Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

guest column:

Tesla’s arrival in Northern Nevada shows if we build it, they will come

JohnLeeMug

North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee

Last September, I wrote an editorial urging our Legislature to come together and pass the economic incentive package for Tesla in Northern Nevada. At the time I stated, “Let’s pass this historic legislative package and get to work following the same blueprint for the future success in Southern Nevada!” One year later, I can report we used this landmark bill as our blueprint and are on the verge of bringing Faraday Future, an economic game changer, to our region.

One year ago, Gov. Brian Sandoval and Governor’s Office of Economic Development Executive Director Steve Hill worked with legislative leaders to pass a tremendous set of economic incentive tools. Through their leadership and foresight these tools not only induced Tesla to begin building one of the nation’s largest factories in Northern Nevada, but provided the path for the future of Southern Nevada. Following the passage of this important bill, our city manager, Dr. Qiong Liu, and director of economic and business development, Gina Gavin, took this blueprint and have attracted Faraday Future, one of this year’s largest and most competitive economic development projects in the nation.

Faraday Future is big! The governor’s office projected the economic impact of the Tesla project on Northern Nevada would be $52.9 billion to $96.9 billion over the next 20 years. Those same economists project Faraday would provide our region a total impact of $85.6 billion over the same period. Most important, this impact translates into thousands of jobs: 13,380 direct, indirect and induced jobs.

Making Faraday our future depends on our infrastructure. As they work to negotiate a deal to bring this game changer to Southern Nevada, Sandoval and Hill are facing some of the same infrastructure challenges they deftly navigated last September. The economic impact estimates of these businesses are only as real as the infrastructure supporting their enterprise. Faraday opens the door to attract tremendous economic growth to our region, such as drawing businesses within its supply chain and attracting businesses looking to relocate. Building proper infrastructure ensures we don’t stop the momentum and guarantees we can attract and receive future job creators. When Nevada lands the nation’s two largest economic development opportunities over the past two years, the world takes notice — and we must be ready!

Our region’s premier industrial area needs a sustainable waterline to ensure business growth. Since the day I was elected two years ago, I have been focused on leveraging our community’s natural resources to shore up our financials and grow our revenues through new opportunities. Finding new job creators to build in our vast vacant industrial lands became one of our goals. However, this approach exposed the chicken-or-the-egg problem of the lack of utilities in Apex. Businesses need utilities before they will build, and utilities need businesses before they will invest in installation.

You can’t solve the chicken-or-the-egg problem with a rooster. There are sufficient groundwater rights at Apex to accommodate Faraday’s immediate water needs, but a Band-Aid approach to infrastructure would impede the company’s economic impact potential for our region. Locating Faraday at Apex provides the catalyst to justify building utilities to open thousands of acres for business. Over the past two years I have witnessed dozens of businesses interested in Southern Nevada move elsewhere because our region lacks a large-scale industrial park on the outskirts of our neighborhoods.

The “Tesla Miracle” provided a shot in the arm for our friends in the north and the blueprint for new economic development in the south. Now is the time to rev up the state’s economic engine in the south by letting Faraday and other job-creating projects in Southern Nevada know the entire state is open for business. In Nevada, we are committed to connecting our businesses with the infrastructure they need to succeed, and our governor and his team are leading the charge to bring this crucial job creator to our region while working hard to ensure we have the infrastructure needed to change the economic future of Southern Nevada.

John Lee is mayor of North Las Vegas.

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