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Allegiant Stadium BOLT to ROOF FIASCO
By: Jedi Joy Lightowler I JediJoy, have been a football fan since I was about 6 years old. My sister was two years older than me. She introduced me to the game. My dad has never been a fan of sports. The only sports he enjoys are ones that include bicycles or cars. My dad is an avid bicyclist in Oregon and Washington. What does this have to do with the Raiders? I have only been to two Professional football games in my life. One was a contest, I won for winning a football trivia game at a bar. This was in Portland, Oregon. I could not find anyone to go to the game with me. It was a horribly rainy day. I had tickets to see the Seahawks play the Cardinals. I finally got one of my bar buddies to go. My dad, said their was too big of a storm and he really has no desire to see a football game. So there I went soaking in the rain, I was not going to miss my first chance to go to a professional, NFL football game. I had never been a Seattle fan. To be honest, I am from Northern California, so I was a huge San Francisco 49er Fan. My dad even worked where the 49ers had their summer training camps. One day, back in about 1991, my dad was backing up at work. He worked at Sierra College. He did not see a man walking behind the truck. The man jumped out of his way to avoid my dad backing into him. My dad, got out and said I am so sorry. The man, said, “It’s all right, they pay me to get out of people’s way”. My dad almost ran over or at least would have hit this man with his truck. This man was Joe Montana. This was in 1991, this was when Joe Montana was on top of his game. My dad would have been infamous for injuring Joe Montana during his glory days. This was summer camp in 1991. Instead, he ended up with a badass story that I loved to tell when I was at football parties. Tell of the day that my dad almost ran over Joe Montana. Now fast forward to 2010, I get tickets to a Seahawks game. I go and see Marshawn Lynch and his teammates tear up the Arizona Cardinals. This was my first LIVE experience with the BEASTMODE. We are now huge fans of BEASTMODE. I was sad to see him leave the Raiders before they made it to Las Vegas. Marshawn Lynch created an amazing BEASTMODE Store at the Town Square by the Airport, here in Vegas. JediRich and I decked ourselves out with BEASTMODE gear when the store first opened. They even had amazingly great and low prices for the gear. We were so bummed to see that the store closed and that Marshawn had left the Raiders. He will be missed by the Jedi. Now, lets skip to 2011, I am working in an office, that were huge Raiders fan. This was in Vancouver, WA. The owner of the Real Estate office would bet on the Raiders winning the super bowl every year at the beginning of the season. He says one day, they will win and the payoff will make up for all the losses. I got the opportunity to go with this crew to a Raiders game at the Oakland Colosseum. Raiders played the Patriots. Unfortunately, the Patriots won. I was wearing Raiders gear, that I had borrowed from friends. I had never felt so much comrade with a group of people. I had a blast at the game. The tailgating parties were amazing. I loved all the outfits. This is when people would dress up in full Raider gear. The costumes were astounding. I really enjoyed going to Oakland and watching the Raiders. I have now only been to two NFL games. I am hoping the next one will be here in Las Vegas at our new Raiders Allegiant Stadium. I am so exited to have the team come to Las Vegas. I know there are a lot of hurt feelings about the team leaving Oakland. I wish that this move could be best for both cities, but unfortunately, that’s not the case. Oakland is sad to see the Raiders go for many reasons. One being, most people in Oakland are Raiders fans. I would say a larger ratio of fans to not fans, live in Oakland, then other cities. So the city and its people are upset that their team is leaving and rightfully so. For this, I say I am sorry, but please come see your team play in their new city of Las Vegas. The team still needs all the fans to follow, even if they move locations. Now back to the current stadium project. As soon, as I heard, that the Raiders were coming to Vegas, I told JediRich we need to document this. This is history in the making. How often does a NFL stadium get built in the city where you currently live? We took pictures as soon as they put the first sign on the lot, saying...”The Raiders are Coming”. We were so excited. We decided to start documenting the stadium. Fast forward to May 2019. We had been documenting the stadium at least weekly. We lived close enough to walk to the stadium. We talked to a couple iron workers one day. We asked why a roof truss had been taken down. This iron worker said and I quote “they installed over half of the trusses incorrectly. One piece of the iron was installed upside down. This is now creating a gap due to a minor difference in size, 1/8ths of an inch difference.” He then said “They are going to have to redo in the AIR about half of the trusses. This blew RED FLAGS all over my mind. We informed everyone online and we were harassed mercilessly. We were called liars, fake news, whores and crackheads. We were shocked by the reaction we received for reporting the news that we heard directly from the iron workers. We decided to back way off the stadium for a bit. Now fast forward again to September 2019. We hear news that the roof is going to begin raising in September and be completed in October. We hear from Don Webb, that this is a procedure that has to be completed to literally a gnats ass. Which means, it needed to be exactly precise. The temperature was a factor, the timing everything. He compared the process to that of making a fine Swiss watch. This roof project, has never been done in the United States. Their was a similar project in another county, but this is the first one in the US. The Raider community including, Don Webb were completely jazzed up about this roof. It was going to be such an amazing process to watch. They bragged about how it was going to be completed in 2020. 