neon rebirth: the post-recession american dream in las vegas

NEON REBIRTHThe post-recession American Dream in Las Vegas

March 27, 2016

A Las Vegas Review-Journal Special Report

Las Vegas Review-Journal a Sunday, March 27, 2016 • Page 3

TABLE OF CONTENTSSection I: Abandoning America’s Playground ▶ The Las Vegas economy is bouncing back, but remnants of the Great Recession linger. 4▶ Feel like you’re working more but making less after the recession? You’re not alone. 7

Section II: How Affordable Is Today’s Las Vegas? ▶ What did the recession teach us about credit and savings? For some, it seems, not much. 10▶ If you’re buying a home post-recession, experts say plan, save and be persistent. 11▶ Is our health care system ready for baby boomers? 14▶ For many millennials, living the lifestyle their parents had is not their dream. 16▶ Is Las Vegas a good place to raise a family? Depends on who you ask. 17▶ Not all parts of the valley are equal: Some have recovered much faster than others. 21

Section III: Thriving In Our New Economy ▶ Some found the recession to be the right time to change career paths. 24▶ In 2016, there’s more than one way to start a business. 26▶ Got a small business idea? Learn the do’s and don’ts from those who’ve been there. 28▶ The valley’s construction industry is showing signs of life. 31

Section IV: The ‘New’ Las Vegas ▶ It seems like a recent undertaking, but the Strip has been reinventing itself for decades. 32▶ So, just how kid-friendly is today’s Las Vegas? 34▶ For some of us, the recession had a lasting impact on our values. 35▶ Ready for the next crash? How we can start today to recession-proof Las Vegas. 36

Section V: How Do We Compare? ▶ Local financial and economic experts weigh in on the recovery so far. 38

Every generation has its defining moments — events that change everything. For The Greatest Generation, it was the Great Depression and World War II. For my generation, it was 9/11 and

the Great Recession.Living in a post-9/11 world, I’d like to think that we, as

a nation, are not as naive as we once were. After 9/11, our travel was no longer carefree, and after the Great Recession, (hopefully) neither are our spending habits.

There’s a famous quote attributed to Spanish-born philosopher, poet and novelist George Santayana: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Some experts say another economic slowdown is coming. The question is, what did we learn from the last one? And is it possible to recession-proof the Las Vegas Valley in time for the next downturn?

In this special report, the staff of View Neighborhood Newspapers takes a look at post-recession life in Las Vegas, a city that has already successfully reinvented itself numerous times — from the mob era to the Rat Pack era to the 1980s era of themed casinos. After 2007, we reinvented again, working to diversify the local economy to lessen future hits to our tourism and gaming industries.

So, where does all that leave the American Dream in Las Vegas? It’s alive and well, but it doesn’t look like the one your parents had.

— Lisa Valentine, View Editor

ABOUT THE SECTIONThis Las Vegas Review-Journal special report was brought to you by the staff of View Neighborhood Newspapers:▶ Editor: Lisa Valentine, View Editor.▶ Copy Editing: Anne King, View Assistant Editor.▶ View staff writers: Jan Hogan, Sandy Lopez, F. Andrew Taylor and Cassandra Keenan.▶ Contributing writers: Linda J. Simpson, Ginger Meurer, Valerie Putnam and Caitlyn Belcher.▶ Data Analysis/Graphics: Adelaide Chen, Las Vegas-Review Journal Database Editor.▶ Additional graphics: Pam Killinsworth, Las Vegas Review-Journal.▶ Photos: Chase Stevens, Daniel Clark, Ronda Churchill, David Becker, Jeff Scheid, Bill Hughes, Jason Ogulnik, Joshua Dahl and F. Andrew Taylor.▶ Cover and inside illustrations: F. Andrew Taylor.▶ Back cover photo collage illustration: Cassandra Keenan.▶ Page Design: Paul Doyle, Las Vegas Review-Journal; Lisa Valentine.

©2016, Las Vegas Review-Journal Inc.

• Sunday, March 27, 2016 a Las Vegas Review-Journal

SECTION I: ABANDONING AMERICA’S PLAYGROUND

RONDA CHURCHILL/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALConstruction on the Fontainebleau Las Vegas on the Strip began in 2007 and stopped two years later at the crash of the economy.

The skies above Las Vegas were sunnier than ever right before 2008. Business was booming,

and tourism rates were soaring. Times were good.

How good? In 2007, Clark County gaming revenues hit a record $10.9

billion. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported its highest average daily room rate: $132.09, with the highest month on record in April at $146.53. At the same time, local casinos were enjoying booming business after upping the ante against other states legalizing gaming, and Las Vegas led the charge with dazzling hotels, opulent nightclubs and

signature restaurants. As a result, Southern Nevada’s casino industry outpaced any other city’s.

At that time, the Brookings Institution and the London School of Economics and Political Science analyzed data from 1993-2007, ranking Las Vegas No. 14 among 150 metro areas, with the world’s

STRIP LEFT REELING

By JAN HOGANVIEW STAFF WRITERPicking up

the pieces after the

Great Recession ▶ See REELING, Page 5


18th fastest-growing economy.

WHERE ALL CAN HAVE AMERICAN DREAMWorkers in the casino-hotel and

gambling industry in Clark County earned an average of $37,086 in 2007, according to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. While those jobs comprised about 18.8 percent of the total in Clark County, the overall share of leisure and hospitality jobs was roughly 30 percent.

Yet there were more jobs tied to tourism.

“One of every six private sector jobs and two of every three construction jobs were attributable to the tourism industry,” said Jeremy Aguero, principal analyst with Applied Analysis. “A key point is that the tourism industry is not just one thing — it isn’t just the Strip. It’s all of the cab drivers, anyone who works at McCarran International Airport, folks who work in restaurants and convention facilities — some of them off the Strip and not owned by the casinos — all of that is tied together in this thing which is our tourism industry.”

The housing market also was surging, with the Las Vegas metro median home sales price $250,000 in March 2008. In Phoenix and Tucson metros, it was $205,000 and $192,250, according to CoreLogic.

Stephen M. Miller, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV, said even though homebuilding was moving at a fast pace, there were more buyers than product.

“The developers were putting in new homes, new development, and they were issuing lottery tickets, a chance to buy a house,” Miller said. “I mean, that’s got to tell you something.”

THE DOMINOES BEGIN TO FALLNationally, the Great Recession

had already started in December 2007, and by the time it ended in June 2009, the foreclosure rate in Las Vegas metro was at 7 percent and would continue until it peaked at 9.6 percent in December 2010.

In addition, the dollar value of market goods and services produced (known as GDP) fell in Las Vegas metro by $2.3 million from 2007 to 2008, followed by $7.6 million from 2008 to 2009, where it stayed relatively flat through 2012, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Growth slowed, and Las Vegas plummeted to 128th in the Brookings rankings for 2008. With people around the country feeling the pinch, discretionary income dried up, and the free-wheeling Vegas party trips with it.

Major construction projects were put on hold. The $4.8 billion Boyd Gaming project Echelon, announced in early 2006, sat staring vacantly at the Strip where the Sands once stood.

Turnberry Associates’ 4,000-room mega-resort Fontainebleau Las Vegas was begun in 2007, just before things went sour. It was 70 percent complete when construction was halted on the $2.9 billion project. In 2010, Carl

Icahn bought the property for $150 million. In typical Icahn style, he then sold off the furniture and other assets.

The $3.9 billion Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas went bankrupt in 2008 after developer Bruce Eichner defaulted on a $768 million loan. Deutsche Bank took it over, selling it to Blackstone Group for $1.73 billion in 2014.

Even the west valley’s Shops at Summerlin Centre project — since completed and rebranded Downtown Summerlin — was put on hold, its steel beams sitting in the middle of the upscale community near Red Rock Resort and the 215 Beltway.

HOW CLOSE DID WE COME TO BOTTOM?“I think we came really close,”

Aguero said. “I remember (MGM

CEO) Jim Murren telling the story at a 2011 (event) that the MGM was minutes away from closing down the CityCenter project, which was the biggest project Las Vegas had ever seen. I don’t think people realized how hard — and not just the tourism industry — but how hard the economy was damaged. It wasn’t just a single sector. That was huge, but the fact that the United States government had to come forward with something like $787 billion of stimulus, it wasn’t just the tourism industry that almost came apart; I think it was the United States economy.”

It wasn’t just big companies that threw in the towel — the Las Vegas middle class was also struggling. Chapter 7 filing (known as straight bankruptcy or liquidation) wipes out most of the filer’s debts and usually requires one to surrender some of his property. U.S. Bankruptcy Court statistics show an average of 13,068 Chapter 7 filings — both individuals and businesses — in Clark County in 2008. By 2010, they had increased to about 25,000. In 2015, they recovered, with the first three quarters of 2015 averaging 4,566.

JOBS: A REALITY CHECKThe unemployment rate for Las

Vegas metro was 6.2 percent in December 2015, the lowest since the beginning of 2007. But it was still short of the 4.1 percent in March 2007, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s the difference between 64,000 or 40,000 locals looking for work.

It was like a fever broke when the local unemployment rate peaked at 14.1 percent in September 2010. Yet, when the recovery began, Brookings noted that cities with more diversified industries were regaining their balance faster. But our ranking sank further, to 146th, better than only Dublin (150th), Dubai (149th), Barcelona (148th), and Thessaloniki, Greece (147th). Las Vegas lagged behind, the report noted, with income levels that declined 1.2 percent, even though they had increased nationally.


▶ See REELING, Page 6

▶ REELING, Continued from

20052004 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 20150

50

100

150

200

EMPLOYMENTLas Vegas metro, selected industries, 2004-15

In thousands

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

GRAPHIC 1

Hotels and gambling

Construction

SOURCE: Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation

Clark County, 2004-14

$20

$40

Construction$60

$80

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

‘04 ‘05 ‘06 ‘07 ‘08 ‘09 ‘10 ‘11 ‘12 ‘13 ‘14

GRAPHIC 3

In thousands

AVERAGE ANNUAL WAGES

0‘15*

Hotels and gambling

All industries

*Annualized average of the first, second and third quarters of 2015. Fourth quarter was not available at the time of printing, but tends to have the highest quarter due to annual bonuses, etc.

23.6%

GRAPHIC 4

*Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached and discouraged workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, referred to as U-6.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics

UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE Nevada and U.S.

5

10

15

20

25%


‘06 ’07 ‘08 ’09 ‘10 ’11 ‘12 ’13 ‘14 ’15

U.S.

Nevada

16.7%


Where other metros — including Washington, D.C.; Austin, Texas; Minneapolis; and San Francisco — enjoyed highly educated residents working in industries that are generally seen as recession-proof, Brookings noted that Las Vegas had no such immunity. One can become a casino worker straight out of high school, and less than 15 percent of residents in Las Vegas metro have a bachelor’s degree, with another 33 percent having some college under their belt or an associate degree, according to the 2014 American Community Survey.

Within a decade, 29 percent of Clark County jobs are projected to require a four-year degree as a minimum qualification, according to RCG Economics.

WHERE WE’RE HEADEDWith the clouds clearing and

visitor numbers higher than ever before at 42 million, Las Vegas regularly reinvents itself better than any other destination around the globe. So, what does 2016 have in store?

Recession-stalled construction plans have resumed at many Strip properties. The 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena and the 5,000-seat Monte Carlo theater are in the final stages, and both will generate jobs. In addition, UNLV’s expansion of 42 acres is expected to result in a new stadium.

Tesla Motors may be building near Reno, but in North Las Vegas, Faraday Future’s 900-acre automotive production plant for electric cars will bring 4,500 jobs to this area. In 2009, Amazon built a 286,000-square-foot facility to serve as its Southwestern U.S. distribution center. It came with 350 new jobs. And Zappos continues to dominate in downtown Las Vegas.

“It’s clear, in terms of our immediate and medium-term run, we’re very dependent on leisure and hospitality,” Miller said. “Now, the governor has … taken the Governor’s Office of Economic Development under his wing, and Steve Hill (director) and his group are trying to diversify the

economy. Faraday Future — to the extent that that pans out — that’s going to be a big change in the structure of our economy. It’ll boost our manufacturing and maybe double the percentage. That’ll have spillover effects. We also see the expansion of Switch, another diversification move, and Tony Hsieh has tried to redevelop downtown, so there are lots of things going on that may, in the longer run, lead to a more diversified employment base in Las Vegas.”

There are also exciting additions coming to the Las Vegas landscape.

IKEA is hiring 300 workers for its new 351,000-square-foot store under construction off the 215 Beltway in the southwest valley.

A number of drone startup companies have set up shop in Nevada, including ArrowData. The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International estimated that drones would be a $82.1 billion industry by 2025. Local experts say the industry could have an $8 billion economic impact on Nevada.

Gov. Brian Sandoval directed state agencies in December to

begin working toward Clean Power Plan compliance, paving the way for more wind and solar energy projects. The state has already garnered more than $6 billion in renewable energy investment, but there is the potential to bring in more than $5 billion in wages with an estimated 92,000 construction jobs in the high-growth industry, according to analysis from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and data from the U.S. Department of Energy.

“We’ve made huge strides toward diversifying our economy,” Aguero said. “ … I think we are utterly aware of the importance of tourism today, and we have to double down … on our economic development effort, and we have learned a very important lesson. Modern thought of economic development is not that you abandon the industry that got you where you are. As a matter of fact, we want to have the strongest and most robust tourism industry anywhere in the United States. But, at the same time, we need to find multiple things to specialize in. If those grow a little slower than the tourism industry, simply because our tourism is growing so

quickly, I think that’s something we’re going to have to accept. I’m never going to suggest that our tourism industry growing is a bad thing. What I will concede is that we are overly dependent on that single industry.”

Miller agreed, adding, “We are heavily dependent on leisure and hospitality and tourism, and in 2008 or 2009 in Las Vegas, about 30 percent of our employment was in tourism and hospitality. Since then, it’s come up a little bit — we’re about 31 to 32 percent employment, that’s total employment in the valley.”

Alan Berube, senior fellow and deputy director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and former policy adviser to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, once told reporters, “What got Las Vegas to where it was in 2006 is not what will get it to a better place by 2020.”

“Looking at 2016, I’m looking for a year of stability,” Aguero said. “I don’t think job growth is going to be as high. I don’t think visitor volume is going to be as high. I don’t think housing prices are going to escalate. As a matter of fact, we’re looking for much softer growth coming into 2016, even with a lot of development activity currently going on, on the Las Vegas Strip. It just appears some of the key indicators peaked in the fourth quarter of last year, and we need to keep a really close eye on whether that will trend down into a decline or if it’s a softening trend overall.”To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email [email protected] or call 702-387-2949.


▶ REELING, Continued from Finding our own way: When the gamble pays offIt’s difficult to pay the bills when one has no job, as Danyelle Cooper knows all too

well.The Las Vegas native, 30, is a single mother of two. She lost her job working the

front desk at a bartending school in 2010. At the same time, she was getting divorced. She and her two sons moved in with her parents, where they all shared a room.

Cooper went on state assistance for about a year, and medical assistance also came from the state. She’d always been the main breadwinner of the family even when she was married, so she began looking for work. But putting in as many as 20 employment applications a day still resulted in no job offers, she said. In fact, she didn’t hear anything back.

“I applied for pretty much everything except fast-food jobs,” Cooper said. “A lot of places make you apply online. But online, they don’t get to meet you. They don’t get to see your personality.”

Determined to make her own way, she started a one-woman business, DMC Entertainment Management. She supplies bartenders for special events, wedding receptions and parties, doing three to six events a month, depending on the season. Sometimes she is the sole bartender, and other times, the event is so big — such as her NASCAR account — that she ends up bringing on as many as 60 freelance workers.

DMC has found its niche, with Cooper making enough income to move out of her parents’ house after three years. Her boys no longer have to share a room, which is important, she said, because they’re now teenagers.

“Of course, they come home from school and say, ‘Everybody has an iPad,’ and I can’t (afford to buy them that),” Cooper said. “But it is what it is.”

What will she do in a few years when it’s time for her oldest son to go to college?“College and cars — you just deal with things as they come up,” Cooper said. “The

college fund is not there. … There are loans and stuff (for that). We’ll figure it out.”By JAN HOGAN/VIEW STAFF WRITER

CLARK COUNTY BUILDING PERMITS

2004-15Number of residential units

SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau’s Censtats

‘04

’05

‘06

’07

‘08

’09

‘10

’11

‘12

’13

‘14

’15

36,395

39,237

33,728

24,089

12,537

5,688

5,474

5,147

7,375

8,573

10,036

10,581

GRAPHIC 2




DAVID BECKER/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALCheryl Banks displays a gown to customer Sammy Gonzales in her clothing boutique, CR Fashionz, at the Tropicana Discount Mall. Banks started her business during the recession.

BYE-BYE BOOM YEARSWorking more, making less in Las Vegas

The economic downturn affected nearly every job category in Las Vegas metro. Companies

downsized, and even workers who still had a job saw their pay or hours cut.

