Columnist Jeff German: Public pays for gift to casinos

Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2002 | 11:20 a.m.

This is your first lesson in Las Vegas Politics 101 -- what the casinos want, the casinos get.

Oh, you know that already.

Then you won't be surprised to hear that the privately run Fremont Street Experience was successful Tuesday in its grab for $7 million in public tourism funds to spruce up its light show along the high-tech pedestrian mall.

Following a feel-good Fremont Street Experience presentation, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board members were in such a hurry to approve the $7 million "recreational" gift they forgot to check if they had the cash to give away.

"Is there money available for this?" LVCVA Chairwoman Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, a county commissioner, sheepishly asked after the 11-0 vote to give the money to the 10 downtown casinos that make up the Fremont Street Experience.

There was a roar of laughter from the audience and then more chuckles when LVCVA President Manny Cortez responded in jest, "Actually we don't have the money."

Cortez then explained that the LVCVA really had the money, but the board would have to authorize taking it out of the budget in a separate vote. Just a minor technicality.

At least two board members, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and City Councilman Michael McDonald, didn't need humor from Cortez Tuesday to bring smiles to their faces.

Cortez made them smile three weeks ago when he cut a back-room deal with Goodman and Fremont Street executives Don Snyder and Mark Paris not to oppose the money grab.

On Tuesday Snyder and Paris won the $7 million for the pedestrian mall, which has been declared a "recreational venue," or park, with no strings attached. None of the board members even bothered to ask the duo any questions.

No one, for example, asked why the downtown casinos, which benefit the most from the Fremont Street Experience, can't pay the entire cost of the $16.5 million light show upgrade.

No one questioned why the LVCVA should set aside money usually reserved for local park projects to further the private business interests of the casinos.

No one asked whether the $7 million would be more wisely spent making it easier to get tourists downtown to spend their money.

And no one asked why the casinos haven't reinvested more of their profits in Fremont Street to compete with the megaresorts of the Las Vegas Strip.

The board members actually seemed impressed with the self-serving presentation of the Fremont Street executives.

No one even challenged Snyder and Paris when they boasted that the downtown hotels have made $310 million in capital improvements since the Fremont Street Experience opened in December 1995.

Though $310 million is a lot of money to most of us, it's a pittance compared to the billions being poured into developing the Strip. Just the pool and spa at Steve Wynn's $2.5 billion Le Reve project probably will cost more than $310 million.

None of the LVCVA members Tuesday bothered to get guarantees from Snyder and Paris that they won't come back for more public funds in a few years.

No one seemed to remember that the LVCVA had kicked in $8 million toward the construction of the seven-year-old incandescent system that lights up the Fremont Street canopy. It's the same system that now is technologically outdated.

What will happen seven years from now when the new LED system being installed becomes obsolete?

You know what will happen. Fremont Street Experience executives will be back for another handout, and once again it will mean less money for parks for the rest of us.

Because in Las Vegas, all the casinos have to do is ask, and they receive.