Vegas Taxi Driver

The Las Vegas Taxi Driver Blogger Will Be Back

2010-07-18T23:51:00Z

The Las Vegas Taxi Driver Blogger Will Be Back

by Phil Staudt
Vegas Taxi Driver
July 18, 2010

I apologize for not being diligent in posting regularly recently to this blog. I have been very busy working on some other online projects, but it is almost time for me to get back to doing some blogging. I have not been a cab driver for 1 1/2 years, and I was only a Las Vegas taxi driver for less than five years, in 1994 and 1995, and up until Feb 2009. I was also a cab driver in Portland, Oregon back in 1990. I never wanted to be a cab driver, even for one day, but I have suffered some serious set-backs at different times in my life. The most recent was having a stroke in 2008 while I was working as a cab driver for Western Cab Company in Las Vegas. Everything was fine, and I kept on working, but I lost my ability to talk and write, because of aphasia caused by the stroke, and I had to spend lots of time rehabilitating and learning how to talk and write all over again. I still have problems with it, and speaking and writing is way more difficult for me than it ever was before.

So, I guess this blog article is to let anyone who stumbles across the Vegas Taxi Driver Blog know, that the Vegas Taxi Driver will be doing more blogging in the future.

The comments have all approved, except for the spam, and the one that stated with one F word after another that I did not know how to use English (which was spelled wrong) and that I was boring and a waste of his time.

Now that I am not beholden to anyone, and am not employed in the Las Vegas taxicab field, I have considered starting over with new articles where I can say whatever I want, without being concerned about repercussions. We'll see.

by Phil Staudt
Vegas Taxi Driver
July 18, 2010

New Asian Fusion Restaurant in South Las Vegas

2010-03-29T11:53:00Z

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New Asian Fusion Restaurant Opens In South Las Vegas

by Phil Staudt
March 29, 2010

New Asian fusion restaurant opened on March 20, 2010 in Las Vegas.

Match Restaurant in Las Vegas

Match Restaurant in Las Vegas is a new Asian fusion restaurant at Maryland and Silverado Ranch Rd. It is located just down the road from the South Point Hotel and Casino, in the Silverado Ranch community, at the corner of Maryland Parkway and Silverado Ranch Boulevard. Match Restaurant is a superb place to go for late night drinks and dining.

Las Vegas locals now have a pleasant place to chill and unwind at night, after a hard day of work or golf, located on the southern side of Las Vegas, at the corner of Maryland Parkway and Silverado Ranch Boulevard. If you want to gather with business clients, or spend some romantic time with your special one, or just hang out with some good friends, private rooms are available for small groups. There are also private Karaoke rooms to have some late night fun while dining and/or having drinks.

Match Restaurant is a new restaurant in Las Vegas that was designed by industry professionals. Chef Randy Liu is the owner of Ta Ta Asian Bistro in Henderson. GM Gregory Arianoff was formerly the GM of Morel's French Steak-House in the Palazzo Hotel and Casino, and the GM of Market City Caffe inside the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino. On March 20, 2010, they opened Match Restaurant, which is an Asian fusion experience for evening and late night dining and drinking and socializing.

Go to Match Restaurant on the south side of Las Vegas and check it out. Tell them that you found out about the place on VegasTaxiDriver.com. If you tell them "777Buzz" you can get a 20% discount on your entire check from now until April 22, 2010.

For more info and pictures and coupon click here.

by Phil Staudt
March 29, 2010

Las Vegas Cabbie Makes Money Online

2010-02-16T12:06:00Z

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Former Las Vegas Cabbie earns Internet income

by Phil Staudt
February 16, 2010

Internet Income Business Opportunity

An Internet Business I Endorse.

My name is Phil Staudt. I grew up in Gladstone, Oregon, and graduated from Gladstone High School in 1978. Now I live in Las Vegas, and I am a full time Internet marketer and I make money with affiliate programs. I also used to be a taxi driver in Las Vegas, and I worked at several restaurants in Las Vegas. I have also been a salesman, entrepreneur, I have been a factory worker, waiter, bartender, restaurant manager, bar manager, and owner of several small businesses, including a janitorial service, t-shirt business, commercial salmon troller, and limousine service.

Why do I tell you who I am? Because I want to let you see that I am a real person who is writing this. I only endorse a few things, and that is only when I have enough knowledge about them, and I know what they are all about, and who is behind them. Then, and only then, I am not afraid to use my name to promote things. The online companies I am promoting at this time are owned by an individual I have worked with, and have known since 1986. Timothy L. Drobnick Sr. has been working online as an Internet marketer since 1995. I have only been a full time Internet marketer since March 2009, but I have done part time online marketing and have promoted affiliate programs since 1999. I recently hooked up with Tim Drobnick because he was getting ready to launch a new company that interested me greatly. Timothy L. Drobnick Sr. launched his latest business less than two weeks ago.

There are a lot of snakes and crooks and swindlers and scammers on the Internet. The Internet has made it possible for the crooks who were using mail order and telemarketing to run their scams in the 90's, to magnify their scamming operations and train the new scammers on how to rip people off on a grandiose scale. They use bogus names and tell all kinds of big bold lies, and nobody is monitoring them or stopping them or pressing charges against them. Every now and then you hear of a rogue seller or swindler, but for every one who gets caught or punished, there are thousands upon thousands of unscrupulous individuals who know how to hide and sneak and run, but not until after they steal and deceive and laugh their ass off. That is the way it is in Internet marketing.

Why do I tell you that? I learned early on that it is not good in sales to bad mouth the competition. Doing that instills fear and aprehension in the minds of your potential prospects. They start thinking, "Yeah, you're right. And come to think of it, you are probably just as bad as them." Well, at the risk of losing some potential customers, what I look for over the years is somebody who is willing to be real and honest and up front. If I turn some people off, and cause them to be discouraged, and they don't get into business opportunities that I make money promoting, that is fine by me, as long as I have given them the best advice I have to anyone who wants to make money online: BE CAREFUL!!!

How do you know if an Internet marketer or online marketing program is honest and ethical? One way is to google the name of the promoter or company. But does that really give you an accurate picture? Any real Internet marketer who has been on the Internet for a few years or more, who uses their name to sell things, is going to have a lot of results on google or bing. Anyone can join all the social networking sites, and build a few fancy looking websites. That does NOT mean that they worthwhile or reputable.

There are malicious websites that have been put up for the purpose of defaming people and companies. They tell malicious lies to discredit individuals and organizations. But it is always important to consider the sources of websites. They are either hiding under a rock, or they are one of the websites that specifically target a lot of reputable businesses online and call them scams, and intentionally slander them and make false claims, because it gets people to go to their website and pay attention to them. One of those websites is ripoffreport.com. Check them on wikipedia and see if what I am saying is true: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripoff_Report. They have been sued many times, but to no avail.

There are also the websites that are put up that use the word "scam" to get people to go to their website. If you google popular marketing programs or people, many times you will see their name on google next to the word scam. But if you click on the link, you will find that it says absolutely nothing about that person or program or website that is being used in the link. It is just a ploy to get traffic to their website and get people to look at what they have to sell. There a many many tricks and schemes online, so expect them, and be wise to them.

The Internet is the wild wild west and there are not any sheriffs in town.

If you check out Timothy L. Drobnick Sr. on the Internet, and his websites, you will find that there are very many good people who have been doing business with Tim Drobnick for many years, because he is honest and fair, and truly wants to see people succeed as Internet marketers. Timothy L. Drobnick Sr. does not mind if you do your due diligence, and there is no time clock telling you have to sign up in five minutes to get a hot deal. There is no pressure to whip out your credit card right now, because anything that is a good deal today, will also be a good deal tomorrow.

Any body can put up some bogus testimonials, but you will find out that he has real testimonials on his websites, from real people, who are involved in other Internet businesses and marketing programs, who use his websites and programs all the time to promote the other things they are doing. Timothy L. Drobnick Sr. does not tell people that they should only pay attention to his websites or marketing programs exclusively, because he is not afraid of people comparing his websites and affiliate programs to other ones. Some Internet marketers sound like you are joining a cult or a gang, and that if you dare look at other opportunities or see what other people are doing online, that you are breaking some kind of code and will be cursed. Tim Drobnick believes in free enterprise and respects the freedoms he associates with to look at lots of opportunities and create multiple streams of income.

That is why I want to introduce my friend to you, who owns several online businesses and is a real person. You might meet him in person and shake his hand, and think to yourself, this guy is just like me. He has worked doing real jobs at real companies. Tim Drobnick grew up poor, and their were no rich uncles or successful mentors to take him under their wing and make him successful. Timothy L. Drobnick Sr. had to go out there and struggle, and search, and learn, and get ripped off, and he has been lied to and cheated, and has been robbed just the same way that others have been. However, he is an eternal optimist, who never gave up on himself and always believed in his ability to overcome the odds without any deep pockets behind him, and his persistence has paid off. He could be a hell of lot richer if he had been willing to lower his standards and cheat people out of their money.

Don't lower yourself to being a scammer, or promote something you would not recommend to your mom or best friend.

Be picky about who you sleep with. Remember that you have to sleep with yourself for the rest of your life, so don't get stuck going to bed with a crook.

Be careful. Don't get scammed. And make lots of money.

by Phil Staudt
February 16, 2010

http://internet-income-business.info

PHIL STAUDT FACEBOOK FAN PAGE

Tags: income marketing google scams income marketing google scams

SuperBowl Commercials Suck

2010-02-08T17:01:00Z

SuperBowl Commercials - Why I Hate Them

by VegasTaxiDriver
February 8, 2010

Sorry, but I hate all commercials; even SuperBowl commercials; especially SuperBowl commercials.
_________________________________________________

First of all, I don't like being sucked into something.

The popularity of commercials during the SuperBowl is proof positive that if the media tells people they like something, then they go ahead and like it. Every television network and ad agency and newspaper and conventional form of media, has been telling everybody for years that SuperBowl commercials are wonderful, and everybody likes it, and that watching SuperBowl commercials is the "in" thing to do. And that, and only that, is the reason why SuperBowl commercials are popular. SUCKERS!!!
_________________________________________________

Secondly, those stupid SuperBowl commercials ruin a perfectly good NFL football game.

I have not watched most of the SuperBowls BECAUSE of those stupid commercials. The game takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours longer than what an NFL football game usually is. This year I watched the last half of the SuperBowl, only because I woke up and did not feel like taking a longer nap.
_________________________________________________

Thirdly, I hate television commercials.

I set my DVR to automatically record my regular news shows so I can forward through the commercials. In fact, I spent the first half of this SuperBowl watching a couple of recorded news programs -which I watched without seeing any commercials.
_________________________________________________

Fourthly, I like watching NFL football.

I am not a huge sports fan, and the only sports I have time to watch is NFL football. I enjoy a good NFL game. . During the NFL season, the only television commercials that I consciously watch are the commercials that air during NFL football games during the regular NFL football season, because I enjoy watching what is happening in real time on the NFL football games. But no matter how much I enjoy watching NFL football, I hate the commercials enough to not watch the SuperBowl most of the time.
_________________________________________________

For the past few decades, all the media has been on a campaign to promote the popularity of SuperBowl commercials. With the threat of low-cost Internet advertising and the choice of 300 television channels to choose from, the SuperBowl commercial popularity is the one thing left that has been successful and profitable. The question I have is that if they had been telling everybody that eating spoiled food during the SuperBowl was the "in" thing to do, would everybody do that, too?