“A lot of people were working part-time jobs way below where their education level (would indicate), so not only were people unemployed, but those who were employed saw their earning capacity dramatically reduced,” said Jeremy Aguero, principal analyst with Applied Analysis. “This didn’t just hit a few people, or even just a significant section of the economy; this hit the majority of people who live here. They were impacted negatively in some way or another.”

The Great Recession resulted in an unemployment surge across America. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the last quarter of 2009, the unemployment rate reached a high of 9.9 percent. The average unemployment duration was 30 weeks and would rise to 40 in the second quarter of 2010.

SPIRALING TOWARD UNEMPLOYMENTData from the Current Population

Survey (sponsored by the U.S. Census Bureau and the BLS), show a dramatic increase in long-term unemployment (six months or longer) between 2006-07 and 2012-13, with it more than doubling for almost all age groups. However, those 65 or older — especially women — were hit the hardest.

As a rule, employers try to hang on to employees as long as possible, said Stephen M. Miller, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV.

“When we went through the Great Recession, for employers, it’s

costly to hire new workers because you have to train them,” he said. “If there’s a recession, if you lay them off today, and the recession recovers a year or two from now, you go to hire them back, and it’s not going to be the same people. I recall what Steve Wynn did … he reduced the number of work hours so he could keep them on payroll, so when (things got better), he could increase their hours, and he didn’t have to train them. But as I recall, as the recession went on and on and on, he let people go.”

Among the county’s largest employers, the Strip resorts — Wynn, Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, Mirage, Luxor and The Venetian — had smaller payrolls in fiscal year 2013 compared to the second quarter of 2006. Altogether, gaming and the casino-hotel industry averaged 176,389 employees on the payroll in 2006. Those jobs were still not fully recovered in 2014, at 162,688.

NEW IN TOWN, LOOKING FOR WORKPeople of all ages are affected by

the tight job market. Even those new to Las Vegas who are looking for work are finding the vestiges of how hard the downturn hit the valley when it comes to available positions.

Summerlin resident Michael, 20, who asked not to use his last name, came to Las Vegas last July from Houston after a year of college. He went online to find a job before the

By JAN HOGANVIEW STAFF WRITER

▶ See BOOM, Page 8

Among the county’s largest employers, the Strip resorts — Wynn, Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, Mirage, Luxor and The Venetian — had smaller payrolls in fiscal year 2013 compared to the second quarter of 2006.



move but couldn’t secure anything full time.

“It was difficult to find full-time employment, and one part-time job wasn’t enough to cover all the expenses I had per month,” he said. “A week before I moved, I looked online and applied wherever I thought I would fit well.”

He did find a part-time job in home health care for 30 to 35 hours a week. He later picked up a second part-time job in retail. He said it wasn’t as difficult to find part-time work.

So now he has two employers. What’s it like, working two jobs?

“It’s sometimes difficult,” he said. “My schedule is not always the same. … I work 50 hours total each week; it’s hard because I can’t schedule things for the next week because I don’t have my (work hours determined) yet.”

He is living with his aunt and uncle, and while they don’t charge rent, he is responsible for food and expenses. His vehicle and auto insurance payments cost him nearly $700 a month.

“I can’t save a lot,” he said. “I would like to.”

He said that without family to live with, “It would be very difficult. I’d have to find a different job. I’m just getting by with this (income) and can only imagine what it would be like to pay, like, $600 for an apartment.”

Having two part-time jobs, he has no 401K retirement savings or health insurance. He said the latter weighs on him. He eventually wants to go to school to become a physical therapist’s assistant, but tuition

is high, and he’d need financial assistance.

He said Las Vegas was not a good place for someone like him. In Texas, he worked at a car dealership.

“In Houston, I had a better job. It paid me more and it was full time,” he said. “I was able to save my money, over half of my money from each paycheck. And gas was cheaper there, like, $1.70, $1.80.

“I just hope it gets better, so there’s more opportunity with wages and the cost of living doesn’t get much higher.”

‘RECESSION IS A STATE OF MIND’Cheryl Banks bucked

conventional wisdom to start a new business in the midst of the

recession and is glad she did. Her business, CR Fashionz, sells men’s and women’s clothing at the Tropicana Discount Mall, 2300 E. Tropicana Ave.

She and her husband, Robert, a silent partner in the business, started the store about four years ago, nixing a brick-and-mortar operation and opting to start small with a booth at the discount mall.

“Recession is a state of mind,” she said. “If you’re watching too much TV, and people are telling you there’s a recession, then that’s what you believe. There’s nothing wrong with a little hard work.”

But hard work couldn’t bring customers. At first, she saw about three a day. She said part of the problem was the booth’s location.

Just as she was building her clientele, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She took three months off. Last spring, she returned and moved to a front booth. Her business saw an immediate uptick.

“This area (of town), the recession hit it pretty bad, but we find that, with our prices, we find a way,” she said. “Being (next to) Savers, it’s a built-in customer base.”

Her goal is to eventually have a presence on the Strip, but that’s in the future, as the business grows.

“I don’t like to put my hat so high that I can’t reach it,” she said.

Aguero applauded her decision to start a business.

“Anyone who has the entrepreneurial spirit and the opportunity to do it, should,” he said. “I’m never going to tell you that starting a business is a bad thing in today’s market or any market. … Would I recommend someone take their life savings that they need for retirement and start a business? You never want someone to put themselves in that kind of risk. They won’t have time to recover (if things go bad). Now, an 18-year-old is taking their life savings and using it to bootstrap a business — that doesn’t bother me at all. She’s got time.”

RETRAINING AND MOVING ONOne of the ways residents are

getting back into the job market is with retraining. Goodwill of Southern Nevada started its Career Connections center, 1280 W. Cheyenne Ave., in 2005. It focuses on high-growth industry sectors

▶ BOOM, Continued from

JEFF SCHEID/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL ON TWITTER: @JLSCHEIDPavy Mueller prescreens a job applicant during the SpeedVegas job fair at Gaudin Porsche of Las Vegas. The new $30 million, 100-acre motorsports complex conducted a job fair to fill 75 positions.

▶ See BOOM, Page 9

010,00020,00030,00040,00050,00060,00070,000

$80,000


‘07 ‘08 ‘09 ‘10 ‘11 ‘12 ‘13 ‘14 ‘07 ‘08 ‘09 ‘10 ‘11 ‘12 ‘13 ‘14 ‘07 ‘08 ‘09 ‘10 ‘11 ‘12 ‘13 ‘14 ‘07 ‘08 ‘09 ‘10 ‘11 ‘12 ‘13 ‘14 ‘07 ‘08 ‘09 ‘10 ‘11 ‘12 ‘13 ‘14

MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME

SOURCE: American Community Survey 1-year estimates

U.S. CLARK COUNTY HENDERSON LAS VEGAS NORTH LAS VEGAS

$50,740 $53,657 $55,996 $51,214

$67,617 $62,592

$54,357 $50,291 $58,795 $51,992

GRAPHIC 6



such as tourism, gaming and entertainment, health and medical services, business IT ecosystems, and logistics and operations. The program opened training rooms at Goodwill stores at 741 S. Rainbow Blvd. in fall 2013 and at The Boulevard Mall, 3528 S. Maryland Parkway, last fall. Workshops cover everything from resume essentials and email etiquette to mock job interviews.

The center at 3345 E. Tropicana Ave. opened in 2009. Kathy Topp, Goodwill spokeswoman, recalled pictures in the paper of people waiting to be served.

“We did an opening job fair, and there was a line out the door that went (on and on); the pictures were crazy-sad,” she said. “I think it was a shock to everyone, especially our board members. I mean, it’s one thing for us to talk about it, but it’s another thing for them to come face to face with it, and go, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is the reality of what we’re living with in Las Vegas.’ Unemployment was, like, 15 percent.”

In 2008, Goodwill served roughly 3,500 people with job training, at no cost to the attendees thanks to private and federal funds. It placed 811. In 2014, it helped more than 12,800 and placed 2,361.

In 2015, it saw 8,172 job seekers and placed 2,383, most in the medical, hospitality and IT fields.

Last November, Goodwill launched a full-service job board that offers employers a lower-cost option for job postings while providing job seekers free access to open positions. It also includes the ability to create a searchable resume, as well as access to local hiring events, workshops and resource centers.

“As a nonprofit dedicated to helping people work, our goal is to connect employers with qualified job candidates,” said Steve Chartrand, president and CEO of Goodwill. “The high cost of posting open positions online with big job boards can be a major barrier for employers looking to hire. Goodwill.jobs has all the features of mainstream online job boards and

more, for a fraction of the price.”

STARTING TO BOUNCE BACKThe economic conditions that

forced many to rethink their finances are still reverberating through the valley. Take, for example, the January announcement that Walmart is closing 154 of its U.S. stores, including the Supercenter on Nellis Boulevard. It’s the only Las Vegas Valley store closing, but it had a sobering impact, putting 350 out of work.

But, still, there are signs of a recovery.

IKEA has begun hiring for its new store, set to open this summer. In February, Home Depot announced plans to hire more than 80,000 people nationwide with 600 in Las Vegas. Those opportunities include permanent, part-time and seasonal positions. Topgolf International expects its flagship Las Vegas location to open in May at the MGM Grand, with the 105,000-square-foot golf/entertainment venue set to hire more than 850.To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email [email protected] or call 702-387-2949.

▶ BOOM, Continued from

GRAPHIC 5

16-19

20-29

30-39

40-49

50-64

65+

All ages

16-19

20-29

30-39

40-49

50-64

65+

All ages

0 10 20 30 40 50

0 10 20 30 40 50

Male

Female

2006-07

2012-13


SOURCE: Current Population Survey data analyzed by the St. Louis Federal Reserve

SHARE OF LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYMENT BY AGE AND GENDER, U.S.27 weeks or longer

Small business owner took a chance on cross-country move to Vegas

When Ralph Pota decided to come to the valley from the New York City area, he

wasn’t aware that Las Vegas was one of the hardest-hit cities in the recession. He just knew housing prices were down and he was tired of cold winters.

He opened Bambino’s East Coast Pizzeria, 2555 S. Durango Drive, in October 2014 with five employees, putting in long hours every day, often working until midnight dai-ly for months on end. Exhausted, Pota finally ratcheted the business back to six days a week during the summer. With the return of cooler weather, the eatery is back to be-ing a seven-day operation.

How does he see the local econ-omy?

“There’s been some serious growth,” he said. “Now, when I drive up and down the 215, I see construction everywhere. That tells me things are moving in the right direction. We see it in our business. Things are picking up, and I just ordered another oven to handle it.”

Almost two years after opening, the business has nine employees and is looking to expand its reach.

“If I could get the right help — someone who could do things the way I need them done — I could open (another location),” Pota said. “The demand is here.”

— Jan Hogan, View staff writer

ERIK VERDUZCO/FILE PHOTORalph Pota, co-owner of Bambino’s East Coast Pizzeria, makes a pizza during lunch service on April 1, 2015.

A RECESSION SUCCESS STORY


SECTION II: HOW AFFORDABLE IS TODAY’S LAS VEGAS?

SOURCE: VantageScores, an alternative to FICO scores, was created by three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion).

LAS VEGAS CREDIT SCORESThe metro area has lagged behind the nation when it comes to credit ratings.

0100200300400500600700800

2007 2010 2013 2014 2015

Las Vegas metro

U.S.

GRAPHIC 7


ILLUSTRATION BY F. ANDREW TAYLOR/VIEW

How the recession affected the way we spend

PAYING WITH PLASTIC

By JAN HOGANVIEW STAFF WRITER

Need groceries or a new coat? Just swipe your credit card. It’s easy to spend when one doesn’t

have to count out the money. According to CardHub.com, a

credit card comparison website, Americans were on track to sur-pass $900 billion in credit card debt by 2015’s end.

Jill Gonzalez, an analyst and spokeswoman for personal finance website WalletHub.com, spoke of the trends in credit card use.

“Credit card issuers are really motivating people to use it for those mundane things like groceries, gas and even things like Starbucks pur-chases because the award system they offer is pretty lucrative,” she said. “You can get up to 6 percent cash back, depending on your card, whatever you end up putting the bulk of your money on. It used to be (cards were used only for) luxu-ry travel, hotels and plane fare, but that’s really not the case anymore. Post-recession users caught on to the really great rewards points and the reward systems and used them for the more mundane things. So, people now are using them for their everyday spending.”

DEBT SLOWLY CREEPING UP TO PRE-RECESSION LEVELS

Gonzalez said credit card debt is headed toward recession levels — again.

“Back in the throes of 2008, the average household debt was about $8,400,” she said. “This is just cred-it cards, not mortgage or anything like that. We saw that significantly

lower right when the recession was, so-called, ending. Now, we’re seeing it creep up closer and clos-er to that $8,400 mark, which was deemed unsustainable almost 10 years ago. … This isn’t just luxury spending; this is everyday purchas-es they’re putting on their plastic.”

Just as concerning is American consumers’ lack of touch with real-ity when it comes to how much they actually owe. The total amount of credit card debt that U.S. consum-ers purport is 37 percent lower than the figures their lenders re-port, according to the Federal Re-serve Bank of New York.

Las Vegas’ numbers — which only take into account card holders within city limits — show the aver-age credit card debt is $5,714, ac-cording to CardHub.

“So, that is a little bit below av-erage,” Gonzalez said. “(That indi-cates) they have the means to be putting more on their credit cards because they are paying it off,

more so than towns near the bot-tom of this list.”

At the other end of the spectrum is College Station, Texas. Average credit card debt there is $5,601, but based on income and other factors, it would cost Texans five times as much — $25,221 — and take 387 months (about 32 years) to pay it off completely.

“Looking at this, as a whole, people are getting into massive amounts of credit card debt,” Gon-zalez said. “We added $70 billion to our credit card debt last year as a country. That has increased every quarter, year over year, just in credit card spending alone since the recession. So, that shows us that consumers have not learned their lesson. They’re spending money that they don’t have. They’re inch-ing closer and closer to these un-sustainable levels.”

LEARNING FINANCIAL LITERACY EARLY The trend is causing schools to

intervene, teaching students how to budget.

In Las Vegas, the Junior Achieve-

ment Finance Park, assisted by Capital One, sees as many as 4,000 middle and junior high school stu-dents. The 12-week program goes into schools and teaches students how to budget and spend wisely. It concludes with a day at the park where they “spend” their income, based on their life scenario, on the necessities of life.

Michelle Jackson, president of Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada, said the program was also about making school a priority.

“With their life scenarios, they see very quickly that the kids who stayed in school longer stand to make more money,” she said.

ENOUGH FOR RETIREMENT? In 2015, an estimated 73 percent

of American households and 71 percent of Clark County house-holds had retirement investments other than 401Ks in stocks, bonds, mutual funds or deposits, accord-ing to IXI Services, a division of Equifax. In a financially tight year,

▶ See SPENDING, Page 11


▶ SPENDING, Continued from

such as 2009, it was 68 and 63 percent. Those households are, at least, saving for the future.

Paying off debt can mean that one’s ability to save for retirement is com-promised. A 2014 survey by Bankrate.com, a website based in New York City that specializes in financial rates and information, showed more than one-third of Americans don’t have a penny saved for retirement. More than a quarter of them are ages 50 to 64.

Wells Fargo did a national survey about retirement savings in 2014 with 25- to 75-year-olds with a medi-an household income of $63,000. It found 34 percent of Americans did not contribute to a 401K, an IRA or other retirement savings vehicle. The number of respondents with no retirement savings was a cringe-worthy 19 percent.

Of non-retirees without access to a 401K plan, 58 percent said it was “not possible” to pay bills and “still” save for retirement, the Wells Far-go report said. That compares to 32 percent of those who have access to a plan, but say they can’t save and pay bills at the same time.

It’s also important to point out that many Americans grossly underes-timate how much they will need to retire. A 2015 survey from Fidelity estimated an average of $245,000 for one couple in health care expenses alone. So, even if you think you’re well-prepared for retirement, you may want to rethink that assess-ment.

“Another scary thought: A lot of

people have been saving up since the recession for a major purchase — a new home, a new car,” Gonzalez said. “The average car on the road these days is almost 12 years old. People are ready to buy. They have stable jobs now. So, we’ve been waiting to make these major purchases. Now, that’s not going to go on a credit card. You take out a mortgage for your house. You take out a loan for your car. But when you do buy a house, what comes with it? Buying the furniture and decor. Those things, a lot of the time, do end up on your credit card.”To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email [email protected] or call 702-387-2949.

THINKSTOCK

HOW MUCH DO WE OWE? Average credit Cost to Payoff card debt pay off months

North Las Vegas $5,077 $1,279 39

Las Vegas $5,714 $1,752 47

Henderson $6,228 $1,569 39 Source: CardHub analysis of TransUnion credit data


Buying a home today takes planning, persistence

BETTER START SAVING

DANIEL CLARK/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALA sign is seen inside the Evergreen subdivision of the Skye Canyon master-planned community just off U.S. Highway 95 at Skye Canyon Drive in northwest Las Vegas Dec. 14, 2015.

