Monday, February 21, 2011

Lot's Of Las Vegas News Today: A Good Foreclosure, Indy Cars And College Closures?

Today has been a busy day in Las Vegas.
In the most ironic news of the day, Brian Greenspun and the Las Vegas Sun and their off shoot corporation which owns The District at Green Valley, a large shopping outside shopping center right by the Green Valley casino went into receivership today as they owed over $100,000,000.
From the Sun: Lenders owed about $100 million have assumed ownership of The District at Green Valley Ranch mixed-use center in Henderson.
The District was developed by the Greenspun family, owner of the Las Vegas Sun, through its American Nevada Company. The District includes retail, office, entertainment and residential components.
Because of weak sales by key retailers and declining occupancy, income at the property fell during the recession and American Nevada said in late 2009 it had
put the loan for the property into strategic default in hopes of negotiating more realistic terms.
Bruce Deifik, president of The Greenspun Corporation, parent of American Nevada, said Monday that American Nevada worked for 16 months to restructure the loan but in the end couldn't come to terms with the lenders, which foreclosed on the property in January.

It's ironic that this happened a day after the Sun and Greenspun wished death and destruction on Florida for political reasons. A bad thing like this could not have not have happened to a worse bunch of people.
For some reason they didn't accept comments on this story. I guess Greenspun is just as weak minded and a wimp as Desert Beacon and Blue Cheddar. I am pretty sure that ma and pa Greenspun would be quite disappointed in their son who is such a wimp that he can't stand criticisms.

Next up, the Indy Cars will be coming to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for their season ending race on October 16th. This is the same weekend as the Sam's Town Camping World 350 truck race. This is great news on many fronts. It pairs up the truck race with another race, which makes it a full weekend. The last race of the season is always the best in any car racing major event and we got it. And I love Indy car racing, they are much more competitive than NASCAR who races in a single file vs Indy cars who race side by side. For more information: http://www.lvrj.com/sports/indycar-series-returning-to-las-vegas-this-season-116609618.html

Finally, the faculty at UNLV has put out a plan to close most of the State's small colleges located in small cities such as Ely Elko, Pahrump and other small towns in Nevada. Is this a payback to the GOP who represent the areas of the smaller campuses?
From Jon Ralston, posted the letter on the Las Vegas Sun website:
A PROPOSAL FOR RESTRUCTURING THE NEVADA SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION (NSHE)
BACKGROUND
The budget for NSHE reflects a reduction of 29.1% in the next biennium (2011‐2013). State general
fund support for NSHE is projected to be reduced by $163 million. The NSHE administration has
directed each of the eight institutions to anticipate drastic funding reductions. The University of
Nevada ‐ Las Vegas portion of this proposed reduction in state funding is $47.5 million while the
University of Nevada – Reno reduction is $53.3 million. All indications suggest that the NSHE Board
of Regents will declare financial exigency (bankruptcy) in response to the 29.1% reduction in state
funding. The NSHE – System Center must consider dramatic restructuring in order to preserve the
core mission of higher education for the State of Nevada.
The NSHE system is comprised of eight units occupying nine campuses:
• Western Nevada Community College
• Great Basin College
• Nevada State College
• Desert Research Institute – North
• Desert Research Institute – South
• Truckee Meadows Community College
• University of Nevada – Reno
• College of Southern Nevada
• University of Nevada ‐ Las Vegas
ACTION
Given what appears to be devastating reductions in state funding to NSHE, only four institutions
should be maintained:
• One college – North
• One university – North
• One college – South
• One university – South

http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/pdfs/blogs/documents/2011/02/21/Nine_to_Four_Plan.pdf

Quite frankly, this is a stpid idea. So, if you live in Elko, good luck commuting to school. It will also hurt the economy of these cities are it, especially the schools in the smaller cities.
On the other hand, it may make sense to integrate UNLV, CSN and NSC and share resources within the colleges. It will stop the duplicating of classes in all three or 2 colleges and they may be able to buy supplies cheaper.
So in the end, this plan will never fly but some parts are worth looking to.

2 comments:

  1. DAN IS THE REASON I LEFT WISCONSIN 11 YEARS AGO.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, I guess you aren't my ex-wife, so I guess you just are a loud mouth bozo who doesn't know how to write in small letters.

    ReplyDelete