Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Luggage Check In At Las Vegas Monorail Stations
By Robert L. Candiotti
I readily admit this thought is initially a half-baked idea, but it seems to me the concept of hotel luggage check in at
the Las Vegas Monorail stations resonates with possibilities - if, of course, the monorail is eventually extended to
McCarran International Airport.
Flying into Las Vegas, holding hotel reservations on The Strip, passengers
could take the Las Vegas Monorail from McCarran Airport to the monorail station closest to their their hotel. Then, they could
check their luggage right there.
That way they would not have to carry or wheel their bags all the way
to the lobby (which can be a significant walk for some since the monorail runs behind most of the hotels/casinos it reaches).
The luggage would then be transported by staff to the register area at the hotel lobby, awaiting the arrival
of the customer to sign in for their room. This would enable walking to the appropriate hotel lobby to be easier and
more enjoyable. Also, with their luggage in competent hands, landed flyers could even get some food and
drink - or jump right into gaming in the casinos - before getting the key to the room.
And this leads to a separate
thought: Perhaps arriving travelers could also make direct restaurant reservations right when they get off the train
at a monorail station.
As I say, these are new ideas, but it seems to me they could be attractive features for
Las Vegas visitors, and can also add to marketing possibilities for the Las Vegas Monorail extension to McCarran International
Airport.
Like lots of people, I await the Las Vegas Monorail Chapter 11 ruling by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to
find out if a McCarran extension can actually be possible.
4:45 pm pst
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Would Libertarian Las Vegas Benefit From Chinese Investment In Monorail Infrastructure?
By Robert L. Candiotti
As I - and many others - await the U.S. Bankruptcy Court's decision on Las Vegas Monorail's Chapter 11 debt reorganization
request, I am thinking about the company's publicized possible financial backing from China.
In a February 17,
2010, Las Vegas Sun article by Steve Kanigher - "Las Vegas Monorail could seek partnership with Chinese"
- President and CEO Curtis Myles says financial partnership with China is a possibility for monorail track extension
to Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport.
This story definitely caught my attention.
Las Vegas,
as I see it, is a Libertarian city, and Nevada is a Libertarian state.
Nevada is a state that lauds the individual.
It is a state that is founded on personal liberty.
As is written at the beginning of the book Libertarianism
by David Boaz, "Libertarianism is the view that each person has the right to live his life in any way he chooses
so long as he respects the equal rights of others."
China, though currently strong and growing in global power,
is still a Chinese Communist country. The Chinese thrive on, and do not waiver from, the concept of central authority. View
of the individual in China is entirely different from the political and social structure of individualism in Nevada.
One of the definitions of communism in Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary states that communism is "a totalitarian
system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production with the professed aim
of establishing a stateless society."
In Kanigher's Sun article on February 17, as well as another
one of February 22 - "Las Vegas Monorail officials thinking beyond crushing debt" - various possibilities are mentioned
as facilitators of Las Vegas Monorail's business future.
If the Bankruptcy Court's Chapter 11 ruling allows
Las Vegas Monorail to reorganize its debt and then look forward to a McCarran Airport track extension, I would like to
think every single financial possibility is seriously considered and investigated.
To me, the least appealing
option is a financial partnership with Chinese entities.
Having the heart of Las Vegas owned by big corporations
is bad enough. Las Vegas infrastructure ownership by Chinese Communists would really be too much.
I can see it
now. Arriving air travelers board at the new monorail station at McCarran, and glide toward Las Vegas' extraordinary Strip - America's
Street of Personal Independence and Responsibility - on a train made possible by Chinese investors and government organizations.
Wouldn't this be a little too strange?
I believe now is an important time for Nevada to be
cognizant and supportive of its Libertarian foundation.
8:01 pm pst
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Future Of Las Vegas Transportation Infrastructure Must Be Focused On Rail, Air And Land
By Robert L. Candiotti
As U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Bruce Markell prepares to make a decision on Las Vegas Monorail's Chapter 11 debt reorganization
request, the full breadth of Southern Nevada transportation issues is occupying my mind.
It seems to me
future transportation challenges of Las Vegas need to be intelligently focused on rail, air and land connections.
If Southern Nevada has the same rail, air and land infrastructure ten years from now as it has today, Las Vegas'
connectivity positioning will be in shambles.
I have now lived in Las Vegas for almost 12 years. It's
been interesting and fun. And impressive. But now I sense the city is clearly in a mental - as well as an economic -
slump.
To me, a creative future of transportation in Las Vegas is directly related to the chances
of Southern Nevada eventually rebounding to the condition of excitement and economic excellence that I experienced here
when I first arrived in 1998.
SOUTHERN NEVADA TRANSPORTATION IS WIDE-RANGING:
Rail - Extension of the
Las Vegas Monorail to McCarran International Airport is needed for the city's image, efficiency and clean energy aspirations.
Also, the Nevada-California Maglev train should not be given up on. Federal funding passed over the NV-CA Maglev a few
weeks ago, but I still think a 300 mph train between Southern Nevada and Southern California is of utmost importance
and is still possible.
Air - The proposed Ivanpah Valley Airport (to be built 30 miles south of
Las Vegas) - to ensure exceptional air connectivity that will accommodate futuristic commercial aircraft such as the
Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8 and 787 - needs to be approved and built. Robert E. Lang of Brookings Institution has
said, "Las Vegas is a world city due to its connectivity to other cities." I believe no action on Ivanpah Valley
Airport will lead to harmful fraying of Las Vegas' connectivity fabric.