By SANDY LOPEZVIEW STAFF WRITER

The year was 2007. Many people were buy-

ing houses they could oth-erwise not afford, gambling

on the chance that prices would con-tinue to rise, allowing them to even-tually refinance or sell at a profit.

In between the creative financing, looser credit standards and easy loans was a chance for them to attain stability and security — until home-buyers realized they had played the wrong cards.

“Everyone wants to realize the American Dream,” said Jodi Mob-

ley, director of housing programs at Nevada Partners. “When you have someone telling you, ‘I can make that a reality for you,’ well, that’s exciting. And that’s what they (the lenders) were counting on — that excitement. When first-time home-buyers go into this very intimidat-ing and daunting transaction, they expose themselves to the predators in the mortgage industry.”

Almost 10 years later, Las Vegas is still barely escaping the grip of the subprime mortgage crisis. In its wake, it left a trail of foreclosures, underwater mortgages and broken

▶ See HOME, Page 12

ASSETS PER HOUSEHOLD IN CLARK COUNTY Average assests per Household Stocks Bonds Mutual Funds Deposits Other2008 $167,065.11 31.1% 9.7% 32.0% 21.6% 5.6%2009 $130,078.55 24.9% 11.2% 31.5% 26.7% 5.8%2011 $163,567.66 28.1% 9.2% 32.0% 24.2% 6.6%2015 $208,611.35 31.7% 6.4% 32.1% 23.0% 6.8%

ASSETS PER HOUSEHOLD IN THE UNITED STATES Average assests per Household Stocks Bonds Mutual Funds Deposits Other2008 $191,297.92 28.5% 8.0% 32.9% 24.6% 6.0%2009 $165,996.04 22.7% 9.3% 31.2% 30.2% 6.6%2011 $204,254.44 25.9% 7.7% 33.3% 25.9% 7.4%2015 $267,900.24 28.2% 5.2% 34.0% 25.2% 7.4%Source: IXI Services, a division of Equifax



▶ HOME, Continued from

dreams. From the time the Great Recession began, many would-be buyers had left their ambitions of owning their own home to rot, but now people are slowly bringing those dreams back into focus.

THE DEATH OF A DREAM The pre-2007 housing market was

a predatory environment driven by greed and risks. In the time leading up to 2008, people could qualify for a home loan with a credit score of less than 600, Mobley said, adding that, at the time, nontraditional mortgag-es were popular, with adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) accounting for roughly 60 percent of loans (they now account for 5 percent).

The ARMs were particularly at-tractive because they had a lower interest rate to start than a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage. Many home-buyers were opting for 2/28 ARMs and interest-only mortgages that offered low introductory rates and minimal initial costs, such as no down payment.

“You could make the mortgage payment, or you could pay just the interest, or you could pick your pay-ment, which would result in what they called ‘negative amortization,’ or owing more than what you bor-rowed,” Mobley said. “Primarily, it was an environment where anybody can get a loan even if you didn’t quality.”

After the housing market bubble burst and prices dropped rapidly, mortgages reset. Numerous home-owners were unable to refinance to

lower rates, as there was no equity being created as prices fell. Instead, they were forced to reset their mort-gage at higher rates, which many could not afford, and they had to de-fault on their loans.

“What it came down to was that they just made it too easy to buy a home — that’s why we got into so much trouble,” Mobley said.

“I think that, back then, there was no education; the environment was just so different,” said Rene Coreas, a participant in Nevada Partners’ homebuyer education program. “Back in 2005, I bought a house that was overpriced. It was a huge mis-take. I invested all of my money in it, and I lost the house in 2007.”

As of December 2015, Nevada ranked fourth in foreclosures, ac-cording to RealtyTrac, with a fore-closure rate of one in every 781

homes. Although the housing industry has

started to revitalize, the rate of un-derwater mortgages is still an issue. According to online real estate da-tabase company Zillow.com, one in four Las Vegas metro homeowners with a mortgage — more than 83,000 — are in negative equity, or under-water, meaning they owe more than the home is worth, and Las Vegas remains one of the highest metros nationally at 22.1 percent.

In order to unload an underwater home, the owner needs to bring mon-ey to the closing table to satisfy the difference between the outstanding loan and the sale amount, or work out a short sale — an often lengthy and complicated process.

Despite such obstacles, the road

FORECLOSURE RATES, 2008-15

0

2

4

6

8

10%

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALSOURCE: CoreLogic

Las Vegas

Phoenix

Tucson2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

GRAPHIC 10▶ See HOME, Page 13

DANIEL CLARK/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALModel homes are seen inside the Evergreen subdivision of the Skye Canyon master-planned community in northwest Las Vegas Dec. 14, 2015.

New homes, new hope: Skye Canyon takes flight

In no other area is economic revival more prevalent than in the far northwest valley. Located at the last exit along U.S. Highway 95 before Kyle Canyon Road, Skye Canyon is one of the first master-planned communities to begin construction in Southern Nevada since the recession.

Marketed as a mecca for outdoor recreation, planned amenities include an extensive trail system, a bike repair shop, an amphitheater, a greenhouse and community parks. Its 8,142-square-foot community center, Skye Center, is planned to have a coffee shop and juice bar, while Skye Fitness will feature pools and splash parks.

“Skye Center will be the hub of the master plan, and Pulte’s neighborhoods will be within walking distance to a fitness center, pool, biking areas and more,” said Andy Lee, director of sales at PulteGroup. “Pulte’s Evergreen neighborhood is adjacent to Skye Center and other amenities offering our homebuyers exceptional access. There is also a smaller park nestled between neighborhoods and great access to Mount Charleston and Red Rock preserve. It’s an outdoor enthusiast’s paradise.”

According to the Outdoor Industry Association, 57 percent of Nevada residents participate in outdoor activities. After closely studying the active lifestyles of Southern Nevada residents, Chris Armstrong, vice president at Olympia Cos., said he is confident Skye Canyon will appeal to most people.

“We want to create an area where people can connect and create relationships,” he said. “What’s missing in Las Vegas is a sense of community. Here people will be able to get together and know their neighbors.”By Sandy Lopez/View staff writer




to housing market recovery looks steady.

“The economic outlook is looking pretty strong,” said Edward Coul-son, director of the Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies at UNLV. “There’s lots of good movement. Un-employment is down, and incomes and wages are up. There’s a lot of strength right now in the economy, and it’ll be interesting to watch it un-fold in the next couple of years.”

LOOKING AHEAD Fast-forward to 2016, and real

estate agents are optimistic. The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR) reported the me-dian price of existing single-family homes sold during December 2015 in Southern Nevada was $217,000, up 6.4 percent from one year ago. The price dipped slightly from No-vember to December after hold-ing steady at $220,000 from August through November.

“Now is the time to buy,” said Scott Beaudry, GLVAR president. “Although forecasts are hard to predict, I think we expect a similar housing market (in 2016). We still have plenty of market overhang. We have some vacancy issues, but it’s not nearly as bad as it was three to four years ago. On the other hand, not a whole lot of new construction is coming in the market, either.”

Beaudry said that, as of January, there is about a three-month housing inventory — which is low, consider-ing a six-month supply is perceived as a balanced market.

While it does present a challenge for new homebuyers looking for va-

riety, home sales continue to see a steady increase. For 2015, GLVAR reported a combined total of 38,578 single-family home, condominium, townhome and high-rise condo sales, up from 35,806 in 2014. The to-tal number of existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold in De-cember was 3,290, up from 2,734 in December 2014.

Sean Hulsey, area sales manager at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, said there are numerous up-and-coming communities in the valley, with Hen-derson and the Summerlin area the most popular.

“Those are considered the hot spots because they are communi-ties where you can live, play, eat and work,” he said. “They are very com-munity-centered, and you don’t have to drive more than five minutes to do any of those things.”

In recent years, GLVAR has been reporting fewer distressed sales and more traditional home sales, where lenders are not controlling the transaction. That continued in De-cember, when 6.8 percent of all local sales were short sales, down from

10 percent of all sales one year ago. Another 6.9 percent of all December sales were bank-owned, down from 8 percent one year ago.

There has been a 6.4 percent increase in home sales for four straight months as of January, with a medium market price of $217,000.

“In essence, the housing market is stable and back,” Beaudry said. “We’re looking forward to the fu-ture.”

BUYING A HOME TODAY After the subprime mortgage cri-

sis, some people are understandably hesitant to purchase a home.

Since the housing calamity, the federal government created the Consumer Financial Protection Bu-reau, an independent agency that helps consumers make informed de-cisions and enforce rules.

“Knowledge is power,” Mobley said. “The more you know, the more powerful you are. I tell all homebuy-ers that they are in charge of putting together a team, and they are the leader of this team, which consists of a lender, Realtor, title company of-

ficer, appraiser and inspector. They are there to answer your questions. If at any point you feel uncomfort-able during the transaction, make sure that they address that feeling.”

Potential homebuyers are now en-couraged — and even required with certain programs — to attend new homebuyer education classes. The housing crisis also taught people that buying a home takes more than a dream and a few signatures.

“I’m preparing more now and getting information about buying a home,” said Adriana Torres, who took part in a recent Nevada Part-ners homebuyer class. “When I first applied for a home in 2004, they ap-proved us for a house that was hon-estly way over our heads. We came in with our eyes closed and said yes because we wanted to have confi-dence in them. They made us lose our house. Now, I’m trying to learn all that I can about this process.”

There are a few tips homeowners are advised to keep in mind. Hulsey said the biggest challenge in retain-ing a loan today is demonstrating the ability to repay by showing proof of all income.

“If you can’t prove your ability to repay, you can’t qualify for a loan,” he said.

Home loans are either insured by the Federal Housing Administra-tion, or as is the case with conven-tional loans, by a private lender. Mo-bley said an FHA-insured mortgage has a 3.5 percent down payment re-quired, as opposed to the less than 20 percent down required by a con-ventional loan. Another difference, she said, is that FHA loans focus

▶ See HOME, Page 14

FORECLOSURE NOTICES OF DEFAULT

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALSOURCE: Applied Analysis

20082007 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015*Foreclosure notices are issued at the start of the default process and do not necessarily mean that the actual property was foreclosed.

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

GRAPHIC 11C

Clark County, 2008-15

In thousands

GRAPHIC 11

MEDIAN HOME SALE PRICES, 2008-15

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALSource: CoreLogic

Las Vegas

PhoenixTucson

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015$100

$150

$200

$250




primarily on whether the borrower can afford the mortgage, whereas conventional loans focus on credit score.

Nevada Partners encourages new homeowners to follow the 70/20/10 rule, meaning that 70 percent of one’s income should go to every-day expenses such as rent, food and clothing, with another 20 percent go-ing into savings. That leaves 10 per-cent for debt.

Hulsey added that the borrower’s total debt should not exceed 36 per-cent of gross pay — so, for some-one with $1,000 in monthly income, monthly debts should not exceed $360.

One’s credit score is an impor-tant factor in homebuying. Differ-ent loans require different scores, though Mobley said, for the most part, a score of 640 or higher is stan-dard for conventional loans.

Although it’s not always required, potential homebuyers should also be able to show a down payment of at least 20 percent, in addition to hav-ing at least six months’ worth of sav-ings, Hulsey said.

“Most people are intimidated by the homebuying process, but getting that loan and securing that loan is the easy part when it comes right down to the truth,” Mobley said. “The hard part is maintaining homeownership; that’s where the work comes in.” To reach North View reporter Sandy Lopez, email [email protected] or call 702-383-4686. Find her on Twitter: @JournalismSandy.

NUMBER OF HOMES SOLD*SOUTHERN NEVADA, 2008-15

*Includes single-family home condominium townhome and high-rise condominiums

SOURCE: Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR)

‘08

’09

‘10

’11

‘12

’13

‘14

’15

29,821

47,500

44,369

48,796

45,662

40,950

35,806

38,578

GRAPHIC 11B


0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000

Health care: a growing economic sector in Southern Nevada

AN AGING POPULATION

BILL HUGHES/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALDr. Samir Qamar, CEO of MedLion Direct Primary Care, is shown during an interview at his office at 851 S. Rampart Blvd. Oct. 13, 2015.

By LINDA J. SIMPSONSPECIAL TO VIEW

During the Great Recession, people still got sick, had surgeries, experienced accidents and had babies.

But with record unemployment, many Las Vegans — without health insurance or other means to pay for services — ended up in emergency rooms.

“Reflecting back on that time frame, we saw an increase in the overall cost to provide health care on both a short- and longer-term basis,” said Don Giancursio, CEO of UnitedHealthcare of Nevada, in a recent email interview. United-

Healthcare is an operating division of UnitedHealth Group, the largest single health carrier in the U.S. and one of Nevada’s largest non-gam-ing employers.

“The ACA (Affordable Care Act) has completely changed the health insurance marketplace for the overwhelming majority of Ameri-cans,” he said. “Product offerings, pricing and benefit coverages are far more standardized than before. For some cohorts of the population, this is viewed favorably; for others, not so favorably.”

Giancursio went on to explain that “affordability depends on where you sit.”

And he means that quite literally:

Health insurance price coverage cannot be determined by pre-exist-ing conditions other than ZIP code,

▶ See HEALTH, Page 15

COURTESY PHOTOMedLion’s MedWand, when connected to a laptop, can measure the patient‘s vital signs and relay them to a doctor in real time.



▶ HEALTH, Continued from

age and smoking status. Nevada as a whole saw Medicaid recipients nearly double from approximately 335,000 to around 600,000 with the implementation of the ACA.

AS ECONOMY IMPROVES, SHELVED PROJECTS GET UNDERWAY

Karla Perez, regional vice presi-dent of The Valley Health System, estimates an approximately 11 per-cent expansion of hospital beds in the Las Vegas market by 2016’s end.

“You’re not seeing that (kind of expansion) anywhere in the na-tion,” she said in a recent interview with the Las Vegas Business Press.

Henderson Hospital is set to open later this year near Galleria Drive and U.S. Highway 95 as part of the integrated health village Union Village. Also in Henderson, the Siena Campus of St. Rose Do-minican Hospitals recently opened a 220,000-square-foot addition with 96 private patient beds.

Spring Valley Hospital is adding a four-story tower, and both Cen-tennial Hills and Southern Hills hospitals are adding more patient beds and services. In the north-west, MountainView Hospital is undergoing a $90 million expan-sion.

DOCTORS’ GROUPS ALSO EXPANDING “We’ve had to absorb 100,000 new

patients into our practice (since the implementation of the ACA), and to do that, we had to grow our medical group significantly,” said Dr. Robert McBeath, president and CEO of Southwest Medical Associ-ates, one of Nevada’s largest mul-tispecialty medical groups. “We’ve gone from about 275 physicians to over 350 in the last 18 months.”

In fall 2017, the UNLV School of Medicine will accept its inaugural class of 60 students. In the mean-time, local hospitals have stepped up the number of residency pro-grams in hope that the newly mint-ed specialists will decide to make Southern Nevada their home.

“We started 28 new residents at Valley Hospital in July,” said Dr. Andy Eisen, chief academic officer

for The Valley Health System and president of the Clark County Med-ical Society. “We are focusing on what the needs are in the commu-nity. Twenty of the 28 are in family medicine and internal medicine.”

The Valley Health System also includes Centennial Hills, Desert Springs, Spring Valley and Sum-merlin hospitals, as well as the new Henderson Hospital.

ENTIRE INDUSTRY IS UNDERGOING SEISMIC SHIFT

Post-recession, providers are be-ing encouraged (and paid) to keep people healthy and put more deci-sion-making in the hands of the pa-tient via technology.

With more people having access to health care and baby boomers turning 65 at the rate of 10,000 people a day across the nation, tele-medicine seems to be the wave of the future.

“We went live with a dedicated telemedicine program on Jan. 1, 2014,” said McBeath. “Over the last 24 months, we’ve seen over 13,000 telemedicine consult patients.”

Local Dr. Samir Qamar, CEO and founder of MedLion, the country’s largest direct primary care com-pany, is set to launch his telemedi-cine device, MedWand, this year. The invention allows doctors to hear heart and lungs, look at ears, eyes, nose or throat, and take pulse and temperature and convey the results to the doctor in real time via a telemedicine visit. Qamar has partnered with the Internet compa-ny Doctor On Demand to integrate MedWand into its business model.

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY GROWTH Recovery from the recession, a

future medical school, increased numbers of insured, hospital ex-pansion and a fundamental shift

in the health care delivery system have all created more job opportu-nities in health care.

Even though local nursing pro-grams have stepped up their num-ber of graduates, experienced nurses are still in short supply, ac-cording to Wayne Cassard, system director of Human Resources for The Valley Health System. He said approximately 50 to 60 percent of Valley’s nursing hires are from out of state.

