Las Vegas: Startup City

Great column from Business Week on the rebirth of Downtown Las Vegas and the role that Zappos is playing in the optimism.

By Brad Stone

The history of Las Vegas is full of determined men with outsize egos and grand plans. There was Bugsy Siegel in the 1940s, envisioning a gambling mecca in the desert, away from the reach of law enforcement. A half century later, developers like Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson added pomp, glitz, and more than a touch of excess to the area that has become known as the Strip.

Now there’s another resolute businessman who wants to bend Sin City to his vision. Tony Hsieh, the soft-spoken chief executive officer of shoe and apparel site Zappos.com (a division of Amazon.com) (AMZN) wants to turn the often overlooked and economically depressed downtown area into a dense urban neighborhood teeming with artists, entrepreneurs, and Internet workers. It’s one of the most unconventional redevelopment efforts in any American city, ever. Instead of soliciting public funds, Hsieh is spending $350 million of his own money to buy empty lots, seed new businesses, and subsidize schools. Next year he’ll move his company’s 1,400 local employees from suburban offices into the 11-story former City Hall (complete with jail cells on the second floor that may become meeting rooms). “What started out as a campus relocation project has evolved into a project to revitalize downtown Vegas,” Hsieh says.

Read the rest of the story here

Gov. Sandoval Clears Airspace for Santa's Sleigh

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval has issued an executive order clearing the airspace over the Silver State for Santa's visit Saturday evening, Sunday morning.

READ IT HERE

Special Olympics and Rio Fundraiser! Rappel Down The Side!

LAS VEGAS, NV --- If you’re an adrenaline junkie looking for something to do in Sin City, consider stepping off the roof of the 51-story Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino and enjoy the views as you rappel more than 400 feet to the safety of the ground!


On October 15, the Rio will host Over the Edge, a fundraising rappelling event to benefit Special Olympics Nevada. As many as 100 people will make their way down the northwest side of the building on two ropes – all to raise money for the charity. Lisa Tenner, president of Tenner and Associates, Inc. will be the FIRST to rappel down along with her husband Mark Tenner. Joining Lisa and Mark will be Flamingo Las Vegas headliner, Nathan Burton, UFC Champion Chuck “Iceman” Liddell, UNLV mascot Hey, Reb and many other local celebrities will support the Special Olympics in their quest to raise as much as $100,000 from the event.


Lisa Tenner (www.tennerandassoc.com) considered one of the best and brightest in marketing, branding and event promotion, is returning to her roots and one of her life’s passions. Lisa was the tri-state (Ca, Az, Nv) chairman for Special Olymics from 1974-1983. When she, along with Mike Sexton, Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher founded www.pokergives.org, Special Olympics immediately became a designated recipient of their poker community charity.

When Lisa Tenner was asked to participate in an event of “rappelling” for Special Olympics, she thought it was a special shopping spree, another lifelong love! Then she found out that she was going to jump off a building! “There is nothing greater in life than unconditional love and that is what the children of Special Olympics give back to the world. I am proud to go over the edge and I urge people to sign up and join me in this thrilling adventure of a lifetime,” says Lisa.


“The red and purple glass of Rio is iconic to Las Vegas, but how many people can say they walked on that glass?” asked Maggie Schwarz, Regional Vice President of Special Olympics Nevada. “This is the perfect location to go Over the Edge and we are so excited that Caesars Entertainment and the team at Rio are brave enough to partner again with Special Olympics Nevada. Take our dare and join us too!”


Participants known as “edgers,” must raise at least $1,000 in support of the activities and programs of Special Olympics Nevada and pre-register at www.OverTheEdgeLasVegas.com to partake in this once-in-a-lifetime experience. All funds will go directly toward providing training opportunities, equipment, uniforms and practice venues for some 4,000 Special Olympics athletes in Nevada.


“We’re excited about offering this amazing experience while raising much needed funds for our Las Vegas athletes,” said Rick Collett, CEO and President of Special Olymics Nevada. “Our athletes have a lot of courage and take risks everyday when they try to do something thought to be impossible by most. Likewise, this event will take a lot of courage for anyone who decides to rappel 400 feet in the middle of Las Vegas.”


All “edgers” must be in good health, and weigh no less than 100 pounds and no more than 300 pounds. The rappelling will be supervised by Over the Edge, a Nova Scotia company that has organized dozens of rappelling events all over North America.


“Edgers” can solicit donations from family, friends and co-workers through Over the Edge online giving site and businesses can pool donations to fund a “Toss Your Boss” campaign. For more information, visit www.OverTheEdgeLasVegas.com


Special Olympics Nevada:
Special Olympics Nevada is a free year round sports training and competition program for children and adults with developmental disabilities. About 4,000 compete in 12 sports. This gives them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendships with their families, other Special Olympics athletes, and the community financial support comes almost exclusively from individuals, organizations, corporations and foundations. Find out how you can be a fan and visit: www.SONV.org


Lisa Tenner comments, “I am truly honored to be the first person to rappel 51 stories down the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino Masquerade Tower. It touches my heart to participate and donate to Special Olympics. I hope that dozens of others will join my personal quest and sign up immediately to help Special Olympics reach their $100,000 fundraising goal.”

Lady Gaga in Las Vegas

LocalsLoveVegas.com has learned that for today and the next two days Lady Gaga will be rehearsing at Dream Vision Studios on Russell Road in Las Vegas. We are efforting exclusive photos. She will be here Wed, Thursday and Friday of this week.

update

Dancers and other performers were involved in today's session. No recording or photos are being allowed at the session after our first report. Security, very tight. Two more days of rehearsals scheduled. This is for the "IHeartRadio" Music festival at the MGM Grand this weekend.

