The tunnel-dwellers of Las Vegas
It's not a 100% recession story, I'll admit, but Vegas is a great symbol of our recent cycle of boom and bust, so let's go with a recession-era lens on this one.
The Sun (UK) has this really incredible story of a community of about 700 living in the flood tunnels beneath the Las Vegas Strip. Some with jobs, some just scraping by on what they can find, these tunnel dwellers have in some cases built up elaborate homes for themselves with found materials.
Mostly I point this story out because it's a great read. But it does give us an opportunity to talk a little about Vegas. Again, this isn't really a 100% recession story (like, say, the tent cities that have sprouted up around the country) - but Vegas is in a bad way. As the city of the greatest boom and the worst bust. And so a community living in the tunnels surviving on the wasteful scraps seems an apt reality.
Vanguard covered the Vegas bust in their show Lost Vegas in which "Laura Ling tours the wreckage of Sin City, from unemployed strippers and half-built, abandoned casino projects, to hospitals turning away cancer patients and ambulances, to one of the few remaining boom industries--evicting people."
Lost Vegas: Vanguard on Current TV
Also on Vegas
- Sin City Ghost Town: Collective Journalism - While population may be booming, water supply is shrinking. (Video)
- The Divine Comedy of Vegas - And just for fun, Supernews on Vegas - (Video)
The Sun (UK) has this really incredible story of a community of about 700 living in the flood tunnels beneath the Las Vegas Strip. Some with jobs, some just scraping by on what they can find, these tunnel dwellers have in some cases built up elaborate homes for themselves with found materials.
Despite the risks from disease, highly venomous spiders and flooding washing them away, many of the tunnel people have put together elaborate camps with furniture, ornaments and shelves filled with belongings.
Steven and girlfriend Kathryn's base - under Caesar's Palace casino - is one of the most elaborate. They even have a kettle and a makeshift shower fabricated out of an office drinking water dispenser.
Mostly I point this story out because it's a great read. But it does give us an opportunity to talk a little about Vegas. Again, this isn't really a 100% recession story (like, say, the tent cities that have sprouted up around the country) - but Vegas is in a bad way. As the city of the greatest boom and the worst bust. And so a community living in the tunnels surviving on the wasteful scraps seems an apt reality.
Vanguard covered the Vegas bust in their show Lost Vegas in which "Laura Ling tours the wreckage of Sin City, from unemployed strippers and half-built, abandoned casino projects, to hospitals turning away cancer patients and ambulances, to one of the few remaining boom industries--evicting people."
Lost Vegas: Vanguard on Current TV
Also on Vegas
- Sin City Ghost Town: Collective Journalism - While population may be booming, water supply is shrinking. (Video)
- The Divine Comedy of Vegas - And just for fun, Supernews on Vegas - (Video)
