COLUMN: Southern Nevada's resiliency underscored at Crystal Ball

One of my favorite people in Las Vegas is Mayor Oscar Goodman. I don't have a relationship with him, we're not friends or anything, but I loved his style as an attorney and continue to love his style as mayor.

Goodman jumped into his job with all the enthusiasm and joy anyone could possibly bring to an elected position. He proved the pundits wrong and did it with the voice of the people.

So, it was my pleasure to attend Crystal Ball on Jan. 17, because Goodman was the featured speaker. The mayor gave us a brief history of the events that have occurred during his stint in office and outlined where he sees the city progressing. And, he did it in his inimitable style, cracking wise at himself and stroking the audience.

Of course, Goodman predicts that the opening of the Neonopolis project and construction activity in the Spaghetti Bowl area will be fantastic for downtown, not to mention the new high-rise business offices that recently opened and other construction in the Fourth Street area and the Arts Area.

Poor John Stewart, vice president of strategic business development for Countrywide Loans, who had to follow the mayor on the podium. The old saw about not following children and animal acts on the stage should be expanded to not following Goodman.

Stewart said the No. 1 question as 2002 begins is: How strong will the U.S.-led recovery be and what form will it take?

He pointed out that today's recession has little in common with recessions of the past because it's occurring in an economy that continues to operate in a low inflation, low interest rate environment. To fuel the fire of recovery, consumer expectations are up; retail sales are up; the stock market is up; and energy prices are down.

Stewart said the outlook for the economy is best summed up by Charles Pradilla, chief market strategist for SG Cowen: "It is a foregone conclusion, unless something comes totally off the radar screen, that there will be both an economic and a profit recovery before the end of the first half of the year."

Host, master of ceremonies and marketing executive Steve Bottfeld expressed his anger at the pundits who have given Las Vegas no chance for prosperity in 2002, pointing his fury at the local "experts" who have been hanging crepe on our economy.

Bottfeld pointed out that no city in the United States has made a faster recovery than Las Vegas: hotel occupancy is nearing normalcy on weekends and is rapidly improving on weekdays; the valley escaped the CreditWatch report placed on several tourist destinations in October by Standard and Poor's; more than 5,500 people move here every month; and, total employment is up 0.8 percent over the previous year at the same time.

He particularly pointed his anger at Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and the U.S. government for their seeming willingness to shove Yucca Mountain down our throats and took umbrage at John Sununu characterizing anti-dump enthusiasts as being unpatriotic.

Bottfeld believes some Winter Olympics spectators in Salt Lake City will turn to Las Vegas in search of a different type of games.

"Salt Lake expects to see the snow turn green in a $300 million windfall, but some of the green stuff will find itself blowing down Interstate 15 ...," he said.

Carmel Hopkins, real estate product manager for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Las Vegas Sun, can be reached at 380-4574. Her e-mail address is Carmel_Hopkins@ lasvegasnewspapers.com. Snail mail is P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.

Real Estate home