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December 23, 2005
2006 will be pivotal for Pahrump Valley
Desert View Regional Medical Center will open sometime in the next few weeks - we can't give you an exact date because Roy Barraclough of Rural Health Management Corporation is apparently too busy tying up loose ends to answer our phone calls. The hospital's impacts on the valley are myriad and could trigger an avalanche of new growth, which in time will spark a mass exodus as people who moved to Pahrump to get away from it all realize "It" has found them. But new arrivals will grossly outnumber the departures and the valley will grow by more than 150 residents per month for the next year, and then that number will likely double, triple and quadruple in subsequent years. I forecast, based on empirical evidence and a strong idea of what current development plans will bring in terms of population, that Pahrump will be home to at least 70,000 residents by 2015. That figure is so conservative I almost laughed as I wrote it, but there's nothing funny about a community growing with new residents but not new jobs and industry to pay for governmental services. Clearly there are hundreds if not thousands of baby boomer parcel owners chomping at the bit to retire and move to Pahrump. But for the lack of 24-hour medical care and sewer expansion problems at the various Calvada subdivisions they'd already be here. Mountain Falls is starting to look a lot like an upscale Vegas neighborhood, Artesia is filling up like a bathtub and other major subdivisions - by any town or city's standards - are poised to go vertical in the next few weeks and months. The dairy is leaving town and the cows will be replaced with condos. While most of the growth is concentrated in southern Pahrump, for the time being, no area of the valley will be spared regardless of the highly expensive and totally worthless Pahrump Regional Planning District Master Plan and its ridiculous but politically expedient goal to retain the valley's rural lifestyle. What a joke; this is like the South trying to keep its plantations as the Yanks burned them to the ground during the Civil War. The situation will only become worse as growth rapidly and dangerously outpaces local government's ability to provide the most basic services such as decent roads with curb and gutter. The need for proper drainage, streetlights, police and fire protection and an ambulance service, traffic control signage and education are all at critical mass. I can see the day coming when Pahrump has 40,000 residents - we're just around the corner from that threshold, people - and our illustrious town board and management won't see a problem having the same eight firefighters and paramedics work 24/7 saving lives. I envision a day when cops won't have time to respond to anything but the most egregious acts of criminal wrongdoing, when the DA won't be able to prosecute the worst among us because those overwhelmed cops won't have time to write reports, let alone build strong cases. I predict Homestead Road will break apart and slip into the earth because the Nye County Board of Commissioners cannot afford to have the thoroughfare improved. Homestead is but one example - there isn't one street in the valley that's built Ford tough. I predict the town will make CNN and FOX newscasts some day soon when it rains and a brand new billion-dollar subdivision gets washed away like a rubber ducky trapped in an open drain. And don't think the State of Nevada will step in and save us when the population reaches a certain number. Vegas has the people, Vegas has the money, Vegas owns the Legislature - bought and paid for. And don't forget: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. I predict yet another incorporation drive will at least be discussed and this one might have more than a snowball's chance in hell of surviving. Too many people I know who have been vehemently opposed to Pahrump becoming a city are starting to sing another tune. Too many people I know now realize the town board form of government might be fine for Mayberry - but not Mayberry with tens of thousands of residents living on a wing and a prayer. I foresee the distinct possibility that at least one former and one current big-time elected official will be indicted by a secret Nye County grand jury that has been meeting for more than a year in Vegas (don't tell anyone, it is a secret). I believe the FBI will wrap up its election fraud investigation - now in its fourth year - and at least one former elected official will go to jail over this embarrassment as well. Finally, I predict that in spite of my dire predictions we will ultimately prevail or die trying. We're human beings and that's how we work. Write to Doug McMurdo at dmcmurdo@pvtimes.com. |
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