You’re westbound in the right lane of Summerlin Parkway on a recent afternoon. Traffic is steady. Then, unexpectedly, an onslaught of leaves flies directly in front of you. They’re landing all over your car, and in a split second they have covered your entire windshield.
Herb Jaffe
Herb Jaffe was an op-ed columnist and investigative reporter for most of his 39 years at the Star-Ledger of Newark, New Jersey. His most recent novel, “Double Play,” is available.
hjaffe@cox.net
There he was, wearing a traditional hockey uniform while hugging his ice skates with one hand and holding on to his dad’s hand with the other. Dad also held the little guy’s hockey stick as they entered City National Arena in Downtown Summerlin.
It has been stop and go for 12 years for advocates of a Northwest Campus of College of Southern Nevada. And the way things are going, it could take longer than anyone in the know is willing to say before funding from the state becomes available to allow the first construction shovel into the ground.
There’s a somber ceremony that’s performed twice a year by the Sun City Summerlin Security Patrol. It’s called flag retirement day, and it’s a highly respectful occasion, as you might expect. Equally important, it must be done in a proper manner when any flag of the United States becomes weather-beaten or otherwise tattered.
Triple A baseball in the very heart of Summerlin? It was only a fantasy, even after discussions about how a stadium might fit in were voiced six years ago by those enterprising folks at The Howard Hughes Corp.
The following is a quick lesson on why relatively simple things in government often don’t get done, even after lengthy delays and a bevy of excuses have run their course, leaving nothing but frustration on the part of an otherwise-unsuspecting public.
This is how a funny incident resulted in close friendship. It’s how two guys named Duke Sims and Bob Bailey came together as minor league baseball players in 1962. And 55 years later, the only thing that has changed is that instead of playing baseball, they play golf together several times a month.
Back in the 1990s, Las Vegas home developers borrowed a phrase from “Field of Dreams,” one of the all-time great baseball movies, and as a result they sold lots of houses.
There’s this baseball team of 12-year-olds from Las Vegas who went to Cooperstown, New York, for eight days last month to compete in a tournament. There were 103 other baseball teams participating, similarly composed of 12-year-olds from all over the U.S. and Canada.
Due to fire laws, they had to close the doors to the largest auditorium in Sun City Summerlin, which was already packed beyond capacity, leaving several dozen folks outside.
You can’t say enough about Summerlin. Sure, it’s one of the most successful master-planned communities in the country, just as it has been for 27 years.
Groundbreaking ceremonies have become routine in Summerlin, thanks to the continuing economic uptick. Although some groundbreakings are for extraordinary developments, both in size and in value, few bring out the most notable public official in the state.
Maybe you already heard the story about the little old lady who drove through a stop sign in Sun City Summerlin, and when stopped by a police officer she responded, “I don’t have to pay attention to stop signs. I live here!”
You couldn’t find two more compatible partners traveling in the same direction than the master-planned community of Summerlin and Summerlin Hospital Medical Center.
They’re sure going to miss Betsy Fretwell down at City Hall. More so, Summerlin is going to miss Betsy Fretwell.