Downtown Vegas casinos try energy-saving measures

David Strow

Tuesday, May 15, 2001 | 10:33 a.m.

Will the bright lights of Fremont Street be going dim soon?

They could be, at least partially, if the Fitzgeralds hotel-casino can be persuasive enough.

The downtown Las Vegas property, in response to the soaring costs of electricity, has launched an energy conservation campaign. In addition to electricity-saving measures implemented throughout the property, Fitzgeralds has started shutting off the spotlights that illuminate the building's exterior from 2 a.m. to dawn.

But Fitzgeralds says it wants to go further. Ed Serrano, the Fitzgeralds' marketing director, said the property will soon propose that all Fremont Street properties partially shut down their marquee lights in the middle of the night.

Serrano said Fitzgeralds would like to proceed, but won't do so unless other major downtown properties agree to go along. The proposal will be made through the Fremont Street Experience, an organization made up of the major downtown properties, Serrano said.

"We don't want to see downtown go dark, but there's certainly some lights we could afford to turn off and not hurt business," Serrano said.

Fitzgeralds will not propose shutting down the Fremont Street Experience light show, held on a huge canopy nightly from 8 p.m. to midnight, Serrano said.

"Absolutely not," Serrano said. "That's what drives business downtown."

Alan Feldman, spokesman for Golden Nugget owner MGM MIRAGE, said the company "would certainly be willing to hear them out."

But while MGM MIRAGE, like its competitors, is working to save energy, it hasn't been as willing to shut off marquee and display lights at its Las Vegas casinos, which it considers part of the "guest experience."

"We have to remember that people are coming here for a certain level of energy and excitement," Feldman said. "We have to be certain not to do anything that's going to undermine the reasons people come here in the first place."

Serrano responded that not cutting back on power consumption could have serious implications if rolling blackouts become necessary.

"We want to have the experience (of bright lights) available all the time," Serrano said. "If we don't do our part in conserving energy, that experience may be off part of the time. If that happens, there's going to be an extended period of time when we don't have lights on, not only on the outside but also on the inside."

Meanwhile, Boyd Gaming Corp. has been shutting down the purple and orange neon tubes on the marquee at its Fremont hotel-casino at 2 a.m. for about six weeks, though it's left the Fremont sign itself lit.

"We're not worried about whether other people are doing it. We're just doing it," said Boyd spokesman Rob Stillwell. "We're trying to make the most of our energy dollar."

Stillwell said it's unlikely Boyd would join Fitzgeralds in trying to convince other downtown casinos to go along.

"Our priority is the Fremont, and we're already doing it," Stillwell said. "Whether or not they (other downtown casinos) are doing it really has no impact on our plans. That's something they really have to decide."

Station Casinos Inc. has also dabbled in turning off marquees to save energy. Station tried darkening the marquee at its Sunset Station hotel-casino in Henderson late at night in an effort to cut back on electricity costs.

However, since the marquee wasn't designed to be turned on and off frequently, officials were afraid the sign could be damaged, and the effort was halted several nights after it began. Station hasn't repeated the experiment at its other Las Vegas casinos.