2020 is a lot quicker than the original designers wanted for the completion date to be for this roof lifting procedure. They said the would have preferred more time to complete such a massive undertaking. Instead, the Raiders wanted in done by 2020. They agreed they would get it done. Now remember back to the Truss Fiasco in May 2019, this set the crew back quite a bit. They had to pick up a third shift and even work on Fourth of July to get the trusses completed in time for the next steps. Now we are sitting here in December and the roof is just in limbo. We have no answers to when the roof will be lifted. All, we hear now is, the Roof is no longer on the crucial item list. Not on the crucial item list. When will it be on the crucial item list? The roof was set to be raised in September, they were late. We had heard on social media, that this was due to parts being stolen on site. We even saw Metro stationed on site for a week. Don Webb confirmed parts were stolen, but it was not a concern. As Don Webb, always says, “Not a concern right now”. Well, Don Webb, when will the Roof become a concern for you? The roof was pushed back in September due to the stolen parts. Then in October there was a mad dash to get the roof started to lift after deadline after deadline was missed. Then we hit a huge cold snap. The temperature dropped over 30 degrees in one night. JediRich and I went to the stadium. It was the coldest day, I have ever experienced in Vegas. It was even colder than the snow that set the crew back 5 days from working in February 2019. All of these setbacks have added to the stadium needing to be rushed. The original project was already rushed. This stadium construction project was supposed to take at least 5 years. They have squished it into a little over 2 years. Mistakes have been made. Mistakes will always be made when a project is rushed. Attention to detail, is a must with a project of this massive size. Actually any project to truly succeed must have attention to detail. What happened after the cold snap? Bolts starting breaking. There has been a lot of discussion about where the bolts are from and that over tightening has occurred. It is not about, where the bolts are from or what went wrong. It is about that the leader of this construction team is blaming his crew for the roof not being raised. To this I say, that is total BULLSHIT!! The leader should always take responsibility for the crew in reward and in punishment. The leader does not throw his whole crew under the bus to save his own ass. That is a pussy and weak move by Don Webb. The Universe has taken note of that. What do you do when pushed to the gun? Do you lie and throw your team under the bus or do you be a man and take the GODDAMN bullet for the crew. I am a Combat veteran of the US Air Force. I was a flyer. I flew as an Airborne Surveillance instructor on the AWACS plane. That is our Airborne Early Warning and Control System. It’s our eyes in the sky. My job was to track the enemy and friendly aircraft and relay this to the fighter pilots and ground stations. I flew missions that we watched and protected the President’s air space while he traveled. This was when the President was George W. Bush. I went through SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) survival school in Spokane, WA. This was one of the craziest experiences, I have ever had. We spent 10 days out in the field and then they captured us and tortured us similar to prisoners of war. In this training, one is taught to protect their country and fellow airmen above all. Take one for the team if necessary. Give up ones life for the greater good. In Don Webb’s case, he chose the easiest scapegoat for all his mistakes. Blame the hardworking crew. The men who are breaking their backs for this stadium. The men who have worked in 120 degree weather to make this stadium. The crew that has worked weekends, holidays, the crew who has lifted and fastened every bolt to Don Webb’s orders, is who he is blaming. Wow, apparently, Don Webb had never taken a class in leadership. As a leader you take the heat when shit hits the fan. Do not blame it on the crew who was just following your orders. It is tough to work on a project when Darth keeps demanding impossible orders. The Review Journal and Don Webb are assuring everyone that the roof will be done by the set completion day of July 31, 2020. To this, I say, we are all keeping our fingers crossed. We want to see the Raiders make it to Vegas in 2020 and hopefully a first Super Bowl in Vegas in 2025. Maybe my old boss will finally get his wish and the Raiders will win the Super Bowl in their new stadium. Wouldn’t that be something? Until then, Don, I think it is completely wrong and shows a weak character to not take responsibility for the mistakes that were mostly due to coverups from lies in the first place. Honesty, is the only way to complete the stadium. A house built on lies has a weak foundation. Let’s make sure the Raiders Stadium is built on honesty and a solid foundation for years to come of entertainment for Sin CIty and all its visitors.
