Love Your Neighbors

Tony Hsieh,

I am your neighbor.  I would talk to you myself in person, but you are too inaccessible, even to Mary, mother of God, now that you are worth $840 million.  So, I am writing you this blog post before I too become homeless on June 30, 2018.

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Did you see the word of the day today? 

There is no one holy like the Lord (1 Samuel 2:2).

There is an app for the Bible, as I am sure you know since you have a computer science degree from Harvard.  After I graduated from high school near the top of my class, I, too, was accepted to Harvard.  I knew that joining the ivy league comes with advantages called “privilege” these days, but the cost was out of my league.  Nevertheless, we ended up neighbors, you and I, at least at one of your homes.

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Matthew 19:19).

Nothing happens here in our neighborhood in downtown Las Vegas (now DTLV, according to you) without going through you.  And I know for a fact that that is true, because I am your neighbor, as I mentioned.  And because I am Mary, mother of God. 

And so, you are responsible for DTLV, Tony Hsieh, but you are certainly not God.  And when people play God, other people die.  You see, Tony, God loves us all, even you.  But you do not love me, even though I am your neighbor.  So, you are not God.

And it is not just me.  There are many more of your neighbors besides me whom you do not love.  In fact, you let them die in the street with dirty feet and nothing to eat or drink, while you take the water from the fire hydrant to fill the pool of your new complex.

What have you done with all your privilege, Tony?  Read my websites to get an idea of my sacrifices and suffering for the greater good.  And I am here to tell you, Tony Hsieh, that what you did called Link Exchange opened the door to internet advertising that is oppressing merit and favoring privilege, as usual.  Even worse, you put shoe stores and shoe salespeople out of business with zappos.com, and those were good jobs.  Without shoe salespeople, people have been wearing the wrong shoes, and even young people are having to get bunion surgery because of it.  It is harder than ever to find decent walking shoes, even if you can pay a lot of money.  Even worse, people are being blamed for having bad genes when it is well-known that bunions are primarily caused by wearing the wrong shoes.  Even an auto shop owner reported that you put him out of business when you bought the building. 

There is nothing for the people who live here, nothing.  Even a yoga studio would be more than needed, let alone shelter for the homeless.  Instead, empty buildings are boarded up like in a ghost town, and security guards are paid to keep the homeless out.

I, myself, have tried to perform on Fremont Street Experience, but the performers are having a harder and harder time competing for money with all the smelly and starving homeless people everywhere.  I even tried to start a much wanted and needed dance studio, but everything must go through you, Tony, and you are not accessible to Mary, mother of God. 

DTLV is oppression, and I am warning people not to come here thinking that there is any opportunity for anything other than putting your things in storage and renting a hotel room weekly or monthly until your money is gone and you are homeless.

Tony Hsieh, I know you are busy with the year 2045 plan for the future of our great city.

But we need something now!

I know you want Vegas to be as profitable for you and your investors as places like San Francisco, Denver, and Arizona have been in the past for other exploiters and hoarders of resources that belong to all of us.  Like the city streets and sidewalks of DTLV that you now charge $100 for a 10’x10’ space on the first Friday of every month in the Arts District.  And that is if you even allow them that opportunity.  I applied for a 10’x10’ space, but you did not even respond to me, even after I followed up with you a second time.  So, you see, it is not as if I haven’t tried to contact you, but you have been rude to Mary, mother of God.

Nobody who makes less than the median income and who is trying to sell their goods or services on the street should have to incorporate or deal with local or federal sales tax, let alone pay an upfront fee of $100 to rent a 10’x10’ public space, if they are selected subjectively through a nontransparent application process.  This is especially true when there aren’t enough jobs and more than half of Clark County’s $1.42 billion budget is spent on jails and police while the homeless population is ever-increasing. 

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We need something now because we are not worth $840 million and cannot leave our buildings, including hotels, empty and keep homeless people out and wait for good business opportunities to arise that we can profit from.  We do not own a home in Southern Highlands Golf Club in addition to living in an airstream downtown.  We are not the gaming executives, real estate developers, professional athletes, musicians, actors and actresses, corporate executives, philanthropists or politicians who live in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the western U.S., like you, Tony.  Is your house in the smaller neighborhood within the club called the Estates of Southern Highlands, possibly worth more than $10 million, or is it just one of the highest average home prices in the country at $1.7 million?  Either way, it is far too rich for the likes of Mary, mother of God. 

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You have taken too much from others and at the expense of others, Tony Hsieh.  As the mediatrix, I am here to try and save your soul.  I advise you to repent and beg God for forgiveness.  The way is through non-merit-seeking acts of charity.  Then maybe we can do business together.  In the meantime, I would rather hang on the cross like my Son than drink your Kool-Aid.  I am a very successful scientist, and I know that being poisoned is one of the worst ways to die.  I pray for you, my child, as well as your followers.

Love, Mary