Picnickers protest private ‘park’

Nichole Davis

Monday, June 2, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

It almost looked like a real picnic.

Families on blankets munched fried chicken, cold sandwiches and watermelon. Soda pop and beer were plentiful. People played catch and practiced yoga.

However, there were a couple of hints that this wasn't a typical luncheon Sunday. For one, no one cooked on the grill. Then there was the young man who was wearing a mock table around his waist.

But the dead giveaway was the young man from the Laservida arts consortium practically yelling about not being able to distribute fliers explaining why the 30-plus participants were having a picnic under the Fremont Street Experience canopy, in front of Binion's Horseshoe.

City officials used money from redevelopment and park funds to pay for the $70 million canopy, the picnic protesters say. They also say Mayor Jan Laverty Jones has called the area a city park.

"It's such an obvious travesty," picnic organizer Joe Cartino said. "They tell us this gambling mall is our park and expect us to be happy about it."

About a half-dozen Metro Police bicycle officers gathered around the protesters. They enforced a city ordinance that forbids the passing of handbills on the public property. Passing out handbills was a clear violation of the city ordinance, the on-duty Metro supervisor said.

Title 10 of the Las Vegas municipal code expressly forbids people from sitting outside in their own chairs or camping out all night, but it doesn't stop people from walking up and down the streets drinking beer without a paper bag, said security guards from the Fremont Street Ltd. Liability Co. who patrol the area.

The same ordinance forbids people from sitting in their own chairs under the canopy or tossing balls, one lawyer said. But officers didn't interrupt the protest and left about the same time as television crews and other media moved out.

"It's just a picnic. It's not anything harmful," Cartino said. "We're just out here using our park."

Officers wouldn't speculate on the constitutionality of the law. "All I know is that if it's on the books, it's enforceable," Sgt. Marty Scofield said.

Binion's Horseshoe employees were equally quiet.

The 90-minute protest served as a tongue-in-cheek way of drawing attention to something organizers believe is a larger problem: The city of Las Vegas encroaching upon the rights of taxpayers on public land.

Also at issue is whether the city can take land from a private party via eminent domain to give to other private citizens.

"There is no question that this is a public piece of property," attorney Chuck Gardner said. "However, when you want to use it, you have to go to a private citizen to beg permission, and there's no right of appeal."

In this case, the private citizen controlling the area is the Fremont Street Experience Ltd. Liability Co., a consortium of downtown casino operators.

The group funds annual operational costs of the Experience, said Gardner, who has successfully sued the city on eminent domain issues.

"This is part of a larger problem where they (the city) are trying to privatize and/or give away the rights of the public," Gardner said. "On the Strip, they have given away the sidewalks; here they haven't given anything away.

"The whole setup is unconstitutional."

Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, agrees that the matter is unconstitutional and called it "a very important issue for the Nevada ACLU."

No indication was given regarding how the ACLU plans to pursue the matter.

Passers-by appeared to be interested in the event. Many stopped to ask the purpose of the event and a few stopped to comment.

"It's not what I came to Las Vegas to see but I think they have a legitimate point," said tourist Stacey Reed of La Mirada, Calif.

"I thought all the casinos pooled in and did this," Needra Huntress of Belvidere, Ill., said. "I thought this was a project they did to build up this area."