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Monday, November 30, 2009
Website Launch Date Of January 10, 2010, Set For PrimmToday.com
By Robert L. Candiotti
I have worked in Primm, Nevada, for more than four and a half years.
Veering off to Primm was an unexpected sidetrack
in my life. Working in Primm has led to some interesting and growth-laden experiences.
IvanpahValley.com
(launched 7/7/07) and GreenAirport.net (launched 8/8/08) would never have happened for me if I did not travel
between Las Vegas and Primm (40 miles) several days each week.
The proposed site of Ivanpah Valley Airport
is adjacent to Primm, Nevada. Every time I go to work in Primm and return home to Las Vegas, I pass the location of Ivanpah
Valley Airport.
I have been considering a website about Primm specifically for some time. The launch date for PrimmToday.com
is now set for January 10, 2010 (1/10/10).
8:15 am pst
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Jogging Through Desert Breeze Park In Las Vegas At Dawn On Thanksgiving 2009
By Robert L. Candiotti
Though I mostly write in this website about Southern Nevada's Ivanpah Valley and the proposed Ivanpah Valley Airport,
I actually live in Las Vegas.
My neighborhood - where I have lived for 11 years - is known as The Lakes, about
20 minutes by car west of the mind-bending (I assure you, I am not complaining) Las Vegas Strip.
Today
is Thanksgiving. I give thanks for Desert Breeze Park. It is a therapeutic and relaxing place just a few minutes from my abode.
Desert Breeze Park is vast. I cannot even name the number of acres it entails. For sure, it is hundreds of acres.
Most mornings, I jog at dawn at Desert Breeze Park. Today was no exception.
When I run through my
residential area and cross the intersection of Durango and Twain to plunge into the park, I often feel I am warmly embraced
by Desert Breeze. It provides me with solace before I face the day - and usually go to Primm (40 miles south of Las Vegas
at the NV-CA border) where I work.
For one thing, the park is always immaculate. There is a large number of people
- in orange and gold vests - who ceaselessly pick up all forms of garbage. Aside from Thanksgiving and Christmas, they
are always there - even at dawn.
I like to jog by the dog runs where I see so many gorgeous and ebullient dogs
of every size, as well as their devoted owners. There are separate areas for large, medium and small size dogs. Canines and
their caretakers were there this morning even before 6:30 a.m.
There was nobody there today from Boot Camp Las
Vegas, the people who work out with military-like ferocity and discipline, but they usually are there with impressive crack-of-dawn
enthusiasm. No Boot Camp on Thanksgiving, apparently. But I bet they'll be there tomorrow at dawn!
I always run
past the skateboard park. Even at dawn, you can often feel the youthful energy. Today there were a few boys 10 or 11 years
old - yelling wildly like kids absolutely need to from time to time - working on their skateboard tricks.
There are always thin Chinese people at the park doing their graceful Asian movements, often with Chinese music playing
loudly through small speakers. There were are few of them today, as the sun rose from the east.
Not today, but
often, even at dawn, there are older men already doing their warm-ups to prepare for pretty darn serious softball games played
on extremely nice, and well-manicured, diamonds.
When I continue to run north across Spring Mountain Road,
I enter the other half of Desert Breeze Park which has a large number of soccer fields and very expansive open grass areas.
The soccer fields were all quiet this morning, but many weekends - as early as dawn - I see heavily provisioned snack
stands open up and hundreds of children get ready for soccer games that will continue on for hours.
I did
see a few racing bicyclists zipping through the park this morning. With their classy bikes, and classier cycle clothing
and sharp sunglasses, I humbly surrender to the coolness of the racing bicyclists. Plus, they really do work out. Let
me tell you, these guys seem to be in shape. For them, it is clearly more than a fashion parade.
Thousands
of people use Desert Breeze Park every week. And the dutiful clean up crew is there pretty much every day. I have no
idea how much money they make or even how they get hired, but I appreciate and respect them a lot.
Today,
Thanksgiving 2009, I give thanks for Desert Breeze Park, and, of course, for adequate health and physical ability to jog around
and through my neighborhood park at The Lakes in Las Vegas.
2:59 pm pst
Saturday, November 21, 2009
No Shortage Of Travelers To Ivanpah Valley Airport When Global Population Reaches 9 Billion
By Robert L. Candiotti
At the Second Annual International Conference on Energy, Logistics and the Environment, held in Las Vegas October 22 - 24,
2009, the world's population growth was a brief topic of discussion.
I have been thinking about human population
growth, off and on, for the past month.
Human population is, of course, increasing. The global count is approaching
7 billion. By 2050, it is projected to be between 9 and 10 billion.
To me, this is fascinating and staggering.
There seem to be so many problems with food, water and pollution right now. And there are constant border disputes that
precipitate war. Also, there are trends that severely demean people and threaten many with modern forms of slavery.