“Whenever we recruit outside of Las Vegas, we really are focusing on trying to find experienced nurs-es who want to move to Nevada,” he said.

With the growth of Electronic Medical Record requirements, information technology special-ists and medical coders are also in short supply.

“To find experienced coders is somewhat of a challenge,” Cassard said. “We actually work with cod-ers all over the country because the work they do can be done re-motely.”

Growth in the local health care support system is creating “incred-ibly important jobs for the folks in Southern Nevada,” Eisen said.

HOSPITAL STAFFING, 2008-2015Full-time employees* at acute hospitals, Clark CountyQuarter R.N L.V.N./L.P.N. Aides and orderlies Other FTEs Total FTEs2008 Q1 6,626 322 1,099 7,136 15,1842009 Q1 6,686 268 1,137 6,804 14,9032010 Q1 5,547 163 1,065 8,202 14,9862011 Q1 5,190 144 1,024 8,511 14,8792012 Q1 5,588 118 1,250 8,070 15,0382013 Q1 6,682 135 1,164 7,908 15,8982014 Q1 6,231 100 1,287 8,345 15,9742015 Q1 6,165 52 1,358 7,794 15,378 *An FTE is a standard unit of measurement of the hours equivalent to one full-time employee in order to compare part-time and full-time workers.**Does not include contracted employees

Source: Center for Health Information Analysis for Nevada

“We’ve gone from about 275 physicians to over 350 in the last 18 months.” DR. ROBERT MCBEATHPRESIDENT AND CEO, SOUTHWEST MEDICAL ASSOCIATES, ONE OF NEVADA’S LARGEST MULTISPECIALTY MEDICAL GROUPS

GRAPHIC 13

HEALTH CARE COSTS, 2008-14Las Vegas metro, private sector

Average employee contribution per enrolled employee for single coverage at workplaces with health insurance

Average single premium (in dollars) per enrolled employee at workplaces with health insurance

‘08 ’09 ‘10 ’11 ‘12 ’13 ‘14

‘08 ’09 ‘10 ’11 ‘12 ’13 ‘14

0 $1,000 $2,000 $3,000 $4,000 $5,000 $6,000LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALSOURCE: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

0 $1,000 $2,000 $3,000 $4,000 $5,000 $6,000

By F. ANDREW TAYLORVIEW STAFF WRITER

For millennials — a term that loosely defines the generation of people currently in their early

20s to mid-30s — the recession hit particularly hard and at a particularly difficult time. Many of them were just entering the job market when it went south, but a lot of them have landed on their feet.

“When I entered the market in 2007, it was pretty rough,” said Derek Noel, 30, who works at Zap-pos. “I think we’re in a much better place now, but I don’t know if that’s a universal experience.”

Noel works as a “Fungineer,” a Zappos-specific title that means he organizes employee events and engagement activities. When Noel started out in the workforce, he said he couldn’t find anything he was really interested in and ended up working customer service and retail jobs. He said he’s very happy at his Zappos job and isn’t looking for anything else, but he rents, in part, so he can at least feel like he’s not tied down to a physical location.

“I like being able to know that if an opportunity came up, I could go follow where the wind takes me,” Noel said. “I’m not interested in owning a home. It’s not something I need to feel successful and ground-ed. I like having a little sense of ‘nomadicy’; I’d like to have experi-ences and travel rather than make a house payment.”

He does know some other mil-lennials for whom owning a home is a part of their dreams, but he suspects many people still have a

bit of resentment and distrust fol-lowing the collapse of the housing market.

Louis Delgado, who was working on prototyping an app while drink-ing coffee in The Beat Coffeehouse, 520 E. Fremont St., agrees that most millennials aren’t interested in home ownership.

“I can go anywhere in the world, and as long as there’s an Internet connection and power, I can work there,” Delgado said. “Why would you want to tie yourself down with a mortgage?”

Delgado grew up in Las Vegas and left for a few years to attend college in St. Louis. Eventually, he married a local woman and got a job there, but when the marriage soured and ended, he came back to his hometown where he is self-employed.

“If I had to give myself a title for

a client, I’d technically be a free-lance UX/UI designer,” Delgado said. “I like to think of myself as a digital products designer.”

What he doesn’t like to label him-self as is a millennial, even though he is in the age range.

“I think it gives negative con-notations,” he said. “I think the older generation doesn’t respect the younger generation when they hear the word. I’ve learned a lot from the older generation.”

Delgado believes the economy is doing fine and that there’s plenty of work as long as one is willing to work to find and keep it.

“I think as long as your work is good, and you can say something for yourself, speak intelligently and make a sale, you’re fine,” he said. “Vegas is a lot harder than San Francisco for what I do. Here, you have to go out, and you have to

hustle a bit.” Errol Campbell was working in

construction when the recession hit. He was already beginning to shift to some self-employed work, and as the construction jobs start-ed to go away, he transitioned into working for himself full time and discovered he was making more money.

“I work in leads and advertising,” Campbell said. “I buy and sell leads for real estate agents, lawyers and doctors. To me, it looks like the economy is recovering, but for me, it never slowed down.”

The nomadic life is not for Camp-bell, who owns a home downtown and is very settled in his hometown.

“I’m not leaving Las Vegas,” he said. “I was born and raised here. I love Las Vegas. It’s my home.” To reach East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor, email [email protected] or call 702-380-4532.

Page 16 • Sunday, March 27, 2016 a Las Vegas Review-Journal


REMAKING THE STATUS QUO How the American dream changed for the millennials

F. ANDREW TAYLOR/VIEWLouis Delgado works on prototyping an app while drinking coffee in The Beat, 520 E. Fremont St., in downtown Las Vegas March 14.



MAKING THE GRADE

Is today’s valley a good place to raise a family?

JOSHUA DAHL/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALChildren and families take advantage of mild daytime temperatures to play at the playground at Downtown Container Park Dec. 21, 2015.


Nationally, Las Vegas is known as the city of slot machines and 24-hour strip clubs. Billboards

serve as a constant reminder of all “Sin City” has to offer. But venture off the Strip and beyond downtown, and you’ll find parts of the valley that resemble any other piece of suburban America. So, why do we get such a bad rap

when it comes to raising families?

MORE THAN JUST THE STRIP Due to its affordable housing and

surplus of service jobs, Las Vegas has become an ideal place to live for many. But some argue that the city can have a negative impact on a child’s development.

Most tourists see only what the Strip has to offer, and their pri-mary pursuit is limited to casinos, clubs and booze. But those who call Vegas home know there’s more to

our valley. Looking for culture? To the sur-

prise of some, you’ll find it here — The Smith Center for the Per-forming Arts broke ground in 2009 and opened in 2012, bringing with it access to Broadway plays, musi-cal performances and a variety of other entertainment options.

For families, downtown also of-fers the Discovery Children’s Mu-seum and the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, and the nearby Springs Preserve has plenty of in-

door and outdoor activities for kids to enjoy.

Beyond the lights of the Strip, families also have an opportunity to find peace inside the valley’s suburban communities, which are home to almost 200 parks.

Cara Clarke, associate vice presi-dent of communications for the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Com-merce, said various factors affect where families move. Most people

▶ See FAMILY, Page 18



▶ FAMILY, Continued from

tend to move close to their jobs or where they’ll have access to good schools. Others are attracted to amenities such as golf courses, ca-sinos and shopping centers.

“A lot of people come here from parts of the country where they had long commutes, so the idea of being close to work is appealing for most people,” she said. “Over-all, Las Vegas offers a really good quality of life. There are a lot of recreational activities, cultural centers and teen sports. Places like Disneyland, Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon are also about a day’s trip away. There’s a lot to en-joy here.”

PREYING ON THE YOUTH It shouldn’t come as a shock that

Las Vegas has a dark side. A secret about the valley — which really isn’t much of a secret if you can decode the messages behind the overly sexualized billboards — is that Las Vegas is a hub for human sex trafficking. Children, in partic-ular, are sought in this multibillion-dollar industry.

“We keep track of all the kids that get arrested for sex traffick-ing, and we arrest between 150 to 250 kids every year in Las Ve-gas,” said Alexis Kennedy, associ-ate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at UNLV. “Al-though the number hasn’t risen for the past (20) years, it continues to be a consistent problem.”

In 2012, the Metropolitan Police Department arrested 107 youths for sex trafficking, and in 2013, 148. The numbers have since de-creased slightly to 146 in 2014 and 139 in 2015, according to Metro Po-lice Officer Jesse Roybal.

“The majority are locals,” Ken-nedy said. “One year, we mapped all of the schools where the kids who were arrested came from and we found that they came from all over. It doesn’t matter if you live in Summerlin or Henderson, kids who run away often end up on the Strip.”

Parents have reason to fear for their children’s safety, but it isn’t until tweens and teens try to as-

sert their own independence that parents really start to become con-cerned.

From 1994 through 2015, more than 2,654 minors have been recov-ered from human sex trafficking by Metro, according to Congo Justice Las Vegas, a human rights advocacy organization. Because Las Vegas is made up largely of transients, most families do not have the type of ex-

tended support systems that they had in their hometowns.

“That’s why the risk factor for do-mestic violence and abuse goes up,” Kennedy said. “It’s harder on the family when they don’t have any ex-tended family in the area and when there’s so much alcohol that’s read-ily available.”

“There are a lot of social prob-lems here that children tend to run

away from,” she said. “It can be from the high rates of foreclosure, financial stress, addiction, child abuse — it’s a hard town to parent in.”

Another factor is that Las Vegas does not have many hangout spots specifically for teens. Most movie theaters are attached to casinos, which have curfews, and there are not a lot of all-ages clubs.

Kennedy said most pimps meet kids online, in the mall or at bus stops.

Most children are picked up from ages 12 to 14 and arrested between ages 15 and 16, although children have been arrested as young as age 10, according to Kennedy.

“These sexual behaviors are re-ally in our face here,” Kennedy said. “From the moment we get out of the airport, there are billboards advertising it. This is an overly


JOSHUA DAHL/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALChildren play on the playground at Downtown Container Park in Las Vegas Dec. 21, 2015.

FAMILY-FRIENDLY INDICATORS As Nevada becomes more family-friendly, there are some areas that need improvement. How we got worse Compared to U.S. YearsChildren whose parents lack secure employment 34% vs. 26% 31% vs. 27% 2013 vs. 2008Children in poverty 23% vs. 15% 22% vs. 18% 2013 vs. 2008Children living in high-poverty areas 14% vs. 6% 14% vs. 11% 2009-13 vs. 2006-10

Here’s where we’re getting better How we improved Compared to U.S. YearsChildren without health insurance 15% vs. 20% 7% vs. 10% 2013 vs. 2008Children not attending preschool 69% vs. 72% 54% vs. 53% 2011-13 vs. 2007-09Fourth graders not proficient in reading 73% vs. 76% 66% vs. 68% 2013 vs. 2007Eighth graders not proficient in math 72% vs. 77% 66% vs. 69% 2013 vs. 2007High school students not graduating on time 40% vs. 44% 19% vs. 25% 2011-12 vs. 2007-08Source: Kids Count 2015 by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and UNLV




sexualized town. We have to ask ourselves, ‘What type of message are we sending our children?’ ”

FINDING HEALTH CARE Nevada is facing a critical short-

age of health care professionals. The shortage isn’t specific to pri-mary care — it expands to dental care, mental health services and other medical specialties. In 2013, 31.5 percent of Clark County’s pop-ulation — 630,638 people — were considered to be residing in a pri-mary medical care shortage area. An estimated 34 percent (680,884) were in a dentist shortage area, and 5.6 percent (111,692) were in a mental health professional short-age area, according to the Univer-sity of Nevada School of Medicine’s 2013 Health Policy Report.

The lack of doctors is particu-larly acute in the valley. The re-port found that there is a slightly greater proportion of Nevadans employed in health care industries per capita in urban areas of North-ern Nevada, as compared to urban areas in Southern Nevada and rural and frontier regions of the state. Per the report, approximately, 69.3 percent of the workforce in health care industries are employed in Clark County (72.1 percent of the state’s population).

The drive behind the shortage can be blamed particularly on the fast-growing rate of Southern Ne-vada, according to Dr. Andy Eisen, president of the Clark County Med-ical Society.

“We have grown so much faster than anywhere else and faster than anyone expected, so we’re behind trying to maintain the number of health care professionals and phy-sicians as well,” Eisen said. “We’re really not just playing catch up on doctors, but we are trying to build the infrastructure you need to cre-ate the health care professionals of the future. We need more residen-cy programs.”

CRIME AROUND THE VALLEY Like most big cities, Las Vegas

has its share of crime but not to the degree that some larger metros are

dealing with. According to Uniform Crime

Reports, in 2014, Metro reported 12,876 violent crimes; 122 murders and non-negligent manslaughters; 780 rapes; 4,885 robberies; 7,089 aggravated assaults; 44,754 proper-ty crimes; 14,150 burglaries; 23,432 larceny thefts; 7,172 motor vehicle thefts; and 141 arson cases. Howev-er, from 2008-14, the violent crime rate declined significantly, from 984.6 per 100,000 people to 841.1.

Metro reported having 4,722 law enforcement employees and 2,485 officers for a population of just over 1.53 million, according to the

2014 Crime in the United States re-port released by the FBI.

According to Neighborhood-Scout.com, the crime rate in Las Vegas is higher than the national average; although, at 39 crimes per 1,000 residents, it’s still not listed among the 100 most dangerous cit-ies, according to the site.

Violent offenses tracked by NeighborhoodScout included rape, murder and non-negligent man-slaughter, armed robbery, and ag-gravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. According to its analysis of FBI-reported crime data, the chance of becoming a vic-

tim of one of these crimes in Las Vegas is one in 118.

THE STATE OF EDUCATION The Clark County School District

is the fifth-largest school district in the nation, educating almost 75 percent of all students in Nevada, with more than 320,000 students enrolled in grades kindergarten through 12.

The general fund operating bud-get for the 2015-16 school year is $2.419 billion, with basic per-pupil state funding at $5,512 and per-pu-pil expenditures at $8,502.

Yet graduation and proficiency rates remain a problem. For the 2014-15 school year, the district’s graduation rate was 72.07 percent.

Nevada’s public school system continues to remain last in the na-tion, according to a 2015 analysis of children’s well-being conducted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The graduation rate in 2012 was 62 percent. It rose significantly in 2013 to 71.5 percent, though that was mostly due to efforts on the district’s part, according to disrict spokeswoman Nicole Santero.

“The district focused on graduat-ing every student by creating indi-vidualized graduation plans. Stu-dents were paired with mentors, tutored, and went through profi-ciency ‘boot camps.’ The increase in the number of students graduat-ing equates to about 40 percent of the improvement in CCSD’s gradu-ation rate,” she said.

Santero said the district also im-plemented new systems to track students who previously were list-ed as non-graduates.

“Many students had successfully transferred to other districts,” she said. “This initiative, combined with more students staying in school, accounts for the remain-ing 60 percent of the district’s 2013 graduation increase.”

Some of the problems may have worsened during the recession, when students’ families were hit especially hard. Many transient families moved from place to place during that time, pulling students out of school at a high rate.

Underwater homes* Las Vegas metro area and U.S. Las Vegas metro U.S. 2011Q2 68% 30% 2011Q3 68% 31% 2011Q4 70% 31% 2012Q1 71% 31% 2012Q2 69% 31% 2012Q3 63% 28% 2012Q4 59% 28% 2013Q1 54% 25% 2013Q2 48% 24% 2013Q3 40% 21% 2013Q4 35% 19% 2014Q1 34% 19% 2014Q2 30% 18% 2014Q3 28% 17% 2014Q4 26% 17% 2015Q1 25% 15% 2015Q2 25% 14% 2015Q3 22% 13% Percent of homes that are in negative equity, meaning the homeowner owes more on the mortgage than what the property is worth.

0 3 6 9 12%

FAMILY INCOME

An estimated number of 460,643 families resided in Clark County in 2014.

SOURCE: American Community Survey 1-year estimates

Clark County, 2014

Less than $10,000

$10,000 to $14,999

$15,000 to $19,999

$20,000 to $24,999

$25,000 to $29,999

$30,000 to $34,999

$35,000 to $39,999

$40,000 to $44,999

$45,000 to $49,999

$50,000 to $59,999

$60,000 to $74,999

$75,000 to $99,999

$100,000 to $124,999

$125,000 to $149,999

$150,000 to $199,999

$200,000 or more

4.8%

3.1%

4.4%

3.1%

4.7%

5.4%

5.4%

5.6%

4.8%

8.7%

12.6%

14.3%

9.1%

5.2%

4.8%

4.1%






“A lot of people moved to Las Ve-gas during the recession because there were a lot of jobs here,” said Kelly-Jo Shebeck, coordina-tor for the district’s Title I HOPE program. “They moved here think-ing it was easy to get a job in the hotel industry, or they may have had things promised to them. Some plans didn’t work out, and families were stuck in a big city that doesn’t have a great transportation system and where child care can be diffi-cult to find. It became a mess.”

