One of my first jobs in the event planning and marketing field was as a special promotions coordinator. The goal was to use the company’s celebrity clientele as brand equity. In other words, my department would exchange services for a photo of the star visiting the business in order to generate a newsworthy mention and ultimately a surge in sales.
Last week my column focused on the fact that our utility rates are still significantly lower than those in nearby communities, notwithstanding rumors to the contrary. Another common theme I’ve heard vocalized lately is that our utility rates have doubled (some even say tripled) since the 2016 rate increases. The important thing to remember here is that there’s a critical difference between the amount rates have increased, on the one hand, and the amount individual utility bills (including yours) may have increased, on the other hand. The two don’t necessarily mirror each other. Let me explain.
Two weeks from today, Boulder City will be holding the first in what we hope is a long series of regularly scheduled town hall meetings designed to encourage informal discussions among citizens, council members and city staff on a variety of subjects. The inaugural meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Oct. 19 at the Elaine K. Smith Center, 700 Wyoming St. At the request of Councilman Warren Harhay, the topic will be utilities.
A mother escorting her ninth-grader approached me and asked, “Can you guarantee my child’s safety here at Airport High School?” I paused as a passenger jet passed overhead en route to nearby Columbia International Airport. My answer was not what she expected from a Lexington County (South Carolina) deputy sheriff: “Ma’am, I cannot guarantee my own safety. That airliner could have malfunctioned and crashed on top of us.”
I love my faith, I love being involved in politics and I love Boulder City. I’m Mormon, and for as long as I have lived in Boulder City there has been discussion about the interaction of Mormonism and Boulder City politics.
In 1951, notable actress Ginger Rogers made her way through Boulder City to the Hoover Dam to get married — well for a movie.
The Vietnam War. The conflict is burned into the minds of millions of Americans — those who fought in it, civilians who lived through the 1960s, historians, journalists, photographers and filmmakers.
On a recent Friday morning, I awoke to a putrid smell and a bathtub full of sewage backup; it was not my best morning. As my wife so aptly put it, “After 83 years of faithful service at a thankless job, our sewer mainline was now only good for flushing one thing … money.”
Worrying could be a full-time job. You worry about yourself, the kids, relatives, your job — an endless list. There’s no energy left to get involved with city issues, much less volunteer your time. How can you do everything? Why should you?
A Royal Air Force officer yelled, “What have you bloody Americans done to the English language?” It was the late ’80s and I was working with my allied counterparts at SHAPE, Belgium, three stories below ground level inside a blast-hardened bunker. The TV was constantly tuned to CNN because of our real-world mission. A commentator had butchered a word and my British counterpart was expressing his frustration.
Less than a month ago I was at the opening of The Tap enjoying a bouquet of independent music. As I sat on the patio, I watched droves of people arrive at the parking lot’s entrance smiling and pointing at the temporary stage. Boulder City’s skyline had temporarily been lit up by waving searchlights, and the city’s usually quiet 1950s charm changed its tune as Bad Moon Booking showcased a hodgepodge of musical talent.
Having lived in Houston for 30 years before my move to Nevada in 2011, I am happy that my local friends now know what a real monsoon looks like, but not too happy about the circumstances because I still have tons of friends and family back there.
At our last City Council meeting, we had a large turnout with strong public participation on an important project, a unique characteristic of our city’s political process that I both admire and applaud. Most of the public input was respectful, civil and genuine, another aspect of our local government that we should surely be proud of.
I will admit, it was with some reluctance that I approached the home on a very hot Saturday morning in Boulder City where I had told a friend I would assist with a move. It’s not that I am unwilling to help, but there is always the fear that you will be the only one to show up, and the extent of their moving vehicles will be a 1985 Toyota Corolla. So, I was exceedingly happy to see three trucks pull up as I neared the door, each filled with three or four young men, all of whom had biceps that would impress Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Boulder City has found its way into the middle of what has been dubbed “a premier postmodern Western.” Dealing with reincarnation, mysticism, visions, purgatory and the Wild West, writer Jim Jarmusch brought together actors Johnny Depp, Billy Bob Thornton, Robert Mitchum, Crispin Glover and Iggy Pop for a black and white film titled “Dead Man.”
