Downtown Vegas residents still oppose Stratosphere ride

You know, people said the same thing regarding the development of the flats area in Cleveland on the west bank of the Cuyahoga (bars, clubs, restaurants, etc.). Sure enough, the adjacent Ohio City neighborhood has been seeing a fair amount of retail and housing development.

If I lived there, I'd be against it, but one has to wonder if it would turn the neighborhood into a slum, or do exactly the opposite.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"
Watch the grass grow!

Why can't these people that oppose this ride just get up off their duffs and find something else to criticise, like maybe the prostitution problems or maybe even mind their own bussiness and just enjoy the extra dollars that would roll into their town? We have nothing up here in Northern Indiana to enjoy except for the dunes and all they are is fun to climb and look at. We would love to have something nice to enjoy such as the stratosphere with a coaster and a turbo shot!!!
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DEJA VUE KICKS ALL FORMS OF BUTT!!!!

Because they have to LIVE next to it.

But that's what they're getting at. There has been residential revitalization. If they build the thing and property values go down, you've got low-income housing. Low-income housing tends to attract the criminal element, and therefore you've got a crappy neighborhood!

Is that what will happen? Who knows, but if it's your property on the line, do you even want to chance it? I don't know how much your house cost or how much equity you have in it, but I for one would have a very large five-digit number at stake and that's only the down payment and a few months on the mortgage!

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"
Watch the grass grow!

i agree with Jeff...you have to see it from the locals point of view...i mean id love to see a 740 ft arrow "hyper". but you have to consider all the odds.  i can totally understand these peoples concern.
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ROLLERCOASTERS....BETTER THAN OXYGEN BABY!!!!!!

Even if it was built, do they even have wheels that would stand up to the heat that it would create from this ride? I assume that the radius of the wheels would have to be bigger than S:TE's...am I right in this assumption.

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Mayday - Memorial Day Weekend - Nonpoint, Nickelback, Oleander, Staind
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Some of these people already live 1500-2000 feet away from a tower that is 1150 ft. tall.  Sorry if I seem ignorant, but what difference is going to make if you build a 400 ft. just a few hundred feet closer.

they chose to live in a torist attraction town that is noisy 24/7, and that will allways try to grow bigger and better...if they don't like that then they can move! They had to be expecting some things to be built there...it's a freakn torist town! I'm for it!
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The ride should simply be built somewhere else.

The friction problem would have to be solved by either inventing a new kind of wheel, or bypassing wheels alltogether.

Having just spent 5 days in Vegas and then reading this, I have to point out 2 very ludicris statements in this article.

#1  

“Any hopes of a downtown revitalization requires that residents come back to the downtown area. This project is completely contrary to that vision. Nobody wants to live in the shadow of a carnival.’’

#2

He also worries about noise issues and the “safety of motorists distracted by a 120-mph bullet zooming across their face.’’

To the first statement, Las Vegas is an adult oriented carnival plain and simple. That is why all but the last night we stayed at Buffalo Bill's 40 miles south of town. Less noise, lights, and crowds.

To the second statement, Las Vegas Blvd. is 1 giant distraction. From the Stratosphere to Mandalay Bay it is one distration after another. Lights, neon. televisions, volcanoes, pirate ship battles, water shows, and multi gazillion dollar hotel and casino facilities. And getting a couple of blocks off the strip does not make that much of a difference in all of those distractions. Just my opinion as I listen to jets fly over my house. I knew they were there when I signed my life away, and knew it could get worse.

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Just a couple of G-force junkies!

I could go both ways on this, I mean with the way Jeff explained things i wouldnt want my neighboor hood to become home to low lives and druggies.

On the other I cant see how people would be afraid to live in the "shadow of a carnival" when "Sin City" is and has always been a huge carnival.

If they wanna argue their point theyll  have to use some better excuses. 

Yeesh, the whole city is already an eyesore and they are worried about how it will look? Any city that has let loose Evils such as Siegfried and Roy on the world has no right to complain about anything.