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Sheldon Adelson Tried to Keep It A Secret, but His Own Reporters Cracked the Story Sheldon Adelson actually though he could keep the US Government from knowing that he owned the Las Vegas Review-Journal.  Sheldon and Miriam Adelson speak at Birthright Isreal, the program that flies young Jews to Israel for free. He also gives to Holocaust remembrance and the Israeli American Council. Sheldon Adelson ownership When the paper was sold in 2015, it was initially unclear who the buyer was. The purchaser was a limited liability company, News + Media Capital Group LLC, and the only name listed on the documents was Michael Schroeder, a publisher of four small regional newspapers in Connecticut. At a December 10 staff meeting informing the Review-Journal staff that the paper had been sold, Schroeder was introduced as the manager. He refused to say who the owners of News + Media were, saying that employees should "focus on [their] jobs...and don't worry about who [the owners] are."  Patrick Dumont with his wife Sivan Ochshorn Dumont. Sivia hung up on reporters when asked questions regarding the purchase. Jason Taylor, the Review-Journal's publisher, said only that the ownership included "multiple owner/investors, that some are from Las Vegas, and that in face-to-face meetings he has been assured that the group will not meddle in the newspaper’s editorial content. There were widespread rumors that the primary buyer was Sheldon Adelson, and a week later three Review-Journal reporters confirmed that the purchase had been orchestrated by Adelson's son-in-law Patrick Dumont on Adelson's behalf.  Donald Trump awards the Medal of Freedom to his biggest donor's wife - Miriam Adelson. A month before the new owner was revealed, three reporters at the newspaper received an assignment from corporate management: Spend two weeks monitoring the activity of three Clark County judges. One of the judges was District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez, who was hearing a long-running wrongful termination lawsuit filed against Adelson and his company, a lawsuit alleging that Adelson's Macao casino, Sands Macao, was connected to the Chinese Triads.  Sheldon and Miriam Adelson gave $100 million to help Trump get elected in 2016. Sheldon is one of Trump's largest donors, besides AT&T Chairman, Randall Stephenson. In January a set of editorial principles were drawn up and publicized to ensure the newspaper's independence and to deal with possible conflicts of interest involving Adelson's ownership. In February Craig Moon, a veteran of the Gannett organization, was announced as the new publisher and promptly withdrew those principles from publication. He also began to personally review, edit, and sometimes kill stories about an Adelson-promoted proposal for the future Las Vegas Raiders football stadium. In the months since, reporters say that stories about Adelson, and particularly about an ongoing lawsuit involving his business dealings in Macau, have been heavily edited by top management. The new ownership triggered numerous departures. On December 23 the paper's editor Mike Hengel stepped down in a "voluntary buyout". Many reporters and editors left the newspaper citing "curtailed editorial freedom, murky business dealings and unethical managers." Longtime columnist John L. Smith resigned after he was told he could no longer write anything about Adelson, a frequent focus of his reporting up till then. Within six months, all three of the reporters who broke the story of Adelson's ownership had left the paper.
