You ever get that deja vu feeling? Like maybe you’ve been there before, or maybe you’ve seen something before but you can’t quite put a finger on it? Well, that’s how it was as I drove on Summerlin Parkway for several days recently and watched the debris and weeds pile up along the median, and along the shoulder areas on both sides, and even on the roadway itself, which was littered in places with torn tires and other refuse.
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
It was just a routine anniversary back on June 19 for Las Vegas Fire and Rescue Station No. 107 in Sun City Summerlin.
Depending on which history book you read, World War II officially ended on three different dates 70 years ago. If you live in the United Kingdom, V-J Day (victory over Japan) is celebrated Aug. 14. Or was it Aug. 15, as it is noted (not celebrated) in Japan? In the U.S., however, V-J Day is celebrated Sept. 2, the day Japanese notables were brought aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay to sign the official document of surrender.
You hear those snide remarks about Summerlin, about its unique “roundabout” road intersections, about the well-manicured, palm tree-lined streets, the upscale homes in gated communities, the parks, the jogging trails and so much more. Then it all filters into some imaginary or maybe envious reference to those “snooty” or “smug” inhabitants of Summerlin.
We exited the 215 Beltway onto West Cheyenne Avenue with the expectation of moving into the right lane, heading east. That’s the lane used to bypass most traffic lights; the lane that allows vehicles steady movement. Big mistake. Orange road cones blocked off the entire right lane for as far as the eye could see.
Some old and sensitive questions are still being tossed around in the back rooms of Las Vegas City Hall, just as they were a year ago. Will the 51s baseball team relocate to a new stadium in Downtown Summerlin? If so, who will pay for it?
Drivers, beware! No matter what part of the valley you live in, scammers are out there looking to rip off your insurance company by staging an accident. And they’re using you, the unsuspecting victim, as their bait.
Maybe there’s a kid in your house who spends lots of hours a week on a skateboard, you know, doing tricks and all sorts of things. Maybe you spend lots of hours on a skateboard, showing off to your neighbors. But did you ever watch a dog on a skateboard — for hours at a time?
Day after day, the TV weather forecasters showed one Siberian Express after another pummeling the Northeast. It was a winter of discontent for millions of Northerners. And, at times, there was an aura of smugness in the tones of the weather forecasters as they reported how we were basking in warmth and sunshine, compared to those living in the snowbelt states.
Ask Nevadans which government agency in the state typifies their impression of the classic dysfunctional bureaucracy, and hands down, the Department of Motor Vehicles stands either at the top of the list or close to it. Either way, the DMV has a questionable reputation.
A once pleasant drive on Summerlin Parkway has become an increasingly stressful experience for drivers, with 68 lane-departure crashes occurring in the past five years. Improvements are planned, including a cable barrier to reduce lane-change crashes.
You can expect some heavy punches to be thrown, in the form of heated words, as well as a bit of interesting irony when Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and Mayor Pro Tem and Ward 4 City Councilman Stavros Anthony square off March 30 at the Desert Vista Community Center in Sun City Summerlin. Both have been frequent visitors to Sun City during their past campaigns.
In case you haven’t checked your calendar lately, spring training camps have opened, exhibition games are in full swing, and the start of the 2015 Major League Baseball season is only weeks away. But for more than 5,000 kids in Southern Nevada who are connected at various times to the Las Vegas Baseball Academy, baseball season is a year-round experience.
You have to know Jerry Izenberg to understand why it took him 32 years to write a book about Pete Rozelle, the late, great National Football League commissioner responsible for turning the NFL into the most successful conglomeration of team franchises in the history of American sports.
More than five months ago, an official from the Nevada Department of Wildlife shocked a few hundred inhabitants of Sun City Summerlin when she talked about the overabundance of coyotes living in Las Vegas and especially within the Summerlin area.