Where is the human condition going?
Reading the history of human population is interesting. For now, I
will just mention that human population did not reach 1 billion until around 1810. Just 200 years later, in early 2010, it
is estimated that human population will hit the 7 billion mark.
Just 40 years after that, in 2050,
it will increase by 2 billion more.
Babies born in 2010 will be 40 years old in 2050. What kind
of life experiences are these people going to have?
Ivanpah Valley Airport, if approved and built, will
not fully come into its own until around 2020. If constructed, it certainly should be operational in 2050.
In a perfect world, there certainly will be no shortage of travelers to Las Vegas' international Ivanpah Valley Airport
when the global population reaches 9 billion.
7:14 pm pst
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Las Vegas Should Have Concerns That It Will Be Included As An Airbus A380 Destination City
By Robert L. Candiotti
When Air France begins flying the carrier's new Airbus A380 from Paris to New York on November 20, 2009, the number of global
A380 destinations will reach 13.
Aside from the newest A380 city, New York, the other A380 airports are at Auckland,
Bangkok, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto.
With the
addition of Air France as an Airbus A380 operator, there are now four international carriers flying A380 aircraft. The other
three are Emirates, Qantas and Singapore Airlines (which was the A380 launch customer).
Though the A380 has been
flying commercially only since October of 2007, Airbus reports that more than 2.5 million people have already flown on what
the aircraft manufacturer calls "Airbus' 21st Century flagship."
Today, 200 A380s have been ordered by
16 airline companies. Twenty of the airplanes have been delivered. The balance will be built and delivered over the next several
years.
These airplanes are changing the commercial aviation market. The modern, double-deck, four engine, long-haul
aircraft fly half way around the world every day - with capacities ranging from 450 to 550 passengers - nonstop.
Though the A380 is very large, Airbus says the aircraft is economical and "green." Airbus states, "With
the lowest cost per seat and the lowest emissions per passenger of any large aircraft, the A380 provides a competitive edge."
The current A380 destinations are impressive. These are all big, important, vibrant cities. Of course, many more will
be added as A380 customers receive more new airplanes.
Las Vegas' large and efficient airport - McCarran International
Airport - will not be able to accommodate the A380. McCarran is in a restrictive urban environment, and its runways cannot
be lengthened to Airbus A380 requirements.
The only reasonable answer for Las Vegas seems to be the approval and
construction of Ivanpah Valley Airport to be located at the Nevada-California border south of Las Vegas, adjacent to Interstate
15.
A380 flights to additional cities are inevitable. If Las Vegas is left out, its decline in prestige and fascination will
be inevitable, as well.
To read more about the Airbus A380 and
Las Vegas global connectivity, go to www.IvanpahValley.com/id30.html
2:03 pm pst
Thursday, November 5, 2009
What If The Las Vegas Monorail Went All The Way Downtown
By Robert L. Candiotti
Tonight, at the Fifth Street School in downtown Las Vegas, Kay Ryan, 2009
United States Poet Laureate, will be speaking and reading.
How nice it would be if I could take the 213 CAT bus
- which stops right where I live on Desert Inn Road - to the Las Vegas Convention Center, which is today a major monorail
station. Then, if I could just hop on the monorail there and take it all the way downtown.
Unfortunately,
the Las Vegas Monorail's last stop heading north is the Sahara Hotel & Casino at Sahara Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard.
This is about two miles short of Las Vegas' historical and essential downtown area.
I ride the monorail
several times each week because it connects me easily from home to the MGM Grand where I catch a big bus to get to work in
Primm, about 40 miles south of Las Vegas at the Nevada-California border on the Interstate 15.
For my regular routine,
the monorail station at MGM works well. But it is not complete for the monorail itself to halt its southward line
there. The monorail was not built to get a little bit further south to McCarran International Airport - which
handles millions of passengers each and every month.
And the monorail was not built to go all the way
north to the city's famous downtown component.
How I wish the monorail could take me to downtown tonight. I would
hear Kay Ryan for sure if the monorail went downtown. There would be no parking hassles. And no need at all to get
into a car.
As I have said before, to me the monorail - which I do appreciate and patronize - is an incomplete
transportation system in Las Vegas.
The Las Vegas Monorail could have been so wildly successful and thoroughly
enjoyable. But without terminations at McCarran Airport to the south and downtown Las Vegas to the north, the system is glaringly
incomplete.
What were the guiding directors of the construction of the Las Vegas Monorail actually thinking?
Right now I'm thinking: What if the Las Vegas Monorail went all the way downtown?
To read a bigger recent piece regarding this writer's ruminations about the Las Vegas Monorail, go to www.GreenAirport.net/id16.html
5:04 pm pst
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For a summary of the history of the need for Ivanpah Valley Airport, click here.
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