VEGAS INC Magazine - Latest Las Vegas business news, features and commentaries about gaming, tourism, real estate and more
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/132233
In business downtown unannounced street closure angers business owners By Joe Schoenmann staff writer "It was ugly" is how one business owner described the night of May 3 in the Fremont East Entertainment District. "It felt dangerous," said another. And "it" might have been encouraged by the city closing a portion of Fremont Street during and after First Friday activities. The First Friday art show/street fair is one of downtown's biggest successes, driving 25,000 to 30,000 people to an area near Charleston Boulevard and Main Street on the first Friday night of each month. Many of those people later show up to drink several blocks to the northeast on Fremont Street, where new taverns are popping up in the quickly redeveloping area. When the city fashioned incentives for bars to move to the area years ago, one of the positive outcomes leaders foresaw was that it would create a barhopping area. Business incentives included selling liquor licenses relatively inexpensively and easing of distance requirements between places that sell alcohol. Businesses responded. Within a roughly two-block area on Fremont Street, from Las Vegas Boulevard to Seventh Street, 13 establishments serve alcohol: seven are bars only, and six serve food and alcohol. Plans also are in the pipeline to bring more bars and bar/ restaurants to the area. All those people have undoubtedly been a boon to businesses. But this month, the normally packed scene became more chaotic than on typical First Fridays, business owners say, because the city unexpectedly closed the street to vehicular traffic. In turn, that created a street-party atmosphere leading to people "hanging out" and drinking from 12-packs or cases of beer — despite a publicity effort by Metro Police in late March to say they would issue warnings, then citations, if people drank openly on the street. Jennifer Metzger, owner of Vanguard Lounge, 516 Fremont St., said the scene on Fremont Street included a few fights. But she also warned that if such chaos were to lead to something more seriously violent, businesses might be forced to close. "If we have one incident down there, a knifing or a shooting, all of us (businesses) are going to get hit; some of us will go out of business," Metzger said. Metzger said city officials and business owners even met before First Friday, and the overwhelming majority of | 2 7 M AY 2 0 1 3 20130527_VI11_F.indd 11 | business owners said they did not want the street closed. The city did it anyway. The city's Public Works Department said it closed the street on a "trial basis" because of concerns about crowd size after April's First Friday, a city spokeswoman said. "This closure was just as a test, and we will be evaluating the impacts of this closure on both the businesses in the area and on public safety," said Diana Paul, city spokeswoman. Paul said that some people were informed about the May 3 closure, including Metro's Downtown Area Command and Mike Nolan, Fremont East Entertainment District president. Nolan, general manager of Fremont Street's El Cortez hotel/casino, said he told the district's board members, who include eight or nine downtown business owners, about the closure. The Vanguard's owners are not on the board. Re: Reinvent Gaming From: Slot Machines To: Gaming Management High rolling can often get your head spinning. But it doesn't always have to be a gamble – especially when you're playing with Konami Gaming. More than just a manufacturer of gaming hardware and software, the company that is "Born from fun TM" delivers huge payouts of innovation and turns risky business , into an investment jackpot. Together with their legal team, Lewis and Roca, Konami is poised to stay on top of its game and the global gaming industry. LAS VEGAS RENO PHOENIX TUCSON ALBUQUERQUE SILICON VALLEY LRLAW.COM 11 5/23/13 2:28:06 PM