Did I mention that I do not like SuperBowl commercials? Of course, I have never watched one episode of American Idol or Survivor, either, so I know that I am not the one to follow if you want to know what people like.

by VegasTaxiDriver
February 8, 2010

Also, the Super Bowl half time show was nice - for a nursing home.
_________________________________________________
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/whats-a-boy-to-do/2010/02/superbowl-commercial-roundup.html Superbowl Commercial Roundup
http://www.splendora.com/blog/leisure/superbowl_commercials Superbowl Commercials
http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_17708.html Superbowl Commercial: The Wolfman Remake!
http://www.amyoops.com/2010/02/funny-superbowl-commercials.html funny superbowl commercials
http://www.axipe.com/2010/02/top-10-superbowl-commercials Top 10 Superbowl Commercials
_________________________________________________

http://internet-income.philbucks.com/2010/02/06/internet-income-business-opportunity.aspx

Letter to Obama from Las Vegas Taxi Driver

2010-02-03T13:40:00Z

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NOTE TO READERS: The author and creator of this article, Phil Staudt, is neither Republican or Democrat, or affiliated with any political party. He is not against Obama and he does NOT want Obama to fail. He was a taxi driver in Las Vegas for years.

Letter to Obama from Las Vegas Taxi Driver

by Phil Staudt
February 3, 2010

Dear President Obama,

Look...You just don't get it!

Decades ago, there were leaders in Las Vegas, who wanted to change the reputation of Las Vegas and get Las Vegas past the era of Chicago-style mobsters, and turn the Las Vegas economy into a vibrant business meeting environment and the convention capital of the world. They succeeded in doing that, and they were able to sway many big conventions away from cities like Chicago, because the convention organizers realize that when they hold conventions in Las Vegas, more people show up for the conventions, because Las Vegas is a lot cheaper and convenient and way more fun than places like Chicago.

Or wait...Maybe you DO get it! You're from Chicago!

Or maybe, President Obama, you are not trying to get back at Las Vegas for stealing conventions away from your beloved Chicago. Maybe you just have the wrong impression about Las Vegas.

President Obama, you have certainly watched lots of movies about Las Vegas, where you probably got the impression that the little place in the middle of the desert with gambling, was just a place for people to gamble so that gangsters and mobsters, in places like Chicago, could make a big fat profit. While you were learning about the godfathers and mob families in Chicago, and the way that all the politicians who come from Chicago are corrupt with mafia ties, you learned that Las Vegas was a place that these illegal syndicates and leaders of organized crime could launder their money and use casinos as fronts for loans to businesses. So, Pres. Obama, that is probably why you got the impression that Las Vegas is not a place where anything goes on besides foolish gambling and drinking and partying and carousing.

On the other hand, President Obama sir, maybe you have friends in high places who belong to religions that think that Las Vegas, i.e. Sin City, is a horrible place with nothing more than a city full debauchery and lasciviousness. So maybe you are trying to appease them.

Yes, President Obama sir, I did in fact read your carefully worded statement of apology that you made yesterday to Senator Harry Reid, which seems to me like it may have been written before your speech, saying that you were sorry about what you said in your speech. It was noticeable that all you had to say about Las Vegas is that it IS fun, but you still went out of your way to NOT mention that Las Vegas has more conventions and business meetings than any other city in the world, and that it can be the cheapest place to have those meeting and conventions.

I know you are a superb speaker, and you carefully craft each word, so it is hard for me to imagine, that you would say the same thing that you did a year ago, that drew so much ire from Las Vegans then, just by accident. And, just like one year ago, this Freudian slip precedes a trip you have planned to Las Vegas. Most of the newscasters and commentators in Las Vegas, are trying to help you, by pointing out to the handful of folks who live here in the middle of the desert, that this was just an innocent and cute little mistake. Because, Barack Obama would never intentionally do anything that harms the city that stole conventions away from Chicago and is hated by his religious connections.

So, Barack (may I call you Barack?) it would behoove you to say that, "Las Vegas is the business convention capital of the world, and that businesses should book their trade shows and business meetings in Las Vegas, because it is very economical and convenient to do so, and it draws better crowds, making it more profitable and beneficial." However, Barack, we know you won't do that, or even close to that, for the sake of those you are tied to in Chicago, and those whom you associate with who are anti-Vegas for religious reasons.

The speech was a good one. In fact, I was just sitting down to commend you for it on my personal blog (http://blog.philstaudt.org). The fact that we currently have a President who is at least talking about reducing the deficit and not piling up more debt, is a good change. Hopefully, you are going to continue to make lots of speeches about cutting back and fiscal responsibility and debt control.

Thank you for reading my letter, President Obama, and please try not to hurt the Las Vegas economy too much, even though I understand you need to take care of cities like Chicago which have way more people as the scanty two million residents in the Las Vegas area. And I know that the votes in Nevada are not really needed by you, and that it is more important to you to take care of your buddies in Chicago and Illinois.

Sincerely,

Phil Staudt

by Phil Staudt
February 3, 2010

Mayor Oscar Goodman: Obama 'A Slow Learner'/// Mayor: President May Not Be Welcome In Vegas
FOX 5 News Local Las Vegas
February 3, 2010
Mayor Oscar Goodman has a bone to pick with President Barack Obama after he suggested people shouldn't spend their college savings on a trip to Las Vegas.

President Obama Apologizes Over Las Vegas Comments
Channel 8 KLAS-TV LasVegasNow.com
February 3, 2010
President Obama has written a letter of apology to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid regarding comments made Tuesday about trips to Las Vegas.

Obama and Las Vegas, at odds again
USA Today
February 3, 2010
What's said in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas - though apparently that doesn't apply to what's said about Las Vegas elsewhere in the world.

Obama Clarifies Sin City Comment in Letter to Sen. Reid -- UPDATED
ABC News Political Punch
February 2, 2010
- Karen Travers and Rachel Martin
ABC News' Teddy Davis contributed to this report.
At a town hall meeting there today President Obama tried to hammer home his message that the federal government needs to rein in its spending in tough economic times, just as Americans shouldn't gamble their money away in Las Vegas.

http://davidbellavia.com/2010/semperpapa-whats-up-with-vegas/
http://loadstonerock.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/what-happens-in-vegas-is-apparently-beyond-criticism-even-when-presented-humorously/
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/what-does-the-president-have-against-sin-city/
http://markese91.blogspot.com/2010/02/vegas-versus-obama.html
http://prattspub.com/blog/2010/02/04/video-ooops-obama-did-it-again-las-vegas-mayor-calls-obama-a-slow-learner/

Maybe you would like to send a message to Barack Obama at the WhiteHouse. You can send your message to Barack Obama at www.whitehouse.gov/contact.

Here is the shortened version (less than 2500 words) that I sent today to Barack Obama at www.whitehouse.gov/contact:

Dear President Obama,

Look...You just don't get it!

Decades ago, there were leaders in Las Vegas, who wanted to change the reputation of Las Vegas and get Las Vegas past the era of Chicago-style mobsters, and turn the Las vegas economy into a vibrant business meeting environment and the convention capital of the world. They succeeded in doing that, and they were able to sway many big conventions away from cities like Chicago, because the convention organizers realize that when they hold conventions in Las Vegas, more people show up for the conventions, because Las Vegas is a lot cheaper and convenient and way more fun than places like Chicago.

Or wait...Maybe you DO get it! You're from Chicago!

Or maybe, Pres. Obama, you are not trying to get back at Las vegas for stealing conventions away from your beloved Chicago. Maybe you just have the wrong impression about Las Vegas.

Yes, Pres. Obama sir, I did in fact read your carefully worded statement of apology that you made yesterday, which seems like it may have been written before your speech, saying that you were sorry about what you said in your speech. It was noticeable that all you had to say about Las Vegas is that it IS fun, but you still went out of your way to NOT mention that Las Vegas has more conventions and business meetings than any other city in the world, and that it can be the cheapest place to have those meeting and conventions.

So, Barack (may I call you Barack?) it would behoove you to say that, "Las Vegas is the business convention capital of the world, and that businesses should book their trade shows and business meetings in Las Vegas, because it is very economical and convenient to do so, and it draws better crowds, making it more profitable and beneficial." However, Barack, we know you won't do that, or even close to that, for the sake of those you are tied to in Chicago, and those whom you associate with who are anti-Vegas for religious reasons.

Sincerely,

Phil Staudt

(you can read the entire letter at:
blog.vegastaxidriver.com)

Tags: Obama Las+Vegas Chicago conventions Obama Las+Vegas Chicago conventions

Las Vegas Marathon Video and Pics

2009-12-07T07:14:00Z

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Las Vegas Marathon Video and Pictures

by Phil Staudt
December 6, 2009

This is a video of Las Vegas marathon runners heading west on Twain between Arville and Decatur. It was still cold outside.

2009-12-06 las vegas marathon

You can see the tops of the hotels on the Las Vegas strip. This is the truck that was escorting the elite men runners in the Las Vegas "Rock N Roll" marathon.

They are heading west, going away from the Las Vegas strip, on Twain between Arville andDecatur.

Look at the beautiful mountains that surround Las Vegas in all directions. The area has 2.2 million residents and housing developments that go right up to the foot of the mountains.

ROCK N ROLL!!!

Once again, you can see the Las Vegas strip behind them.

You can tell by looking at the police officer that it was still plenty cool at 7 am.

by Phil Staudt
December 6, 2009

Dayna Roselli and Dave McCann from Channel 8 News Now hosted the event on Sunday morning, and there are some great pictures and videos of the Las Vegas Rock N Roll Marathon below.

Channel 8 News Now lasvegasnow.com
December 6, 2009
Las Vegas Marathon 2009 Attracts 27,000 click here
LAS VEGAS, Nv -- More than 27,000 people gathered in the cold Sunday morning to take part in the Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon.
Las Vegas Now Videos click here

ROCK 'N' ROLL LAS VEGAS MARATHON: Kenyan wins women's race, prize for quick time click here
Las Vegas Review Journal reviewjournal.com
December 6, 2009
By PATRICK EVERSON
"Showing little sign of exhaustion, Rotich broke out a broad smile as she split the tape. And why not, as she stunned Ivanova with her late rally to claim the $15,000 first prize, while also winning the race’s male-female challenge, good for another $10,000."

Rock N Roll Marathon click here
Another Las Daily Photo Blog
anotherlasvegasdailyphoto.blogspot.com
Posted By Mo

MG4HYGQEHGUA

Las Vegas Marathon On Strip Is Bad For Las Vegas

2009-12-06T14:33:00Z

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Las Vegas marathon on Las Vegas strip is bad for Las Vegas

by Phil Staudt
December 6, 2009

Las Vegas plans to fail; Kills business once a year for sake of marathon.

If you hate Las Vegas, and you want to see the Las Vegas economy take another hit, you will love this!

I am pro-marathon, and I would like to see the Las Vegas marathon grow every year, but it does not need to hurt the business in Las Vegas that is the life-blood of the State of Nevada.

The Las Vegas marathon could be a great way to ADD tourists to Las Vegas instead of HURT business on the Las Vegas strip, which is what is doing now. There are over 200,000 tourists in Las Vegas on anaverage wekend, staying in the 140,000 hotel rooms in Las Vegas. So when they say that the marathon attracts 27,000, it does not say how many tourists were inconvenienced and are not going to come back to Las Vegas, because of the horrible nightmare that it created for them, and it does not say how many people who did not come to Las Vegas last weekend to spend money because they got caught in that mess in years past.

