las Vegas"

That

I've

Ever

Before

Or

Since

Heard.

to some extent. It is not the city, but the suburban sprawl around it that is destroying our ability to live economically. An article in our local paper today recommended that families spend the holidays walking or biking every day. Yet we live in a community without sidewalks or bike paths. Walking or biking anywhere is like taking your life in your hands. Drivers do not look for pedestrians or cyclists. Crossing a major intersection (which has to be done to go anywhere) is extremely hazardous. Doing so with children is even worse. Cars ignore crosswalks, stop signs, and red lights. Even in our low-traffic-density neighborhood with its cul-de-sacs, there are parents who will not permit their children to go to their neighbor's homes or ride bikes or scooters outdoors, for fear that they will be suddenly run over.

In our region, the small "downtown" is full of crack houses, drug dealers, run-down and abandoned buildings. There is almost no public transportation. The schools are old, neglected, and dangerous. Nobody who can afford it would want to raise children there. There are no safe parks or playgrounds. The suburbs are where the public schools are subsidized by relatively wealthy families who can afford to contribute to school fundraisers, so kids continue to have a few amenities and a relatively safe environment.

Ultimately, suburban sprawl continues to thrive because of fear. People are convinced that cities are dangerous, that their neighbors are dangerous, that sex offenders or drug dealers lurk at every corner, waiting to kidnap their children. Homeowners' Associations and gated communities lock out solicitors, political and religious canvassers, anybody who is a stranger and therefore potentially criminal. People encapsulate themselves and their children, somehow believing that everyone else is out to harm them.

We won't be able to revive our downtown schools or areas until we stop building sprawl and start creating incentives for luring middle-class families back to the downtown areas. But that means raising taxes to provide amenities, support public safety, and improve the schools -- and almost nobody will accept that. Suburbanites will give up almost anything -- walking, bicycling, shopping at local business, having good friends among their neighbors, and so forth -- just as long as they don't have to pay taxes. At least, that's the case here, and I'm sure it's the case in many regions where sprawl dominates. Change is ultimately regarded as being too expensive. Whether that's wise in the long run remains to be seen.

growing up american in the 1950's, high school allowed for math studies and "french class" (our only pitiful attempt at a second language, n'est pas). gifted students, like my sister, a decade older, planned to go on to college and become "professionals". the rest of us considered geometry and chemistry extremely annoying time wasters.

i stayed awake for history class. i even enjoyed the reading. it was good stuff. i was impressed by the spaniards' apparent charisma. even the cruel aztecs generously provided gifts of gold to their metal headed visitors. i did wonder though, about the mysterious vanishing of those crazy aztecs. there were one-page chapters that reviewed our american indian tribes with a squib about each, and described indians scalping and savaging the pioneers. yuk.

Life magazine featured on its cover a photo and an article on the plight of factory workers. they were bored on those well paying, secure, assembly line jobs, and this boredom we were warned could lead to maladjustment.

we didn't worry. no doubt there was a cure for that in the hopper. we were americans, after all. the future is always better. the reason being, that we were americans. and in a funny way, we still are.

A 3 bedroom, 2 ½ bath house is a McMansion?

Perhaps not...but if you are a single retiree (such as my ex father-in-law), it's a lot of unused space that consumes resources in being built, filled with decorations, heated, cooled, cleaned, etc.

And, as previously noted, said ex father-in-law has to drive a minimum of 1 mile to get to any product or service.

Far more Americans live like my former father-in-law then live in Vegas-style opulence.

The future's so sweet

You'll be swimmin' in rivers

Of the richest creme gravy...

A house isn't a "McMansion" just because it's relatively new.

I'm not really studied up

On the Mormon/Las Vegas Connection

Would I find reliable information about it

Filed under "Weird Conspiracy Section?"

Greetings

Any article that purports to be about Las Vegas and its sins that does not even mention the odd connections to the Mormons that go back to the literal founding of the town in the 1850's missed the mark or umm throws snake eyes ;)

You might as well just beat yourself up with a broom

Cos I could tell from the start

That your dumb ass was doomed...

As the poster child for American conspicuous consumption, Sirota missed the mark by about 10 literal miles.

Economist Tim Harford points out in his recent book The Logic of Life that cities (he uses New York as an example) are actually quite 'green' on a per person basis.

http://www.amazon.com/Logic-Life-Rational-Economics-Irrational/dp/1400066425/

People in large cities live in tiny apartments, not 5-bedroom 3-bath, 3-car garage McMansions.

People in large cities (even Vegas, once you actually get there) mostly walk, ride elevators, or take communal transportation (trains, buses, cabs) to get where they are going.

People in large cities (because of the aforementioned tiny living spaces) do not gather piles of (made in China under poor environmental standards...) stuff like lawn furniture, power tools, personal watercraft, coordinated bedroom sets, etc.

Yes, the bright lights of Vegas are somewhat wasteful, but the technology of lighting is getting more efficient all of the time. The same amount of light that 20 pounds of firewood once produced now gets produced by an LED panel consuming a few watts of electricity, which comes from Lake Mead hydropower.

No, the real culprits are just down the road in that archetype of American suburbia: Henderson, Nevada.

A comparison---

Where are you 'living'?

Vegas: One bedroom, one bath hotel

Henderson: 3+ bedroom, 2+ bath McMansion

Need a quart of milk?

Vegas: Go down to the hotel lobby or restaurant, or walk down the block to a convenience store.

Henderson: Get in your car and drive a minimum of 1/2 mile to the nearest store.

Want to go swimming?

Vegas: Ride the elevator down to the hotel grounds and share the pool with hundreds of other people.

Henderson: Go out into your backyard and swim in your personal swimming pool. Your neighbors do likewise.

Meanwhile, as noted by others, the profit motive and intense competition between resorts in Vegas means that they are always looking for ways to save money and be more efficient.

In contrast, if you set up a portable basketball hoop in your driveway in Henderson (so that you don't have to drive the children to a gym or park), your neighbors will force you to remove it because it 'brings down property values'.

Suburban zoning laws, CC&Rs and homeowner association bylaws are full of environmentally poor practices.

There are sufficient resources in the world to support one Las Vegas. What the world cannot survive is the thousands of Hendersons in America and elsewhere.