Land - Construction
of a Las Vegas-Phoenix interstate highway also seems to be useful and justified. Also, the Regional Transportation
Commission of Southern Nevada needs to be visionary for enhancement of public bus possibilities in the area.
It does seem to me the RTC is working hard on this.
The broad area of transportation is an extremely important
aspect of Southern Nevada's future success, I think.
But the future of the Las Vegas Monorail is
now what is at the forefront.
In not too many days, Judge Markell should be ruling on Las Vegas Monorail's
Chapter 11 filing. Though the Monorail Company is in heavy debt, perhaps there will be a way for the approval of Chapter 11
to lead to a monorail extension a little further south to McCarran Airport.
To me, the monorail is an important
aspect of Las Vegas' interrelated systems of transportation. Yet, without a station at McCarran I do not see how Las Vegas
Monorail can ever be viable.
11:50 am pst
Saturday, February 13, 2010
If Las Vegas Monorail Gets Extended To McCarran, It Will Not Create Transportation Monopoly
By Robert L. Candiotti
If Las Vegas Monorail gets extended to McCarran International Airport, it will never have - and should not have - a monopoly
on transporting air travelers between the airport and the city.
For one thing, as I have mentioned before, catching
the Las Vegas Monorail - which presently has seven train stations along a 3.9 mile route - entails some walking.
Some people like to walk, some people do not. A significant percentage of jet visitors to Las Vegas will always prefer to
be dropped off - or picked up - by taxi right at the front door of the hotel/casino lobby.
Also, some people will
have too much luggage - or paraphernalia for a convention coming to town - to shlep major distances. For them, taxis make
sense.
And some, for one reason or another, will just want to be private, or a combination of both private and
regal, that will lead to a selection of a long black limousine.
Aside from taxis and limos, some will always be
attracted to shuttle buses which move visitors between the airport and The Strip more affordably, but less quickly.
But, for some, the monorail will be the perfect thing between the airport and The Strip. It is fast, and oh so frequent.
Plus, it is fun! And, as they glide from station to station, the views that the elevated trains provide of the groundlings
and traffic below are often interesting - and sometimes captivating.
In just a few days - reportedly February
17 - the Bankruptcy Court is supposed to rule on Las Vegas Monorail's request for Chapter 11 debt restructuring so it can
then develop plans to move forward with an extension to McCarran International Airport.
I have clearly defined
myself as a proponent of Las Vegas Monorail. I think an extension south to McCarran Airport and, eventually, north to
Downtown Las Vegas, will revitalize and modernize Las Vegas' system of public transportation options.
And, with
those route additions, I do think Las Vegas Monorail can be profitable.
It should be noted that a major creditor
of Las Vegas Monorail is arguing the corporation does not qualify for Chapter 11 debt reorganization. Bond insurer Ambac Assurance
Corp. of Wisconsin is saying Las Vegas Monorail is a state-controlled "municipality" that is not eligible for Chapter
11.
Ambac contends that a Chapter 9 bankruptcy would be more appropriate in this case.
I will be
interested in U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Bruce Markell's decision.
5:17 pm pst
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Riding Las Vegas Monorail Is An Elevated Experience - McCarran Arrivals Would Enjoy It
By Robert L. Candiotti
I live in Las Vegas, and I am a regular Las Vegas Monorail rider.
Several days each week I get on the train at
Convention Center station to head toward work.
The train pulls out of the station, and I often feel like I
am on a magic carpet gliding above the city.
They say the monorail is elevated 30 feet above the ground, but
it sure seems higher than that to me.
Leaving Convention Center station, heading south, you look down on the Wynn
Las Vegas Hotel golf course. It is an interesting perspective. Wynn's golf course is the height of exclusivity.
Then, you're flying like Superman through the corridor behind Harrah's, Imperial Palace, Flamingo, Bally's, Paris
Las Vegas.
The monorail passes by a few expansive hotel swimming pools. A regular rider like me scans over the
pools through all the four seasons.
In the summer you see each chaise lounge taken and turned every
which way by 9 in the morning. White towels are everywhere.
In the middle of winter, though, as
the monorail passes by 30 feet over the pools, the lounges are in perfect formation, untouched and unoccupied. The cabanas
seem so lonely. And not a towel to be seen.
In the winter, some of the pools are drained and are
being worked on for the warm weather just a few weeks away.
In January, the outdoor bars around
the pools - always so packed and popular in the desert's sweltering July - seem as cold as frigid wind from
Alaska.
As a regular rider, I see all this from the monorail window.
For me, the Las Vegas Monorail
is always an opportunity to clear my head before I pull into the MGM station and take the escalator down to human
level to actually begin my day.
The future of Las Vegas Monorail will probably be decided on February 17 when Bankruptcy
Court rules on the company's Chapter 11 debt reorganization request to enable development of plans for a route extension to
McCarran Airport.
I believe Las Vegas Monorail is still a diamond in the rough. If it can be extended to McCarran,
I think it will have a positive transformation of ridership and popularity.
An elevated train from the airport
into Las Vegas seems attractive to me. People will land in Las Vegas at McCarran International Airport, and some
will decide to ride the train. On an elevated track in a broadly-windowed monorail car, they will glide parallel along
Las Vegas Strip as they view below the vibrant activity of the city.
I do think that this elevated introduction
to Las Vegas would be a very exciting and heavily used arrival into the city. Yet, the taxis will never disappear, and they
should not. Some people will always prefer the taxis and the shuttle buses.
Obviously, I am a fan of the monorail.
I hope for Las Vegas Monorail's eventual extension beyond MGM Grand to McCarran International Airport.
8:49 pm pst