First of all, I am not against marathons, I am not against having a marathon in Las Vegas, and I am not even against having a marathon that goes down the Las Vegas strip. But I am adamantly opposed to shutting down the money-making part of the State of Nevada during the busiest night of the week, and deciding that Las Vegas and the residents of Nevada have to take a huge financial hit in order to accommodate some runners.

Las Vegas shut down its money-making operation on Saturday night to cater to non-gambling health nuts who have to go bed early to get up and run a marathon. If you own stock in MGM-Mirage or Sands or Wynn, you are out of luck this week. If you are visiting Las Vegas this weekend, and want to get from the Las Vegas strip to the airport on Sunday, sorry about your luck. If you know what it is like on Saturday in Las Vegas, which is the busiest day of the week for businesses on the Las Vegas strip, then you know how much it hurts to have the Las Vegas strip blocked off to traffic on a Saturday night. What a disaster!

The economy is hurtin' for certain in Las Vegas, and instead of boosting the Las Vegas economy by trying to increase Saturday business, which is what pays the bills for all the residents in Nevada, who do not pay State income tax, and rely on tourists to pay the bills for them, the geniuses who run Las Vegas shut down the Las Vegas strip on Saturday night, to cater to Sunday morning non-spenders who want to run a marathon. The media in Las Vegas always promotes the marathon on the Las Vegas strip as a great deal for the City of Las Vegas. How stupid! I say, "The king has no clothes".

No wonder the economy is bad. I am sure that there will be reports about how much money the marathon brings to Las Vegas, and they will be as accurate as a gambler who says they won $1000 in Vegas and doesn't mention that they had to spend $2500 to win it. The huge gaming corporations have been tearing down the good old buildings that gave Las Vegas its unique pro-gambling look, and replacing them with buildings that look like they belong in Paris or London or New York. The cheap buffets, and good deals on hotel rooms, and cheap drinks, and cheap shows, and a friendly atmosphere for average folks who like Las Vegas, (which is what turned Las Vegas from a cow town to the #1 tourist destination in the world) has been replaced by fancy architecture and over-priced rooms and drinks and shows, which attracts the elite social hierarchy and snobs, who are above low-life gambling folks.

I hope I am all wrong, and getting rid of what worked in Las Vegas, and increasing what is not working now for Las Vegas, is what works in the future. Maybe it is just the economy, and not really the stupidity that I see, that is hurting Las Vegas. If Las Vegas was still centered around all that cheap tacky stuff that it used to be famous for, people who are being careful with their money would be flocking here during bad times. But since Las Vegas spent a decade trying to chase them away, they are staying at home saying, "Fool me once...".

by Phil Staudt
December 6, 2009

Here is an article I wrote back when I was still driving taxi, regarding the marathon, back when the economy was at it's all-time best in Las Vegas:

Las Vegas Marathon on

Las Vegas Strip Is A Bad Idea

by Vegas Taxi Driver
December 2, 2007

Marathons are a family thing. Lots of kids show up to watch and participate. The last place parents should be taking their kids is the Las Vegas strip, and unless they plan on eliminating gambling and drinking and sex from Las Vegas (which many of the residents in Las Vegas would like to do, but they like extracting money from the Las Vegas Strip to pay for services and keep taxes low), then parents taking their kids to hang out and be on the Las Vegas Strip is a really sick and stupid idea. There are lots of nice places away from the Las Vegas Strip that are built to be kid friendly.

The Las Vegas Marathon is a prime example of the stupidity of the idiotic people who now run Las Vegas, and their stupidity went on display again on Saturday night at midnight before the Las Vegas Marathon. On the busiest night of the week at the busiest time for traffic in Las Vegas, the dummies who are in charge sent out dozens of trucks full of barricades and workers who began blocking off every major street in the only part of Las Vegas that is busy at that time, with people from all over the world who come to get away from normal home town activities like marathon running.

I would like to apologize to all of the unsuspecting tourists and gamblers and nightclub goers who paid good money to come to Las Vegas to experience what Las Vegas is supposed to be, and what Las Vegas should be, only to be abused and disrespected by Las Vegas. The morons who are supposed to be running Las Vegas allowed some non-gambling, non-clubbing, non-spending, and non-tipping buffoons, who operate this nonsense, to ruin your weekend. I don't blame the real customers who come to Las Vegas, for what Las Vegas is supposed to be, if they boycott Las Vegas in the future on marathon weekend. I think some tourists have already learned not to come here that weekend. That can't be good for the casinos. How much did the casinos make last night from all the marathon runners and fans that went to bed at 7pm so they could be up at the crack of dawn for the Las Vegas Marathon? The reason Las Vegas became one of the most well known and popular cities in the world is not because it allowed its life-blood to be crippled during its prime time.

Tens of thousands of tourists who went downtown on Saturday night were stranded and unable to get back to the Las Vegas strip without their cab driver being blockaded and stuck in miserable traffic jams. Bus drivers were at a loss, with blockades making it impossible for them to run their routes, and I saw buses going in circles from block to block trying to get through (I was too!). Club goers could not get back to their hotels, and many many people missed their flights home on Sunday because the main roads were blockaded. If you are a person who understands Las Vegas and the business at hand, then you can see how ridiculous and inexcusable it is. It is bad for Las Vegas business. It hurts. It is no good. It is stupid.

Wouldn't it be cool if the New York Marathon went right through the trading floors on Wall Street during the middle of the week, and barricades blocked all the traffic all day long in Manhattan on a busy Tuesday or Thursday? That would be so cool! Unfortunately for marathon fans, dummies do not run New York City. Wouldn't it be cool if the marathon surrounded all the trucking hubs in Kansas City and blocked off all the freeways during the busiest traffic time of the week? Wouldn't it be cool if the Atlanta Marathon went down the middle of the busiest freeways on Friday and they blocked off all freeways in Atlanta from Thursday night until Saturday? But, unfortunately for marathon enthusiasts, morons don't run those towns.

Ron Paul would like to have CSPAN let him give campaign speeches for 10 hours every week during the time when they have the most viewers, but the people who run CSPAN are not going to let one candidate have that because they are not idiots. Hillary Clinton would like to be the only guest on the Larry King Show for the next five weeks, but the people who run the Larry King Show are not going to allow one candidate to do that because it would be stupid and detrimental to their ratings. But the people who run Las Vegas are just that stupid.

Marathons are great and having a marathon in Las Vegas is a great thing. I am all for it. Las Vegas encompasses hundreds of square miles from mountain to mountain, full of beautiful roads. The roads on the outskirts that separate hundreds of beautiful gated communities in Las Vegas are bigger and better than the run-down roads close to the Las Vegas strip, because the idiots who now run Las Vegas suck money out of the casinos, that draw 40 million visitors from all over the world, and use the money to make the roads surrounding their voters nice, instead of taking care of business on the streets that are important to tourism traffic. That is because the people who live on the outskirts get to vote and the 40 million tourists do not, and the morons who now rule Las Vegas, let developers build non-Vegas style communities for hundreds of thousands of non-Vegas style people to move into.

For the Las Vegas residents and politicians who want to attract as many non-gambling non-drinking non-smoking events, like marathons, in order to change the image of Las Vegas, having the Las Vegas Marathon go down and around the Las Vegas strip should be repulsive. You know that the Las Vegas Strip is the only part of the Las Vegas Marathon that will be paid attention to, and an opportunity is missed to show the world that there are miles and miles of beautiful areas in Las Vegas that are not even near the Las Vegas Strip. All the attention gets paid to the Las Vegas Strip instead of all the beautiful outlying areas.

Unlike most business areas of most major cities, where Saturday and Sunday are the slow days and the least busy times for hotels and restaurants, weekends are the busiest time on the Las Vegas strip with 133,000 rooms in Las Vegas full at the highest rates. The Las Vegas strip and its businesses do not need a shot in the arm on the weekend. I am sure there will be reports that the Las Vegas Marathon brings money to Las Vegas. The truth is, it hurts Las Vegas, and costs the hotels and casinos and nightclubs millions of dollars in lost revenue, because it is in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Stockholders of MGM-Mirage and Wynn Resorts and Las Vegas Sands should be aware that one of the 52 weekends of the year is seriously hindered by the dummies running Las Vegas. If a tornado swept through Los Angeles or Chicago or New York City there would be analysts calculating how much business was lost and what the negative impact was on the city. They should do the same in this case.

The businesses and hotels on the outskirts of town would benefit from having the added business of the Las Vegas Marathon going through the outlying areas. Do we have a mayor?

Earlier this year these same dummies crippled business at the downtown casinos for about five weeks because of some car race that had a poor turnout.

LAS VEGAS is getting more and more undesirable to the big spenders and big players that are the life-blood of the city because of the idiots who run Las Vegas. Maybe they should hire some imprisoned mob bosses to be consultants and tell them how to do it.

by Vegas Taxi Driver
December 2, 2007

Roads, including Strip, to be closed for Sunday marathon click here
Las Vegas Sun lasvegassun.com
By Kyle Hansen (contact)
Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.
"Runners will be taking over some of the area's busiest streets — including the entire Strip for much of Sunday — for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon and Half Marathon. More than 25,000 people are expected to participate in the race, which will also shut down some public bus routes."

Route Changes due to Rock 'N' Roll Marathon Sunday click here
KTNV Channel 13 News ktnv.com
Posted: Dec 4, 2009 01:18 PM

Drivers Brace For Marathon Delays, Detours click here
Closures Begin At 3 A.M. Sunday
Fox 5 News fox5vegas.com
POSTED: 7:57 am PST December 4, 2009
"LAS VEGAS -- Getting around southern Nevada will take some planning ahead for a lot of drivers this weekend...Drivers need to be aware of more than two dozen closures during the event, with the majority of delays around the resort corridor...The earliest closure begins at 3 a.m. and several last until Sunday afternoon. Some freeway ramps will also be closed for the event..."

by Phil Staudt
December 6, 2009

Western Cab Company Las Vegas NV Has Been Very Good To Me

2009-11-19T10:49:00Z

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Western Cab Company Las Vegas NV

Has Been Very Good To Me

republished by Vegas Taxi Driver
November 19, 2009

The below blog article was written while I was still working as a cab driver. A few weeks after writing this article in February 2009, I quit driving a cab and working at Western Cab Company. Since then, the economy in Las Vegas has actually gone down from where it was, and some of the other Las Vegas cab companies have fired many of their long time cab drivers who were not willing to degrade themselves to become lying stealing crooks. Three months after quit working for Western Cab Company, I went to work at a different Las Vegas cab company that hired part time drivers, was closer to my home, and was supposed to have a good reputation of treating drivers decent. That is what I told Western Cab I was going to do, but I did not last there more than two weeks with that fine establishment, because they had a new manager who was a disrespectful jerk and a snot, and I am just not that desperate. Besides that, the cars they had me drive were unsafe and very poorly maintained. And they wanted me to break laws. So, my opinion of Western Cab Company as a good employer, and a rose among thorns, is even higher than it was when I wrote this article.

Western Cab Company Las Vegas NV Has Been Very Good To Me

Western Cab Company has been very good to me. I have been employed as a taxi driver for Western Cab Company for over three years. I like Western Cab Company and the people I work for and the people I work with, so I decided to say why I like working for Western Cab Company.