Fast-forward almost 10 years later, and the recession continues to have an impact on the district. From 2008-09, there were 5,708 homeless students enrolled. Last year, that number rose to 11,253, according to Shebeck.

“Since 2008, we have more than doubled our numbers,” she said. “We speak to a lot of families, and my take is that most of them have tried to make their situation work and have gone through all of their savings, and many are still not able to get a job. Many of them have just never been able to get back on their feet, and we’re just now see-ing the impact of all of this.”

Mojave High School Principal Antonio Rael said he has witnessed students struggling more in recent times.

From 2010-11, the free and re-duced lunch rate was 54.5 percent at the North Las Vegas school. It had increased to 76 percent as of December 2015, Rael said.

“If you look at ZIP code 89081 (the area just north of Interstate 15, bordered by Lamb Boulevard, Craig Road, North 5th Street, East Centennial Parkway and North Pe-cos Road), you will see that it was the hardest hit when the housing bubble burst.

“Our community had the high-est foreclosure rate in valley and brought in a lot of highly transient families. As the free and reduced lunch rate has increased every year, it looks like we’re still in the recession, and it’s getting worse. Last spring, we had over 100 Mo-jave students officially designated as homeless.”

FINDING AFFORDABLE DAY CARE Parents who work full time and

need to have their children in day care are well aware of the added expense and financial stress it brings.

The average weekly wage for all industries in Clark County was $845 for the second quarter in 2015, according to the U.S. Bureau of La-bor Statistics’ quarterly census of employment and wages.

In Nevada, the cost of child care could exceed a year of public col-lege tuition, according to a 2015 report by Child Care Aware. The report found that the percentage of a married couple’s income that goes toward infant care for two children is 25.83 percent for a day

care center and 23.29 percent for home care.

That number rises dramatically when applied to a married couple with two children at the poverty line, which is $24,300 per year for a family of four according to federal guidelines. Then it becomes 74.10 percent for day care and 66.84 per-cent for home care.

To put it into perspective, the an-nual cost of infant care is $9,852 versus $6,418 for public college tuition, according to Child Care Aware.

A 2015 national study conducted by GOBankingRates labeled Ne-vada as one of the 10 most expen-sive states to raise a family. Ac-cording to the study, Nevada’s high

costs are difficult to manage due to the $49,204 median income in the state, lower than the national me-dian of $51,939 reported by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2014.

With many of Nevada’s residents concentrated in the desert city of Las Vegas, the study noted food prices here also are 14.9 percent higher than the national average. In addition, Nevada offers no paid family leave policy, another factor that pushed it down in its ranking. However, Nevada employers must follow the federal Family and Med-ical Leave Act, which allows eligi-ble employees to take unpaid leave for certain reasons.

Also, in most cases, a childcare worker is required to have only a high school diploma and CPR cer-tification.

“I had my triplets in day care, and there were, like, 30 3-year-old kids and two teachers,” said Heath-er Dweck, a 41-year-old Hender-son mother of five. “It was like a madhouse; kids were fighting and hitting. These were 18- and 19-year-old workers with no real training. The children hated it, and it taught them nothing. The teachers also seemed overwhelmed. Initially, I put them there to prepare them for kindergarten. I ended up pulling them out and teaching them my-self.”

“I honestly don’t shield my chil-dren from anything because this is where we live,” Dweck said. “In-stead, I use the city’s challenges as an opportunity to educate my chil-dren. I don’t want them to grow up addicted to gambling or idolizing strippers, but I never want to come off as judgmental either. When we go into casinos or when they see women on billboards, I explain to them the situation. I’ll tell them that she got herself in that situation, and she’s hurting herself by doing this, and we need to care about her. Or I’ll tell them that gambling isn’t smart because they’re just losing their money. I want to get it into their young minds that these things aren’t positive, and you’re just go-ing to lose.”To reach North View reporter Sandy Lopez, email [email protected] or call 702-383-4686. Find her on Twitter: @JournalismSandy.

LEAST AFFORDABLE STATES FOR SCHOOL-AGE CHILDCARE Ranked by percentage of median income spent on childcare Single-parent family Married couple family

Annual cost, 2014 Median % of median Median % of median income income income income

1 Montana $7,778 $20,044 38.8% $72,172 10.8% 2 Wisconsin $8,849 $23,702 37.3% $84,375 10.5% 3 Nevada $7,219 $28,248 25.6% $69,580 10.4% 4 Hawaii $8,919 $27,683 32.2% $87,567 10.2% 5 Illinois $8,498 $24,017 35.4% $88,403 9.6%Source: Child Care Aware® of America

ERIK VERDUZCO/FILE PHOTOBrennen Nelson gets into the act during story time at the Springs Preserve.



NOT ALL PARTS EQUALThe best and worst economic

recoveries in the valleyBy F. ANDREW TAYLOR

VIEW STAFF WRITER

After one of the most devastating financial downturns in Las Vegas history, things are looking

up, but for some parts of the valley, up is a lot further to get to, and it’s coming slower than many residents would prefer.

“The east side of the valley was hit the hardest by the recession,” said Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, who represents Clark County’s District E. “I do think there’s a slight uptick there. People are keeping up with their property in a way I haven’t seen in awhile. We still have a lot of empty homes and squatters and some pockets of instability, but it’s improving.”

Giunchigliani noted that District D and portions of B were also hit hard. Those districts include some of the oldest and many of the traditionally poorest parts of the valley, including West Las Vegas, Sunrise Manor and the oldest sections of North Las Vegas. The recent closure of the Wal-Mart at 4350 N. Nellis Blvd. created a large food desert in the northeast valley.

“That area is the most difficult part of town,” said developer J Dapper, owner of Dapper Cos., which specializes in new, from-the-ground-up development. “Being close to the air force base is a benefit because you have a lot of service members, their families and other people that are there, but the base opposes development, particularly residential development.”

Dapper is in a position to see many aspects of the recovery,

as his company does start-to-finish development — purchasing properties, designing the buildings, recruiting tenants and getting them to sign a lease. It also builds out the spaces to suit the tenants, and, sometimes, once everything is built, puts the space on the market and brokers the sale. Nellis Air Force Base does encourage developers to seek industrial and low-density use in that area along Las Vegas Boulevard North to reduce the risk of injury to civilians in the event of a military aircraft accident. But the area also suffers from a lack of infrastructure and a shortage of major arteries to access it. Despite those challenges, it is fairly densely populated, and while there are a lot of empty lots and unoccupied commercial buildings, there aren’t many large tracts of land available for major development.

“There are a lot of smaller, not-too-deep lots on the east side of town,” Giunchigliani said. “The problem is, a lot of those commercial lots are backed up against rural neighborhood preservation areas, so it’s a matter of finding the right use for those properties. When I talk to people out here, they’re looking for things like bookstores and more restaurants.”

Dapper doesn’t feel that the challenges presented by the east side are insurmountable, and as evidence, he cited Winterwood Pavilion, 2350 S. Nellis Blvd., on the northwest corner of Nellis and Sahara Avenue. Dapper bought the 144,000-square-foot shopping center at the height of the recession when it was only about 25 percent occupied.

“Today, it’s 95 percent occupied, and I think there are only two vacant spots in the center,” he said. “One of the tenants that struggles the most there, a small family restaurant, just renewed their lease for 10 years and are looking at expanding and opening a second location.”

Dapper said that he has shopping centers with large corporate

tenants, some with mom-and-pop retail, and some with a mix of both. He said it’s the mom-and-pop operations that show the first signs of the economy turning south, while the big corporations are the first to move when the economy begins to turn around.

“Obviously, the corporate tenants

F. ANDREW TAYLOR/VIEWThe former Walmart at 4350 N. Nellis Blvd. is one of 269 stores, including 154 in the U.S., that Walmart announced it would close in January. The Nellis location was the only one affected in the Las Vegas Valley and closed on Jan.17.

0

5

10

15

20%

Henderson

North Las Vegas

Las Vegas

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 201520092008

UNEMPLOYMENT RATES BY CITY, 2008-15

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALSOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics

GRAPHIC 28

*Unemployment rate not seasonally adjusted

▶ See RECOVERY, Page 22



▶ RECOVERY, Continued from

have more ability and wherewithal to expand and take advantage of lower rents before they go up,” he said. “In the last 24 months, I’ve seen a lot of corporate tenants that were not previously doing new deals getting back into it. But now I’m seeing the same thing with the mom-and-pop tenants, who were really struggling when things were bad.”

Giunchigliani noted that there are a lot of empty buildings on Boulder Highway, another part of the east side that is suffering from a changing infrastructure. In this case, it’s the change from being a major route out of town to being bypassed by U.S. Highway 95 20 years ago. Although several casinos were built and expanded upon on the road, it has struggled to recover, and Giunchigliani said there had been only two applications in recent years to build new facilities there.

“One that is moving forward through a Community Development Block Grant is a Boys & Girls Clubs clubhouse,” she said. “They’re partnered up with Nevada HAND (a nonprofit with the mission to improve the lives of low-income individuals by providing affordable housing solutions and supportive services), and they came up with a plan to do housing, social services and a Boys & Girls Club.”

Overall, the east side is recovering, but not nearly as quickly as many other parts of the valley that are experiencing notable growth.

“It may not be doing quite as well as the west side of town, but I think they’re still doing pretty well,” Dapper said.

The west side has had some notable projects built, resumed and opened in the last few years, including Downtown Summerlin at the intersection of Sahara Avenue and the 215 Beltway, and Ikea, set to open in May in the southwest at Durango Drive and the Beltway.

Downtown Summerlin brought about 1.6 million square feet of retail space and another 200,000

square feet of business space to the valley. That, along with other notable shopping additions, including the Grand Bazaar Shops at Bally’s, have greatly increased the amount of retail space.

“Retail got hit hard here by the recession, and the vacancy rates were shockingly high,” said George McCabe of Brown & Partners, the public relations firm that represents the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. “So much retail space got added last year, and yet the amount of vacant retail space continues to go down. That’s a great sign.”

Dapper completed a 5,000-square-foot, multi-tenant retail building at the corner of Hualapai Way and Desert Inn Road in late November. He brought in three restaurant tenants and then sold the property. He believes it is emblematic of the strength of the recovery in parts of the west side.

“Not only did I get extremely high rent on that property, but the first months those businesses have been open, they’ve done incredible

numbers,” Dapper said. “I think that’s a clear sign of recovery in that area.”

Dapper believes the strongest and most recovered parts of the valley include the Summerlin area, the southwest, Aliante in North Las Vegas and much of the property near the 215 Beltway, but it’s downtown Las Vegas that he’s the most excited about.

“Tony Hsieh and Downtown Project were the pioneers in reviving that area,” Dapper said. “That started the development and got people interested in what was going on downtown, but I feel like it created such an unbalanced hype that it made it difficult for other developers to come downtown because the price point was so high.”

Dapper believes that with Hsieh and Downtown Project cooling off on acquiring property, a window of opportunity has opened for other developers. Dapper is developing and renovating several properties around the Huntridge Theater.

Derek Stevens and his brother Greg began buying hotel-casino

properties on Fremont Street in 2008, when the economy still seemed to be in a freefall. They purchased Fitzgerald’s, transforming it into the D Las Vegas in 2011 when many people were still unsure about the valley’s economic recovery.

Derek Stevens didn’t see it as a risky venture.

“The overall economy was coming back at that time,” he said. “We were happy to renovate and reinvest in our properties because we were confident things were going to turn out all right.”

The Stevens brothers own or have a stake in The D, the Golden Gate, the former site of the Clark County Courthouse that is now the Downtown Las Vegas Event Center, and the property at 18 Fremont St. that was formerly the Las Vegas Club and is currently undergoing major renovations.

“That property had a lot of environmental problems, so first we had to get all of the asbestos and lead out of it,” Derek Stevens

F. ANDREW TAYLOR/VIEWThe nearly fully occupied Winterwood Pavilion, 2350 S. Nellis Blvd., is one of the signs that the valley’s economy is recovering, even on the struggling east side of the valley.

▶ See RECOVERY, Page 23

said. “The next step is demolishing and rebuilding. We’ll be doing a combination of demolition, renovation and new construction there.”

Ward 3 City Councilman Bob Coffin is one of several voices saying that the missing piece of the puzzle to bring downtown Las Vegas in line with other areas of the valley that are recovering and growing is affordable housing. He hopes to see more moderately priced midrise housing.

“New apartments are coming,” he said. “They’re small but modern. That’s the kind of thing you need for young people because, frankly, they’re primarily for sleeping.”

Dapper doesn’t work on housing projects, but he, too, believes that housing is the missing element downtown.

“It’s a chicken or the egg thing,” he said. “In order to draw people down there to live, there’s got to be great restaurants and places to go and shop. In order for those businesses to survive, you’ve got to have people living there to shop there. That being said, there are lots of signs that downtown is doing well, and we will continue to do well across the valley.” To reach East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor, email [email protected] or call 702-380-4532.


0

3,000

6,000

9,000

12,000

15,000

East Valley Southwest Henderson Summerlin North Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALU.S. Census County Business Patterns

NUMBER OF BUSINESSES BY SELECTED AREA, 2007-13 12,920

9,417 8,962

6,347 7,003 6,236 6,680

2,786 2,807

‘08 ‘09‘10‘11‘12‘13‘07 ‘08 ‘09‘10‘11‘12‘13‘07 ‘08 ‘09‘10‘11‘12‘13‘07 ‘08 ‘09‘10‘11‘12‘13‘07 ‘08 ‘09‘10‘11‘12‘13‘07

GRAPHIC 29


▶ RECOVERY, Continued from

PHOTOS BY F. ANDREW TAYLOR/VIEWAbove and below, Downtown Summerlin opened in 2014 at the intersection of Sahara Avenue and the 215 Beltway. The center is one of the signs that the valley’s economy is recovering.


SECTION III: THRIVING IN OUR NEW ECONOMY

ON THE RIGHT TRACKShifting career paths after the recessionBy CASSANDRA KEENAN

VIEW STAFF WRITER

Switching career paths might be a way to weather ups and downs in the job market, but those in the

health sciences field seem to be able to stay put.

That’s something UNLV officials say they have witnessed for years, particularly with students enrolled in the kinesiology degree program, which prepares them for health sciences careers.

“There is a greater need for people in health sciences just be-cause of the number of people tap-ping into that system,” said John A. Mercer, professor and associate dean of the UNLV School of Allied Health Sciences. “I see wellness types of careers as very viable and resistant to economy change.”

Job possibilities for those with kinesiology degrees can include recreation administrators, fitness instructors, massage therapists, personal trainers and physical therapy technicians. The number of full- and part-time students in the program went from 544 in 2005 to 1,002 in 2015, Mercer said. He has seen a similar trend at higher-education institutions across the country.

One reason might be aging baby boomers, said Mercer, while anoth-er likely is the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Shawn Gerstenberger, dean of the UNLV School of Community Health Sciences, agreed. He co-authored a 2014 report titled “Em-ployment and Economic Develop-

ment in Southern Nevada,” which detailed industries in the area that grew during the recession. He said it showed that, through the reces-sion, health care jobs continued to increase steadily even during the worst economic times in the last 15 years.

That increase is expected to continue. In the valley, other an-ticipated fast-growing occupations, charted from 2012-20, include con-struction laborer jobs, expected to increase 25.1 percent. That’s in contrast with when the econo-my lagged, and fewer and fewer houses were being constructed in Las Vegas, causing enrollment in UNLV’s construction manage-ment program to decline, said Carl

Reiber, senior vice provost. “When the economy started to go

south, those jobs started to disap-pear,” he said. “As the economy is starting to heat back up again, that program is now expanding.”

TIME FOR A CHANGE Residents who work in industries

where jobs are waning or who are otherwise unhappy with their cur-rent professions often seek anoth-er line of work, according to local job coaches. American job satis-faction has ranged between about 42.6 percent and 48.3 percent an-nually from 2008-14, according to The Conference Board’s “Job

▶ See REINVENTION, Page 25

DANIEL CLARK/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL FOLLOW @DANJCLARKPHOTOSophia Bradley runs as a 10-camera motion capture system tracks her movements inside the Sports Injury Research Center in the Paul McDermott Physical Education Complex on the UNLV campus Jan. 22. Experts say wellness careers are more resistant to economy change.

GRAPHIC 16

SOURCE: The Conference Board's “Job Satisfaction: 2015 Edition:A Lot More Jobs — A Little More Satisfaction”


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U.S. JOB SATISFACTION

‘08 ‘09 ‘10 ‘11 ‘12 ‘13 ‘14



Satisfaction: 2015 Edition: A Lot More Jobs — A Little More Satis-faction.”

Either way, those who make a ca-reer switch must be well-prepared, job coaches say.

“One of the main things when people are changing a career is to not look for another job in another field without some intense intro-spection,” said PJ Sheldon, a local career coach and author of “You’re Hired!” and “Career Strategies for Success.”

