Las Vegas moves forward, defying negativity

Brian Greenspun is taking some time off and is turning over his Where I Stand column to others. Today’s guest columnist is Tom Kaplan, a 24-year Las Vegas resident and senior managing partner of the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group whose civic activities include serving as director of the Council for a Better Nevada and on the UNLV Foundation Advisory Board.

As we move past the midway point of 2016, epic national and world events have made this year one of the most problematic in recent memory. Daily headlines are depressing and apocalyptic. Not so in Las Vegas. In a city that was crushed by a brutal recession, Las Vegas has resolutely rebounded. So in this milieu of bad news I’d like to offer, in the immortal words of Monty Python, “… something completely different”: good news. I realize this is antithetical to the news media’s guiding principles, but I firmly believe we need to be reminded that good trumps (pardon the pun) evil.

But first, let me tell where I get my inspiration and collect my thoughts. Every summer for the past two decades I have retreated to central Idaho to explore the majestic Sawtooth, White Cloud, Smoky and Pioneer mountain ranges. These wilderness areas are composed of towering lodgepole pines, quaking aspens and Douglas firs along with countless varieties of flamboyant wildflowers that carpet undulating meadows. Punctuating the landscape are meandering brooks and streams filled with pristine waters that cascade down from high alpine lakes. These are nature’s cathedrals — magnificent and sacred places that exude solitude, tranquility and untouched beauty.

It is here that I’m annually able to truly disconnect (there’s no cell service!), escape the world’s doomsday prophecies, reset and refocus. There is no negative noise in the woods, only the sweet symphony of birds, animals, rushing watercourses and flora when the wind catches their leaves. This year, while camping at 9,200 feet on Kane Lake, which is nestled in a spectacular mountain cirque composed of playfully named peaks like Salzburger Spitzl and the Devil’s Bedstead, I reflected on good stuff in Las Vegas in education, technology, sports, music and art.

Little known but tremendously impactful is the work of the Fulfillment Fund Las Vegas. Through unique classroom instruction and college counseling at Del Sol, Chaparral and Agassi Prep, it guides more than 1,300 students through high school and college. In its first four years of existence 96 percent of students have graduated, 93 percent go to college and 83 percent are first-generation students. Think of the possibilities when the Fulfillment Fund expands into other schools.

Moving into higher education, I don’t believe the Las Vegas community has entirely grasped the importance of the UNLV School of Medicine, the first such school in Las Vegas. This is big news. There are still hurdles to be cleared, but it seems certain that by next fall the first 60 students, all of whom will have scholarships, will matriculate, signaling the beginning of what will evolve into a vast and dynamic medical academic community. The benefits will be transformational.

A little-known but innovative behemoth in the technology industry, Switch, is discretely hidden in the Las Vegas landscape as well as other parts of the United States and the world. Switch and its SUPERNAP data centers are world-class. A forerunner in an industry that has exploded worldwide, the SUPERNAPs exceed their competition not only because they are the largest in the world but because they are the only Tier IV Gold colocation data centers. This is a big deal.

Another first for Las Vegas (or Nevada) was the confirmation of our first professional sports enterprise, a yet-to-be-named NHL expansion team. And the path is being cleared to build a mega-stadium with the Oakland Raiders taking residency. We’ve finally grown up and are in the big leagues of sports with real pro teams that we can call our own. For residents, tourists and our economy, the influence of these franchises will be enormous.

Austin, Texas, proclaims itself “The Live Music Capital of the World.” Not anymore. With T-Mobile Arena joining a bastion of venues such as the Smith Center, MGM Garden, The Colosseum, The Chelsea and Brooklyn Bowl, Las Vegas has assumed the title. It won’t be relinquishing the crown anytime soon, either, given the Sands and Park Hotel projects in the pipeline. What better place to see a concert?

The emerging art scene in Las Vegas got noticeably stronger with the addition of Marco Cochrane’s 40-foot sculpture titled “Bliss Dance” on MGM’s beautiful new Park and Ugo Rondinone’s “Seven Magic Mountains” sculpture down the road toward Jean. Cochrane’s piece joins a stellar collection by the MGM that includes Henry Moore and Maya Lin. Ugo’s earth art joins, albeit much smaller in scale and scope, Michael Heizer’s iconic “Double Negative” and “City.”

And finally, sometimes in our complicated world when mistakes are made, those who are at fault are made aware of their errors and reverse their decisions. Thirty-two thousand residents using rooftop solar systems prior to 2016 had their rates recently restored after the PUC had increased them. Thanks to a thoughtful discourse between the solar industry and a talented panel assembled by the governor, the PUC reversed its decision. Can we apply this cooperative approach in Congress?

So while Nero is fiddling, things aren’t quite so bad in Las Vegas, in my opinion.