The Las Vegas of old no longer exists; new is not for the better
By Perly Viasmensky
I just reconnected with an old friend of many years past. We tried to remember the good times we used to have — when Las Vegas was really Las Vegas, the only 24-hour town in the nation.
This girl and I (no longer girls) used to be roommates; we were young and wild, but we had a wonderful time. There was a time in Las Vegas when you could get steak and eggs at 4 o’clock in the morning for only 99 cents. Or go grocery shopping in the middle of the night when you realize you have nothing to eat at the apartment.
We could get together with friends after our swing shift work (which normally ended at 4 in the morning) for a couple of drinks, and everybody went home in perfect condition.
In years past many people used to gather at a place called “Sarud Cuban Sandwiches” on Las Vegas Blvd. to order a Cuban Sandwich in the middle of the night — to go or to eat there.
Nowadays, what do we have? Supermarkets close at 9 p.m. and if you are lucky enough, some close at midnight.
There’s a tremendous amount of traffic accidents caused by people coming from “neighboring” states and killing our citizens because they don’t know how to drink or because they believe they are somebody, somewhere else.
There is a shooting on almost every corner.
Wal-Mart, which used to be open 24-7, except for Christmas Day, now closes at nighttime.
This is not our Las Vegas, the 24-hour town, where we grew up.
Now, nothing to do with our 24-hour businesses… but respect is totally gone within our state. Years ago, Republicans and Democrats used to hold their rallies sometimes at the same hotels and we used to say hello to each other. It was not a big deal!
Nowadays everybody hates each other.
Recently, we heard of someone disrespectfully mistreating the governor of the State of Nevada and his family in a local restaurant. That was not the time or the place to show one’s disapproval of his performance as governor. We will have our time at our time of voting.
When it comes to respecting citizens, we need to consider that some homeless people have no respect at all for humans in general. They even disrespect other peoples’ properties by having sex in the back of truck rentals as early as two in the afternoon.
I feel sorry for homeless people, but if they would use the government funds given to them to try to find shelter instead of using those funds for drugs and alcohol, life would be different for them.
I have personally seen a police officer putting in his police car a suspect accused of threatening the life of a small business operator in downtown Las Vegas and letting him go a block from the location. Police officers are no longer doing the jobs they are paid for. Why??? Because they are not receiving the support they deserve from the administration.
I was very concerned when all those Socialist members of Congress were asking to defund the police, and Joe Biden agreed with all that nonsense.
It was even more confusing to me when during his State of the Union speech Joe Biden said “We should all agree: The answer is not to defund the police. The answer is to FUND the police with the resources and training they need to protect our communities.”
All this when he was all for defunding the police?
Maybe our police force will be better in the near future, when they will have a say in a court of law.
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Perly Viasmensky is the General Manager of the Las Vegas Tribune. She writes a weekly column in this newspaper. To contact Perly Viasmensky, email her at pviasmensky@lasvegastribune.com.
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