“Is this a place full of buffoons?"

December 20, 2023 1:37 PM

"Lance is one smart motherfucker,” says Kim Cruz, my Lyft driver, of Lance Gilman, the mastermind behind the industrial park. With his trademark Stetson and salesman smile, Gilman has been the not-so-secret power center in northern Nevada, a one-man mini-government that seems to run local politics, corporate affairs, and other hijinks from the same cell phone. He’s been an elected county commissioner for the past decade, helping to write the regulations and codes for the land his development company owns and conducting business from a trailer behind the Mustang Ranch, the famous brothel he also happens to own, where we have now arrived. from A Nevada Tale: Tesla, Google, and the Mustang Ranch [Alta; ungated]
posted by chavenet (6 comments total)

That's a pretty tenuous connection. Mustang Ranch owner also develops a bunch of land that companies use for data centers. Not "Elon Musk is running a prostitution ring." Not that I wouldn't put it past him.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:37 PM on December 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Also, Christ what an asshole(s).
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:37 PM on December 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Here in San Francisco, it takes years to get development permits. The city passes out tax breaks to companies to get them to live here. Various city officials are either under investigation, or arrest and in trial for their financial shenanigans. There’s a long history of that here. City government operates under the assumption that big business brings big bucks to the city. Not from taxes as those have been cut to get them here. But, all the employees brought here will spend money here. Not when they’re working 12 hour plus a day in tech jobs, which feature free meals, free laundry, etc.

These guys in Nevada have removed all the bureaucracy and greased the skids for all the development. But who works in these huge buildings, where do they live, given the stinking desert oblivion of an environment there, which will probably be far worse later given the lack of bureaucracy? I remember flying over Nevada, seeing miles and miles of emptiness. And where will the the wild horses live?
posted by njohnson23 at 3:11 PM on December 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Reno is actually a pretty OK place to live. Not far from Tahoe, the Sierra, and the Ruby mountains.

Vegas on the other hand is a pimple on the face of progress, an ingrown hair in the armpit of the Southwest. Fuck that place.
posted by apathy at 4:14 PM on December 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Thank you for this. I lived in Reno for 12 years while all of this was going on and it is fascinating to have a behind-the-scenes look.
posted by manageyourexpectations at 6:10 PM on December 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

This dude didn't put Interstate 80 through town for the ease of interstate shipping, nor did he build the Hoover Dam down in Boulder City for the cheap electricity. Nor did he go over to Carson City make sure in Nevada there were no income taxes, nor did he make sure software licenses were taxed much differently than anywhere else.

Those are the reasons there are all licensing subsidiaries in Reno, and all the fulfillment centers and data centers next door in Sparks. Maybe there was some horsehit with him and Musk to get convince all those poor Panasonic folks to move from Japan to Reno, but only because Musk is that kind of asshole.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 6:38 PM on December 20, 2023 [4 favorites]