Sheldon often conducts career workshops at the Green Valley Li-brary in Henderson. She said peo-ple changing careers must be pre-pared to start at the bottom in their new profession.

“Because you most likely are not going to have any working expe-rience in this new field, you need to have the mindset that you may need to spend money and time to learn new skills,” she said.

That may involve going back to school, according to Denise Cook, president of THI Counseling, a Las Vegas career consulting firm. “If they don’t have the skills or the knowledge they need, they need to make the determination … is school something that will add value to their future career prospects?”

An evaluation of prior personal and work experiences can help de-termine a future career path, Cook said.

“What they want to do … is find things they did in the past that they loved to do,” she said, “and then also think of those things that they really hated doing. Make a list of those things, and map it out. Then they need to take an assessment in the market in which they reside and look at the jobs available pres-ently and in the near future.”

Cook also suggested doing vol-unteer work, which can help job-seekers build relationships with potential employers and also en-able them to take the skills they learn elsewhere. Networking and spreading the word about being on the job market also helps, she said.

“What you know is important, but

Las Vegas is a market about who you know,” Cook said. “Who you know can make or break employ-ment prospects for you.”

Sheldon said that once job-seek-ers gain employment in their new professions, they need to be pre-pared to stay put for at least a year.

“Don’t give up,” Sheldon said. “Stick it out for at least a year, and you’ll find the longer you’re in it, the easier it gets, and it may lead to something better.”

TIME SPENT IN UNEMPLOYMENT INCREASES WITH AGE

Switching careers or otherwise, time spent in unemployment in-creases with age, according to the

U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. Numbers nationally from January 2016, for instance, show that the average duration of unemployment climbs from 19.7 weeks for ages 20 to 24 to 37.4 weeks for those 65 or older. Those who are ages 45 to 54 spend an average duration of 37.4 weeks out of work.

Still, regaining employment of-ten is up to the job-seeker, regard-less of age, Sheldon said.

“What I tell people is that age is only a number, so you need to act and dress as a go-getter and not a has-been,” she said. “Then they (older job-seekers) need to make sure they know the latest trends, procedures, practices and skills for

their field of work. Then it’s criti-cal to show enthusiasm during the interview and after you’re hired. It’s all in how you carry yourself.”

Older job-seekers should show that they are open to learning new skills and that they are comfort-able with technology, Cook added.

Valley resident Vahan Tafralian, 67, has experienced many ups and downs in the field of sales and mar-keting since the 1970s. He agreed that attitude and willingness to learn goes a long way in regaining employment.

“You have to have goals; you have to be proactive and listen to every message in your environment,” he said. “You’re in class until you graduate, and you graduate when you get the job. You’re being forced to grow. The problem that I’ve seen with people is, they don’t want to reinvent themselves. Ninety per-cent of reinventing yourself is your attitude, your spirit.”

Cook said her firm has been see-ing younger workers, or millenni-als, “completely going against what they decided to major in at college. They realize they don’t get any in-trinsic satisfaction out of those ca-reers.

“With millennials, it’s a specific type of company culture they’re looking for. They want significant community impact. They want to work with companies that care about the communities where they live — not only nonprofits. Millen-nials are attracted to employers that give back to the community.”

Meanwhile, the firm’s older cli-ents tend to be more concerned with stability and income, she said.

▶ REINVENTION, Continued from

GRAPHIC 15

MEDIAN NUMBER OF WEEKS OF UNEMPLOYMENT BY AGE GROUP, U.S.*

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL SOURCE: Current Population Survey

20082007 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 20150

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*Median is the middle number in a set of numbers ranked in order of value.

45-54

55-64

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DANIEL CLARK/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALFrom left, Jeff Eggleston, John Harry, Kristy Wiegand and Sophia Bradley watch a video created with a motion capture system inside the Sports Injury Research Center in the Paul McDermott Physical Education Complex on the UNLV campus Jan. 22.




BEYOND BRICK AND MORTAR

The post-recession rise of nontraditional businesses

By CASSANDRA KEENANVIEW STAFF WRITER

Soon after the economy crashed in 2008-09, mobile businesses began starting their engines. The economic

downturn was a crucial factor,

particularly for the dawn of various food trucks that have since gained momentum and expanded in the valley — in some cases, blossoming into brick-and-mortar locations.

DAWN OF THE FOOD TRUCKS “The food truck industry was

spurred out of the recession; it was spawned out of necessity,” said Co-lin Fukunaga, owner of Fuku Burg-er, a food truck that started in 2010. “People still wanted to eat great food but at an affordable price.”

Fukunaga, who started his busi-ness after he was laid off from a restaurant corporation in 2008, said his original intention was to

open a full-on eatery. He even had investors lined up to back the proj-ect. But they pulled out after the recession took hold, triggering res-taurant closures around the valley.

But the bad economy turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Fuku Burger, with the mobile

Above, Grouchy John’s Coffee, which started out as a mobile business, is shown at 8520 S. Maryland Parkway. Left, Destiny Gray, left, Robert Miranda, J.R. Rose and Loree Blackmore prepare orders Feb. 5.PHOTOS BY JASON OGULNIK/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

▶ See MOBILE, Page 27

restaurant serving as an education-al incubator, allowing Fukunaga to become more savvy in running the business and gain insight into what customers wanted. “Even though I had been in the industry 26 years, it still helped,” he said.

The business now includes one truck and two brick-and-mortar sites at 3743 Las Vegas Blvd. South and 3429 S. Jones Blvd.

Running a mobile business also helped pave the way for the suc-cess of Grouchy John’s Coffee Shop, said John Ynigues, who runs the venture with JJ Wylie.

“We would have otherwise had no idea what we were doing,” said Yni-gues, who started the mobile shop after he lost his IT job in the pay-day loan industry in 2009.

The business started in 2010 with a canopy and an espresso machine, serving coffee to crowds at down-town Las Vegas’ monthly First Friday arts celebration. Grouchy John’s launched a trailer later that year and then opened a brick-and-mortar site in 2011 at 8520 S. Mary-land Parkway.

Ynigues said he had to work hard to build his business, but the reces-sion also gave it a boost because it made renting commercial space more affordable.

“If it weren’t for the recession, we probably would not have been in here because rents were so low,” he said of his Maryland Parkway site.

The fact that food trucks were catching on in the valley caused Ol-iver Naidas to hop aboard the trend, launching Sausagefest in 2011 after relocating from Chicago, where his real estate business caved in 2010. “When the market tanked, I had to kind of reinvent myself,” he said.

He has since grown the business to add four other trucks: Tacofest, Burgerfest, Greekfest and Lob-sterfest. “At first, I thought about doing two Sausagefest trucks,” Naidas said. “Then I just realized the potential of having a variety of offerings.”

Mobile businesses in the valley now include everything from food to pet services to flowers. Victoria

Hogan launched her mobile floral and wedding business, Flora Pop, in 2014 and said she is ordained in every state. She offers her prod-ucts and services around the coun-try and said it beats a brick-and-mortar site, hands down.

“If it’s a reasonable drive, I will drive,” she said. “If not, I just source materials over there. I only buy what I need when I need it. I have an assistant when I need her. It’s a lot less stress, it’s more profit-able, and there’s more flexibility to be open and creative.”

HOW TO START A mobile business generally

needs a state business license, in-surance, a state sales and use tax permit, and business licenses from the jurisdictions where it plans to operate. Food trucks also need a permit from the Southern Nevada

Health District. Licensing and permit fees vary

depending on jurisdiction. For instance, licensing fees depend on the recipient’s gross revenue. However, Fukunaga said it can cost about $2,000 to $3,000 to obtain all necessary approvals to get a mo-bile business up and running.

Despite any perks mobile busi-nesses might have, owners said many fail because their proprietors underestimate the effort that must go into them.

“You have to fight for custom-ers,” Ynigues said. “You have to constantly be looking for events to do. It’s a constant hustle.”

Many mobile business look to of-fice parks and corporate events to help keep their registers ringing. Parking at conventions and having contracts with employers, organi-zations and other entities around

the valley also help, Naidas said. “That’s pretty much how we were able to sustain the business,” he added.

Social media also should be a go-to tool for building a mobile busi-ness, Ynigues said. Grouchy John’s, for instance, engages customers and also posts updates about coffee specials via Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, posting different con-tent on each channel to satisfy the different audiences.

“Small businesses can’t do print because it’s too expensive and too slow,” he said. “Also, print is fast, but it’s not immediate, and social media doesn’t cost anything. Social media is important, but so is word of mouth.”

Fuku Burger also took to social media to build and retain its cus-tomer base, Fukunaga said.

“It was integral,” he added.



▶ MOBILE, Continued from

JASON OGULNIK/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALA mural plasters one wall of the back dining area at Grouchy John’s Coffee, 8520 S. Maryland Parkway.


Welcome to Nevada: the state once known to fuel the nation’s entrepreneurial spirit

with its rapidly growing population, seemingly endless employment opportunities and 24-7 lifestyle. It was a place where dreams could come true with some simple planning and financial preparation.

“The Las Vegas community is re-ally a tale of two cities,” said Pamela Joy Ring, president of The Ring Re-tail Advisory LLC. “On one hand, you have the resort and gaming commu-nity, and on the other, you have the people who work in that community and support the small business peo-ple. Prior to the recession, construc-tion was booming here in 2005, 2006 and 2007, and the casinos were ex-panding fiercely.

People were buying houses, which were booming due to the casino in-dustry that was spilling into our community. But because Las Vegas wasn’t very well-diversified in busi-nesses, when it was hit by the reces-sion, it was hit hard.”

The recession’s effect on the gaming and tourism industries also trickled down to impact small busi-nesses around the valley.

The recession also taught today’s

would-be small business owners to plan well.

“The people who had small busi-nesses and survived had to look at their balance sheets and operation, and cut whatever costs they could in order to survive,” Ring said. “The smart ones who survived were those who employed sound business fun-damentals.”



IN THE SADDLE

Entrepreneurs share their success stories, challenges

JASON OGULNIK/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALPaul Rogers, co-owner of Paradise Ranch, right, and Diego Diaz, 8, return stirrups to their proper place at the end of Diego’s horse-assisted therapy session at the ranch, 1722 Primrose Path, Feb. 13. Paul and his wife, Stephanie, decided to start the ranch after Paul’s job at the Nevada National Security Site took a hit from the recession.

▶ See ENTREPRENEURS, Page 29



THE RISE AND FALL At its highest, Nevada’s unemploy-

ment rate was 14.5 percent during the recession.

“Just as we were one of the fast-est-growing cities in the U.S., we became one of the most hurt cities in the U.S.,” Ring said. “Las Vegas was not in a recession; it was in a depression. We had the highest un-employment rates. It’s really pretty dismal.”

While the recession dug deep fi-nancial graves for some, it also lit fire to the entrepreneurial spirit of others.

In 2010, an average of 0.34 percent of the national adult population — or 340 out of 100,000 — created a new business each month, translating into 565,000 new businesses, accord-ing to the Kauffman Foundation.

Although the recession officially ended in June 2009, the report states that the entrepreneurship rate is high-er than before it started, which may be due to the recession’s high unem-ployment rates pushing individuals to start their own businesses.

In Clark County, between 45,647 and 47,506 businesses were established every quarter in 2010, according to the Nevada Department of Employ-ment, Training and Rehabilitation.

“To be frank, it was a very, very difficult time for anybody to start a business,” Ring said of the reces-

sion. “If anything, people were losing their jobs, and businesses fell if they couldn’t get additional lines of credit. The economy works like a set of domi-noes. When one thing goes wrong, ev-erything goes wrong — but there were a few who survived.”

FROM GOVERNMENT WORK TO OPERATING A NONPROFIT

Before the Great Recession, Paul

Rogers was making good money in 2003 working for the Nevada Na-tional Security Site (previously the Nevada Test Site).

“I had a good-paying job with great benefits as an electronic en-gineer,” he said. “Every year, I had a promotion and pay raise. Every-thing was going really well until 2008, when the federal government started feeling the weight of the re-

cession. Congress started getting into arguments over the budget, and eventually things went south.”

When Rogers was first hired, there were five people on his team. By 2010, he was doing the work of five people.

“Soon they were asking us to take furlough days, and I started pan-icking,” he said. “I thought, man, we have to do something. The prob-lem with getting another job was that I’d still be relying on someone else.”

So, the Rogerses decided to start their own business in 2011.

Paul — who got a master’s degree in psychology from the Univer-sity of Phoenix in 2008 — contin-ued working at his job until June 2012. He also had experience doing horse-assisted therapy for special needs children. After getting posi-tive feedback, he decided to start his own business, Paradise Ranch. He worked out a “great deal” with a landlord and had most of the horses donated.

The couple estimate they spent about $60,000 of their own money to start the ranch.

“We used all of our personal mon-ey to start the business,” Stephanie said. “We didn’t take out any loans. We had a security cushion that be-came a security sheet. It was our second move that almost killed us.”

▶ ENTREPRENEURS, Continued from

▶ See ENTREPRENEURS, Page 30

JASON OGULNIK/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALPaul Rogers, co-owner of Paradise Ranch, puts a helmet on Diego Diaz, 8, prior to Diego’s horse-assisted therapy session at the ranch Feb. 13.

Number of businesses with less than 100 employees 2008 to second quarter of 2015, Clark County Quarter Number of businesses 200801 48,692 200802 48,873 200803 49,401 200804 49,582 200901 49,008 200902 48,577 200903 48,577 200904 48,023 201001 47,506 201002 46,635 201003 45,647 201004 45,901 201101 45,803 201102 45,853 201103 46,077 201104 46,210 201201 46,520 201202 47,052 201203 47,428 201204 47,800 201301 48,444 201302 48,349 201303 48,843 201304 49,231 201401 49,833 201402 49,976 201403 50,329 201404 51,021 201501 51,522 201502 50,607 Source: Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation

0

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Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2

SOURCE: Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation


2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

GRAPHIC 27

NUMBER OF BUSINESSES WITH LESS THAN 100 EMPLOYEESClark County, 2008-15



The couple moved the business to its current location, 1722 Primrose Path in northwest Las Vegas, which offered an indoor arena and office space.

Between paying the last month’s rent for the previous location and rent for the current location, the couple weren’t able to pay for their house and started receiving foreclo-sure notices. They applied for a loan modification three times before be-ing approved.

“The business just wasn’t making enough money,” Paul said. “All the money that we did make was going back to the business.”

And, for Paul, the challenges just kept piling up.

They were behind $35,000 in pay-ments, and to make matters worse, at one point, Stephanie’s car was re-possessed. The family had its power shut off a few times and had to use the church’s food bank.

During the ranch’s first year of operation, the Rogerses’ taxes were negative by $8,000. It wasn’t until last year that they made a profit.

Two years ago, they decided to start a nonprofit to help alleviate costs.

Fast-forward to the present, and Stephanie said they are up-to-date with most of their payments for the ranch. Recently, their landlord held a fundraiser to help them catch up on contract payments for the last five years.

“When clients can’t pay us on time, we have to short pay our land-lord, who has been very patient with us,” Stephanie explained. “You don’t start this business for any other rea-son other than passion.”

“The sacrifice we make is noth-ing compared to the reward we get when we see a child speak for first time, or when youths realize they don’t have to use drugs to get through things in life,” Paul said. “When we can change someone’s life to that extent, then any amount of sacrifice is worth that.”

URGE TO START BUSINESS CAME AT WORST TIME

While visiting her sick grand-mother in 2010, Leslie Valdes was

hit with an indiscernible, yet almost divine urge to start a business.

The only problem was the calling couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Although she has a master’s de-gree in business, Valdes admitted she was nervous to move forward.

She went location hunting and re-alized that a place in a nearby strip mall that had been a car shop had a lot of foot traffic. Valdes said the landlord offered free rent for six months and $20,000 to start her res-taurant, Abuela’s Tacos, 4225 E. Sa-hara Ave. She and her business part-ner each invested $50,000 to open it.

The journey has not been easy. The restaurant has been broken

into three times, and Valdes said it took two years to break financially even.

“It has been a difficult journey,” she said. “There were times when I was literally broke. The only thing that held us together was that I have a full-time job working at the Sahara West Library.”

Valdes has nine employees and laid off two during the recession.

She said something that helped the business was her creating Ins-tagram, Facebook and Twitter ac-

counts as well as the restaurant’s website.

She hopes to open a second loca-tion in the southwest within a year.

“People have to be ready to work and work hard,” Valdes said. “You can’t give up and take your time. Marketing is key, and having some good, trustworthy employees will only take you further.”

PREPARING FOR THE NEXT WAVE While the recession technically

ended in 2009, many are still feeling the effects seven years later. Ring cautions that another economic crash is inevitable.

“The national economy is in more trouble,” she said. “What’s going on in China and in the oil industry is going to impact certain economic sectors and spill over into small businesses. The economy won’t see the gravity of what we experienced in 2008, but there will be spillover.”

However, Ring remains optimis-tic about today’s economy but ad-vises small business owners not to take that financial outlook for granted.