I am just an employee at Western Cab Company, and I am in no way trying to represent or speak for Western Cab Company. The opinions and statements and facts on nevadataxidriver.com are not necessarily the views of Western Cab Company, and Western Cab Company has not endorsed anything on my website or blog or asked me to say anything to anyone, and nevadataxidriver.com is an independent entity owned by the sole owner of the nevadataxidriver.com domain name, and is independent of any agencies or organizations or companies.

The taxi business in Las Vegas is totally regulated by the Nevada Taxicab Authority, and has its own unique situation which is different from most cities. All of the cab drivers in Las Vegas are straight commission employees, and they do not lease their cabs and they are told what hours to work and what days to work (drivers at union companies bid on shifts and days and cabs based on seniority). Because the cab companies make all of their money from the meters, instead of receiving lease money and dispatch fees from drivers, a unique relationship exists between the cab companies in Las Vegas and the cabbies, and the cab companies need to monitor the amount of money being booked by drivers to make sure they are putting in an honest day of work and that drivers are not ripping off the company or . Las Vegas cabbies receive medical insurance after being employed for a year (six months at some companies), but they have to work 55 to 60 hours per week to qualify (some drivers work only four 12 hour shifts if they have been with a company for many years). I have never been opposed to working a lot of hours as long the income is worth it and I can save a lot of money.

Western Cab Company is not a union company. For a person who wants to be a career cabbie, working for a union cab company in Las Vegas may be the way to go, as long as a person wants to stay with the same company for many years. I have worked for union and non-union taxi companies in Las Vegas, but since I never intended to work for a long time as a cabbie, the union cab companies are not good for me. If you are in a union and are a cabbie in Las Vegas, and if you quit your job or want to switch companies, you lose all seniority and you start on the bottom. That is the biggest problem with the union system as it pertains to cab companies in Las Vegas. The cab companies in Las Vegas with unions realize that their drivers need to stay at their company or they lose their seniority and have to start over working the worst shifts and days and driving the oldest vehicles. As a new driver, the supervisors at the union cab companies that I encountered acted as if they needed to play games with me to let me know who is boss. I don't do games well.

Before I went to work at Western Cab Company I had been a taxi driver for four out of the nine parent companies that own taxi companies in the Las Vegas area. I have never been fired from a company in Las Vegas. I just never intended to stay working as a cabbie for more than a year at a time. I have been divorced for over twenty years and I like to be able to move around. (All my ex's live in Denver.) I have moved in and out of Las Vegas several times in the past 17 years. The first time I was a cab driver in Las Vegas was in 1994. I have spent just as much time working in restaurants in Las Vegas as I have driving for Las Vegas taxi companies. Driving a taxi was just a way to work a lot of hours for awhile and save up some money and be able to take time off to travel or move on to something else.

I have been employed for over 50 companies of various kinds in five states over the past 32 years, and six of them were cab companies in Las Vegas and Oregon. I have also owned several businesses, including a janitorial service, a t-shirt business, a limousine service, a restaurant management and consulting business, a commercial salmon troller, a night club, and an Internet marketing company. Most of my life I was managing businesses for other people or myself. I just want to get back to being self-employed, and cab driving is a stepping stone to get there.

In 2003, I owned a few businesses in Oregon. One of them was a bar. On February 1, 2004, there was a gang-related shooting in the parking lot of my business. Three customers were shot and one of my employees was almost killed. There were also a dozen gang-related shootings within a few miles of my club during the same week. This was the second time there had been a gang-related shooting at my club in three months, and one customer was shot the first time. There were no suspects in either incident. I was strapped for cash because my bar had only been open for seven months, and I did not have deep enough pockets to pay for the added security and surveillance that I believed I would to have in order to keep my customers and employees and myself safe, so I shut down the business. As a result, I ended up owing a lot of money.

I was totally broke and in debt, so I moved back to Las Vegas in Febraury 2004, and got hired at a good restaurant in the Monte Carlo Resort. They treated me well, but I thought that I could make more money driving a taxi in Las Vegas, especially since I was willing to work every day and didn't mind long hours. Most restaurants do not allow employees to work more than 40 hours in a week, and they have to cut hours for employees during slow times. I wanted to work lots of hours and make enough money to save up money so I could work at making money online with Internet marketing. So I gave the restaurant a 30 day notice, and went to work at a cab company other than Western cab Company. I worked almost every night, 13 1/2 hours a night, and worked as hard as I could. I worked 45 days in a row at one time. But no matter how hard I tried, I could not get ahead at that company, because I was not willing to long-haul passengers.

So I quit that company, and went to work at a unionized taxi company which had great benefits and was a good company, but I didn't have the patience to put up with the jerk who was my supervisor and was on a power trip and likes playing games with drivers.

By the time I applied to work at Western Cab Company, my expectation for going to work for a Las Vegas cab company was very low. All I was hoping for was a place to work and survive for a year and make some money without too much harassment. I did not intend to work there for more than a year. Before going to Western Cab Company, I called one of the cab drivers I had worked with at another cab company, and asked him how he liked Western Cab Company. He had driven for other cab companies in Las Vegas for many years, and he had nothing but good things to say about Western Cab Company. I thought that was interesting, because I met him while I was working at a cab company where the manager used to threaten drivers that if they lost their job that they would end up working at Western Cab Company, as if that was a bad thing. The company we had worked for before Western Cab Company was a terrible company to work for, and we should have just gone to work at Western Cab Company right away instead of putting up with their crap for one day. He is still working for Western Cab Company and says he loves it.

When I walked on to the cab yard to apply for a job, I knew nothing about Western Cab Company, except for things I had heard from cab drivers and cab companies. I was interviewed and hired by the founder of the company, Herb Tobman. I was impressed with him from the moment I met him. He was down to earth and treated all of his employees with respect. He was strict, but respectful. Unfortunately, he passed away several months after I started working for Western. But during the few months that I knew him, he was almost always there when I came to work and he would ask me how I was doing, even though I was a new employee. Every employee at the company liked Mr. Tobman.

From the time I started working at Western Cab Company, I realized that the way Western Cab Company is run is different from other cab companies I have worked for in Las Vegas. Drivers are treated like grown ups. There are minimal restrictions and rules, and drivers are expected to be responsible on their own, without somebody telling them what to do all the time. The drivers are not required to stand in line and wait to get a trip sheet from a supervisor or talk to a supervisor to get a cab assigned to them. There is a grease board with the numbers of cabs, and drivers' names are next to the numbers. Drivers come to work, find their name on the grease board, check their name off with a grease pen, grab a blank trip sheet, find their cab, and go to work. Drivers at Western Cab Company are not required to shave, which is a big plus for me. (My face does not like razors.) There are no road supervisors running around harassing drivers. If you do what you are supposed to, everything will be fine.

After three to six months of working at Western Cab Company, drivers are usually assigned a cab that is their regular cab. Driving the same cab all the time is low stress because drivers get to know everything about their cab, and they know they are going to be assigned that car for a long time, and so they take care of it. If they don't, they are just hurting themselves. If drivers work extra days, they can request to work their regular cab on those days. Sometimes drivers are allowed to take days off if there are extra drivers available.

The first cab I was assigned to already had about 120,000 miles on it, and had not been cared for by the driver who had been driving it before, who got fired. It took me a couple of months to figure out everything that was wrong with it, and I kept taking it into the shop until things worked, and then it was a good cab. Less than two years from the time I started working at Western Cab Company, I was assigned to a new cab, and I have been driving that cab since then, and it is still in great shape, because the day driver and I have taken very good care of it.

The thing that I like the most about Western Cab Company is that I have not been harassed or punished or restricted or suspended or penalized for booking too low, even though many times I have booked much lower than the average. They have allowed me to work my regular shift and drive a new car and not be restricted, even though my book has been way lower than the average at times, because I refuse to long haul customers to book more. I know that some Las Vegas cab companies would have harassed and penalized me, and maybe even fired me, for booking too low.

Prior to working for Western Cab Company, my opinion of taxicab companies in Las Vegas was not good at all, and my experiences working for cab companies in Las Vegas were not good ones. During the first year I worked there, I did not talk to other drivers at Western Cab Company, and I just went to work and did the best job I could, and tried to stay under the radar. Since I started working for Western Cab Company, I have always told people that Western Cab Company was the best cab company to work for in Las Vegas, but I still had a bad opinion of all cab companies in Las Vegas. I assumed that Western Cab Company was probably as bad as other companies, just run by nicer people. I used to look at the system in Las Vegas of not allowing competition and not allowing cabbies to own their own cabs as just about greed and power. I still think that it creates a situation where some Las Vegas cab companies are allowed to abuse and mistreat employees. But now I believe that if all the cab companies in Las Vegas were as conscientious as Western Cab Company, and if they genuinely cared about their employees like Western Cab Company, and if the Nevada Taxicab Board did their job properly, the position of being a Las Vegas taxi driver would be getting better instead of getting worse. Now I can safely say that the people who own and run Western Cab Company have gone out of their way to be fair and decent to their drivers, even though some drivers do not deserve it.

During the past two years, I came to realize that Western Cab Company was not just an okay company, but that the owners and managers are exceptional people and are very good to work for. I know that they would be happy if I would book more, and I would like to make more money, but I have not been harassed or punished or restricted or suspended or penalized for booking too low, even though I have booked much lower than the average, because I do not long haul. Western Cab Company takes into consideration that I work hard and am conscientious and safe and follow the rules outlined by the Nevada Taxicab Authority. They have allowed me to work my regular shift and days and drive a new car and not be restricted, even though my book has been lower than the average, because I am not long-hauling and ripping off customers. Some Las Vegas cab companies would have harassed and penalized me, and maybe even fired me, for booking too low. Instead, Western Cab Company has treated me much better than I ever expected.

About a year after I started working at Western Cab Company I got to know one of the drivers who had worked for Western Cab Company for over five years. He used to be my neighbor and we lived in the same building. He was always late for work and did not book much and he slacked off a lot. He also had a lot of health problems. They continually tried to get him to improve, but finally they had to let him go. I still talk to him from time to time, and he is working at a different cab company, but even when he was fired from Western Cab Company he never said a bad word about Western Cab Company, and he wished that he was working for them now. There are many drivers at Western Cab Company like me who have been burned by other cab companies in Las Vegas, and if you talk to them you will find that they like working at Western Cab Company.

I was expecting to be working at something besides cab driving by now. After one year had gone by of working at Western Cab Company, I decided that it was an okay place to work for a little longer, I liked the people that worked there, and it was close and convenient for me. After working there for less than two years I was ready to give them my 30 day notice to go back to working at restaurants, so I could have less hours and spend more time working on Internet marketing. However, two days before I was going to give them my notice, I was assigned to drive a brand new cab. They must have had intuition or something, but I decided to not quit at that time. I figured I might as well stay and drive the new cab for a while before quitting.

After two years of working at Western Cab Company I had the opportunity to work for a brand new restaurant in the Palazzo which is owned by the same people I had worked for at the Monte Carlo, but since I was driving a new cab and Western Cab Company kept treating me well, I decided to stay there a little longer.

During the spring of 2008, I was making better money at any time that I worked at Western Cab Company, and I was finally getting ahead and saving money so I could move on to something else. I didn't even hate my job. But then, on May 29, 2008, I had a stroke while I was working. The only thing that it affected was my ability to speak and write, but I was out of work for almost six weeks. It has been difficult for me to learn how to talk again. I have aphasia as a result of my stroke. I am functional at speaking and writing, and most people who do not know me cannot tell I have speech problems, but it bothers me immensely that I cannot speak as well as I used to. It takes me much longer to write things, and I have to go back and find places where I omitted words.

