- This article is about the Las Vegas area in the state of Nevada. For other uses, see Las Vegas (disambiguation).
The Las Vegas metropolitan area, better known as the Las Vegas Valley, is a 600 square mile (1600 km²) basin that is part of Clark County in southern Nevada. The area contains the largest concentration of people in the state. The history of the Las Vegas metropolitan area naturally coincides with the history of the city of Las Vegas, Nevada.
In 2005, the valley played host to 34.7 million visitors.
The Las Vegas Strip, looking south, in 2003. In the background are the mountains at the Southern border of the Las Vegas Valley
History
- Main article: Las Vegas history
The area was previously settled by Mormon farmers in 1854 and later became the site of a U.S. Army fort in 1864, beginning a long relationship between southern Nevada and the U.S. military. Since the 1930s, Las Vegas has generally been identified as a gambling center as well as a resort destination primarily targeting adults. Relatively inexpensive real estate prompted a residential population boom in the Las Vegas Valley in the 1990s and continues to the present day.
Nellis Air Force Base is located in the northeast corner of the valley. The ranges that the Nellis pilots use and various other land areas used by various federal agencies limit growth of the valley to the north.
Boundaries
Las Vegas Valley
The metropolitan area generally thought to be defined by the Spring Mountains on the west, Sheep Mountains to the North, Muddy Mountains, Eldorado Range and Lake Mead to the east, and the Black Mountains to the south.
Frenchman Mountain, locally know as Sunrise Mountain, and other nearby peaks to the east are capped by Vishnu Schist rock, which is some of the oldest rock on the earth, having been created about 2 billion years ago.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Area
Boulder City and Blue Diamond are not within the Valley but are generally considered to be part of the greater metropolitan area.
Gaming Reporting Areas
The state of Nevada divides the state into several gaming districts or areas. The reporting districts affecting the Las Vegas Valley are:
- Boulder Strip: This region includes 33 casinos on Boulder Highway, such as Sam's Town, Boulder Station, Castaways, Arizona Charlie's Boulder, and the Magic Star. Casinos within the Henderson city limits are included as well, such as Green Valley Ranch, Sunset Station, Fiesta, Eldorado, and Jokers Wild.
- Downtown: There are 19 casinos in this reporting area including the Stratosphere.
- Las Vegas Strip: This region is composed of all the casinos on Las Vegas Boulevard, from Circus Circus at the north end to Mandalay Bay on the south end. Also included are resorts located near this area, such as The Palms, The Orleans, Gold Coast, and the Hard Rock.
- Laughlin: This area has 10 casinos.
- Mesquite
- North Las Vegas: This region has 11 casinos and include the Fiesta, Texas Station, Jerry's Nugget, and the Sante Fe Station.
- Remainder of County: There are 66 casinos in this category that includes casinos at Lake Las Vegas, Jean, Primm, the Railroad Pass and Hacienda casinos, along with other casinos that don't fit any other category such as Arizona Charlie's Decatur, Suncoast, and Rampart.
Geography and Environment
Las Vegas viewed in false color, from 438 miles (705 km) by TERRA satellite. Grass-covered land, such as golf courses, appears in red. The picture bottom is just south of Sunset road and the airport, the Spring Mountains on the West and Sunrise Mountain on the East
The land in the Las Vegas Valley is sandy desert with mountains in the distance.
Climate
The Las Vegas Valley lies in the (relatively) high altitude Mojave Desert that can result in drastic changes of temperature between seasons, even day and night. The Valley generally averages less than 5 inches (130 mm) of rain annually. Daily summer temperatures from June through August typically exceed 100 °F (38 °C). While low ambient humidity tempers the effect of these temperatures, dehydration, heat exhaustion, and sun stroke can occur after even a limited time outdoors in the summer. The interiors of automobiles often prove deadly to small children and pets during the summer and surfaces exposed to the sun can cause first- and second- degree burns to unprotected skin. The late summer, especially in August and September, is marked by "monsoon season" when moist winds from the Gulf of California soak much of the Southwestern United States. While raising humidity levels, these winds develop into dramatic desert thunderstorms that cause flash flooding.
Winter temperatures are very mild with lows of around 30 °F (-1 °C). Snow accumulation at the Valley floor is rare but the surrounding mountains receiving as much as 10 feet (3 m) in the winter.