Now is a good time to get credit before interest rates start to in-

crease, she said. “If the price of oil stays low, that’s

a positive to small business because it means customers can spend more money,” she said.

While many people may not be afraid to take up the challenge of be-coming their own boss, it may be dif-ficult to know when it’s time to call it quits.

Simply put, it all comes down to having good business fundamen-tals, according to Ring.

“The bottom line is, if someone can’t pay bills and their credit line is used up, then something went wrong,” she said. “Business own-ers shouldn’t be in a situation of, ‘When do I bail?’ That just means you didn’t pay attention to some-thing. When the big bad wolf comes knocking on your door, you know you have a problem.”

Depending on the product one plans to sell, entrepreneurs should look at the advantages and disad-vantages of operating a brick-and-mortar or online business and cre-ate a solid business plan, she said. To reach North View reporter Sandy Lopez, email [email protected] or call 702-383-4686. Find her on Twitter: @JournalismSandy.

▶ ENTREPRENEURS, Continued from

SANDY LOPEZ/VIEWLeslie Valdes, right, owner of Abuela’s Tacos, supervises Rita Ayala in the kitchen of her restaurant at 4225 E. Sahara Ave. She started the business in 2010 after her landlord offered her free rent for six months and $20,000 to help start her restaurant.



DETERMINED DESERT DWELLERS

By LINDA J. SIMPSONSPECIAL TO VIEW

Has the Las Vegas construction industry recovered from the reces-sion?

According to the Nevada De-partment of Employment, Train-ing and Rehabilitation, the annual average construction employment numbers for Clark County in 2008 were 92,320. By 2012, it plummeted to 37,208. In 2014, the most recent published count showed 45,260 em-ployed in construction.

Las Vegas wasn’t alone in the cri-sis. The U.S. Census Bureau reports in an October 2015 analysis that more than 60 percent of construc-tion workers displaced by the hous-ing bust either left the market by 2013 or found employment in other industries. But updated 2015 year-end reports for Southern Nevada from the Las Vegas Global Eco-nomic Alliance (LVGEA) showed a promising economic upswing:

Total number of businesses at-tracted or expanded: 34

Total number of jobs attracted or expanded: 3,347

Total economic impact as a result of the attracted or expanded compa-nies: About $9.3 million

Much of the expansion of existing companies is in Las Vegas’ core in-dustry: gaming and tourism. Casinos and hotels are now making long-de-layed capital building investments. Construction of new additions and remodeling of aging properties is revitalizing the recession-devastat-ed industry.

With Southern Nevada’s new eco-nomic diversification system pay-ing off in a big way, will Las Vegas have enough workers to keep up with growing demands?

“The line between economic de-

velopment and workforce develop-ment is increasingly blurred,” said Jonas Peterson, president and CEO of LVGEA. “The availability of a tal-ented workforce is the single most important factor in recruiting a company to our market.”

Frank Hawk, business manager of Carpenters Local 897, remembers “when the Echelon (hotel-casino) closed down in April 2008 — 650 (members) signed out of work in three hours.”

“We knew the party was over,” he said. “The rest of the world might have been in a recession, but con-struction (here) was in a depression — it hit bottom.”

PARTNERSHIPS HELP GROW ECONOMY “We’ve just opened a new training

center just west of the Strip because we knew this day was coming, and we’re going to have to start training those young people for those jobs that the baby boomers are leaving,” Hawk said. “We’ve made alliances with the contractor’s association to put togeth-er game plans for the shortages.”

Last year, the union initiated a con-struction foreman training program aimed at shoring up the management ranks of trade. The number of enroll-ees had grown to 123 as of Jan. 7.

“The only thing we talk about in there is how to make ourselves more productive, more efficient,” said Hawk, “because we’ve got to increase our contractors’ profitability so they can lower their pricing so we get more work.”

BETTING ON THE INDUSTRY — AGAIN Former Minnesota resident Chris

Rowe, 44, experienced the rise and fall of the Las Vegas construction business firsthand. He started his career as a union carpenter and worked his way up the ranks, gain-

ing experience as a journeyman and foreman. In 2002, he left his native Minnesota for Las Vegas. By 2005, he had established his own small construction company, and by 2012, he had closed it and moved back to Minnesota.

“I stayed in touch with Las Vegas through friends,” he said, “and people here that said, ‘We’re coming out of it; we can feel it. We’re not out of the clouds yet, but we’re going the right way. It’s time to come back.’ ”

Rowe returned last April and is now managing director of construction op-erations of the west division of Shaw-Lundquist Associates, a certified mi-nority business enterprise and one of the largest Asian-owned construction firms in the nation.

Some of the projects he is working on now were ones shelved during the recession. He said his No. 1 challenge is trying to find available experienced project managers and skilled crafts-men.

His dilemma seems to be reinforced by authors of the October 2015 U.S. Census report, Hubert Janicki and Erika McEntarfer. They postulate that contributing to a shortage of ex-perienced workers is a shift in hiring preferences — during the downturn, construction firms hired fewer young workers, so fewer young workers gained experience in the industry, and

the share of older workers grew fast-er than in other industries.

RECRUITING YOUNG PEOPLE “We need to convince young peo-

ple that skilled construction trades are a valid career choice,” said John Restrepo, principal of Las Vegas-based RCG Economics LLC. “Con-struction is one of those few skilled professions that can’t be outsourced to another country. By the very defi-nition of the nature (of construction), it remains in the United States.”

He recommends reaching out to high school students by:

n Increasing vocational technical training in schools.

n Maximizing money received from the U.S. Department of Labor for workforce training for not only entry-level positions but also incum-bent training.

n Ensuring better communication between the community college and the local business community.

Hawk agreed that it is harder to recruit the millennial generation.

“The millennials think differently, and to go in and try to sell them on a part-time job that you’re probably going to bleed (in) everyday — it doesn’t look attractive,” he said. “It takes a special person who wants to do it. I think that pride gets instilled once they start.”

Construction industry returns to life in Las Vegas

CHASE STEVENS/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL FOLLOW @CSSTEVENSPHOTOConstruction continues Feb. 11 at the T-Mobile Arena, which is slated to open in April on 14.5 acres between New York-New York and the Monte Carlo.


SECTION IV: THE ‘NEW’ LAS VEGAS

By VALERIE PUTNAMSPECIAL TO VIEW

Strip reinvents its appeal to tourists

THE VEGAS BRAND

All indicators show the Las Vegas tourism industry is recovering from one of the biggest economic hits in its

history.“We typically mirror the national

trend, if not exceed it, as far as travel volumes,” said Kevin Bagger, executive director of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s research center. “Nationally, tourism was up last year, and we enjoyed record-breaking visitation.”

Another indicator of recovery, according to Mike Lawton, senior research analyst from the Nevada Gaming Control Board, is the Strip’s total revenue reached an all-time record last year, surpassing pre-recession levels at $16.7 billion dollars. Revenue peaked in 2007 at $15.8 billion.

Lawton added that Clark County’s total revenue of over $22 billion last year surpassed its pre-recession peak. He based his information on the annual Nevada Gaming Abstract, a financial analysis of establishments producing $1 million or more in gaming revenue.

As the tourism industry rebounds, the question looms: Does Las Vegas still hold the same comsumer appeal it did prior to the recession?

GAMING REVENUE TAKES A BACK SEAT“We did research to understand

if the Las Vegas brand still meant the same thing in the post-recession mindset,” Bagger said. “Our consumers basically told us that the adult freedom message still resonates. The ‘What happens here, stays here’ message didn’t change

with the recession.”Although the message remains

relevant, Bagger said the recession did change some visitors’ spending mindsets.

“I think people are generally more cautious with their spending,” he said. “They’re not at a level of spending they were at pre-recession.”

A study conducted by the UNLV Center for Gaming Research showed gaming has become less important to the region’s overall revenue picture. This study was based on data provided by the Gaming Control Board. Last year, 65

CHASE STEVENS/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL FOLLOW @CSSTEVENSPHOTOPedestrians cross a bridge over Tropicana Avenue at Las Vegas Boulevard Feb. 11.

▶ See BRAND, Page 33

GRAPHIC 18

STRIP REVENUES, 2007-15*

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALSOURCE: Nevada Gaming Control Board

GamingTotal Rooms Food Beverage Other‘07‘08‘09‘10‘11‘12‘13‘14‘15 ‘07‘08‘09‘10‘11‘12‘13‘14‘15 ‘07‘08‘09‘10‘11‘12‘13‘14‘15‘07‘08‘09‘10‘11‘12‘13‘14‘15 ‘07‘08‘09‘10‘11‘12‘13‘14‘15 ‘07‘08‘09‘10‘11‘12‘13‘14‘15

* Fiscal years, July through June

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▶ BRAND, Continued from

percent of the Strip’s total revenue came from non-gaming, while gaming’s share was more than $5 billion.

“Non-gaming is growing at a faster rate,” Lawton said. “Gaming is growing at a slower rate, and it remains to be seen if and when it will reach its peak again.”

GOING BEYOND GAMBLINGOnce a gaming-driven

destination, Las Vegas has evolved into one offering a broader range of unique entertainment and activities: dining experiences created by famous chefs; nightlife that appeals to a higher-end clientele, with celebrity DJs making regular club appearances; and high-end shopping. In fact, according to Bagger, this diversification into non-gaming in a key factor for the recovery in the tourism industry.

“In the wake of the recession, I think the hotels are actively engaged in ensuring their product remains vibrant, and interesting, to gain repeat visitors,” said Bagger, who estimated that 85 percent of Vegas visitors return. “Therefore, the hotels are constantly striving to build new experiences to get people to come back and sample the destination again.”

The change in focus is due in part to the mid-90s proliferation of gambling’s availability throughout the country.

“Hotel owners are sophisticated business people,” said Bagger, who has been marketing Vegas as an entertainment destination for decades. “They invested knowing they had to have a broader experience.”

Responding to these changes, Vegas hotel owners had to diversify and invest in different avenues of non-gaming entertainment. Beginning prior to the recession, the trend has been building momentum as the region recovers.

“At MGM Resorts and several other resort companies in Las Vegas, that trend has been taking place for many years,” said Rick Arpin, senior vice president of

entertainment and development for MGM Resorts International. “More of our revenue has been non-gaming than gaming, and we’re seeing that trend continuing, so our investments are accordingly in non-gaming assets like the T-Mobile Arena and expanded convention space.”

Set to open in April, the T-Mobile Arena demonstrates an investment in large-scale entertainment. Arpin said the target is to host 100 events annually, with close to 1 million to

1.2 million attendees.The materialization of a pro

sports team, he noted, would further the brand of Las Vegas as a “major league” city.

“The vision of a new arena started more than 10 years ago, as we realized the ways to attract visitors to Las Vegas was changing — no longer could we build a new mega-resort and expect a flood of new visitors,” Arpin said. “We realized events were a key driver of visitor growth, so we wanted to

ensure we had the best venues to attract all types of events.”

Bagger noted the confidence in the marketplace is demonstrated by the more than $6.5 billion in gaming and non-gaming projects either under construction or in the planning stages over the next two years.

“The hotels are constantly keeping an eye on what’s the latest, greatest experience they can bring into the destination,” Bagger said. “The hotels aren’t sentimental. If a certain product or offering isn’t working, they’ll change it out and make it something else.”

These projects include Topgolf Las Vegas, Speed Vegas, Resorts World Las Vegas, a renovation of the Julius Tower at Caesars Palace, and the theater at the Monte Carlo. Gaming-focused projects include Lavo Casino Club, Encore Player’s Club and Wynn’s plans for a poker room.

“Gaming will always be one of the core experiences of Las Vegas,” Bagger said regarding investment into the gaming experience. “Hotels are always looking at how can we make the casino floor more interesting for different demographics.”

As the Strip evolves, so does its clientele. According to Bagger, Vegas has expanded its offerings of premium luxury products, but he noted that these added offerings don’t exclude the average visitor.

“We continue to have a broad mix of experiences, depending on what fits your budget,” he said, adding that having a price point for everybody has been a consistently successful strategy for Vegas over the years.

Source: Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority

In millions

LAS VEGAS VISITORS BY YEAR


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CHASE STEVENS/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL FOLLOW @CSSTEVENSPHOTOTraffic backs up along Tropicana Avenue near Las Vegas Boulevard Feb. 11. Las Vegas established a record in 2015 for the number of tourists who came to town.

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SOURCE: Las Vegas Convention and Visitors AuthorityLAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Citywide Hotel Mid-week Weekend

LAS VEGAS HOTEL OCCUPANCY RATE, 2008-15

2009 2010 2013 20142011 2012 20152008



FAMILY-FRIENDLY SIN CITYWhat does

Las Vegas have to offer kids?

By GINGER MEURERSPECIAL TO VIEW

When Tifferney White told families in the North Carolina Bible Belt that she was moving to Las

Vegas to work in a science museum, she said they were shocked.

“Their response was ‘Where are you going? Oh my gosh, we’re going to pray for you,’ ” she said.

As chief executive officer of the Discovery Children’s Museum, White said she still encounters people who are surprised Las Vegas has a children’s museum.

“When people think of Las Vegas, if you’re thinking about tourists from the outside, they don’t think there’s anything in Las Vegas for children,” she said. “And they’re very surprised when they come to our facility and they see that we would rival any children’s museum across the country.”

“I’ve dealt with that all my life,” museum spokeswoman Denyce Tuller said. “People think that Las Vegas is the Strip and downtown, and that there is not a community of almost 2 million people out here.”

Heidi Hayes, spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said her agency promotes Las Vegas “as the world’s most desirable destination for leisure and business travel.”

While the city’s resorts offer attractions and amenities that appeal to every demographic, the focus on grown-up fun is clear.

“The brand of Las Vegas is adult freedom, and our campaigns reflect that brand,” Hayes said via email. “The ‘What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas’ is still a wildly popular slogan and lauded as one of the top tourism-related campaigns of

all time. The messages within the campaign have evolved and grown for more than a dozen years to fit the changing customer needs.”

Geoff Schumacher, author of “Sun, Sin and Suburbia: An Essential History of Modern Las Vegas,” said that in the early ’90s, resorts realized some visitors would bring children.

“So you saw MGM open their Grand Adventures theme park, and you saw the onset of video game arcades everywhere, and you saw baby-sitting centers everywhere,” he said, adding that, while it was never advertised, the idea got out that the city was family-friendly.

“But it didn’t take long for the casinos to recognize that this was a huge marketing mistake,” he said. “They wanted gamblers … and they knew that kids weren’t making them any money.”

When Steve Wynn opened the Bellagio in 1998, Schumacher said, baby strollers were banned. Wynn Las Vegas repeated the ban in 2005.

Although many family-focused attractions from M&M World to Adventuredome at Circus Circus have remained on the Strip, others have closed, moved or changed

focus. At MGM Grand, the “Wizard of Oz” theme was swapped for a more grown-up focus on Hollywood glamour. Then the MGM theme park closed in 2002. The MGM Lion Habitat closed in 2012. And in 2015, after 20 years, the Rainforest Cafe moved to the corner of Harmon Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard.

But even on the Strip, new family-friendly attractions are opening.

“We are certainly family-friendly, and we anticipate that the addition of Marvel’s Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. this spring will appeal to visitors of all ages,” Michelle Knoll, senior vice president of communications at Treasure Island said by email.

Daniel Pearce, general manager of Victory Hill Exhibitions, the company behind the Avengers attraction, said he hopes the “edu-tainment component” of partnering with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Neuroverse will bring a mix of locals and tourists.

“We’ve experienced a wide demographic in other markets, with 70 percent of ticketed visitors being adults,” he said. “In order for Las Vegas to continue its upward tourism trend, it has to expand its offerings.

We fit perfectly into this niche.”The convention authority doesn’t

track how many children visit Las Vegas or how much money they bring to the economy. The closest statistic it provides is the percentage of visitors traveling with someone younger than 21. In 2008, it was 6 percent; in 2009, it was 8 percent. The percentage climbed to 11 percent in 2012 and dipped to 10 percent in 2013-14.

The question lingers: With only a fraction of visitors traveling with minors, should appealing to children be a priority?

Denise Tanata Ashby, executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Alliance, said there’s more to Las Vegas than tourists.

“Our convention and visitors authority has done such a great job of branding the city of Las Vegas as the Strip, so that’s what people see,” she said. “We love the Strip and the casino industry, but it’s one of the only places in the world where you can go up to the mountains and go play in the snow and go down and play in the lake in one day. There’s a lot more to offer here than just what you see on the Strip.”

GINGER MEURER/SPECIAL TO VIEWThe Discovery Children’s Museum, 360 Promenade Place near The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, is a short drive from the Strip.

By CASSANDRA KEENANVIEW STAFF WRITER

It was anything but drama-free on the local theater scene in various regards during the recession years. The economic

downturn in 2008-09 caused Las Vegas Valley residents to tighten their belts when it came to spending on nonessentials such as entertainment.

