OE-305

That's a pretty hard statement to qualify... I've never seen downtown LA, San Fran or Seattle, so I won't make any judgements. However, anyone who's ever flown out of McCarran Int. at night and sat on the right side of the plane will tell you that the view is absolutely breathtaking and could certainly hold a candle to any other west coast skyline. It is certainly more unique. In terms of density... LV is by far more dense than most American cities, even if you don't count the 150,000 people along 4.5 miles of Strip. Because land is scarce and thus very expensive, single-family homes are squeezed 5-6 per acre with no wasted "green" spaces in between like other eastern cities *cough* RDU and CLT *cough*. There are also seem to be a higher percentage of apartments and townhome communities which help with the city's density. True, we're not on a NYC or San Fran level, but there are not many communities in the USA that are as compact as LV (again, fly into here at night and see for yourself).

You are absolutely correct! Downtown Las Vegas is another gambling cluster (actually predating The Strip). There are a few 12-15 story government buildings on the south side as well as a BofA tower (maybe 16 stories). Other than that, there is a small concentration of office towers (again 12-20) stories) at the Howard Hughes Corporate Center) off Paradise and Flamingo Road I believe. All told, there may be a dozen office mid-rises around town that I can think of, an most if them are probably leased by firms that service the gaming industry. As far as industry here goes... just about 100% is directly tied to the construction industry (ie. drywall manufactures, etc.) or the gaming industry (the largest slot machine producer in the world is in vegas, no suprise). The town realizes full well that it is has all of its eggs in one basket and is really trying to diversify and bring other more traditional businesses and industry in. So far its tough going because places like Phenoix are more attractive to companies wishing to move out of So. California. Gaming really does cast a negative image over this place that is almost impossible to shake. There literally are casinos all over town, and more seem to sprout up almost overnight. The big names (MGM-Mirage, Cesars Ent...) stick to the Strip, but a local's casion company (StationCasinos) has almost a dozen around town locations. It's kinda sad because these make up the entertainment hubs for sections of the city. Want to go see a movie, hang out and have a beer with friend... drive to the Green Valley Ranch in Henderson. But I guess it's like driving to strip mall bar in most other cities if you don't go downtown. I still sucks IMO.

haters!!! all of you It might have something to do with the lack of space and rising opperating costs at McCarran (LV airport). Check out the thread i just posted on the expected growth in travel through this airport and the need for a quickened $ 2.4 billion build-out. If Phoenix has greater potential for steady long-term growth then it's a wise choice IMO. ... haters!

I don't see one million people going to KC for anything.

O no, that was just a play off the mid to late nineties when the big nascar rivarly was between Earnhardt and Gordon. All the rednecks were divided on this like America was in the last presidential election

dude! he looks like he's 12 feet tall! monsoon, did you yell "JEFF GORDON!!!"?

Long time residents tell me all the time that LV keeps reinventing itself every 5-10 years. The 80's and 90's saw phenomenal growth in the gaming industry with the construction of nearly a dozen "mega" casinos. During this phase Las Vegas was protrayed as a family destination with places like the new Circus Circus and Excalibur geared towards families with kids. Sometime in the late 90's through now the push has been to cator towards the convention industry (which recently surpassed gaming revenues!) Right now this latest phase is in a boom cycle and demand for rooms and space has outgrown supply. The result is that over 20,000 new Strip hotel rooms are planned over the next 5 years. The condo craze started about two years ago (but really picked up steam in late 2004) with the almost instaneous sellout of 800 units in the 4 tower complex of Turnburry Place. I read in the paper last month that LV City Council has been swamped with nearly 100 proposed condo towers along the strip and downtown. At least 2 dozen are under construction right now. You literally can't drive more than a block or two down down the strip without seening something new popping up out of the ground. Spartan, the MGM-Mirage city that you are referring to will be at the corner of Harmon Ave and the Strip (next to the Monte Carlo casino). I saw a local LV buisness review show where developer Steve Wynn was being interviewed for his soon to open Wynn Las Vegas and he mentioned this second MGM project is pegged as being a 9+ billion project!!! Construction is supposed to start sometime in 2008. They showed a picture of this thing and it absolutely dwarfs the Monte Carlo. In terms of water shortages.... I'm not sure anybody here really has a handle on the situation. I've talked to some of the water resource people in my department and they don't have an answer. The politicans think that they'll just stick straws in the ground up north (but there is a very finite supply of groundwater in this state). In terms of road construction.... depending on where you're coming from, NDOT may move very fast or slow I guess. Compared to North Carolina, these people haul ass. It is not uncommon to see road crews working night and day on freeway projects. How long did it take NCDOT to widen I-77 (4 years or so?). Out here they'll throw that together in 6 months (maybe a year if there is a larger clover-leaf overpass involved). One innovative technique that they've used for the outerbelt (I-215) is that they build the road first with elevated traffic light interchanges that will then be retrofitted with a real underpass interchange (hmm, i need a pic to better describe this). Anyway, it gets the road more quickly built and a large right-of-way established early on. Clever I think. In terms of living here.... yeah its not the best, but there are lots of recreation opportunities just outside the city. To the west are the 11,000+ foot Spring Mountains that contain the Red Rocks Nat. Rec. area and the Mt. Charleston wilderness area. There is a sky resort on Mt. Charleston only 40 miles outside of town up US-95. Death Valley is only 75 miles to the west. Lake Mead (largest man-made lake in the US) is 30 miles east. Zion, Bryce, Arches, Valley of Fire, Great Basin Nat. Park, and the Grand Canyon are half a day's drive or less from here as well. So there's really a lot more to do out here than just gamble, or be house-bound when it's 120 outside Okay, that's enough of my rambling. Hope I gave you some perspective from a new local.

