Rebuilding Las Vegas

Is it safe to talk about life after the recession in Las Vegas?

I think so. In fact, I'd argue it's not only safe, it is imperative.

While we're not quite out of the woods and significant economic improvement will likely occur here later than in the rest of the nation, it's time for Nevada, with special emphasis on Las Vegas, to re-imagine the post-recession economy.

Trust your publisher when he tells you that we'll probably never really know how close Las Vegas came to a financial apocalypse in the summer of '09. The private CEO-to-CEO conversations I've had convince me that it was closer and scarier than most people think.

Nevertheless, most major employers, such as the Review-Journal, remain standing. Even in the worst of the storm, we kept our head down, maintained composure and delivered a good and full newspaper every day to subscribers. Our emphasis on quality and reliability in the face of extreme uncertainty has been rewarded with renewed loyalty. Readers and advertisers have my humble thanks for that.

We were not the only one. Many local businesses survived with dignity and integrity.

But I haven't talked to any Las Vegas CEO who doesn't characterize the past 18 months as anything short of "brutal." Some strong companies fell into bankruptcy and now await an uncertain fate. The best will emerge stronger. Those enterprises that banked only "on the come" may not be so lucky. Certainly, much personal wealth was erased in this recession. Some of the hardest hit were the entitled sons and daughters of pioneer families born into wealth believing their DNA made them somehow bulletproof. They proceeded to make bad bets and were soon culled from their money.

I find a certain sadness in that, though I don't expect many will weep for the wealthy-gone-broke. But if you care about the community of Las Vegas, you ought to join me and other survivors in thinking about where we go from here.

In that endeavor, the most important thing we can set our minds to do, once and for all, is to diversify our economy. As good as gaming has been, and will continue to be, we can clearly see the vulnerability of a one-trick economy.

Luckily, we have a "golden" opportunity.

Because of the recession, California is near bankrupt and the "leaders" there can't see any way out of the mess other than to impose more rules and higher taxation. The brunt of that will fall on already-overburdened businesses.

We should, if I may use an old Vegas cliché, make these Golden State employers an offer they can't refuse. Entice them to relocate to Nevada -- and bring their good jobs with them.

If this sounds like a criticism of those who have worked on diversification in the past, let me assure you differently. That's not what I'm saying.

Surviving this recession gives us all a reinvigorated perspective. We're like a cancer patient who has gone from a bad diagnosis to a clean bill of health. We ought not squander our good fortune. And to those in the past who have selfishly used economic diversification to feather their own nests (businesses won't move here because we have crummy schools, or low taxes, or whatever the cause du jour may be) to you I say only this: Hush!

State unemployment is at a modern high of 13.2 percent. Stop diverting attention from the No. 1 post-recession task -- job diversification and growth.

California industries are ripe for the picking.

Do it now. Do not fail.

Sherman Frederick (sfrederick@reviewjournal.com) is publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and president of Stephens Media.