Las Vegas Will Grow Up When It Invests In Civic Centers Like It Does Stadiums
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — It was a little after 8:30 AM Thursday and light rain was falling on Las Vegas’ new civic center, a square block of two new city government office buildings, a 2,000-square-foot art gallery and some green grass for outdoor concerts across from city hall.
It was a pleasant setting for a downtown that lacks no PUBLIC central gathering place. But the $190 million public plaza project was modest when you consider the Las Vegas metro area is raising more than $1.2 billion in public dollars to pay off its debt on the $750 million contributed to help the Raiders pay for its $2 billion stadium project.
That’s a portal into what matters to Las Vegas. A $190 civic plaza. A $2 billion football stadium.
Such is life in this market of 2.3 million — a market that needs to grow up and throw political muscle and commit public dollars to help build a health care system as much as it does as sponsoring sports events and build sports palaces.
Great cities have great PUBLIC gathering places — think New York’s Central Park and big parks in places from Chicago to San Francisco.
But Las Vegas and Clark County and the state of Nevada are all in on sports.
And the locals draw the leftovers, like a bike trail here, and a public concert there.
Oscar Goodman has long said that Las Vegas needed a major league sports team. But the big leagues of baseball are no match for the big leagues of education, medicine and transportation.
Oscar and his wife, Carolyn, who tag-teamed the mayor’s office for 24 years (a dozen years each), were on hand for the small gathering to mark the occasion of the civic center’s opening. Oscar needed help to get around.
It was a shame that not more people came to celebrate the public space this morning.
It’s the people’s space and this civic center was not in the same league as ones like the civic center park serving as the public hub in a city like Denver.
But Las Vegas gave it the old college try with the opening its new Civic Center this morning. I wish the central green space was so much bigger. But it’s Las Vegas and it’s a little sad that people have learned to be grateful with anything they can get regarding public amenities and public spaces.
If only Las Vegas cared about the public as much as this market cares about subsidizing big-time sports and stadiums.
At least there was a bike rack at the civic center. You don’t see those on the Strip.
PSA
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