treatment expansion resulted from a U.S. Environmental las vegas hotels cheap Protection Agency grant funding 2008 programs to analyze and forecast growth and environmental impacts through the year 2019. The city is in an arid basin surrounded by dry mountains. City elevation is around 2,030 ft (620 m) above sea level. The Spring Mountains lie to the west. Much of the landscape is rocky and dusty. Within the city, however, there are many lawns, trees and other greenery. Due to water resource issues, there is now a movement to encourage xeriscapes. Another part of the water conservation efforts include scheduled watering groups for watering residential landscaping. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 131.3 sq mi (340 km2), of which 131.2 sq mi (340 km2) is land and .1 sq mi (0.26 km2) of it (0.04%) is water. The primary drivers of the Las vegas hotels cheapeconomy have been the confluence of tourism, gaming, and conventions which in turn feed the retail and dining industries. The city serves as world headquarters for the world's two largest Fortune 500 gaming companies, Harrah's Entertainment and MGM Mirage. Several companies involved in the manufacture of electronic gaming machines, such as slot machines, are located in the Las vegas hotels cheaparea. In the 2000s retail and dining have become attractions of their own. Tourism marketing and promotion are handled by the Las vegas hotels cheapConvention and Visitors Authority, a county wide agency. Its annual Visitors Survey provides detailed information on visitor numbers, spending patterns and resulting revenues. Constant population growth means that the housing construction industry is vitally important. In 2000 more than 21,000 new homes and 26,000 resale homes were purchased. In early 2005 there were 20 las vegas hotels cheap residential development projects of more than 300 acres (120 ha) each underway. During the that same period Las vegas hotels cheapwas regarded as the fastest growing community in the U.S. However, the financial crisis of 2007-2010 and the accompanying business downturn has sent business and growth tumbling, with Las vegas hotels cheaprecording one of the highest home foreclosure rates in the country. The disappearance of disposable consumer income and the backlash against corporate entertainment spending sent the hospitality industry into a tailspin that it has yet to fully recover from as of summer 2010. When The Mirage opened in 1989, it started a trend of further development of the southern portion of the Las vegas hotels cheapStrip. This resulted in a drop in las vegas hotels cheap tourism in the downtown area but many recent projects and condominium construction have increased visitors to downtown. A concerted effort has been made by city officials to diversify the economy from tourism by attracting light manufacturing, banking, and other commercial interests. The lack of state individual and corporate income tax and very simple incorporation requirements have fostered the success of this effort. Las vegas hotels cheaphas recently enjoyed an enormous boom both in population and tourism. The urban area has grown outward so quickly that it is beginning to run into Bureau of Land Management holdings along its edges, increasing land values enough that medium- and high-density development is beginning to occur closer to the core. As a reflection of the city's rapid growing population, the new Chinatown of Las vegas hotels cheapwas constructed in the early 1990s on Spring Mountain Road. Chinatown initially consisted of only one large shopping center complex, but the area was recently expanded for new shopping centers that contain various Asian businesses. With the Strip expansion in the 1990s, the downtown area (which has maintained an old Las vegas hotels cheapfeel) began to suffer. The city made a concerted effort to turn around the fortunes of downtown. The Fremont Street Experience (FSE) was built in an effort to draw tourists back to the area and has proven to be popular in that regard. Since the recession began in 2008, many of these efforts have closed. The multi-level Neonopolis, closed their 11 theaters and nearly all retail stores. Many high-rise condo projects have also been underway but one of the highest las vegas hotels cheap profile buildings, The Streamline Towers, has gone into bankruptcy. Other promising signs emerged for the area. The city had successfully lured the Internal Revenue Service operations from the far west of the city to a new downtown building that opened in April 2005. The IRS move is expected to create a greater demand for additional businesses in the area, especially in the daytime hours. The city purchased 61 acres (25 ha) of property from the Union Pacific Railroad in 1995 with the goal of creating something to draw more people to the downtown area. In 2004 Las vegas hotels cheapMayor Oscar Goodman announced plans for Symphony Park, which will include residential and office high-rises, the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute, an academic medical center, The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, and a new City Hall. After failed negotiations with The Related Co. on the development of Union Park in October 2005, San Diego-based Newland Communities was chosen by the city as the new development firm. The Newland contract calls for Dan Van Epp, Newland's regional vice president and former president of the Howard Hughes Corp., to oversee his company's work on Symphony Park. The Lou Ruvo Brain Institute was completed in 2009. Along with the Symphony Park, other promising residential and office developments have begun construction around downtown Las Vegas. New condominium and hotel high rise projects have changed the Las vegas hotels cheapskyline dramatically in recent years. Many large high-rise projects are planned for downtown las vegas hotels cheap Las vegas hotels cheapas well as the Las vegas hotels cheapStrip. In 2004, the city partnered with Cheetah Wireless Technologies and MeshNetwork to pilot a wide area mobile broadband system. The pilot system is installed downtown, around the Fremont Street Experience. In 2005, on a lot adjacent to the city's 61 ac (247,000 m2), the World Market Center opened. It is intended to be the nation's and possibly the world's preeminent furniture wholesale showroom and marketplace, and is meant to compete with the current furniture market capital of High Point, North Carolina. On October 23, 2006, plans were unveiled to build a World Jewelry Center in Downtown's Symphony Park. Similar to the World Market Center, the WJC will be a one stop shop for jewelry trade shows from around the world. The project proposes a 57-story, 815 ft (248 m) office tower. The major attractions in Las vegas hotels cheapare the casinos and the hotels. The most famous hotel casinos are located on Las vegas hotels cheapBoulevard on the portion of that road known as the Las vegas hotels cheapStrip. These larger casinos are located outside of the city. Many of these hotels are massive, providing las vegas hotels cheap thousands of rooms, with their large adjoining casino areas. There are many hotel casinos in the city's downtown area as well, which was the focal point of the city's gaming industry in its early days. Several large hotels and casinos are also located somewhat off the Strip, as well as in the county around the city. Some of the most notable casinos involved in downtown gaming are on the Fremont Street Experience which was granted variances to allow bars to be closer together, similar to the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego.