Given the thread already in progress, and other discussions seen on
this board from time to time, I thought I'd add my three cents.
LIVING IN LAS VEGAS
First of all, this is a crowded, bustling boomtown with many serious
growing pains. Housing prices are no longer the bargain they used to
be, although still far more so than in California, which is where
many of our refugees come from. The city/county is about two years
behind on building schools, parks and other public facilities, and
updating infrastructure. If you move into a newly built community,
the surrounding area will probably have no sidewalks, some of the
access roads will be dirt/gravel (or nonexistent), and schools,
shopping, and other facilities will not have arrived yet,
necessitating a lot of driving to get to basic amenities and
services.
You will probably thrive economically. If you are of working age,
the job market is booming and wages are high; cost of living is
quite moderate (if you avoid the "gaming tax", see below).
The atmosphere and politics of the area may or may not agree with
you. First and foremost, this is one great big company town--and
the "companies'" influence extends all the way to Carson City. You
may be appalled by the extent to which the casino industry
manipulates the city, county, and state governments. Civil rights
are frequently ignored; the police have powers (and lack of
oversight) that compare to those in the average banana republic. For
a state so close to California geographically and emotionally, this
is a very, very, conservative state.
The social atmosphere is somewhat skewed by the predominance of two
groups: golf- and bingo-playing retirees, and young 30ish go-
getters. Of the latter group, many of them are telling themselves
that they're just here to make some bucks, then they'll leave,
(Whether or not that comes to pass is another story.) The oldsters
just want to sit on their pile of cash and have fun until they die;
thus, they never support tax initiatives for school funding, parks,
etc. All this means is that there is absolutely no sense of
community here. No one is here because they love Vegas for itself,
but for the opportunities it presents.
Almost everyone who lives here has some kind of self-destructive
weakness. Whether it's gambling, drinking, smoking, or just being
irresponsible, this town enables and encourages such behavior.
The arts and cultural atmosphere compares roughly to that found in a
town a tenth the size of Vegas. There is no performing arts center;
museums are few; the library system just recently improved to what
you might expect in a (somewhat smaller) major city. UNLV provides
what culture does exist. The reason? Simple--casinos, with their
huge in-house entertainment venues, suck up all the talent and
money. (Never mind that the ideal Vegas act recently seems to be a
59-year-old former rock star who takes the stage barely conscious
while his back-up band and a host of sound engineers try to keep him
from embarrassing himself.)
Casinos: It makes so much sense to eat in 'em, it's hard to stay out
of them completely. And yes, I know we're all genius stud muffins
who know how to BEAT THE HOUSE and get mailed tons of free crap to
boot. Well, you can still make $7-10/hour playing .25 VP. This is
fine and dandy, but once you label yourself a "winner", it's hard as
hell to stay out of the casinos. You find that going to the local
casino is your default setting for Friday night. Then Saturday night
too. Maybe Wednesday night because Elimination Station has the
seafood buffet that night. Et cetera. Pretty soon all your clothes
smell like pigarette smoke, your wallet bulges with slot cards, and
you dimly realize with horror just what it means to have accumulated
271,766 Idiot Points this month alone.
Outdoors: The desert landscape is actually quite compelling, but you
have to seek out the interesting areas. The trouble is, once you've
been everywhere, there's NOWHERE else to go. People routinely make
the 300+ mile trip to San Diego, or the 400+ mile trip to Tahoe,
just to get away for the weekend. And the immediate local landscape,
let's face it, is horrifyingly bleak. Rocks, brown or black
mountains on the horizon, and dirt. That's IT. If you long for trees
or water or greenery you need to go to a park or sneak into the
Lakes and risk getting shot at by Celine Dion's helicopter ("You
Will Not Go On").
And don't let that "It's a dry heat" crap fool you. That's what they
told Joan of Arc. The truth is, here as just about everywhere else,
there's four months when it's stinkin' miserable outside. Those four
months occur at different times than most other places, but they do
occur.
I hope I haven't scared anyone away. But the truth is, this ain't no
desert paradise. It's more pleasant to live here than, say,
Cleveland or Buffalo (but then, being eaten alive by starving lions
is also more pleasant than living in Cleveland or Buffalo), but it
ain't no Nirvana here, either. We have all the normal problems a
large urban area has, but we lack many of the usual amenities
usually found in such areas.
Of course, none of the above may bother you, as long as there are
fullpay VP and $1.99 hamburger specials. In that case, more power to
you, and welcome to Vegas!!
