The Las Vegas Citizen

The Archives of Ann Reynolds
Gambling should work on its national image 23 June, 1997
The gambling industry would have a better national image if it would submit
to taxation. In fact, I think that the mere suggestion that gambling
wouldn't submit to taxation is frankly frightening, but I guess that many
legislators consider it to be business as usual.
If Nevada increases its tax on gambling revenue, the casino industry will
pay it. What else are they going to do, leave town? Then the state could
take over our gambling interests until someone came along that thinks 35%
is fair. Ann Reynolds
The momentum is rolling 20 June, 1997
Las Vegas is a national phenomenon, we can't fool ourselves into thinking
that we are in any way in control of it. All traditions fall away with
time, and the Las Vegas traditions of religious hypocrisy and subjugation
of women are going to be challenged by the influx of new blood into this
neck of the desert. We don't know, we can't know, what will happen when
the population doubles. We can only pray that the influx will serve as a
cleansing agent, and will purge the area of the weak of heart and poor of
spirit.
As the new small white cars rush around the streets at break-neck speeds,
as the industrial district trucks write their own traffic rules as they go,
as the dust swirls around the valley like some sort of malevolent fog
cover, I can't help but wonder what is brewing, and what will come of it
all. There will be depletion of per capita income, and a lowering of the
educational standards. There will be more homeless people, and there will
be lower quality water, and lower quality air, if those things are
imaginable. But perhaps Las Vegas has to hit bottom before it can start to
grow up. It's a scenario I would like to avoid. Ann Reynolds
Pretense of Acceptability 19 June, 1997
If there is to be a new day in Las Vegas, it has to begin at a personal
level, regarding the amount of that each of us permits in our
life. The denial associated with gambling has pervaded every aspect of our
community, and the only way to purge it is to begin at home, in our hearts.
The cruel treatment of the poor in our city has reached new heights, with
people assuring each other that anyone who gambles does so of their own
free will, and that's not our problem. (But it is our problem, whether we
admit it or not.) And we have a lot of convenient religious arrangements
that take full advantage of the cash value of the gambling business without
accepting the responsibility for our brother's well-being. I missed the
part in the New Testament where it says that's it's not a problem to take
systematic advantage of another's folly and pain.
The arts, or the humanities, are based on the examination of the total
human experience, involving the joys as well as the pain of excess. But
Las Vegas has placed itself in a political situation where we can't truly
examine the human condition because we have denied the existence of the
most meaningful aspects of compulsive behavior. . . the lessons learned
from it. We will not grow as a community until we accept the
responsibility of a community, which is to protect the concepts and
archetypes which comprise civilization. Ann Reynolds
A note about the old-timers 18 June, 1997
The essence of Nevada is made up of its visitors. The wonder of the place
is preserved by the visitors who stay. As we enter into the era of people
rushing in, it is the visitors who stay that will decide the future. We
cannot use these people as fodder. Their future, and the future of their
children, is where we all will live.
The mountains around the valley have been especially beautiful this week,
with the shadows of the untimely clouds evoking fresh views of harsh and
barren valleys on the cliffs above the city. The timelessness of the
desert is our legacy. It is neither less nor more than what we see and
what we allow it to be. Every morning the mountains take my breath away.
I'm learning the names of the mountains, it's a slow process for one as
absent-minded as I am. But I am only a visitor. It's important to get to
know the residents, the ones who are planning to stay. Ann Reynolds
The Sales Tax is imminent 17 June, 1997
(continued from yesterday... with beginning of article slightly farther below)
The huge corporations that operate here take full advantage of the laws
that were designed to protect small business against union domination. And
the unions, who are guaranteed state and large hotel contracts, import
labor, without being required to fill the necessary resident quotas. The
school drop-out rate is high. (You don't need a diploma to work in a
casino.) The teen pregnancy rate is the highest in the nation. The
violence in the schools is rising. I worked for H & R Block this winter.
North Las Vegas is known nationally as the earned-income-credit capitol of
the nation. Domestic violence and sexual harassment against women is
simply taken for granted, and the laws of the State of Nevada make it
impossible to sue and get a damage judgment large enough to give the casino
industry an incentive to correct their record. Women are largely
considered consumer items in Las Vegas. The reason given for Northern
Nevada towns losing their HUD grants was that the rapidly-growing
population of homeless women and children in the Las Vegas area needed the
money. The State of Nevada was expected to do more for them, because of
the rising rate of gambling addiction and domestic violence.
The Strip hotels are now involved in the local corporate gambling business.
