Living in Las Vegas

Spring break is officially over.   The April 15th tax deadline is on the horizon. All good things must come to an end.  Financial issues are on my mind.  And it seems like financial issues are affecting many members of the Las Vegas community. The top headlines today include:

Nevada bankruptcies skyrocketed in 2008

Bankruptcy petitions increased 71% last year while the national increase was only 31%

Educators protest outside Legislature, seek more funding

Today while lawmakers were voting on several education issues, over 150 teachers and students carried signs reading “Nevada’s children deserve better” and “Teachers are worth every penny.”

Harrah’s needs more debt relief to avoid bankrupty

Harrah’s debt swap offer cut Harrah’s debt by nearly $2.3 billion, but Wachovia said that may not be enough.

MGM Mirage faces Friday deadline for $70 million City Center payment

MGM Mirage and Dubai World, which each own 50 percent of CityCenter need to commit a combined $3 billion to finish the development by December. 

And to end on a happier note . . .

Reno mom hits $33 million Megabucks jackpot

Rachel Romanick had been playing for about 10 minutes at Terrible’s Rail City casino when she hit the jackpot.  This is the second largest Megabucks jackpot in history at a Sparks casino.

In the middle of the worst recession in my lifetime, NV Energy feels entitled to ask to raise residential power rates a whopping 16.7%!  About 100 residents attended the public hearing today at the Las Vegas Convention Center to ask NV Energy how they could raise power rates during this time of economic hardship.

Some people angrily pointed out the high salaries of NV Energy executives.  Others suggested NV Energy work to reduce its debt or delay the coal-fired power plant in Ely  NV Energy executives said they are aware the timing is bad, but the improvements will eventually be good for consumers and that they have no choice in asking for the  increase right now.

CEO, Michael Yackira, said he does not expect NV Energy to get the full increase it is asking for but that they will get something in between what their request is and what the Public Utilities Commission recommends.

There are three more hearings scheduled to be held at the offices of Public Utilities Commission until the final decision is made in May.  Fortunately it looks like we will at least get a break for the summer and the rate increase will not take place until September.  It’s just so frustrating when I have been working so hard to lower our other bills that now this power bill rate increase is probably going to cancel out that savings!

As part of a 132 city tour, the Independent Entertainer’s Association’s Rock the Economy concert and family music festival will be held at the Henderson Pavilion on Saturday, April 4th.  The entertainment starts at noon and goes until 10:00 p.m.  There is going to be plenty of food, fun and music. 

Rock the Economy is intended to be an economic stimulus for different local schools, churches and social organizations.  In addition,  it is a way for people wanting to make an economic change in their lives to talk to different companies that can help with their home financing, finding employment or establishing new credit. 

The Independent Entertainer’s Association is a group of independent entertainers, businesses, and enthusiasts who support the independent entertainment industry.  The founder of IEA, CD Palmer, based the association on four objectives; production, promotion, distribution and marketing.

IEA recently built a  brand new recording studio at it’s local office to assist independent artists in being able to compete with the mainstream entertainment industry.  They will have programs for the novice and professional musician.  Sounds like it’s going to be a great opportunity for all the local Las Vegas musicians.

I think the Rock the Economy concert is exeactly what Las Vegas needs right now.  A little food, a little fun and a little free advice.

Rarely does an article stop me in my tracks, but today when I browsed over to this Las Vegas Sun article, “Whether to walk away: Housing’s moral minefield,” by Brian Eckhouse, I stopped.  The comments on the article were actually as interesting as the article itself.  Basically, it discussed how the forclosure crisis is affecting homeowners in Las Vegas.   More specifically, homeowners like this reader:

By pilauguy
3/22/09 at 3:34 p.m.

“Purchased my home the ‘old-fashioned way’ prior to the boom days: credit/employment/financial verifications…the whole 9 yards. Today my owner/occupied home is under-valued in a neighborhood of foreclosed homes. While there is enough blame to trash around, there seems to be no practical assistance for people like myself. I’m ready to damn’ morality,the right thing and latch on to a ‘ME FIRST’ mentality!” 