I'm for both sides I guess, but the side I'm primarily on is that of the hotel. That area around the Stratoshpere is full of prostitution, drugs, and violence. That's concrete. I just find it hard to believe that people are concerned with something such as the rollercoaster at the Stratophere, than the 3 problems mentioned above (Not the rollercoaster). They have their priorities wrong. I would think that personal safety is a lot more important than something that might just blend into the skyline of Las Vegas as does everything else. It's known that new things bring new people. If this rollercoaster is built, which is almost definitely going to happen, it will not hurt the surrounding areas, but help them, in meaning that people might be more interested in living around that area, boosting up the value of the local homes. As for a distraction, I don't really see that, because if you think about it, every single solitary thing in that city is a huge distraction. Volcano at the Mirage, the pirate battles at Treasure Island, the fountains of Bellagio - all distractions. I really don't think that this will be any different. If it is, you should be more cafeful then from now on.

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"That area around the Stratosphere is full of prostitution, drugs, and violence."

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I believe that prostitution is legas in most of Nevada EXCEPT for the city of Las Vegas. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

"they chose to live in a torist attraction town that is noisy 24/7, and that will allways try to grow bigger and better...if they don't like that then they can move! They had to be expecting some things to be built there...it's a freakn torist town! I'm for it!

Something crazy about just getting up and moving... IT COST MONEY. and from personal experience I can say Vegas is not a cheep town to live in. You can say your in for it but your just a coaster nut who probaly doesn't have a clue how such a big discesion can affect where you live./P>
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- http://www.lagoonpark.com *** This post was edited by Gonzo on 10/9/2001. ***

See, here's the thing, while I don't know the neighborhood, the people they describe moving into that area, young professionals, is a good thing. I've seen it happen in neighborhoods around Cleveland. It does change things. I realize that Vegas is a big adult playground, but the people who run that playground do need to live somewhere, and beyond the city there isn't much out there.

Surely you all have some degree of hometown pride. Apply that to this situation.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"
Watch the grass grow!

I can see the point about property values, and I can't say that it would be something I'd like to see in Louisville.

I feel much more strongly, however, that Las Vegas is what it is, and you have to allow for such types of amusement in a city that boasts itself as the amusement captial of the world.  I'd be willing to bet, although this is a guess, 95% of the people in that city have a job that relates to tourism.

In the end, I guess they have to draw a line somewhere, but I don't think there will be any consistancy to their desicion-making down the road.  If it's not this, it will most likely be something else.

From what I have seen, that particular area of Las Vegas (Stratosphere area) isn't exactly the most appealing neighborhood around.  If you start at the south end of the Strip at Mandalay Bay and work north, you'll notice that it gets a little "seedier" the further you go.  Once you get to the Sahara, the Strip becomes interesting.  There's the Bonanza Gift Shop (billed as the "world's largest") and some run down areas that are in the process of being revitalized.  And once you are at the Stratosphere, the area surrounding it consists of tattoo parlors, pawn shops, porn shops, and "hourly" motels like the infamous DelMar.  So if the people of that area think this will make that area an eyesore, they should look around and see what is already there.  I also don't think traffic will be that badly affected.  I mean, it seems like no matter what time of day you're on the Strip (which is FIVE lanes of traffic in each direction), traffic isn't exactly moving at a brisk rate. 

I'm not trying to take sides...and I think the Stratosphere area could be cleaned up if given time.  Perhaps adding something unusual like this would be a great way to start.... then again, what do I know?  ;)

ProgRay

I can see where these homeowners are coming from, however, it requires us to step back and look at things from a non-coaster enthusiast's point of view. Sure, we all would love to see this huge coaster become a reality, but would we all be willing to watch our homes depreciate in value if we were the ones that had to live near it 24/7? I speak from experience because my family bought a new home in a nice community about ten years ago which had one set of train tracks in the back yard. The track was lightly used, so it really didn't seem like a problem at the time. A few years down the road, the railroad added a second track behind our house, the traffic and noise from the trains is now very disturbing, and the chances of selling our home if we ever choose to do so are slim. I love coasters as much as the next enthusiast, but sometimes it's more important to think about who was there first.