SHOULD Wayne Newton be allowed to turn his 10,000-sq-ft home into a tourist attraction?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/11/17/wayne-newton-wants-house-turned-tourist-attraction-neighbors-dont/?test=faces

Wayne Newton's Las Vegas estate is a lavish wonderland complete with South African penguins, sweeping crystal staircases and a memorabilia collection to make a celebrity junkie salivate: a Frank Sinatra champagne glass, Nat King Cole's watch, Steve McQueen's Rolls-Royce and a Johnny Cash guitar.

Newton said the estate is so resplendent that he wants to open his home to the public and turn it into a tourist attraction, in a project some have dubbed Graceland West.

But Newton's neighbors are fighting the effort. They are disturbed by the idea of noisy tour buses, unyielding traffic and inane gift shops flooding their affluent neighborhood of ranches and mansions just six miles from the Las Vegas Strip.

Critics circulated a petition and have begged the Clark County Commission to veto Newton's proposed construction when it is scheduled to meet Wednesday in Las Vegas.

"This should be fought at all costs and I think this is appalling," said Bart Donovan, who has grown accustomed to riding his horses down nearby thoroughfares in the 18 years he has lived near Newton. "This is our community, too."

In Newton's vision, visitors to Casa de Shenandoah would tour select parts of his 10,000-square-foot home amid the plush white carpets, gold-trimmed doors, impressionist paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and 17th-century antiques collected from European castles.

[divineorder]

1. If I were a greedy heir

I would encourage this. The estate would automatically have a positive cash flow from the start. Think about it: the house and grounds would be paid for. Nothing would have to be sold to keep it in the family, and the family could live off the proceeds for generations.

Unlike a lot of his neighbors who will probably sell as soon as the body is cold because the main money maker is no longer among us.