Author, Mr. Eckhouse, posed many thought provoking questions, “If your mortgage is greater than the value of the house, why pay it? . . . Is your greater responsibility to your family’s financial well being, or keeping your word to the bank? . . . Do I violate personal ethics and walk away from a contract that I signed with my eyes wide open?”

Two readers posted their very practical and very opposite side of the moral spectrum, solutions to the problem:

By James_P_Reza
3/22/09 at 10:17 a.m.
“If the government wants to address the economic downturn that is at least in part caused, and perpetuated, by the speculator-caused housing crisis, and if the government wants to spend billions of taxpayer money to “bailout” portions of the economy, then the government should consider these steps:
1) appraise every single owner-occupied residence in the US
2) provide a new FHA mortgage at that amount to the owner-occupant
3) pay off the difference to the mortgage holder
Housing crisis, done. Is it morally appropriate to bailout homeowners who used their homes as ATMs? No more or less than bailing out banks who made it possible by providing low-doc and no-doc loans - loans from liars to liars.
Moral outrage is everywhere because behavior on all sides has been morally questionable through this whole mess. The point is, we’re already spending money in morally questionable bailouts, so why not spend some where it will do some good? Otherwise, even the morally upstanding will consider the immoral, and then what?”

By jk1313
3/22/09 at 10:26 a.m.

“It would be best for most everybody to get the “deadbeats” out of homes as fast as possible, please, walk-away, the faster you do the faster we get to a bottom.
Now, if one really wants to have fun and games with the banks, play it this way. Don’t pay your mortgage, taxes, insurance, HOA, LID/SID, only utilities. Wait until the lender’s foreclosure sale (not Notice of Default) is going to happen, you must be notified within 30 days of the sale by law, then the day or two prior to the sale file Ch. 7 bankruptcy. All processes are “stayed”, the lender has to basically have a hearing to even begin the foreclosure process again, meanwhile, one is still not paying on the mortgage, HOA, taxes, SID/LID. The Ch. 7 will eliminate the mortgage, and will in addition, give one an extra 7-10 months of free living in the home on the banks dime. The best part is that one can still maintain their credit card and auto payments if the home mortgage is the only debt that one would like to have dismissed. Consult state and fed. bankruptcy laws for complete details on income levels, and protected assets.
If done properly, one can live for free in their home for nearly 18 months. Make sure the lenders and banks know how much they are appreciated.”

Although I do not have to personally make a decision like this myself, I can see both sides of the story. Everyone in Las Vegas, homeowners and renters alike, are being affected by this crisis.

So, dear loyal readers, I am curious, what are your stories and your thoughts?

Lot’s of stuff going on in Las Vegas today! Some good, some bad, but it’s nice to let the headlines do the work for me.

Nevada Ballet makes cuts due to poor economy. 

They are reducing everything, laying off dancers and staff and cancelling the last show of the season.

Divorce papers filed for casino chief Wynn, wife

Apparently the Wynns think second time around is a charm.  They were originally married in 1963, divorced in 1985 and then remarried in 1991.

Nevada’s earmarks listed.

A very looonnngg list of projects Senator Harry Reid is spending money on in Las Vegas and Nevada.

Convention authority official: Downturn costs Las Vegas about $131.6 million.

340 event cancellations in the past 90 days per the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority . . . hmmmm, what happened about 90 days ago?

Senate passes hotel room tax hike. 

Room tax rates in Clark and Washoe counties can be increased from 3% to 13%.

 Las Vegas family awaits new home on ABC’s ‘Extreme Makeover’

A famly in the northwest valley was chosen to be featured on the tv show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

There was an interesting article in the Las Vegas Sun about the size of Las Vegas’ and Nevada state’s government.  Basically the legislature needs to vote on the size of our government to determine if budget cuts need to be made or if they must raise and/or add new taxes.

Economist Elliott Parker pointed out that Nevada government is leaner now than at any time in recent history. He stated, “I’m not saying we need to be California. I’m not even saying we need to be average. But we have the smallest government in the country, and cuts would be very damaging.”

