A sign at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign recommends social distancing to limit the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on the Las Vegas Strip Friday, March 27, 2020.
Sunday, April 19, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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There is nothing more pressing than how our community deals with, lives through and grows from the unprecedented challenge we find ourselves facing. A galvanized group of Southern Nevada leaders recognizes that, and is building a strategy to get us through the crisis and come out stronger on the other side. Today, as I did last Sunday, I am devoting this space to guest columnists from the group to outline their efforts to our readers.
We are optimistic about their strategy, and we’re pleased to present it to our community. Although the title of this column is Where I Stand, think of these guest columns as a look at where we stand together, as a community, in fighting the pandemic and building for our future. — Brian Greenspun
Many economists predict that, among U.S. states, Nevada’s economy will be the hardest hit and slowest to recover from the economic crisis created by COVID-19.
That’s especially the case for Southern Nevada, where tourism comprises a fifth of the region’s gross domestic product and employs four in 10 residents. Nearly a quarter of Nevada’s workforce has already filed for unemployment, and the state’s economic engine — the Las Vegas Strip — remains closed with an uncertain opening date and an unknown process of restarting.
Southern Nevada’s main economic competitive advantage is its face-to-face interactions at resorts, shows, conventions and sports. Las Vegas maintains the nation’s largest infrastructure to host and entertain crowds. For example, you can drop several Broadway theater districts into the Strip and still have plenty more seats left. Yet, Vegas-style in-person hospitality is the exact type of economic exchange prohibited under current social-distancing guidelines. Southern Nevada should be the proving grounds for new methods in how to maintain relatively close physical proximity while safely interacting.
When faced with comparable national challenges during the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said: “The country needs, and unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”
The challenges Southern Nevada faces today necessitate bold persistent experimentation; they require the region to dream big, explore new visions and make courageous choices. This great pause, although uncomfortable and unwelcome, will ultimately be the foundation for reinvention.
For years, Nevada has been trying to diversify its state economy. Now, it is time to get serious.
Local governments are the laboratories of democracy where innovative policies can be conceived and tested. This progressive approach — leadership and an audacious plan — was taken in North Las Vegas after the Great Recession and resulted in a financial turnaround Wall Street analysts consider unprecedented.
Mayor John Lee worked with Assemblywoman (now Clark County Commissioner) Marilyn Kirkpatrick, as city leaders partnered with bargaining groups, the Legislature, employees and businesses to get North Las Vegas back on track. Just six years after inheriting a $152 million structural deficit, the city returned to investment grade credit and has emerged a key center for regional economic development.
Brookings Mountain West worked with Lee on a plan that successfully fixed one of the most distressed American cities. Working together as a region and state, Nevada can replicate this success on a larger scale to defeat COVID-19 and redefine economic prosperity.
To that end, local leaders offer the Southern Nevada RISE Together Plan (Recovery and Innovation for a Sustainable Economy) as a comprehensive framework to address both the health and economic crises resulting from COVID-19.
The RISE plan suggests three phases, each divided into two foci: the health crisis and the economic crisis. While the phases feature different durations, the timelines began on March 13 — the day Gov. Steve Sisolak declared a “state of emergency.” Phase 1 implementation began immediately, while planning and organizing for the other two stages followed in short order. As the immediate health crisis subsides, more emphasis will be placed on addressing the economic crisis and laying the groundwork for Nevada’s economic recovery.
In Phase 1, the top priority is to stop COVID-19 from spreading. Not only will this save lives, it is the first step in stabilizing the economy and promoting economic recovery. Phase 1 should last two to three months.
Kirkpatrick is leading this effort through a multijurisdictional collaboration with public and private stakeholders. Leveraging the MACC (Multiagency Coordination Center), Kirkpatrick conducts real-time regional stakeholder meetings to manage daily efforts to stop COVID-19 and will serve as interim chair of the COVID-19 Health Crisis RISE Committee.
As the COVID-19 crisis unfolded, Lee began organizing regional stakeholder groups to address the economic impacts of the crisis; he will serve as interim chair of the Economic Crisis RISE Committee.
The planning efforts done today will reopen and reshape Southern Nevada’s future. The task is daunting — businesses are hurting, people are unemployed, and lost revenues to local and state governments is dramatic.
Phase 2 focuses on stabilization and recovery efforts over the next 12-18 months. Stakeholders will develop a detailed action plan to ensure positive health outcomes are achieved, equipment stocks get replenished, and medical testing and treatments become widely available. Successful efforts to eliminate COVID-19 will allow various public health directives — stay-at-home orders, social distancing, closure of businesses and schools, etc. — to phase out when the danger of viral spread no longer exists. Collaboration with partners including the Southern Nevada Health District, UNLV’s School of Medicine and the nonprofit Nevada Health and Bioscience Asset Corporation will help guide the work.
In tandem, regional stakeholders will develop a blueprint for ensuring tourists and convention goers feel safe to come to Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority will develop tools and marketing strategies to revive key sectors such as sports, entertainment and conventions.
The economic RISE committee will partner with Brookings Mountain West and SRI International through the Governor’s Office of Economic Development to help create a statewide economic recovery plan. The plan must address economic resilience in Southern Nevada in the wake of the current crisis by identifying emerging sectors where the region continues to diversify, such as business services, data hosting, logistics and health care. The plan will take advantage of UNLV’s status as a Carnegie R1 research institution to engage more heavily in business partnerships and startup efforts.
Phase 3 will dovetail with GOED’s longer-term, multiyear plan for restoring and diversifying the region’s economy. That means protecting Southern Nevada against recurrence of health and economic paralysis via strategic diversification in both the core sector (such as Esports) and in other sectors that play off the region’s strengths. Given its top 30 metro standing, professional sports status and almost unbeatable air-travel connectivity, Southern Nevada should compete for branch offices in advanced business services, including law, finance, management consulting, and architecture/design.
Building on the advancements made in Phases 1 and 2, the UNLV School of Medicine, Nevada Health and Bioscience Asset Corporation and other partners will be charged with developing plans to enhance Southern Nevada’s capacity to limit future outbreaks. That includes the need to invest not only in equipment and supplies, but in people — doctors, nurses and other specialists.
The region also needs new infrastructure, a proven economic stimulator and one that the federal government is now likely to more deeply subsidize.
Furthermore, Southern Nevada needs to get going on transit systems, with a heavy assist from Washington to promote economic growth via transportation investment to make up for lost consumer spending. Las Vegas should learn from Denver in this regard, which has used economic downturns as opportunities to spend on public works to prepare for the next round of economic growth.
The RISE plan provides a framework for bold, persistent experimentation as the region strategically reinvents and transitions its economy with a more diverse and sustainable foundation. The current health and economic challenges may represent the most serious crisis Las Vegas has ever faced.
Southern Nevada leaders should prepare to transition personnel along with federal, state and local resources to a recovery mode, and continue the unprecedented cooperation and collaboration demonstrated in the face of COVID-19. The same level of commitment and determination is needed to repair and restart our core economy — the unparalleled hotel/convention/events/gaming sector — and diversify our business. The plans outlined here are just a start — the entire region and state must pitch in on this effort.
Robert Lang is the Lincy endowed chair in Urban Affairs, executive director of Brookings Mountain West and The Lincy Institute at UNLV, and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Ryann Juden is North Las Vegas city manager.