Air quality
Being located in a desert valley creates issues with air quality. From the dust the wind picks up from disturbed desert, to the smog produced by vehicles to the pollen in the air, the valley can have some bad air days.
Pollen can be a major issue several weeks a year with counts occasionally in the 70,000 plus range. Local governments are trying to control this by banning plants that produce the most pollen.
The dust problems usually happen on very windy days, so they tend to be seasonal and of a short duration.
Smog on the other hand gets worst when there is no wind to move the air out of the valley. Also in winter it is possible to get an inversion in the valley air that actually traps any smog in the valley.
The county is working to control these problems and has shown some success over the years. The constant tightening of Federal requirements for allowable particles in the air, make the task of meeting air quality standards difficult.
Water
The native flora does little to help the soil retain water. During the intense rains of monsoon season or (relatively) wet months of January and February, a network of dry natural channels, called washes or arroyos, carved into the Valley floor allows water to flow down from the mountains and converge in the Las Vegas Wash which runs through the Clark County Wetlands Park. The wash system used to form a large natural wetlands which then flowed into the Colorado River until the construction of Hoover Dam on the Colorado River led to the creation of Lake Mead. Further development in the 1980s and 1990s made Lake Las Vegas, which required directing the Las Vegas Wash into tunnels which run under Lake Las Vegas and into Lake Mead.
The Las Vegas area is limited to about 300,000 acre feet (370,000,000 m³) of water each year from Lake Mead, with credits for water it returns to the lake. The allocations were made when Nevada had virtually no people or agriculture. The allocations were also made during a wet string of years which overstated the available water in the entire watershed. As a result, precipitation that is below normal for a few years can have a major impact on the Colorado River Reservoirs.
Early Vegas depended on the aquifer which fed the springs, but the pumping of water from these caused a large drop in the water levels and ground subsistence over wide areas of the valley. Today, the aquifers are basically used to store water that is pumped from the lake during periods of low demand and pumped out during periods of high demand.
Urbanization
The population doubling time in the greater metropolitan area was under 10 years since the early 1970s and now has a population of over 2 million people. This rapid population growth led to a significant urbanization of desert lands into industrial, commercial, but, by and large, low-density, single-family tract homes (see suburbia).
Economy
Interior of a casino. A major part of the city economy is based on tourism including gambling.
While some might conclude from the yellow pages that lawyers and escorts are the major businesses, the driving force is the tourism industry. In the past the casinos were the one major attraction. Now shopping, conventions and fine dining are also major forces in attracting the tourist dollar. With about 130,000 hotel rooms, as of 2005, to fill, the conventions help fill the hotels, destination restaurants, and shopping malls on the strip.
There is a balance between all of the tourist operations in town. The conventions need hotel rooms, dining, and entertainment options. The hotels need the conventions, and tourists to fill their rooms. The restaurants depend on travelers in the hotel rooms to fill their tables. Everyone depends on a good road system to get travelers into town as well as available and reasonably priced airline seats.
Over the past few years, retirees have been moving to the valley driving businesses that support them, from housing to health care.
Las Vegas has been trying to expand its manufacturing and research base. There have been some positive signs from the World Market Center being developed in the City and the recently announced Alzheimer's research center in 2005 in addition to many smaller businesses.
While the cost of housing spiked up over 40% in 2004, the lack of business and income taxes still makes Nevada an attractive place for many companies to relocate to as well as expand into. Being a true 24 hour town, call centers have always seemed to find Vegas a good place to find workers willing to work at all hours.
Construction is strong. New strip casinos take years to build and employ thousands of workers. The same could be said of the housing boom with new home sales around 15,000 units in 2004. With the introduction of Turnburry Towers several years ago, developers discovered that the was a large demand for high end condominiums. At the end of 2004, it was estimated that as many as 80 major condominiums were in various stages of development.
Housing
Slab-on-grade foundations is the common base for residential buildings in the area.
Incorporated cities
Unincorporated cities and towns
Media
Broadcast
Newspapers
Magazines
Attractions
Convention centers
At the end of 2004, Las Vegas had over 9 million square feet (800,000 m²) of convention center space.
Events and conventions
Gardens and zoos
- Part of this project showcases a dual use concept. So the parking area is actually the roof of the reservoir. The shade structures in various areas are actually Photovoltaic cells used to generate power for the site.