I am just glad that I have a job with health insurance. Now I need to have a job with health insurance, even though the pay has been poor recently because of bad economic times. I have been able to work less than my scheduled 55 hours every week, because there are lots of extra drivers available right now, and I am trying to not push myself because of my health problems, because I do not want to have another stroke. Even though this would be a good time to start long-hauling people and stealing rides from other cabbies, I am above that. I have passed up many opportunities in my life where I could have made ten times as much money as being a cab driver if I was willing to be unethical. In the future, I will look back on this time and feel good about myself that I was not a crook, and that I ended up working for a good company that does not pressure me to be a crook. Because I work for Western Cab Company, I do not have to be a crook. Western Cab Company has been very good to me. I appreciate Western Cab Company.

I am just an employee at Western Cab Company, and I am in no way trying to represent or speak for Western Cab Company. The opinions and statements and facts on nevadataxidriver.com are not necessarily the views of Western Cab Company, and Western Cab Company has not endorsed anything on my website or blog or asked me to say anything to anyone, and nevadataxidriver.com is an independent entity owned by the sole owner of the nevadataxidriver.com domain name, and is independent of any agencies or organizations or companies.

by Vegas Taxi Driver
March 13, 2009

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Bob Stupak my first Las Vegas employer dies at 67

2009-09-26T03:11:00Z

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Bob Stupak Dies @ 67

My first employer in Las Vegas

by Vegas Taxi Driver
September 25, 2009

It was a very hot September afternoon in 1991 when I drove into Las Vegas for the first time in my life. I was driving a 1976 Chevy Impala with no air conditioning. I had driven through the desert from Reno to Vegas with all of my belongings in the back seat of my car, after leaving Seattle the day before, sleeping in my car along the way. I stopped at a gas station on Sahara Avenue and bought a map.

The Strip Hotel was located at 201 East Utah, about two blocks away from the White Cross Drug Store located on Las Vegas Boulevard, and about four blocks from Bob Stupak's Vegas World. The Strip Hotel was $88 a week and featured a black and white television, but the showers in the hall were shared. I found an ad for The Strip Hotel in a copy of the Las Vegas Review Journal in the Seattle Library. I ended up staying there the whole time I worked for Bob Stupak, except for a couple of weeks when I slept in my car to save money.

My boss at the 13 Coins Restaurant in Seattle told me I should move to Las Vegas, because I was young and I had nothing going on in life. Maybe he was just trying to get rid of me, but I was the one who brought up the fact that I was not looking forward to surviving another winter in a rainy town like Seattle. I grew up in Portland and the constant drizzle and dripping is quite annoying (in fact it has been used as torture). He said that if he was me he would take off and go move to Las Vegas where it is warm and there is always lots of work. So I did.

(I told the owner of the 13 Coins in Seattle that if they opened up a restaurant in Las Vegas I would go to work for them. They told me that Las Vegas would not be good for them because Las Vegas is only about cheap food and tacky restaurants. If they would have followed my cue they would have made a fortune in Las Vegas http://ihid.us?i=ovi )

So my first night I walked downtown and spent all night walking around Downtown Las Vegas. Fremont Street really was a street with cars honking at each other as they crawled up and down the street gawking at all the lights. I walked all through every casino downtown: Lady Luck, Fitzgerald's, Golden Nugget, Union Plaza, Las Vegas Club, California, Binion's Horseshoe, Golden Gate, Four Queens, Fremont, Sassy Sally's, and my favorite one - The Pioneer Club. I was broke (thanks to Steamers Restaurant in Portland where I got fired because they falsely accused me of stealing their safe). At Fitzgerald's I saw a guy who had just got off of work filling out a ticket, and I asked him what he was doing. He showed me how to play Keno. I played a few dollars and lost. I bought a roll of nickels and played a nickel Keno machine in the Pioneer Club. I wasn't there to play. I wanted to work.

The next morning was Friday and I bought a newspaper. I read all the help wanted ads. I had been reading the help wanted ads in the Las Vegas newspapers every day for two weeks while I was still in Seattle. So when I saw an ad for a waiter at Vegas World (in those days it said "waiter" and they wanted men) I knew it was a new ad, and anyone who starts running an ad on Friday instead of Sunday is usually serious about doing some hiring. So I was the first one in the personnel (that was before it was called human resources) office that day. When I completed the application, one of the old bitties explained to me that they would give me a call if bla bla bla. So I was standing by the elevator waiting for it to arrive, and Larry Lewin's personal secretary came running down the hall and yelled at me and said, "Did you just apply for the waiter job?"

She brought me back to her office and explained to me that they needed to hire three waiters on that very day. But there was no time to waste. I needed go to the health department and the Clark County Sheriff's office to get some cards. I also had to pick up a black bow tie and a black vest. I was there at 3 pm ready to start working that afternoon. That is not the way hiring is done in Las Vegas any more, but I was glad for it then.

That afternoon I helped Estevon Vilanova and Peter Moroz and Michael Cifaldi open boxes and set up tables and chairs. We then had to make a work station in a fire escape hallway, and plastic trays were set on the floor under containers of dressing and plates and a big bin of lettuce for salads. At five o'clock the table cloths and napkins were in place, and the doors were opened.

That was the night I had the good fortune to meet the famous Bob Stupak, the owner of Vegas World, and also my first employer in Las Vegas. There are lots of things I could say about Bob Stupak, but that will be saved for another time, as much of it would be appropriate on this day. But for all of his quirks and mannerisms, I can honestly say that I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to meet him and work for him, because Bob Stupak is a big part of the history of Las Vegas. He was colorful and flamboyant and extravagant and cheap and strange all at the same time.

It is tempting for me to reminisce about old times and supply my readers with interesting stories and anecdotes, but instead I would just like to say that I am sorry for the loss to his friends and family.

by Vegas Taxi Driver
September 25, 2009

Gaming Entrepreneur Bob Stupak Dies at 67
KLAS 8 CBS Las Vegas
Sep 25, 2009
Stupak, known for outlandish promotions, opened the $550 million Stratosphere hotel-casino in 1996 in hopes that the tower would attract millions of visitors to Sin City. The casino filed for bankruptcy in 1997 and was eventually taken over by billionaire investor Carl Icahn....read_article

Las Vegas' Stratosphere developer dies at 67
KTNV 13 ABC Las Vegas
By OSKAR GARCIA Associated Press Writer
Sep 25, 2009
Stupak, known for outlandish promotions, opened the $550 million Stratosphere hotel-casino in 1996 in hopes that the tower would attract millions of visitors to Sin City. The casino filed for bankruptcy in 1997 and was eventually taken over by billionaire investor Carl Icahn....read_article

Bob Stupak, builder of Stratosphere and Vegas World, dies at 67
Las Vegas Sun
By Ed Koch, Mary Manning
Sep 25, 2009
Bob Stupak, a Las Vegas legend who developed the Stratosphere and called himself the Polish Maverick, died today at Desert Springs Hospital after a long battle with leukemia. He was 67....read_article

Bob Stupak dies at 67
KVBC 3 NBC Las Vegas
Sep 25, 2009
Stupak came to Las Vegas in 1971 and opened a small casino. In 1979 Stupak opened Vegas World, a casino which grossed hundreds of millions in the 1980s. In the 1990s, Stupak opened the Stratosphere....read_article

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Paris Hilton Says Las Vegas Not Classy As Dubai

2009-06-19T14:12:00Z

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Paris Hilton Says Las Vegas

Is Not As "Classy" As Dubai

By Las Vegas Taxi Driver
June 5, 2009
VegasTaxiDriver.com

Paris Hilton says Las Vegas is not as "classy" as Dubai.

If Dubai is "classier than Las Vegas", as Paris Hilton stated, then it won't be for long if Paris Hilton spends a lot of time there. Her perception of Las Vegas as not being "classy" explains the reason that she accepts obscene amounts of money from nightclubs in Las Vegas just for dressing up like a skanky ho and hanging out there. But then, what else is she capable of doing? I hope that the next time somebody in Las Vegas decides to pay Paris Hilton ookuu bucks to hang out that they remember her disrespect toward Las Vegas.

Thank goodness that everything that blows into Las Vegas does not stay in Las Vegas, especially Paris Hilton. Paris Hilton has not mastered the English language and she is trying to speak Arabic? I am sure that they have nicer laws pertaining to drinking and driving and driving with a suspended license in Dubai.

This BFF reality show about Paris Hilton sounds like she is trying to find somebody who is as pretentious and shallow as she is who has low enough standards to be associated with her. I hope it works out well for everyone involved, and it keeps her away from Las Vegas.

Now I need to go check her Twitter account to see what insightful meaningful intelligent things Paris Hilton has to share with us today - or not.

By Las Vegas Taxi Driver
June 5, 2009
VegasTaxiDriver.com

Paris Hilton Drops BlackBerry for Ericsson in Dubai
Bloomberg
June 18, 2009
By Ayesha Daya
...“That was Las Vegas and that will stay in Las Vegas. I will not make the girls do anything like that because I respect the culture here,” Hilton, 28, said at a news conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dubai...read_article

Is Dubai Ready for Paris Hilton?
Examiner
June 18, 2009
by Dawnn Behrens
...Hilton now 28, says she has studied the culture of Dubai, and has promised there will be none of the alcohol consumption and foul language that was seen on her earlier series which was shot in Los Angeles, and London...read_article

Paris tweets and reveals Midas touch in Dubai
The National
June 18,2009
by Rupert Wright
...But those of us in the writing game should reflect that while we turn out perfectly crafted sentences for a pittance, she is flown halfway across the world in first class by Emirates Airline because they know she will give them valuable publicity. What does she say that is so priceless? Judge for yourself from her Twitter posts: “About to take off, so excited!” “My bed … Huge … So Comfy.” “This airline is Amazing.”...read_article

What the heck is Paris wearing?
Stuff.co.nz
June 18, 2009
...“I respect the culture in Dubai - it’s much classier than Las Vegas," she said...read_article

Paris and her New Best Friend
Khaleej Times
June 19, 2009
We all know that Paris Hilton’s carefully-cultivated dumb blonde persona is a bit of a laugh. She’s not really an airhead, is she? Well, we get living proof of that as the Hilton hotel chain heiress breezes her way through Dubai, filming reality show, My New Best Friend Forever, at Festival City...Dubai is “much classier than Las Vegas”...read_article

What Happens In Las Vegas Is That I Told You So

2009-05-13T14:29:00Z

What Happens In Las Vegas Is That I Told You So

by Vegas Taxi Driver
May 13, 2009
The Las Vegas Taxi Driver Blog

My reason for writing in this article is for no reason other than to say, "I told you so" and "its about time".

Watching CNBC at 3:30 AM today, I heard that the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announced that they are going to revive the ad slogan "What happens in Las Vegas...", which was catchy, effective, and successful. Two years ago, on May 14, 2007, I wrote an article entitled "$890 Million Waste at Las Vegas Convention Center Planned By Las Vegas Convention And Visitors Authority". Today, two years later, the Las Vegas Review Journal has an article by Benjamin Stillman about the current plans of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority saying that "The authority will save $23 million in the upcoming year as a result of a decision to suspend work on a proposed $890 million renovation of the Las Vegas Convention Center". In that same blog article I wrote "The 'What stays...' slogan and ad campaign was one of the most successful advertising campaigns of all time. Why isn't the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority spending the proposed $890 million on something like that?"