The game plan is to incorporate local casinos into the developer plans in
new, peripheral neighborhoods (five large "resorts" are slated for new
Summerlin neighborhoods. . .remember, these are new residents who haven't
been initiated into the joys of losing the mortgage payment), and this is
precisely the type of development that the sales tax increase will
subsidize. Who will pay a disproportionate share? The poor, many of whom
live on Social Security precisely because they have lost their life savings
in a casino, and have no home to move back to.
The money will go for new freeways, new sewer lines, new water lines, all
of which will be built farther and farther away from town, even though
there is dire need for, and room for, affordable housing close to the Strip
area. We have no more drinkable water from Lake Mead. The water stinks,
no one drinks it except the people who can't afford bottled water or
filters. And the water that will be piped, at taxpayers expense, to these
new neighborhoods will be simply re-processed through the lake. The county
officials hire people who don't complain, and ignore the experts who are
alarmed. The construction dust is, at times, too thick to navigate. The
County Commission imposes no fines for ignoring effective dust control.
They are planning to double the population in order to serve the interests
of the large corporations who are making money from building cheap houses
and from operating local gambling houses in naive neighborhoods. The
evictions per month are in the thousands. The foreclosure rates are
embarrassing. But they are going to import more bank accounts until the
natural resources of this area are no longer attractive to anyone. At that
point, the population will be broke, and the tourists will be on the
Mississippi and in Atlantic City.
You know as well as I do how hard it is to compete with Las Vegas for grant
money of any kind. With the booming growth in this area, why are the
people of Southern Nevada blaming the North for money problems? It's
because they are totally unable to tax or to control the parasitic casino
industry, which exports its money to the Midwest and the east coast. And
more and more, this money is being made from local casinos, taken from the
paychecks of Nevada residents. There are children sitting on the floors in
the schools. Clark County is unable even to count them, and yet we are
supposed to subsidize more peripheral building projects.
The people of Las Vegas are not aware of the need for this sales tax
increase. We are, however, aware of the need to control the gambling
business before it eats us alive.
Derotha Ann Reynolds
Ann Reynolds Las Vegas Citizen
annreynolds@vegas.quik.com
http://www.renocitizen.com/vegascitizen.htm
"If you feel that AB291 is a bill that you don't like, your state
legislators would like to know your concerns. Telephone the Legislature at
384-2225 or 1-800-367-5967 and tell the person answering the phone that you
are against AB291, and you want your message delivered to all legislators."
An open letter to Senator Mike McGinness, head of the Senate Taxation
Committee:
Dear Senator McGinness:
I read with dismay an article in the weekend paper in Las Vegas which
indirectly quoted Assemblyman David Goldwater as saying that most of the
people against the sales tax increase are zealots, and that only a handful
of people protested the sales tax increase at his hearings. I was one of
the "zealots" that protested the sales tax increase, and I counted
approximately equal numbers of people that turned out for and against the
bill. There were significant amounts of people who showed up "for" the
bill who represented developer, bureaucratic, or casino interests. The one
organization whose presence was particularly noticeable was the union who
had received the contract to build the "second straw" that the sales tax
money will subsidize. I suspect that many of the people who called in to
the Legislative number were also members of this union. I know that most
of the working members of this union are not Nevada citizens, and are not
registered to vote, so please remember the cautions that the legislative
polls are neither scientific nor are they accurate.
All testimony in support of the sales tax was listened to patiently.
[Including rather lengthy testimony on the part of one builder/contractor
who said that casinos must not be taxed because they were in trouble
financially, and an additional tax would put some of them out of business.
My initial (mental) response was, "Good," and my second (also mental)
response was, "Then why in God's name are we building more of them?"] Any
attempt to challenge the role of the casino industry in our community was
cut off as irrelevant. Two instances in this particular hearing that I
attended stick in my mind:
Dr. Larry Paulson, a micro-biologist, Ph. D. scientist who has been
studying the Colorado River for 20 years, testified that the public health
is not being properly safeguarded. Kate Mulroy, the representative of the
Southern Nevada Water Authority, was allowed to present a new set of buzz
words after Dr. Paulson's testimony, and he was not allowed to address the
new subject matter.
A writer for the Senior Specturm quietly stated his case protesting the
tax, and started to leave the speakers podium, (he was an older man who had
trouble getting around) and Assemblyman Goldwater asked him another
question, requiring the older man to delay his exit. It was a question
that the older man had not prepared an answer to. Although I can't quote
Assemblyman Goldwater, the question, basically, was that if the seniors
that live in the area can't pay a sales tax increase, then how can they
afford a utility increase, which is what we will get if the sales tax is
defeated. Because the older man honestly tried to answer the question,
instead of recognizing it as a rather patronizing, cruel, and intimidating
statement, he took longer than Assemblyman Goldwater had expected him to.