I clicked through the pictures of IM Pei's previous works and was thoroughly unimpressed.... with the exception of the BofC tower (that one was pretty cool). His work comes across a bit too dated (in the 60s and 70s like dubone mentioned). That IBM complex looked like a piece of crap in my opinion. My suggestion, hire the firm who designed the Charlotte Westin.

The Dale Earnhart ESPN movie was mostly filmed in Charlotte right? That movie pays homage to a lot of NC towns.

I was suprised to read in the paper that Cityfest only dated back to 1998. I could have sworn it used to be called Springfest and went back MUCH farther in time. As a kid (probably early 90's) I remember going uptown with my family and seeing more of an artsy festival with a bunch of half-naked tatooed freaks I don't really remember much in the way of music but then the observer did mention its theme had shifted away from art. Hmmm, does anybody remember this older festival that I'm talking about? While I'm at it... does anybody remember the old Stumptown festival in Matthews? I think they used to have a ferris wheel but I'm not terribly sure on that (because I was really really young then). Now its called something really stupid like Matthews Alive. (sorry I got off on a tangent here)

Putting the museum near the multi-modal station would be an excellent idea (who ever said that). But Moresville needs to step up the plate and get in line with CATS first. In terms of museum design, I think they need to be really creative like putting a giant RV dealership on the roof with a ridiculously tall sign advertising themselves for interstate passersby. (just kidding of course)

O that's good news then. Thanks

I dig the two spires on the roof too, definitely different from the crown that was so popular in the 80s and 90s. Not to be a party-pooper, but I'm not impressed with the big pink/orange parking deck. I understand that residents need to park somewhere, however it doesn't look all to inviting on the street level. This is especially true in the Orlando pictures (although the tennis court, pool and putting green (?) are quite clever). Is there anyway to dress up the parking deck, maybe some small shops lining the exterior wall. The project just looks like something I'd admire from afar, but not feel a personal connection to. Please somebody tell me I'm wrong and that I'm a hater

I'm sure the greenway along Little Sugar Creek will be nice once completed, but remember that that stream was named on of NC's most polluted steams in the late 90's (and I doubt things have changed since then). Therefore I would see the creation of a mini Riverwalk as a BAD idea. Has anybody ever witnessed this stream during flood stage in front of CMC? You don't want to know whats in that water. To be slightly off topic, I wish Meck. Co. Park & Rec would stop paving every greenway trail that is built (incuding the Little Sugar Creak greenway). Way to cater to the running community. Concrete & ashpalt = damaged knees. Either put down crushed pea-gravel or rubberize these trails!

In response to an earlier question on how we found this board.... I'm not exactly sure anymore, perhaps google sent me. I've been reading the posts on this site for some time now and I think this is a really neat way for everyone to share/express their common appreciation of their cities. I was born and raised in Charlotte, went to Chapel Hill (that's where the "OE" comes from), then moved to Las Vegas, NV last summer. This is a good way for me to stay informed on things back home. So thanks to you Charlotteans who keep me in the loop. I'm curious as to how many of ya'll now call other places home and what, if any, similarities you see b/t the two places. Maybe someone would like to start a new post where "we" could offer our views of both places and give suggestions on what clt could do a better job of (i.e. you think Char-Meck has trouble keeping up with booming student enrollment, Las Vegans would laugh in our faces on that topic).