Special Charity Musical Event This Sunday

Sunday July 24th
@Calvary Chapel Spring Valley 7175 W. Oquendo rd. Las Vegas NV 89113
From 6-8pm
Guest musician Scott Cunningham
The Whosoevers: Sonny from P.O.D., Head from Korn, and Ryan Ries coming to hang out and share at this event.
The Event is entitled Reaching This Generation
Our phone number is (702)362-9000.

Why the NFL Will Get A Deal Done, Soon

By Ron Futrell @RonFutrell

(NOTE--This column was written July 7th. Well before anything was settled by NFL players and owners, Ron had accurate sources in the NFL who gave him vital information to come to this conclusion well before anybody else)

The NFL lockout will end soon and regular season games will not be lost. Book it.

After all the talk about TV deals, cash for players, percentages for owners and how much to pay retired players is hashed out, the biggest issue could be timing.

The first Sunday of the regular season falls on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

Do not underestimate the power of that date and how it relates to this issue.

Let’s take the negative side first. Imagine empty stadiums on the 10th anniversary of the most horrific attack on American soil by foreign terrorists. Now---I’m in no way comparing the two here, just setting the stage for what the mindset of the American people will be on that day. While we honor those who died in the attacks and the talk is about “never again,” the fact that selfish billionaire owners and millionaire players could not work out a contract will create more animosity towards the NFL than they could imagine. “What, we can’t rebuild the Twin Towers and we can’t work out a deal to play football, what’s wrong with this country?” This will be the mindset of the average fan, and they would be right.

Now, let’s take the positive side. Let’s imagine football stadiums filled on that Sunday and NFL teams market properly and plan their pre-game ceremonies to build a patriotic bond between the fans and the future on this day of remembrance. The league has already told its teams that they will be wearing special 9/11 patches on that opening Sunday to remember what happened. There is nothing wrong with the league taking advantage of the timing here and working to create an atmosphere of optimism for America and for the future. Sports does this very well, and this will be another opportunity for the American passion of football to do it in a way that only it can.

"We will use the national platform to remember and reflect upon those who lost their lives and honor families who lost loved ones," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said via e-mail. "We also will salute the American spirit, the early responders on 9/11 and everyday heroes.

"We designed the schedule in a manner that would enable us to help appropriately commemorate, on a national level, September 11th and what it represents to Americans."

Let’s think back for a moment on what happened nearly 10 years ago. September 11, 2001 was a Tuesday morning. It is etched forever in our memories. NFL games were postponed the Sunday following 9/11 but made up the first weekend in January. Because of the nature of the sport, it would’ve been difficult for teams to properly prepare for a Sunday game. But when the NFL returned to play they gave appropriate recognition to what had happened. Every player in the league had a patch on their jersey to honor those who died on 9/11. The Jets and Giants wore special patches on their uniforms to honor firefighters from New York City. This is the first time the league has ever done something like this, the 10th anniversary will be the second time.

The Loss of Armon Gilliam--A Great Rebel

By Ron Futrell follow: @RonFutrell

This came as a major shock to those who knew him.

One of the strongest players the Rebel basketball program has ever known collapses on the court of an apparent heart attack and dies while playing a pick-up game in his hometown near Pittsburgh, PA.

Armon Gilliam (or Armen after he began play in the NBA) was the kindest, nicest Rebel basketball player I ever knew. It's as simple as that. His play on the court was the exact opposite. While never a dirty player, but he was a fighter under the basket and it earned him the nickname "The Hammer."

Well deserved, but he was anything but "The Hammer" in his personal life.

While covering the Rebels in the late 80's we were in a hotel lobby in Salt Lake City. I heard an unusually beautiful melody coming from a piano across the room. I walked over and was surprised to see Armon there playing away like he owned the room. Quickly I asked our cameraman to grab his gear and shoot this amazing video. I had a feature story here that nobody else would have. The Hammer, hammering out a tune for the small crowd in the lobby.

Armon sheepishly stopped playing and then asked me kindly if I would not shoot any video of him playing the piano. I was a bit surprised by his reaction, but he wanted to keep his piano playing personal. I understood. I lost a feature story, but saw a side of the big man that made me respect him even more.

One day before practice I saw Armon drive up in an old station wagon, I believe a Buick. This was another shocker for me. In a time when Rebel basketball players were known for driving some pretty nice cars---Armon had his old station wagon that he may have driven himself from Pennsylvania to Las Vegas. It looked like he had---a few times. It made a statement about the man who led the Rebels to 3 NCAA appearances in his three seasons at UNLV and a Final Four in 1987. He was at UNLV to work, get the job done and wasn't much for the flash that the program relished---still he was a perfect fit.

On the court, nobody worked harder. Tim Grgurich was always there, tirelessly in his efforts to turn Armon from a state champion wrestler to the ultimate college power forward. Armon had the best teacher and as a student, he learned quickly.

That Final Four in New Orleans was a special treat. I recall talking Armon and Gary Graham, two northeast guys, to head with me for a live shot in front of the New Orleans Superdome. We had set up a special crawfish boil there and they were willing to enjoy it with us. They were not prepared for how spicy it was, but Armon was always the trooper and made it through the interview while his mouth was burning from the corn. He was always gracious and forever the gentleman.

Armon was the second player chosen in the 1988 draft by the Phoenix Suns and he spent 13 solid years in the NBA.

Armon Gilliam---47 years old and left an impact forever on those who knew him.