This week’s Green Felt Journal, partially written in my head while hanging out at the Discovery Children’s Museum last week, is about the tug of war between locals and visitors in Las Vegas:
Sometimes, it can seem that life in Southern Nevada is a big zero-sum game. With limited money to spend in both the private and public sectors, this dilemma is ever-present: Invest in infrastructure and attractions that will draw more tourists and pump more money into the economy, or add more services and institutions that enhance the quality of life for those of us who live here?
At the museum, I just got to thinking that the line between local and not visitor isn’t always as sharp as we assume. It’s a lot blurrier than the line between local and shoobie, anyway. I have no idea if I spelled shoobie right. Not sure if there is a correct standard English spelling since it’s transliterated from South Jerseyean.