LAS VEGAS, NV: The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said that each day, 500 fewer cars are coming to Vegas. That’s 500 sets of guests who won’t be eating out tonight, going to a show or losing their life savings at the tables.  There are many reasons. Of course, everyone is gong to blame the parking fees. However, parking is a flat rate. The reason the big players stopped coming to Vegas is because their is a new hotel tax to pay for the stadium. $750,000,000 is a Huge Burden on Every Hotel Room in Las VegasThe Stadium placed a tax on every room in Las Vegas. This disproportionately affects the "High rollers" more than the discount shoppers because its a percentage. If your room is $50, you don't care if taxes are $10. But if your room is $5,000, that is $1,000 that you cannot use to gamble, eat, play or drink. It goes directly to the Stadium. Again, you won't care if it's $10. But $1,000 is enough money to make you want to stay home and spend your money elsewhere. The Stadium Put a Tax on Casinos that Were Already Struggling After Oct 1 MGM is bailing out of Vegas until the Stadium's $750,000,000 tax burden is paid for by the hotels. One look around Las Vegas shows a slough of casino failures: The Rio, Caesars, Bellagio, MGM Grand... coming up will be The Cromwell, Planet Hollywood and The Mirage. But all these deals have one thing in common; they are all lease-back deals. A lease-back is when a company suddenly becomes the tenant in their own building. This is a tactic used when a company needs to free up cash. For example, The Bellagio sold to Blackstone Group for $4.25 billion plus an annual rent of $245 million for 30 years. They have the option to extend or break the lease in 10 years and again in another 10 years. The plan is to continue to offer gaming services while paying $20.2 million a month for rent and use the extra cash to expand in Asia. The casinos are bailing out of Vegas while the stadium is being paid for through room taxes. MGM must feel that here is no way for the casino to be competitive with room rates with a $750,000,000 tax burden. The CEO of MGM says his plan is to buy back the Belagio in 2025. How Does it Look When you Make Visiting Guests Pay for Your Grand Stands? Visitors from other cities are expected to pay for a stadium even if they hate sports. And visitors from other cities who hate the Raiders are expected to pay for a competing team's stadium. Thats utterly moronic.
A tax penalizes your ballers more than your discount shoppers. You will get more guests who spend less money and less guests who spend more money. Henderson Nevada Police Department Shoots a Man in the Back
HENDERSON, NV: Google LVMPD shoots a man and you will find horrific stories. But this was in Henderson. The Review-Journal is owned by a King, Sheldon Adelson, so you won't find many pressing stories challenging the local government. In fact, this story wasn't even in the paper. They had to tweet it.
LAS VEGAS, NV: Last month, Whole Foods-Amazon recalled their organic beef. This week, Secret Shopper Jedi Joy Lightowler discovered that Walmart's supplier, Market Fresh, has swapped their 93% beef for 85% beef. Jedi Joy has photographic memory. She notices the details of everything. In this case, Jedi Joy noticed that the color of their 93% beef looked just like the 85% beef. Then, she looked at the packaging. The packaging of the 93% has a green label. The 85% has silver label. The manufacture simply swapped the labels. What is in the 85% Organic Beef?Heres the big question. Whats in the 85%? We stopped eating it a week about because it tases disgusting. It taste like rotten fish when cooked. Full Video Coming UIp.
LAS VEGAS, NV: Tommy White, the person responsible for breaking bolts by overtightening bolts is also the same person responsible for overseeing the project funds disbursement. How long before they will need more money for new "upgrades' for the stadium? These upgrades are really covers for costly errors made by Tommy White and his Local 872 Laborers, according to Don Webb. It's an old trick my Dad taught me. You don't EVER order upgrades from the contractor building your project in midstream.
LAS VEGAS, NV: Broken bolts are the reason the roof is not raising at the Raider's new stadium in Las Vegas. This is a new set of roof raising delays The original roof raising delay occurred in September 2019, when parts from the Stadium were stolen that were necessary to raise the roof. LVMPD were hired by the Raiders to guard each entry and exit for about one month.