Two years ago I also wrote a blog article on February 26, 2007 entitled "Las Vegas Monorail to Airport - Big Waste Wont Work" where I asked:

"How long will it take to load all those people with their luggage? How long will it take for all those people to unload with their luggage? And where does the monorail take these people with their luggage? Will they have to haul their luggage hundreds of yards through a busy casino to get to the hotel registration? Will other passengers be annoyed and stop using the monorail because they have to wait for all these luggage-hauling passengers?"

and in that article I stated:

"The monorail goes to and from the Las Vegas Convention Center, and the cab lines full of passengers going to and from the Las Vegas Convention Center are still as long as ever. So, what makes anyone believe that it will work any better at the airport, where everybody has lots of luggage?"

In a May 8, 2009 Las Vegas Sun article by Richard Velotta, where he interviews Clark County Aviation Director Randall Walker about additions to McCarran, Walker said that plans to extend the Monorail "But if all (the monorail company does) is expand what it has to the airport, I honestly don’t think that’s going to create a successful system because the stops that it has today really only provide convenience for a very small percentage of our customers".

Since I started blogging in 2005, I have only written 36 blog articles regarding Las Vegas, most of them about the politics regarding the taxi industry in Las Vegas, and I only wrote them as a way to vent my frustrations and rant about the fact that Las Vegas taxi drivers were experiencing less income during a time when everybody else in Las Vegas was experiencing record revenues and profits because of the poor policies of government regulators. Most of my blogging has been on other websites and unrelated to the taxi business and Las Vegas, and I constantly tell myself that I am not going to say another word about Las Vegas or taxi driving, because I would like to move on to other things. But then I see news like today and I cannot help being interested, because no matter how much I want to focus on other things that I am interested in, I have been in the unfortunate situation of having to use taxi driving in Las Vegas as a way to bridge the gap from where I am and where I want to be.

People are obsessed with Las Vegas and taxi drivers. I would never have guessed how popular these topics and keywords are on Google, and how much traffic I have gotten from writing a few lousy blog articles which are more rants than anything. But there is a big audience for these topics. Six weeks ago I decided to check out the Twitter website, because every time I turn on TV news or sports or anything, everybody is talking about Twitter. I set up a few Twitter accounts to see what it is all about, and while I was at it I set up twitter.com/vegastaxidriver, just so that nobody else would grab that user name. I followed some twitterers, just to see if I could get some of them to follow me, and then I forgot about it. Meanwhile, I used basic Internet marketing tactics to get followers to a handful of marketing related Twitter accounts, including a couple of my Twitter accounts that now have over 10,000 followers each, and are now in the top 2000 Twitter accounts in the world, in terms of the number of followers they have, according to twittercounter.com. Then, just for kicks, I decided to go back to my twitter.com/vegastaxidriver account and post comments about what other people are twittering, by looking at Twitter posts about "las vegas" and "taxi drivers" on search.twitter.com, and just retweeting posts from other tweeters and making comments about their tweets. Twitter.com/vegastaxidriver went from 4000 followers to 6300 followers during the past seven days just by doing that. It is totally amazing to me that anything I put online about Las Vegas and/or taxi driving gets so much attention. As much as I want to do things online that have nothing to do with Las Vegas or taxi driving, I guess it is time for me to do some work on my VegasTaxiDriver.com blog and website, since that is what people are interested in.

by Vegas Taxi Driver
May 13, 2009
The Las Vegas Taxi Driver Blog

"Vegas Tries Luck With Old Slogan"
May 13, 2009
WALL STREET JOURNAL
By TAMARA AUDI
...After a year of flirting with tourism pitches that directly addressed the recession, the entertainment mecca is resurrecting its successful "What Happens Here Stays Here" campaign, which started in 2003...read_article

"Vegas Feeling ‘Blue’ During Tourism Week"
May 12, 2009
FOX 5 NEWS
...To mark the start of National Travel and Tourism Week, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is taking the city’s famous showgirls on a whirlwind trip to five major cities and relaunching the classic “What Happens In Vegas…” ad campaign...read_article

"TOUGH TIMES FOR TOURISM: LVCVA forced to cut budget"
May 13, 2009
Las VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL
By BENJAMIN SPILLMAN
...The authority will save $23 million in the upcoming year as a result of a decision to suspend work on a proposed $890 million renovation of the Las Vegas Convention Center....read_article

"Tourism workers rally to encourage travelers"
May 12, 2009
LAS VEGAS SUN / The Associated Press
...Travel to Las Vegas was down 8.7 percent for the first three months of 2009 compared with 2008, even as hotels slashed room rates more than 25 percent, according to the latest figures from the visitors authority. The decline is even more pronounced during weekdays, when conventions and corporate meetings are typically held...read_article

"Q&A: Randall Walker, Clark County aviation director"
May 8, 2009
LAS VEGAS SUN
By Richard N. Velotta
..."But if all (the monorail company does) is expand what it has to the airport, I honestly don’t think that’s going to create a successful system because the stops that it has today really only provide convenience for a very small percentage of our customers"...read_article

Tags: vegas taxi vegas taxi

Las Vegas Tourism Is Down And Obama Helped

2009-03-13T23:27:00Z

THE AUTHORITY ON NEVADA

TAXI CAB DRIVERS IN LAS VEGAS

Buffets In Las Vegas Golf Courses In Las Vegas Las Vegas Taxi Driver Blog

Las Vegas Taxi Cab Companies Las Vegas Taxicab Fares and Prices

Nevada Taxicab Authority Info Las Vegas Taxicabs Lost and Found

Las Vegas Tourism Is Down

And Obama Helped

by Vegas Taxi Driver
March 13, 2009

Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs said that "I don't think the President said don't go to Las Vegas," on March 12, 2009. But On February 8, 2009, while trying to gain support for his grandiose economic recovery stimulus spending and tax-cut package, Barack Obama said in Elkhart, Indiana, that companies “can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime.” (His trip to Indiana was also on the taxpayers' dime.) Immediately following Obama's comment companies started canceling meetings and conventions in Las Vegas worth millions of dollars of business. Since then, nobody knows how many meetings and conventions were not scheduled in Las Vegas that would have been, and were diverted to other cities instead.

Obama singled out Las Vegas, no other cities or destinations, in rebuking businesses for having meetings. Now large companies don't dare schedule meetings in Las Vegas right now because image is very important for large companies, and they do not want to be perceived as spending money foolishly, and the President of the United States said that it was bad for companies to do business in Las Vegas if they are receiving money from the government, and that means that he must think that having meetings in Las Vegas is excessive and bad for All companies and is a waste of money for companies, and corporations do not want their shareholders thinking that they are spending money excessively or foolishly. He is not man enough to correct his statement, which was wrong and harmful and needs a correction, and it is time for Americans and Las Vegans to quit giving Obama breaks. If Bush had said the same thing, every newspaper and writer and politician in Las Vegas would be demanding a retraction by the President. Obama has never had a real job and is not acting like he cares about employees in Las Vegas who he is hurting with his careless statement. I am not against Obama and I do not want him to fail, but it would be nice if it was reciprocal. I think that what he is doing for the American economy is better than Bushonomics, but that does not do any good for Las Vegas if Obama says things that destroy the Las Vegas economy. He could make a statement today himself that would retract his mistaken perceptions about business in Las Vegas.

by Vegas Taxi Driver
March 13, 2009

Make Money Online >>> click here

Obama Disrespects Las Vegas Part One

2009-02-17T19:17:00Z

T H E A U T H O R I T Y O N N E V A D A

T A X I C A B D R I V E R S I N L A S V E G A S

Buffets In Las Vegas Golf Courses In Las Vegas Las Vegas Taxi Driver Blog

Las Vegas Taxi Cab Companies Las Vegas Taxicab Fares and Prices

Nevada Taxicab Authority Info Las Vegas Taxicabs Lost and Found

LAS VEGAS TAXI DRIVER BLOG ARTICLES:
LAS VEGAS CABBIES ATTACKED BY BARACK OBAMA FEBRUARY 16, 2009
LAS VEGAS TRIPS FOR BAILED OUT CORPORATIONS FEBRUARY 13, 2009

Prohibiting Las Vegas Business Meetings

by Vegas Taxi Driver
February 17, 2009

I did not agree with people who were bashing Obama by saying that he was a communist before he was elected, and I do not think that socialized medicine is communism. I have not voted for any Republicans in decades, especially not G.W. Bush. There are lots of socialist components in our society that do not prohibit free market enterprise, such as fire departments and police protection and roads and Social Security. But when the government tells companies not to have meetings in Las Vegas, that is blatant anti-capitalism, and Americans need to be afraid that this country is on a fast track to communism.

In his article, "Stimulus bill amendment could hurt Las Vegas" in the Las Vegas Review Journal, February 14, 2009, Benjamin Spillman states that:

...The amendment by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., calls for the secretary of the Treasury to write rules that would define "excessive expenditures" on behalf of companies that will or have already accepted taxpayer money, referred to as TARP funds...
When asked whether the definition of luxury the amendment calls for would include resorts such as Wynn Las Vegas, Palazzo, Bellagio or others on the Strip, Summers responded: "That's up to the secretary, who has oversight of the TARP funds."

This is not about executives making tens of millions of dollars a year and then pocketing millions of dollars in bonuses for themselves, instead the government is going to step in and decide how businesses should operate and spend money on all levels, which can be very bad for these companies, and may cause these companies to either go out of business or have to get more money from the government.

Welcome to the United States of Communist Cuba. Factory workers and service workers better hope that the companies they work for are allowed by Obama and and the government to let their sales reps and public relations reps have meetings with their prospective customers at the Bellagio instead of the Motel 6, because if the sales-persons and executives of the company you work for are taking clients out to McDonalds for lunch instead of taking them out to nice restaurants, you are screwed, and you won't have a job very long.

Obama and Geithner deciding what companies should spend money on and how much, is like me telling pilots how to fly jets, and I do no know how to fly, but I do know how to drive, and I did stay at a Holiday Express. Should the government be putting a lid on outrageous bonuses of millions of dollars per executive while they are receiving bailout money from the government? Of course. Executives getting hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses is not the same thing as companies having business meetings and conventions and training seminars that promote business and cause companies to be more profitable. But they are using that as a way to turn America into a Communist, or at least an anti-capitalist, country. It is outrageous and for Obama to say that if companies hold those meetings in Las Vegas, the convention capitol of the world and the most cost effective city in the world to conduct business meetings, that they are being frivolous or excessive.

Democrats keep saying that is not what Obama meant, but Obama has not said a word to make it clear what he means, specifically why he singled out one city, which is the city has the most business meetings. I am sure that Obama and Geithner think it is okay for businesses to have meetings and conventions in Chicago or San Francisco, because that is where Obama and Pelosi are from, but Harry Reid is too busy kissing Obama's hand in order to stand up for Las Vegas. Every day that goes by that Obama does not stick up for workers in Las Vegas is another day that meeting planners are diverting business away from Las Vegas.

Democrat bloggers, Las Vegas taxi drivers, and even the lady working at my grocery store in Las Vegas, are siding with President Obama, even though he is hurting the incomes of hard working service employees in Las Vegas. Are Democrats suddenly against Sin City? I thought it was the moral right that was against Las Vegas? But now Democrats in Las Vegas are going to get in line and stand up for their hero while he leads them to their slaughter.