Live entertainment tax revenue in Nevada during those years for gam-ing establishments sank from $122 million in 2008 to $112 million in 2009 to $108 million in 2010, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

Still, some local theaters took cen-ter stage, drawing new audiences as residents sought cheaper alterna-tives to major venues, such as those on the Strip, according to Sarah O’Connell, who has been artistic director for the nonprofit Asylum Theatre since 2002.

“We became a better option for your average person in Vegas,” said O’Connell, who also founded Eat More Art Vegas in 2015 at eat-moreartvegas.com, to offer dining and entertainment listings and show reviews. “So people were going to lo-cal theaters where they would have ignored them before.”

Adult attendance at performing arts events in the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, where ad-mission ranges from inexpensive to free, rose 5.4 percent during fis-cal year 2008-09, compared with the previous year, according to Karen Bramwell-Thomas, the district’s public relations manager.

“The recession also impacted the library district’s programming bud-get,” she wrote in an email. “In or-der to stretch the funding, we part-nered with more local organizations to present entertainment options for our community.”

At the Clark County-run Win-chester Cultural Center, 3130 McLeod Drive, attendance suffered despite the venue offering average ticket prices of $10 in advance and $12 at the door. The facility lost its mailing budget due to the reces-sion, crippling its ability to spread the word about events, said Patrick Gaffey, cultural program supervi-sor.

According to Gaffey, the annual budget for printing and mailing was $35,000.

“That was the prime way we reached out to customers,” he said. “People who had been here — we collected their addresses.”

The mailing budget has not been reinstated, but Gaffey said Face-book has become a primary tool for promoting arts events, although some potential audience members, such as older residents, do not use the Internet.

“We’re building our audiences back, but they’re still not as big as they were,” he said. “A large part of our audience has always been se-niors.”

Troy Heard, who came to Las Ve-gas in 2009, is producing artistic director at the Onyx Theatre, 953 E. Sahara Ave. He was also guest di-rector for the now-defunct Insurgo Theater Movement and at the Las Vegas Little Theatre, 3920 Schiff Drive, in 2010.

He said crowd numbers typically vary at the 96-seat Onyx. Its pro-duction of “Reservoir Dolls” — a gender-bending twist on Quentin

Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs” — ran Jan. 14-31 and saw 70 percent capac-ity for each performance in terms of audience turnout.

Prices for shows on the main stage range from $20 to $25, while studio productions cost $15, he said.

“Attendance is so variable; it de-pends from show to show,” he said.

In addition to cuts in government funding for the arts, donations to theater troupes also dried up, caus-ing some production companies and local venues to offer fewer perfor-mances or, in some cases, discontin-uing them, O’Connell said.

“A lot of production companies full-on paused to make sure they didn’t use all their resources up, with nothing left for the future,” she said.

Also, the cost of renting space increased at venues such as area libraries, creating additional prob-lems for troupes that had no the-aters to call their own, she added.

“Everybody was looking to charge more rent to make their bottom line because their programs were af-fected,” O’Connell said.



LEARNING FROM THE STRUGGLEHow the recession changed our values

Cast members from “Geek!” perform at the Onyx Theatre, 953 E. Sahara Ave., Feb. 19. Producing artistic director Troy Heard said audience numbers vary from show to show at the venue. BILL HUGHES/ LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

GRAPHIC 26

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DOLLARS GENERATED BY THE ARTS

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALSOURCE: Bureau of Economic Analysis

$1.6 billionIn billions

2008 2010 20132011 201220092007

By GINGER MEURERSPECIAL TO VIEW

Southern Nevadans just lived through a once-in-a-lifetime recession. Although it’s unlikely the next dip is going

to be as dramatic as 2008, there’s little doubt it’s coming.

Stephen M. Miller, professor and director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the Uni-versity of Nevada, Las Vegas, said it could already be on the way.

Southern Nevadans have been slow to feel it, but the recovery started in July 2009. Since the 1970s, the average time between financial crashes has been roughly seven years. Those seven years

are almost up. Part of the reason the last re-

cession was so devastating was a reliance on the area’s predomi-nant industry, tourism. Miller said Southern Nevada’s employment is roughly 30 percent tourism, about 17 percentage points above the na-tional average.

According to the Nevada Depart-ment of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, 12 of the top 20 employers by number of workers were tied to tourism in 2015, and 14 were tourism-related in 2013 and 2004. The region’s top employer from 2004-14 has been the Clark County School District, with 30,000 to 39,000 employees, followed by Clark County, with 8,500 to 8,999

in 2014, 8,000 to 8,499 in 2013, and 9,000 to 9,499 in 2004.

Few industries have sure-fire recession-proof guarantees.

“The only things that have to oc-cur are taxes and death,” Miller said. “So, tax accounting and fu-neral parlors tend to be recession-proof. However, they’re not a big enough part of the economy that you can put your hat on that.”

Most, including Miller, agree that the stability key is to diversify Southern Nevada’s economy with enough different industries that if any one is struggling, the others can help the region ride the storm.

In Southern Nevada, the Las



▶ See ECONOMY, Page 37

RECESSION-PROOFING VEGAS

Preparing our economy for the next crash

GINGER MEURER/SPECIAL TO VIEWMiguel Hernandez, the full-time resident artist for Zappos, works on pieces inside the company’s downtown Las Vegas headquarters. The online retailer is an example of the push to diversify Southern Nevada’s economy.

LARGEST EMPLOYERS IN CLARK COUNTY Number Of employees as of 2015 Q2

Clark County School District 30,000 To 39,999 Clark County 8,500 To 8,999Wynn Las Vegas 8,000 To 8,499MGM Grand Hotel/Casino 8,000 To 8,499Bellagio Llc 8,000 To 8,499Mandalay Bay Resort And Casino 7,500 To 7,999Aria Resort & Casino Llc 7,500 To 7,999Caesars Palace 5,000 To 5,499University Of Nevada Las Vegas 5,000 To 5,499Las Vegas Metropolitan Police 4,500 To 4,999The Mirage Casino-Hotel 4,500 To 4,999The Venetian Casino Resort 4,500 To 4,999The Cosmopolitan Of Las Vegas 4,000 To 4,499The Palazzo Casino Resort 3,500 To 3,999University Medical Center (UMC) 3,000 To 3,499Encore Las Vegas 3,000 To 3,499Southwest Airlines 3,000 To 3,499Luxor Hotel And Casino 3,000 To 3,499City Of Las Vegas 3,000 To 3,499Sunrise Hospital And Medical Center 2,500 To 2,999Source: Nevada Department Of Employment, Training And Rehabilitation

Vegas Global Economic Alliance, a partnership of civic, education-al and industry leaders, has been charged with proactively seeking out companies that can be wooed by the competitive advantages in Southern Nevada.

The region has a lot going for it, from a major airport with easy accessibility to an agreeable cli-mate. Jonas R. Peterson, the alli-ance’s president and CEO, said it also helps that companies are able to keep costs down, and employees report a higher quality of life

Relatively low taxes don’t hurt, either.

“Even after the commerce tax, we are the only state in the South-west that enjoys a top 10 overall tax rating from the American Tax Foundation,” he added.

Another facet of the alliance’s mission is to grow the region’s ex-isting companies and create com-petitive advantages for what Pe-terson calls “the next generation of industries to grow,” such as in-formation technology, logistics and distribution, unmanned systems, and advanced mobility.

“Now is not the time to be com-placent,” he said. “Now is the time to do even more and get ahead of that next recession while we have the opportunity.”

Peterson’s team is not alone in trying to prepare us for the future. Southern Nevada Strong, a project with input from local government leaders, schools and others, has worked to create the Southern Ne-vada Strong Regional Plan, which identifies strategies to integrate reliable transportation, quality housing for all income levels and job opportunities throughout the region.

Henderson Councilwoman and Southern Nevada Strong Steering Committee Chairwoman Debra March said via email that the orga-nization has embarked on a broad effort to engage the public, col-laborate and develop a vision for future development.

“We were among a select few communities in the United States chosen to seek a course for eco-

nomic recovery through improved regional coordination,” she said.

Through the project’s studies, it found that Southern Nevadans had two top priorities: the need for a variety of well-paying jobs, and high-quality public education.

“Based on that input, the first theme of the Southern Nevada Strong Regional Plan is to improve economic competitiveness and ed-ucation,” March said.

Adam Kramer, executive vice president of strategy for Switch, said the Nevada-based data cen-ter giant has been impressed with higher education’s responsiveness.

“In higher education, we have such an incredible relationship … We have been able to work with them to really address what our long-term needs are and very, very quickly develop the programs that we need for our future workforce. It’s an incredible tool. You talk about diversifying our economy, but if you don’t have the workforce to do it, you’ll run into long-term problems. That’s not going to be our issue in Nevada because Ne-vada is being very, very progres-sive about quickly reacting to the needs of the community and help-ing to develop a workforce.”

Kramer said Nevada has been great for Switch, as it is close enough to Los Angeles in the south

and San Francisco in the north to allow quick commutes for custom-ers, but far enough away to avoid natural disasters and higher tax rates. He added that Switch also has been good for Nevada, offer-ing more than 2,000 free events for more than 42,000 people in the Innevation Center, a collaborative workspace donated to the commu-nity by Switch founder Rob Roy.

Online retailer Zappos is another ambassador for Southern Nevada economic diversity. Brian Paco Alvarez, the company’s art cura-tor and historian, said its move to downtown Las Vegas has been a game changer for the city.

“We have over 20,000 people a year who come to Zappos just to visit, to take a tour of our campus,” Alvarez said. “You’re talking about people who will pay $10 to come tour and see how people work. Be-cause they want to see who we are as a company. They want to see our culture because our main business strategy is our culture.”

Aside from efforts to diversify the state, there’s plenty individu-als can do to prepare themselves for the next financial downturn.

Doris Ostrander, director of con-tinuing education for the UNLV Division of Educational Outreach, said even people who are employed and happy in their career can de-

velop new skills to stay current. “If your employer has to make

a hard choice about who to keep around, the person who is bringing new skills, who is working hard to keep up, is probably going to look a little more attractive, and they’re also going to be in a better position should they unfortunately get laid off and need to look for another job,” she said.

David Hehn, financial adviser and retirement investment instruc-tor for UNLV’s Continuing Educa-tion program, said that while peo-ple are like snowflakes, and every one of them is different, there are a few key financial truths that are universal. No. 1 is to have enough savings to tide you over at least six months, preferably a year.

“The number of average Ameri-cans who could come up with $2,000 for a car repair is absolutely tiny,” he said.

Hehn also said it’s vital people think in advance about estate plans, long-term health care insur-ance and retirement.

“Take a couple that is making $75,000 — not a high lifestyle in today’s economy,” he said. “Those folks, if they enter into retirement and they have 20 years more to live, they need over $1 million in retirement to continue a $75,000 lifestyle. It’s amazing how far the money doesn’t go when you factor in inflation and taxes.”



▶ ECONOMY, Continued from

GINGER MEURER/SPECIAL TO VIEWThe Switch Innevation Center, 6795 S. Edmond St., is a collaborative workspace donated to the community by Switch founder Rob Roy. It has hosted more than 2,000 free events for more than 42,000 people.

“You talk about diversifying our economy, but if you don’t have the workforce to do it, you’ll run into long-term problems. That’s not going to be our issue in Nevada because Nevada is being very, very progressive about quickly reacting to the needs of the community and helping to develop a workforce.” ADAM KRAMEREXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF STRATEGY, SWITCH


SECTION V: HOW DO WE COMPARE?

HOW WE STACK UPFinancial experts weigh in on Las Vegas’ recovery

By CAITLYN BELCHERSPECIAL TO VIEW

In the early 2000s, Las Vegas was on the upswing for population, employment and housing growth. But at the downturn of the recession, Southern Nevada found

itself on the wrong side of the curve.“We were ground zero for the Great

Recession, and because it was so deep, our fall off the cliff was a lot farther,” said Stephen Miller, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV. “The recovery is taking longer for us, even if we’re recovering at the same rate as other cities. It’s like climbing a tall mountain compared to a small one.”

Although at a slower rate, local economic experts and analysts agree that the Las Vegas economy should continue to improve through 2016-17.

PREDICTING THE UNPREDICTABLEThere are some factors financial experts

consider when predicting an economic upswing or coming downturn. They include monitoring the number of unemployment insurance claims; short-term and long-term interest rates; the stock market; and building permits.

However, predictions should always be taken with caution, according to Dr. Samuel Sarri, economics/philosophy professor at the College of Southern Nevada.

“The human factor is hard to predict, which makes economics such a difficult subject,” Sarri said. “We could say that we predict we’re eating pizza for dinner tomorrow but decide at the last minute we want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead. Economics operates in a similar unpredictable manner.”

BURSTING THE BUBBLEDespite still leading the nation in home

mortgages underwater, Las Vegas ranked third in the top 30 metros for fastest growth in housing prices between 2010-15, according to Brian Gordon, a partner at Applied Analysis.

“We bottomed out in 2009 when about 70 percent of homes were underwater. Now, it’s about 23 to 24 percent of homes,” Miller said. “We’re still leading the nation in that aspect, but the large reduction of that is because home prices have gone up.”

During the recession, the median house value dropped from about $345,000 to about $90,000, according to Sarri.

“Right now, the median is about $179,000,” Sarri said. “We project that the median will catch up in around four to five years. So by 2020, we may go back to reasonable median values, which is about $220,000 to $225,000.”

FULL-TIME VERSUS PART-TIME WORKERSAs the economy declined, CSN professor

Kevin Raiford said employers preferred to

hire more part-time workers and outsource other jobs to save costs and scale down.

“As a result, more people had to work two jobs just to make ends meet,” he said. “There’s less of a support structure and less job security that way. People are seen as very replaceable, and it makes a huge impact on our community.”

BROADENING THE JOB MARKETDespite having one of the highest

unemployment rates during the recession, Las Vegas ranked first in the top 30 metros for improvement between 2010-15. In five years, the rate decreased 7.7 percent, according to Gordon.

“It’s important to also notice that the mix of jobs is much different,” he said. “While the construction sector is down 50,000 jobs since our economic peak, we’ve seen gains in other sectors. The wider distribution of jobs is expected to provide some level of increased stability.”

Also, the increase in small businesses is driving the economy in a positive direction, Raiford said.

“We’re definitely making some progress because we repurpose ourselves and see the alternatives in situations,” he said. “Vegas has a ‘can-do’ attitude, and our numbers are often better thªn they look.”

Stephen MillerUNLV professor of economics

Samuel SarriCSN professor of economics/philosophy

Brian GordonPartner, Applied Analysis

Kevin RaifordCSN professor of business

▶ See EXPERTS, Page 39


THE COST OF EDUCATIONIn 2014, the median income per household

in Clark County was about $51,200. The national average was about $53,650, while states such as Maryland and Connecticut ranged above $70,000, according to Sarri.

“It’s the nature of the labor demanded,” he said. “Washington, D.C., Maryland and Connecticut have a higher demand for lawyers, physicians and bankers. (Las Vegas) is still looking for manual laborers, such as housekeepers and servers, which pay less.”

However, he stressed the importance of obtaining an education when entering the workforce or looking for a new career.

“Gone are the days of being a valet driver out of high school and making $80,000 a year,” he said. “Now, even if you have (a Master of Business Administration), you’ll be lucky if you start at $60,000.”

FEAST OR FAMINELas Vegas is a feast or famine kind of city,

according to Raiford. He calls our income disparity “one of the largest in the nation.”

“I think our ‘Vegas mentality’ plays a huge role in it,” he said. “We’re such risk-takers. There is no middle ground — we go for it all or lose it all.”

Glancing at the Strip, Sarri said, “you would think Las Vegas is full of billionaires.”

However, nearly 24 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and 50 percent of children live with parents whose mortgages are underwater.

“We need to encourage students to learn a trade skill after high school. You can get a license within six months and get a decent paying job,” Sarri said. “You don’t need a Ph.D. to get paid $800 a month. That’s poverty after all the sacrifice you went through for 10 years.”

A BRIGHTER FUTUREHistorically, Las Vegas has had one of

the most robust economies in the country, barring the last decade, according to Gordon.

With a growing job economy and housing industry, he said the valley remains an affordable place to live compared to other major markets.

“We’re full of opportunities and 320 days of sunshine. Compared to Portland or Buffalo, Las Vegas is on the upswing,” Raiford said. “With a positive mentality, we’ll always persevere and adapt.”

While the economy is getting better, Sarri said it won’t be like the pre-recession heydays.

“We have to learn to live with less, and we have to create more with less,” Sarri said. “If we can live within our means, then we can feed the growth of the economy.”

SECTION V: HOW DO WE COMPARE?

▶ EXPERTS, Continued from

JOSHUA DAHL/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNALDr. Samuel Sarri, an economics/philosophy professor at the College of Southern Nevada, says that glancing at the Strip makes people think of billionaires, but nearly 24 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

neon rebirth: the post-recession american dream in las vegas

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