Broken Structural Bolts Caused by Iron Workers Over Tightening, according to Rick Velotta and Don Webb
According to Don Webb, the bolts are structurally sound but the Iron Workers from Local 872 over tightened the bolts causing them to break. As a result, the roof cannot be raised.
How did they drop the price from $2.4 Billion to $1.8 Billion? That's $600 million!" 
The company that Don Webb chose to raise the roof is called Freyssinet. Freyssinet is a French company. This will be Freyssinet's first installation in the United States using their suspension cable roof raising technology. They claim that Don Webb rushed the roof raising before inspections were made which resulted in the bolts breaking.
He said, she said. The first portion of raising the roof simple: it's a normal hydraulic lift, 4 feet a day. The last portion requires physics and an enormous amount of force to make the roof "pop up. The physics involved in "pinning", according to Don Webb, is precise. "There is no room for error". Don compared the complexity of this roof raising to a "17-acre Swiss watch." (Source: Mick Akers article in the Review-Journal from August 6th, 2019)
Other theories suggest that Don Webb and Mortenson/McCarthy construction cut corners in order to get this project approved. And they rushed it. In 2016, the first stadium bid was rejected because it cost too much; $2.4 billion. They came back with a cheaper proposal for $1.88 billion. Also, most projects take anywhere form 3-5 years. They are trying to do this in less the 24 months. So how did they drop the price $600 million dollars? You can take a guess. We are already over budget by $130 million. That's $2 billion of the $2.4 billion form the original bid and the roof still isn't raised.
LVMPD Needed 50 Cops, 4 Departments and a Special Weapons Attack Team to Apprehend One Disturbed, Naked Woman in Las Vegas  LAS VEGAS, NV: Bonanza Gift Shop is a landmark located on the Las Vegas Strip between the SLS Las Vegas and the Stratosphere Las Vegas. It is billed as the World's Largest Gift Shop with over 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) of shopping space. A woman was seen causing a disturbance inside the store. She stripped off her clothes and started acting erratically. Allegedly, she picked up a butcher knife. Because she had a weapon, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Plice Department called their S.W.A.T. to handle this subject. Yes, you read that correctly. S.W.A.T. was called in to handle ONE naked woman with a knife. The Bonanza Gift Store was evacuated and that area of the strip was CLOSED for hours due to police activity.  Does this seem like an excessive use of force for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to use a S.W.A.T. to apprehend one naked woman who was allegedly only holding a knife? Does this seem like an excessive use of force for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to use a S.W.A.T. to apprehend one naked woman who was allegedly only holding a knife?
Oakland Raiders Owner Mark Davis Visits Oscar Goodman, the Stadium and Las Vegas After Thanksgiving12/9/2019 Allegiant Stadium: Roof Raising Has Missed 3 Major Milestone Dates Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas has missed three major milestone dates raising the roof. LAS VEGAS, NV: Mark Davis paid a visit to Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman and Don Webb at the Allegiant Stadium on December 5th, 2019. No one know what prompted the visit but the Jedi have an idea. In July of 2019, Mick Akers from the Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote that the roof raising was a major milestone to be completed by the end of October. When that date was missed, Mick wrote that the new date was Nov 10th. When that date was missed, Mick wrote the new date for the completion was Thanksgiving. On November 29th, the day after the missed Thanksgiving deadline, Mick wrote that the roof raising is no longer a major milestone and it will be lifted sometime in December. Three business days later, Mark Davis and the Raider's executives show up in Vegas. The Stadium is currently $130 Million over budget. I don't think they were here to exchange secret Santa gifts with Oscar Goodman.
What a Difference One Year Can Make Ruth Gray filed for divorce back in July. LAS VEGAS, NV: Ruth Gray filed for divorce from Jon Gray, the former General Manager from the Palms Casino and Resort.
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AuthorsJedi Rich is a former CEO who transformed from a banker into a modern day independent music & film maker. Follow us on Twitter to know when we post NEW! updates!
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*NOTICE: Ideas and opinions are meant to provoke and initiate conversation
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