Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

EDITORIAL:

State has duty to make responsible choices as its population grows

Mead

John Locher / AP

A bathtub ring of light minerals delineates the high water mark on Lake Mead at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020, near Boulder City.

The latest U.S. Census statistics offer Nevadans a reason for pride, as our gains in population from 2010 to 2020 made us one of the fastest-growing states in the nation. Clearly, our state has a lot to offer for people looking for a place to settle down and raise a family.

But our impressive growth, which no doubt will crank up again as we emerge from the coronavirus pandemic, carries with it a responsibility to prepare for ever more population increases in coming years.

Data released Monday showed that Nevada’s population grew 15% over the decade, with more than 400,000 people moving here. That made us the fifth fastest-growing state in the nation and boosted our population to 3.1 million residents.

We’re benefiting from a trend toward Americans leaving high-cost, cold-weather states and moving to the West and South, the regions that experienced the greatest population growth in the latest census period. The Mountain West has been a particularly strong magnet, with Utah and Idaho ranking Nos. 1 and 2 nationally in growth rate, respectively. Of course, the relatively small populations in those states meant modest population growth could propel a large percentage increase: Utah added 500,000 people, while Texas drew 4 million more residents but posted a smaller percentage growth rate than Utah.

There’s every reason to believe Nevada’s growth will continue — in fact, experts project that Nevada’s population will burgeon to more than 4 million in 2030 based on current trending, with the bulk of those new residents coming to the Las Vegas Valley.

And that’s where the responsibility comes in.

To provide a prosperous home for our newcomers and maintain a good quality of life for those of us who already live here, it’s critical to overcome several challenges we face as we expand. Among them:

• We must — must — invest more in primary, secondary and higher education, particularly the Clark County School District. State and local leaders have made progress on that front in recent years, particularly through passage of the state’s highest-ever tax increase for K-12 education in 2015 and with adoption of a new funding formula in 2019 that provided CCSD with a more equitable share of state dollars. But Nevada is digging out from a long history of badly underfunding its schools, and funding took a heavy hit when the pandemic steamrolled the state’s economy. Meanwhile, CCSD in particular suffers from a serious achievement gap between schools that serve low-income neighborhoods versus those in affluent, mostly white areas. That’s unacceptable in Las Vegas, one of the nation’s most diverse communities. To build the progressive, supportive community we strive to be, a foundational need is an education system that provides high-quality instruction and equal opportunities for students across the board.

• Nevada, and particularly the southern region, must help address global climate change and protect our water supply. News on this front has been bad and worse through 2020 and into 2021. Last year brought records for days without precipitation and days with triple-digit temperatures in Las Vegas, a clear sign of worsening disruptions of weather patterns brought on by global warming. Then came this year’s prediction that weak runoff into the Colorado River would likely cause Lake Mead to drop below a surface level this year where mandatory cuts in water allotments will be triggered. The good news is that Southern Nevada’s water conservation efforts in recent years have lowered our water usage to a level below our reduced allotment — we’ll still get more than what we need from Lake Mead — but the long-range outlook shows no sign of significant improvements. As we grow, we’ll increasingly need to embrace water conservation policies and practices. Although Las Vegas itself can’t change this global trend, everyone should do their part to attack the problem. All global solutions are rooted in local changes.

• Clark County’s transportation system must be modernized to meet the needs of a 21st-century workforce and uphold our ability to welcome the millions of tourists who travel here. Transportation officials have been stating bluntly for years that more asphalt isn’t the solution to our traffic congestion. Instead it’s about moving people more efficiently, particularly through improvements in public transportation. As our population expands to northward of 4 million, Southern Nevada needs to join regional metros such as Phoenix, Denver and Salt Lake City by building a light rail serving the tourist corridor and beyond.

Those are just a few of the high-priority challenges that Las Vegas faces as it continues to grow. Providing more affordable housing, addressing our growing homelessness situation, reducing gun violence and limiting sprawl are among many others.

With more people coming, our challenges will only grow in magnitude. But by investing in improvements and supporting enlightened change today, we can lay the groundwork for our growth as opposed to playing catch-up to it.