Paper: Tony Hsieh Bends Mayor's Ear in Sin City

Javier Gonzales said the Zappos CEO's $350 development project might work here

By Justin Horwath

The CEO of Las Vegas, Nev. shoe company Zappos has been bending the ear of Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales during his trip to Sin City, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal . 

The paper highlights the differences between the two cities—"Gonzales would be forgiven for thinking he'd arrived on another planet"—but says a $350 million downtown development project financed by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh "might work for his favorite New Mexico city," said the mayor.

Hsieh's project sank money into tech businesses along a strip of downtown Vegas. Re/Code

reported

in September that Hsieh stepped down from the lead role of the project amid layoffs and talks of it "bleeding money." 

The mayor

told the Review-Journal

:

The Review-Journal also reports that "people from Santa Fe can expect to see affordable housing with studio space for artists to take shape within a year," the mayor said.

On Nov. 25, SFR

reported

that the mayor spent $5,529 in taxpayer money with his travels. Since then, in addition to the Las Vegas trip, he's also traveled to New York.

Santa Fe Reporter

Letters to the Editor

Mail letters to PO Box 4910 Santa Fe, NM 87502 or email them to editor[at]sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.

We also welcome you to follow SFR on social media (on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) and comment there. You can also email specific staff members from our contact page.