Landmarks
Shopping
Culture
Museums
Recreation
With approximately 90% of Nevada owned by the US Federal Government (see Bureau of Land Management and Nellis Air Force Base), it should not be a surprise that the Federal Government land offers some of the largest playgrounds in the area.
Boating
Parks
- Clark County (as of 3/31/2005 there are over 66 parks)
Golf
Hiking
Rock climbing
Snow sking
Sports
Las Vegas is one of the largest cities in the United States to have no major professional sports league teams. Several reasons have been cited for this:
- Las Vegas only became a large market very recently.
- The perceived stigma of legal sports betting may be seen as being in conflict of interest with any potential pro sports team being located in Las Vegas by the NBA, the NFL, Major League Baseball and the NHL. The former three leagues have especially strong anti-gambling policies, going so far as to prohibit their leagues' personnel from having any involvement in gambling interests. There are currently no laws preventing Nevada sports books from accepting bets on local professional teams, and many casinos have said they would not voluntarily take a local team "off the boards."
- Some potential owners believe a professional sports franchise would have serious difficulty competing for an audience in a city with so many entertainment options. Also, Las Vegas is not on a work schedule similar to most cities. Other cities have most workers on a 9 to 5, Monday-Friday schedule. Las Vegas is a true 24/7 city, which results in a smaller potential market for a sports event when it is compared to a similar sized city.
- Las Vegas is still a relatively small television market, because the larger outlying areas were all drawn into the markets of larger cities farther away decades ago. For example, St. George, Utah is now part of the Salt Lake City market, and Bullhead City, Arizona is part of the Phoenix market. Las Vegas' TV market has been ranked as the 51st largest in the US, behind places like Albuquerque, Greensboro, Harrisburg, and Hartford. Furthermore, although Nevada's population is growing rapidly, it still had under two million people in the 2000 census. No other state with less than two million people has a major league franchise, and there is only one team (the Utah Jazz) based in a state with a population of less than three million.
Las Vegas is the home of the following minor league teams:
Las Vegas hosts these motor sports at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway:
Las Vegas hosts these pro tour events:
- PGA Michelin Championship at Las Vegas Oct 7-10, 2004
- LPGA -- (to be named event)
- PRCA Wrangler National Finals Rodeo
- PBR -- Built Ford Tough World Finals
- PBA Las Vegas Open
Las Vegas hosts these Professional Rodeo events:
Las Vegas hosts the Las Vegas Bowl, a college bowl game, around Christmas day.
Previous Las Vegas Minor League teams
Las Vegas has become an internationally known motor racing locale having hosted the elite Formula One racers at Caesars Palace and the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) for Indy racers in the early "80's. Las Vegas was also the home of the famed "Mint 400" Desert Race from 1968-1987 run in the unforgiving Nevada desert outside Las Vegas. Nearly 100,000 spectators lined the 100 mile (160 km) loop to view the 500+ off road racing vehicles. Sponsored by Del Webb's Mint Hotel and Casino, the event was the largest and richest event in the sport. The technical and safety inspection was held on famed Fremont Street and became one of the major must attend sporting events in Las Vegas history. The race ended when Del Webb organization sold the Mint Hotel to the adjacent Horseshoe owned by the legendary Binion gaming family.
Las Vegas is also host to many professional boxing matches and has hosted many heavyweight boxing championship bouts. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas Rebels (Runnin' Rebels is used only by the men's basketball program) host Mountain West Conference events on the UNLV campus and eight miles (13 km) east, at Sam Boyd Stadium. Indoor sporting events involving UNLV teams are held at the Thomas & Mack Center complex, both at the main arena and at Cox Pavilion, a smaller arena attached to the complex.
In April 2004, Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig publicly revealed that MLB was considering Las Vegas as a potential future home for the Montreal Expos. However, MLB eventually chose Washington, D.C. as the Expos' new home.
The NBA has awarded the 2007 NBA All-Star Game to Las Vegas. The 2007 game will be the first one to be played in a non-NBA city. As part of the conditions the NBA set for holding the game in Las Vegas, the Nevadan sportbooks have agreed not to take bets on the game. However, All-Star games are essentially exhibition matches and are never subject to heavy betting.
Education
Primary & secondary
- The Clark County School District runs all of the public primary and secondary schools in the county.
Colleges & universities
Hospitals
References
The content of this page is retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas_metropolitan_area under GFDL
