Pahrump PR, Paragon pushback and land auction blues

LAS VEGAS -- Pahrump is looking to expand its tourism outreach efforts.

The Nevada town recently posted a classified ad for a tourism public relations job in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Specifically the ad says the town is looking for a consultant to conduct public relations duties and work in Pahrump’s tourism department. Oh, and you have to put together a bid for the consultant position.

We wonder who will be hired.

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Las Vegas-based Paragon Gaming is seeing some pushback in Vancouver, British Columbia, as the company moves to build the largest hotel-casino in Western Canada.

Paragon hopes to build a $535 million development that includes two Marriott hotel towers with 550 hotel rooms, five restaurants, retail outlets, 50,000 square feet of meeting space and a 72,000-square-foot casino next to the B.C. Place stadium.

“A development like this should be beautiful and exciting — and that’s what we’re bringing to Vancouver,” Paragon executive Scott Menke said.

But not everybody in the city is celebrating, according to The Province.com. Anti-gambling forces fought the B.C. Place casino every step of the way, and are now demanding legal limits on possible expansion of the facility down the road.

“The provincial health officer has made it clear: The more you expand gambling, the more gambling addiction you get,” said Sandy Garossino of the Vancouver Not Vegas coalition.

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Hey Las Vegas, meet the new kid on the strip club block.

Striptease opened earlier this month at 3750 S. Valley View Blvd. with a grand opening that featured adult entertainer Puma Swede, noted in the release as a “buxom blonde from Sweden.”

The new club features an electronic drink tracking system that notates guests’ dancer and beverage preferences. Never again will you have to deal with that other girl when the one you really want is the long-haired brunette.

Gordon Keliikipi owns the club.

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Golden Gaming, Inc. partnered with Hospitality International Training, a Las Vegas organization that helps nonviolent felons, incarcerated and homeless veterans, and at-risk youth learn skills in the culinary trade.

The training is a six-week course that helps participants gain customer service skills, proper work etiquette and line cook essentials for high-volume kitchens. During the course’s final two weeks, participants will be trained at a PT’s or Sierra Gold Tavern in Las Vegas or one of the three Golden Gaming casinos in Pahrump.

To date, there have been two graduating classes of 24 participants, nine of which have been hired in Las Vegas and Pahrump in Golden Gaming taverns and casinos.

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The federal Bureau of Land Management is preparing for its second-biggest land auction since 2005. Though auctions during the boom led to feeding frenzies among local builders desperate for land, the sale scheduled for Jan. 16 could have relatively few takers.

At least two big, local builders said they’ll forgo the auction, at which 440 acres will be on the block. Pardee Homes and KB Home said in a recent interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the land on the market isn’t very developable, because most of it requires low housing densities. And with fewer homes on a parcel, that means more costs for everyone.

“You end up with a very high price point for those buyers, and that’s not where we want to be right now,” said Robert McGibney, president of KB Home’s Las Vegas division.