If President Obama said it is excessive for companies to advertise on CNN and NBC, and companies should do radio advertising instead because it is cheaper, then you would see the reporters on CNN and NBC covering the story differently, and more accurately.

Talking about excess, tell Obama to trade in that limo for a Prius, and trade in Air Force One for a bus, because that is taxpayer money, too.

by Vegas Taxi Driver
February 17, 2009

http://www.lvrj.com/business/39608182.html
Feb. 14, 2009
By BENJAMIN SPILLMAN
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
An amendment to the $787 billion economic stimulus bill could have some unpleasant fallout for Las Vegas.
Specifically, it calls for the government to decide what is or isn't legitimate business travel.
The amendment by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., calls for the secretary of the Treasury to write rules that would define "excessive expenditures" on behalf of companies that will or have already accepted taxpayer money, referred to as TARP funds.
That could make life more difficult for resorts in Las Vegas, which host more than 22,000 business meetings annually that directly sustain about 43,000 jobs...

_______________________________________________

Las Vegas Cabbies Attacked By Barack Obama

by Vegas Taxi Driver
February 16, 2009

The conventions that happen in Las Vegas don't stay in Las Vegas if the President of the United States says that is a bad idea. Thanks a lot PREZ!

Taxi drivers in Las Vegas got together and honked their horns and tied up traffic on Las Vegas Boulevard and did not pick people up at the airport a few years ago, because the Governor of Nevada was going to sign a bill that would hurt taxi drivers' incomes, but that bill did not have near as much potential to kill business and incomes of Las Vegas taxi drivers as much as the negative comments made by President Obama recently. But if anyone says a negative word about Barack Obama to the cab drivers in Las Vegas who voted for him, they put their hands on their ears and walk away because they can't handle the truth. They want to believe that their hero is perfect. But when the President of the United States is saying things that take food off of your table, you better say something.

Las Vegas taxi drivers should unite and protest and do what they can until Barack Obama rights the wrong and apologizes for his damaging remarks. I hope that the Obama supporters are not so loyal and blind that they can't criticize him even if it means starving to death. Barack Obama is harming taxi drivers in Las Vegas. Every day that goes by that Barack Obama does not make a bold statement saying that he is in favor of businesses spending money in Las Vegas, is another day that companies and convention planners are deciding to not plan events and meetings in Las Vegas, because it is perceived as not being the politically correct thing to do right now, and they are scheduling their meetings during the next two years anywhere besides Las Vegas, thanks to Barack Obama.

President Obama continues to not say a word about the fact that he viciously attacked the union members and hard working citizens and taxi drivers in Las Vegas who gave him the election in Nevada, by implying that businesses who spend money in Las Vegas are acting irresponsible and are being frivolous, which is just the opposite of the truth. On February 8, 2009, while trying to gain support for his grandiose economic recovery stimulus spending and tax-cut package, Barack Obama said in Elkhart, Indiana, that companies “can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime.” His trip to Indiana was also on the taxpayers' dime.

I guess there is no place in our new President's socialist agenda for businesses to spend money on productive meetings and conventions in the most cost effective place in the world to hold those meetings. Las Vegas has built itself up for decades as the best place in the world to do business for companies that hold meetings and conventions to network with other companies, but Barack Obama said it is bad for businesses to spend money in Las Vegas, and now it has been heard all over the world: Barack Obama does not think that it is good business for businesses to do business in Las Vegas.

Now, less than one month since he took office, we get to find out what Barack Obama is made of. Is Obama just like George W. Bush and unable to admit that he made a huge mistake? Is President Obama above apologizing to the two million residents of Las Vegas? Or is Barack Obama an enemy of the workers and people who work in the convention industry that Las Vegas depends on? Will the real Barack Obama please stand up, or did Obama already make his stand, and the people in Las Vegas who voted for Barack Obama are getting shafted? If Barack Obama was against businesses holding meetings in Las Vegas, why didn't he say so while he was campaigning? After all those trips to Las Vegas that Barack Obama spent money on during his campaign, Barack Obama should be a huge advocate of businesses spending money on meetings and conventions and dinners and cab rides and limo rides in Las Vegas. But no, what does he do? Barack Obama attacks Las Vegas taxi drivers and the hard workers who take care of the business that comes to Las Vegas.

I realize that Barack Obama is not an Islamic extremist, and everyone knows that Islamic extremists hate Las Vegas, so do not think that I agree with people who insinuate that the reason that Barack Obama is attacking Las Vegas has anything to do with what people say about his ties to Islamic extremists, and I do not think that is why Obama is hurting the Las Vegas taxi drivers and Las Vegas residences and making the Las Vegas economy worse than it is. But maybe the reason that Barack Obama won't go back on his statement telling businesses not to spend money in Las Vegas is because he is so tolerant and does not want to offend the Islamic community. But that would not make sense because there are lots of Muslim business people who come to Las Vegas for trade shows and conventions, there are lots of taxi drivers in Las Vegas who are Muslim, and the biggest construction project under way in Las Vegas is the City Center project, which is a joint venture with MGM-Mirage and Dubai World.

Conservative talk show hosts and die-hard Republicans have suggested that Barack Obama has Communist viewpoints because of his socialist tendencies, but I certainly do not think that the fact that the first thing that Fidel Castro did went he came to power in Cuba was to get rid of casinos and outlaw gambling has anything to do with Barack Obama launching his assault on Las Vegas.

According to a New York Times article published yesterday:

"In the last month, 30,000 hotel room nights booked for conferences have been canceled at an estimated loss of $20 million to the city, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Some of those rooms were reserved for a Goldman Sachs technology conference, which was moved to San Francisco this month. And the figures do not include 17,000 people who were expected to attend a State Farm agents’ convention this October. That conference was canceled Wednesday."

Las Vegas taxi drivers and all service workers in Las Vegas cannot afford to just let this statement by Obama just be forgotten. Instead of chanting "Yes We Can" they should be chanting "Yes He Can" and keep on chanting until Obama makes a full apology and makes it perfectly clear that he does not think that businesses spending money in Las Vegas is a bad thing - PERIOD!!!

Maybe Barack Obama has watched too many movies about Las Vegas and his perception of Las Vegas is nothing more than a party place, and that Las Vegas is a waste of money and not a good place to do business. Las Vegas voters should have been told about that when he was campaigning. Maybe he is getting paid off by his buddies in Chicago that want to do damage to the convention business in Las Vegas in order to sway conventions their way, and that way they can pay higher prices than having conventions in Las Vegas. Maybe President Obama wants to spread the wealth around and Las Vegas is getting too much convention business and Las Vegas cabbies are getting too many rides. Maybe Barack Obama has been sheltered from understanding what good business is, and what is good for businesses, because he has no business experience at all.

And where is Harry Reid on this? He is making excuses for Barack Obama and he is hem-hawing around saying "he didn't mean it". Why isn't Harry Reid demanding a retraction from Obama? These are his constituents who are being harpooned and left out to die. Why is Mayor Goodman backing down on demanding a full apology from President Obama? The workers in Las Vegas should be all over Oscar Goodman until he gets Obama to change his tune and make a 180 degree turn around. The people who were voted into office to help the State of Nevada and the City of Las Vegas should be defending the voters and not the President.

When George W. Bush won the election twice in the State of Nevada, I thought it was strange that Nevada would vote for a man who stated as Governor of Texas that he is morally opposed to gambling, and wanted to see gambling outlawed. But at least he did not try to ruin and destroy the non-gambling business in Las Vegas, which is what Barack Obama is doing. Las Vegas is going through the worst economic crisis in its history, and Las Vegas does not need to have the President of the United States drop a bomb on the good productive convention industry in Las Vegas, by telling corporations and small businesses that if they hold business meetings or employee training meetings or trade shows or banquets or conventions in Las Vegas that they are being irresponsible, and that they should do those things in another place where it costs much more. Las Vegas is a steal of a deal, and it makes good business sense to use Las Vegas for business. Howard Clark was on CNN showing off a car he rented for $8 a day in Las Vegas, and he would agree that businesses can get really good deals in Las Vegas. Maybe Obama can use his Blackberry to look at room rates in Las Vegas, and then he can see for himself that having meetings and conventions in Las Vegas is not a waste of money.

Is it fair to compare a business get away for employees in Las Vegas to going to the Superbowl? Should they reward their employees by taking them to McDonald's to have meetings and seminars? What country am I in?

McCarran International Airport is the fourth busiest airport in the country and the seventh busiest in the world. McCarran is the number one destination airport in the world. That was not the case before Las Vegas built up and promoted business conventions. McCarran has more taxicab pickups than any other taxicab stand in the world because of the 22,000 meetings and trade shows per year that are scheduled in Las Vegas. In 2006 there were an average of 8600 taxicab pickups per day at McCarran International Airport. Las Vegas is able to handle conventions of over 150,000 people at a time, and there are over 20 conventions a year that have over 50,000 attendees. That is one reason why Las Vegas is the best place for businesses to have meetings and trade shows and conventions.

Las Vegas has attracted many conventions and trade shows during the past two decades because their attendance is better in Las Vegas than in other cities, because people like being in Las Vegas because there is plenty of good dining and shows and entertainment. It makes good sense for people to show off their products and services in Las Vegas, because buyers and prospective buyers will actually go to the convention, because it is in Las Vegas. Businesses who exhibit at conventions in Las Vegas get more bang for their buck because people who would not attend a convention or trade show or seminar in other places will go to Las Vegas because they like Las Vegas. That is a good reason for businesses to spend money in Las Vegas.

Last week the World Market Center hosted its biannual international furniture convention that attracts 50,000 business people who come to Las Vegas to network and get informed and buy products and make deals and make money. They come to Las Vegas to work and to do business. Less than two miles away in downtown Las Vegas there are thousands of hotel rooms that offered rooms as low as $29 a night during the convention last week, and a few miles away on the Las Vegas strip there were rooms in some of the newest and most beautiful resorts in the world available for $49 to $170 a night. Does Barack Obama think that all those businesses were being irresponsible? If it is good for those businesses, why wouldn't be good for businesses that have received taxpayer money? Doesn't Obama want those businesses to be as successful and profitable as possible so that they can pay back the money they received?

The Las Vegas Convention Center is the busiest convention center in the world, and has the capacity to handle the biggest conventions in the world. Las Vegas has 15 of the 20 largest hotels in the world. Las Vegas has thousands of restaurants of all kinds, and has an abundance of 24 hour dining. The huge hotel resorts on the Las Vegas strip and downtown Las Vegas and in the outskirts of Las Vegas can offer super deals on hotel rooms and dining because they have casinos, and all of the large resorts and hotels in Las Vegas have meeting rooms. That makes business in Las Vegas economical and smart and very responsible.

Will Obama allow business people to ride on the new $8 billion dollar train between L.A. and Las Vegas that is included in the new stimulus package that Obama okayed? Or will Obama stipulate that anybody who works for a corporation that has ever received anything from the government will be not allowed on board?