Goldwater then interrupted the older gentleman, and chastised him for
taking so long at the podium, reminding him that other people had testimony
to make as well. At that point, rather than risk humiliation, many people
who had come to talk against the tax decided not to take the risk.
When one of the people on Social Security told one of the young union men
that he didn't make good union wages, the young man told him, "Join a
union." He said it with a straight face, too. The people in Las Vegas
have just about given up, that's why they don't vote, and that's why they
are convinced that the rapid and dangerous growth in this area will simply
run its course whether we try to do anything about it or not. If the
status-quo senses that there is unrest in any area, the next wave of
politicians bandy about a few catch phrases and slogans so that it's
impossible to tell what anyone means, and the politicians that are
supported by the casino industry win.
You have to remember that many of the residents of Las Vegas have only
lived in Nevada for about 10 years or so. They got here when the gambling
corporations had begun to feel their muscles, and before the old-time
residents had shaken off the "mob" mentality. "The casinos run this state,
they always will." I can't tell you how many times I have heard that
statement. If the people of Nevada don't wake up it will come to pass.
For too long the legislature has passed bills that favor the interests of
the casinos over the interests of the people that live in their shadow.
The face of the southern state is changing. The population is
less-educated, the jobs are more menial, and the tip income is steadily
declining as the gaming industry spreads itself ever-thinner through every
facet of our lives. (continued tommorow)
Derotha Ann Reynolds
Ann Reynolds Las Vegas Citizen
annreynolds@vegas.quik.com
http://www.renocitizen.com/vegascitizen.htm
Market Research 13 June, 1997 (Friday the 13th)
I received one of those recorded messages the other night, saying that it
was a short poll asking a quick question. "If you were going to vote for
governor tomorrow," and that's where I hung up. Anyone that can afford
that survey probably isn't going to stand up to the gambling interests.
Remember, gambling provides most of the campaign money for both parties.
This State needs leaders. The current trend in politics is to play with
catch-phrases that will grab an eye or ear. That's why we were faced with
a City Council race where both sides were complaining about growth. Polls
are not paid for by people who want to give us what we want. Polls are
paid for by people who want to know what we want to hear.
Information from polls is used by people who are designing either a public
relations campaign, a political campaign, or an advertising campaign. The
differences are important and subtle, but irrelevant to this discussion. A
person who has a vision for the state's future isn't going to need a poll
to tell him what it is. What it is, is a way out from under the greedy
idiots that seem to think that local gambling is a growth industry.
And we don't need one person who sees this. We need a whole bunch of them.
Incumbents are fine, it really doesn't matter, but we have to start paying
attention to who angers gambling lobbyists, and vote for those people.
Forget polls, that is simply helping to design an expensive campaign, and
it's the expensive campaign that is financed by casinos and developers. If
someone asks you to take a survey, hang up. And for Pete's sake, don't
tell them why. Stop gambling. Register to vote. Ann Reynolds
Las Vegas: Open 24 hours 12 June, 1997
The hot issue in town is children in casino video arcades. . .and the
latest action by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority seems to
feed this fire. Why are we actively soliciting casino gamblers who make
between $25 and $40K who have children at home? "Las Vegas: Open 24
Hours." That's the message. And we have the market research under our
belts to actively target this market segment, so they can come to town,
stay up all night, and bring their children along. R & R Advertising
should be cited for criminal negligence.
I think that Senator Joe Neal has the right idea. He's going to introduce
a bill to tax the gambling business to pay for more schools, water, and
roads. That's a very, very, good idea, and thank you, Joe. Senator Titus
is still behind her ring legislation, and Senator Bill O'Donnell made a
brave move to place a $250,000 fee on new casinos. Senate Taxation
Committee Chairman Mike McGinness has once again delayed action on the
sales tax increase. The session is not over. The gambling lobbyists are
fast and furious, and the campaign money is flowing against anyone who
challenges this ridiculous and malevolent corporate gambling machine. The
campaign slogans won't be straightforward and honest, of course. Ad
campaigns will be directed against the brave politicians in the subtlest of
ways, but watch who votes for what on the floor of the legislature, and
support that person. There is no other way to know the score.
The lady has not sung yet, this soap opera is not over. The gambling
lobbyists may all be looking for new jobs come July. It's easy. Senator
Neal introduces the bill, and the legislators vote for it. Any lobbyist
that disrupts the session, or offers bribes to our elected representatives
gets thrown in jail for contempt of Congress. The first legislator to
actively introduce and support this bill gets elected governor. This can
happen, Las Vegas. Stop gambling, and register to vote.
And we need to talk about market research. Ann Reynolds