Saturday, March 1, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
IT's funny how dealing with Southern Nevada's runaway growth has become such a big issue in recent weeks.
State legislators, county commissioners, city officials and business leaders are talking behind closed doors and in front of microphones about where to get the billions needed to build roads and schools and water pipes. Everyone, it seems, wants in on the action -- and the credit when the deal goes down.
Just six months ago, very few people in government or business circles had any appetite for the subject. Yet the problems tied to our growth were as evident then as they are today. In fact, they have been painfully clear for several years.
So why is growth suddenly a hot topic?
Several key reasons:
* Increased attention to growth-related issues by the Las Vegas SUN. It's a little embarrassing to toot your own horn, but in this context, there's little choice. State and local officials have acknowledged that a series of hard-hitting, analytical stories by SUN writers has pushed growth onto the front burner.
SUN editors and reporters made a conscious effort several months ago to focus on what we believed to be a simmering sentiment among residents that growth was out of control and elected officials weren't doing anything about it. A recent poll by the university system confirmed that residents feel even stronger than we suspected.
* Citizen reaction to our stories and reports by other media that followed. Many state and local elected officials have seen an increase in feedback from their constituents, most of it critical of the traffic congestion, air pollution, crime and school overcrowding that afflict our community.
Residents' frustrations spilled over during recent public hearings on the planned widening of U.S. 95. Northwest residents urged officials to expand the highway to relieve daily traffic jams, while residents of older areas objected because it will require tearing down their homes and ruining their neighborhoods.
* Gaming industry leaders acknowledged the problem. When Mirage Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn said publicly that Las Vegas should start focusing on quality over quantity, it opened the door for officials to talk about issues they shunned in the past for fear of crossing the wrong people.
* The national media picked up the negative vibes. The national perspective for a decade had been that Las Vegas is a boomtown with a bright future -- we build 'em and they keep comin'. But the new angle is that Las Vegas is having trouble coping with its growth and big problems lie ahead.
As a result of these developments, elected officials have come to realize that their political futures depend in large part on addressing growth in a significant way.
Finally, semi-serious talks are under way to raise revenue for infrastructure to accommodate the estimated 5,000 people moving here each month.
Of course, we couldn't possibly have such a public debate without several nasty rounds of finger-pointing, backbiting and jockeying for political gain. The latest lunacy revolves around who will get the credit for tackling the growth problem. (Frankly, none of them deserves credit for anything but the problems at this point.)
In any case, this is all good news for residents of the Las Vegas Valley. At last, our elected representatives and our dominant industries (gaming and home building) are talking about the same things that many of us talk about at the dinner table or over a beer.
And with political futures in the balance, some significant measures could be adopted this year to try to get a handle on the very real problems associated with growth. It likely won't be enough, but it will be a legitimate start.
It's an ugly process and it's still in the early stages as we speak. But if the pressure continues to be applied, and it will, perhaps in a few months we can feel a little better about the responsiveness of our elected representatives and the prospects for our community's future.
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