I have been blogging and ranting for years about cab companies and local politicians and law enforcement and government agencies and things that make it difficult for Las Vegas taxi drivers to make a living and survive, and never at any time did I imagine that I would be sitting down to write a blog article about taxi drivers being attacked and assaulted and hurt by the President of the United States. Taxicab drivers in Las Vegas have enough enemies like the Nevada Taxicab Authority and run-outs and break-downs and grid locked traffic and motorcycle cops and non-tipping customers and thieves working as door-persons for hotels. Las Vegas cabbies in Las Vegas do not need the President of the United States to make verbal assaults against us and tell businesses to not have business meetings in Las Vegas. Taxi drivers in Las Vegas are struggling to survive during these difficult global economic times, and having Barack Obama tell businesses not to do business in Las Vegas is not helping the plight of Las Vegas cab drivers and Las Vegas cab companies. Between McCain and Obama, I honestly thought that Obama would be the better of the two for Las Vegas business and for the Las Vegas economy, at least in the short run, but so far it has been just the opposite.

I am not an activist. I am just a writer with opinions. You won't see me standing on the side of the street with a picket sign or passing out flyers, but I certainly hope that Las Vegas citizens who are activists and have the capability to do those kinds of things will go whole hog and do everything that can be done until Barack Obama and his buddies in Washington send a message to the world that Las Vegas is a good place to do business, and tells American companies that it is not irresponsible or bad for businesses to spend money doing business in Las Vegas. But I am afraid that activists may not stand up for themselves because they worry about talking bad about Obama, their hero, even though Obama doesn't care if he cripples them or devastates their incomes. I hope that the sheep that followed him on Election Day are not going to follow him to the slaughter. Las Vegas taxi drivers and service workers deserve much better than that.

People who did not support Obama should tell John Ensign, the Republican Senator for Nevada, to keep on demanding that Obama get the story straight. Obama supporters need to get on the bandwagon and insist that Barack Obama fixes this mistake so we can move on.

by Vegas Taxi Driver
February 16, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/us/15vegas.html?_r=1&ref=business
"Las Vegas Sags as Conventions Cancel"
By STEVE FRIESS
Published: February 14, 2009
...Anxiety over the matter escalated last week after President Obama told an audience in Elkhart, Ind., that companies “can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime.” The remark was taken by many here as an attack.
“The mayor heard the words ‘Las Vegas’ — he didn’t hear any other city — and people are telling me that they’re not coming to Las Vegas because the president doesn’t want them to,” said Mayor Oscar B. Goodman, who at first demanded a White House apology but later in the week said he just wanted a clarification.
“There’s an impression out there,” Mr. Goodman said, “that somehow if you come to Las Vegas, it’s going to reflect on your business culture, and that’s a bunch of hooey.”
The White House has not commented directly on the matter...
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/feb/15/business-travel-boosters-go-offensive/
"Business travel boosters go on the offensive"
By Michael Mishak
Sun, Feb 15, 2009 (2 a.m.)
...Although Obama’s comments were clearly directed at companies receiving federal bailout money, tourism officials say the president’s words nevertheless created the perception in some people’s minds that corporate travel planners should eschew Las Vegas. Not taking any chances, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority will launch a six-figure ad campaign this month aimed at correcting any misperceptions.
The ads, which will run in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and various business publications, will feature testimonials from companies that have held meetings in Las Vegas...
http://industry.bnet.com/travel/1000810/obamas-las-vegas-remark-inflames-industry/
"Obama’s Las Vegas Remark Inflames Industry"
By Barbara E. Hernandez
February 15th, 2009 10:04 am
It was only a five-second soundbyte, meant for Wall Street fat cats asking for government bailouts.
“You can’t get corporate jets. You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime, ” President Barack Obama said to a town hall meeting in Elkhart, Ind. last week.
But the remark caused a hailstorm of anger from Las Vegas officials, members of the travel industry and even residents...

_______________________________________________

Las Vegas Trips Should Be Required

By Obama For Bailed Out Corporations

by Vegas Taxi Driver
February 13, 2009

The companies getting bailout money from taxpayers should be required by President Obama to hold all of their business meetings in Las Vegas, the city which is the most economical and the most conducive to holding efficient business meetings and conventions, with 130,000 hotel rooms and thousands of restaurants within a few miles of dozens of huge convention facilities and hundreds of meeting rooms. With reduced room rates because of the economy, and because Las Vegas hotels can afford to offer lower room rates because of casino revenues, Las Vegas is a bargain, and Las Vegas is the only city where all corporations should be allowed to plan their meetings and conventions. President Obama should prohibit any company getting bailout money from taxpayers from having business meetings or conventions anywhere else besides Las Vegas.

Should executives being paid tens of millions a year while their corporations are losing money be able to give themselves hundreds of millions in bonuses while taking taxpayer money? I think not. But that has nothing to do with rewarding sales reps and putting on the Ritz for profitable customers in Las Vegas. Should the big companies in the United States that sell their products to big companies around the world have meetings at McDonalds? That would be received well and end up profitably, wouldn't it?

So much for helping out the union members in Las Vegas that rallied behind Obama. Instead of creating jobs in Nevada, Obama is undermining decades of Las Vegas establishing itself as the convention and business meeting capitol of the world.

When I was delivering newspapers 35 years ago, the newspaper company had a party every year for delivery carriers and gave them free pizza and soda pop. The carriers who sold the most newspaper subscriptions were awarded prizes. The top prize was a trip to Disneyland. As a result the newspaper increased their circulation and were able to charge more for advertising. When I was an outside sales rep selling plumbing supplies to wholesalers 25 years ago, the owner of the small manufacturer rep firm that employed me, required me to take customers out to lunch every day, and we also payed for lunch meetings for engineers that did plumbing specs. That was how we made our products known to buyers at wholesalers, and that was the lifeblood of the company, and we sold a lot of products.

When I haul conventioneers around Las Vegas, they work 8+ hours at their convention, then followed by hours of dinners and cocktails and meetings with venders and clients. This is the way that sales deals are done, and contacts are made in capitalist America. It is important for people to be at these meetings and conventions to wine and dine their customers and employees, because if they don't, their competition will. The corporations that have been helped with taxpayer money should be encouraged to do more wining and dining and promoting than their competitors in order to make money so they can pay back the money.
Many of the employees in this country have jobs because their executives and sales people and public relations people go to meetings and conventions and events and keep getting additional business for the companies that employ workers. The reason government employees have their jobs because these companies and their employees pay taxes. Being against this capitalist system of companies competing with each other by advertising and promoting and meeting and wining and dining is being against the United States.

When Lee Iacocca and the Chrysler Corporation borrowed money from U.S. Government they launched more advertisements in order to sell the public on buying their cars. Chrysler paid the loan back ahead of time and Iacocca was a real American hero. Now General Motors didn't even advertise during the Superbowl because it would have been perceived in this anti-capitalist environment as wasteful spending. Back then the money loaned to Chrysler was used for American jobs held by legal workers. Now the President of the United States does not support buying American because we have to help out other nations, hands out taxpayer money to fund projects that favor hiring illegal workers over white males, and it is now un-American to have meetings and conventions and dinners to promote business, and we are loaning taxpayer money to American corporations so they can lay off American workers and open more factories in other countries.

The fact that is popular in the United States to criticize corporations for spending money to do the things it takes to get business disturbs me. I remember in the 80's when some grocery stores had rows of generic products with white and black labels because it was perceived that it would save consumers money if companies could cut out the costs of advertising and attractive labeling. It did not work then, and it won't work now. If taxpayer money is being used to get these bailed out companies on their feet, we better hope that these companies are doing the kinds of things that increase sales and attract customers and reward productive employees, or all of these companies will fail and the taxpayer money will be gone.

President Obama and Democrats having lavish meetings at expensive resorts and flying jets around the country in order to criticize corporations for spending money on trips to Las Vegas for business is insane, even if it is just rewarding good producers and encouraging them to make more money for the company, so the company can pay us back instead of failing. Is the United States still a capitalist country, or are we now part of Communist Cuba?

by Vegas Taxi Driver
February 13, 2009

http://www.lvrj.com/news/39483752.html
By BENJAMIN SPILLMAN
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Feb. 12, 2009
"Obama swipe at corporate trips to LV draws response" Officials, politicians say incentive trips are important to city..."You can't take a trip to Las Vegas or down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers' dime," Obama said...They say figures show that in 2008, in Las Vegas alone there were more than 22,000 meetings that directly sustained about 43,000 jobs and generated an estimated $8.5 billion for the local economy...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,491504,00.html
"Las Vegas Mayor Wants Presidential Apology"
Thursday, February 12, 2009
GOODMAN: ... paying — paying large sums of money to get out of those contracts, and then going to other cities, paying more for rooms and for food, because, right now, Vegas is bargain-basement...
http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9823695
"Another financial avoids a Vegas conference"
Feb 10, 2009
More reservations are being cancelled in Las Vegas...A spokesman for the company said he's not certain if Goldman Sachs is saving any money in the move, but the company has to operate according to the new landscape of their industry...Sources inside Mandalay Bay report that the company did have to pay a $600,000 cancellation fee...
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2009/02/62704125/1
"Las Vegas mayor wants Obama to apologize"
Feb 11, 2009
It was "outrageous" for President Obama to say that corporate executives from companies getting federal bailout funds shouldn't be going on corporate trips to Las Vegas...Cities such as Las Vegas depend on the travel and tourism industry, and the president could be driving business away...KLAS writes that: Some high profile companies like Wells Fargo, Citibank and Goldman Sachs recently pulled out of meetings in Las Vegas. The businesses as well as the people who attend the meetings all spend money here. Canceling impacts the casinos and contractors who set up the sound systems and do other production work for the meetings...
http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=9833464
"Oscar vs. Obama: The war of the words"
Feb 12, 2009
Yet another big company has cancelled its convention in Las Vegas. This time, insurance giant State Farm is the one shying away from Sin City. Mayor Oscar Goodman says a comment from President Obama is only making matters worse..."All they heard was don't go to Las Vegas," says Mayor Goodman, referring to a comment from President Obama criticizing companies for using taxpayers' money for junkets to Las Vegas...
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/02/las-vegas-mayor.html
Political Punch
"Las Vegas Mayor to Obama: 'Your Comments are Harmful' to the City"
Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman backed off statements made Tuesday that he would like an apology for comments made by the president earlier in the week about Las Vegas...Obama complained that companies that received bailout money should not take trips to Las Vegas...Goodman writes. “I also understand the need for accountability, but your comments are harmful to the meetings and convention industry as a whole and Las Vegas specifically."...
http://blogs.courant.com/stan_simpson/2009/02/vegas-mayor-demands-obama-apol.html
By Stan Simpson on February 11, 2009 1:30 PM
"Vegas Mayor to Obama: Apologize"
Tourism business is already down in Vegas and officials there are concerned that the president's message will do nothing to improve it...Tough. President Obama didn't suggest that all businesses forego travel to Vegas, just those who will be benefiting from some of the $800 billion in bailout money.
http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=9827585&nav=168Y
"Mayor Goodman Sends Letter to President Obama"
Feb 11, 2009 05:54 PM
LAS VEGAS, Nv. -- Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman says his office has been flooded with phone calls after he demanded an apology from President Obama...Goodman is sending a letter to the president. In it he writes, "Your comments are harmful to the meetings and convention industry as a whole and Las Vegas specifically."...

LAS VEGAS TAXI DRIVER BLOG ARTICLES:
LAS VEGAS CABBIES ATTACKED BY BARACK OBAMA FEBRUARY 16, 2009
LAS VEGAS TRIPS FOR BAILED OUT CORPORATIONS FEBRUARY 13, 2009