Sunday, April 12, 2009 | 2 a.m.
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Nevada: schizophrenic or just, well, a teenager.
Like many Nevadans, I watched in horror last Sunday night as “60 Minutes” told the world just how bad not just things but the people are in Las Vegas.
We all know how difficult the challenges are we face in this state. No one needs to tell us that unemployment is at record highs and moving higher. No one needs to draw us a picture of a tourism industry practically imploding under the weight of a combination of crushing debt and diminishing tourists. And no one needs to remind us that we have our own version of Nero fiddling in Carson City while our futures are burning all around us.
No, we don’t need to know any more on that subject except how we are all going to work together to pull ourselves out of the fires of economic disaster and into a better future, just as we always have. There are early signs of coming together when the likes of the Chamber of Commerce and state Sen. Bill Raggio start to sound like, well, Democrats only because they recognize the need to raise revenue for our beleaguered state.
And we can see the signs of a better future when a world-class institution like the Cleveland Clinic decides that Las Vegas is the place to plant its most prestigious flag of competence and quality medical care, right in the middle of our city. By joining with the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute, they and we will build a wonderful future that exudes the confidence that Las Vegas is a place to be valued.
And that is only the first of such announcements. There will be others — some coming sooner than you might think — because Las Vegas, in particular, is the kind of city that understands that if we don’t grow, if we don’t change, if we don’t embrace a better tomorrow, then we will just become another one of those places that used to be. One of those places that failed to live up to its potential.
So here comes the schizophrenia. While most of us are planning a better tomorrow, today’s report on CBS showed what kind of people we really are. We are selfish, uncaring and insensitive to the plight of our fellow human beings. We are uninviting, unpleasant and unwilling to put ourselves out in the slightest of ways for people less fortunate than ourselves. In short, we are the stereotype of the green-eye-shaded dealer who takes and takes from those who sit on the other side of our table and who is willing to give nothing back.
Maybe it wasn’t that bad, but it was close because what “60 Minutes” did was expose our underbelly which, this month, happens to be a decision that University Medical Center made recently to save money by no longer treating cancer patients on an outpatient basis. That means they shut the doors on people needing chemotherapy and other ministrations who couldn’t otherwise afford it or who no longer had insurance to cover those life-saving treatments. What CBS showed were people who were turned away, not only from UMC but also from most other facilities, because they had no ability to pay for the very expensive therapies.
I thought about all of the good and decent people and companies Nevada is constantly trying to invite to our state to live and work and contribute and what effect this show would have on their decisions. I concluded that there is no way I would bring my family or employees to a state that let people die when it had the ability to help them live.
I realize that sounds harsh, but what other message do you think we send to the rest of the world, which understands we are in financial trouble but also understands that we shouldn’t lose our humanity in the bargain?
And to a greater or lesser degree, the same applies to our decision, so far, to decimate higher and lower education in this state, our infrastructure needs and our cultural pursuits that, ultimately, determine the quality of life we afford our citizens. Make no mistake. We can afford to afford ourselves the kind of quality that moves us from the bottom of the list to a saner place toward the middle of the pack. Would that we strove to reach the top!
Sure, there is a measure of schizoid behavior afoot. And why would there be anything else? For far too long, Nevada has invited people to live here who come primarily to avoid paying taxes. We are one of the lowest taxed states in the union — should it surprise anyone that the other lower-taxed states also find themselves with Nevada at the bottom of most lists? — and many folks like it that way. They are just selfish enough to be able to watch a “60 Minutes” program about UMC and either ignore the message or refuse to hear what it says.
I don’t blame those people. I blame the majority of Nevadans who cringe at the UMC story and refuse to stand up and say, “We can and must do better.”
That is why I prefer to look at our state and, specifically, our city and say we are acting like teenagers. We are just now trying to figure out what we want to be when we grow up!
Las Vegas is a very young city by most standards. We have doubled in size every 10 or 15 years, which means we are constantly changing. And that goes for our ideas, our leadership and our goals. I look at UMC’s seemingly heartless but almost financially-justified decision, our prior spate of felony-challenged commissioners, and other questionable activities and decisions as not a whole lot more than a maturation process that all cities have gone through at some point in their lives. Ours is just more public because we are Las Vegas.
So the question is: Will we forever be a schizophrenic society that continues to make bad decisions at the expense of the good within most of us, or are we more like teenagers finding our way, one mistake at a time? We learn nothing and grow nowhere if we are the former. We have a chance to be better if we learn from our mistakes and grow up like the latter.
On a day like today when so many people celebrate Easter and the faith it inspires, or during this Passover week in which Jews the world over tell the story of the Exodus, which had its genesis in man’s belief in something much greater than himself, don’t you think we can all muster a little of that faith in ourselves and our ability to do the right thing for our state and our families?
Don’t you think we should quit being the teenagers that we were yesterday and become the adults we must be today?
Or do you want to continue being that other thing until we drive everyone nuts?
Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.