On that other hand, fiscal policy analyst, Geoffrey Lawrence stated,  “My response is that it shows Nevada historically has been a leader in allowing the private sector to drive economic growth. Compared to other states, we’ve encumbered the private sector much less, but we could do better.”

There was a very interesting discussion following the article. It roamed around for a bit and ended on the fact that although Las Vegas policemen and firemen can retire at age 55 and receive up to 90% of their salary as pension, their average life expectancy is actually 5 years less than average.  It made me wonder, how much money is 5 years of your life worth?

NV Energy (formally Nevada Power) is teaming up with Solar Millennium LLC, and MAN Ferrostaal Inc. to build an advanced solar energy facility slightly west of Las Vegas in Nye County.  With our near daily dose of sunshine and blazing summers, a solar energy facility is definitely long overdue. At this point, the project is scheduled to break ground by 2010 and finish no later than 2014, depending on permits, finances and other government approvals. 

Uwe T. Schmidt, the CEO of MAN Ferrostaal Inc. stated, “Having constructed more than 5,000 facilities around the world we are very much looking forward to building a CSP plant with NV Energy that will set a new benchmark for advanced solar energy in the U.S.”  Nice!

Michael Yackira, president and CEO of NV Energy feels, “It is now reasonable to believe that projects like this one will be capable of providing [a] reliable power supply . . . [and] a boost to the local economy.”

This sounds like a win win situation to me!

The Las Vegas Art Museum started out almost 60 years ago as an art league.  It turned into a fine arts museum in 1974 and then in 1997 moved to its current location on West Sahara. And now on February 28, 2009 it will be closing its doors. 

Patrick Duffy, president of the museum board said, “We’ve tried everything to keep this afloat. It’s just a challenging time. The economic climate has eliminated several of our donations.”  However, he did say the museum will keep its name so that when the economy improves it can re-open, but there are no specific dates yet.

The final exhibition is called “LA Now” and it is currated by David Pagel.  It features 20 artists from Los Angeles and “is designed to showcase the artistic achievements of the artists individually rather than start with a theme, and fit the art into that.”

I only had an opportunity to visit the Las Vegas Art Museum one time, but I thought it was a really nice museum and I am sad to see it go.

This is the year for a quickie Las Vegas Valentines Day wedding.  This weekend some Las Vegas wedding chapels are hosting up to three times as many ceremonies as they did last year.  Couples had to wait in line at the District Court Regional Justice Center to get a marriage license for this weekend.  For those who are really serious about a quickie wedding, I checked out the Tunnel of Love over at the Little White Wedding Chapel and their drive-thru wedding is $40. Can’t beat that deal if you’re on a tight budget!

For all of us married couples, Vegas is chaos on Valentines Day.  For the most part you’re talking long waits and crowds of people at all the restaurants. But if you’re trying to get a hotel room there are some fantastic deals. My husband and I are going to brave the crowd this year, for what I recall will be the first time, and head over to Outback Steakhouse (Reader Pick Best of Las Vegas last year!).  We are going to try and get out a little early to beat the crowd and just enjoy some much needed alone time.

With the economic uncertainty, this past year has been a long year for everyone.  I am thankful that the one thing I don’t have to feel uncertain about is my spouse, thankful to have had 12 years with him, and  I definitely feel lucky to be in love.

Happy Valentines Day!

At a town hall meeting President Obama recently held in Elkhart, Indiana to help gain support for his stimulus bill, he made a stated “You can’t get corporate jets, you can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime.” He was referring to the companies that have recent received government bailout money and then do something extravagant shortly afterwords.

The Las Vegas Sun reported that Mayor Oscar Goodman “was ‘hotter than fish grease’ when he heard President Barack Obama recently contend that corporations using federal bailout money should stop visiting Las Vegas.”  The Mayor held a press conference two days later and also wrote a letter to The President.  His concern is that the President’s statement will deter all companies from coming to Las Vegas. He originally wanted an apology, but then took that back and said he just wanted to straighten out the record.

At this point I am only aware of Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs Group and possibly State Farm, who have canceled trips to Vegas, but I am guessing they won’t be the only ones.  My only hope is that in the end this will create a little extra publicity for Las Vegas and I am thinking Mayor Goodman is feeling the same way.