Friday, Dec. 20, 2002 | 9:23 a.m.
The city of Las Vegas has sicced Metro Police on a campaign to sweep Fremont Street of panhandlers and riffraff, so that the corridor immediately adjoining the $100 million Neonopolis (built with $37 million in tax revenues) can be made clean for development.
The biggest panhandlers downtown, however, are the failing members of the Fremont Street Experience, the casinos. The $70 million Fremont Street Experience ran a $10 million cost overrun when it was built in the mid-1990s, and now the downtown beggars want $7 million more.
The city should spend the money on an implosion campaign a la the Dunes and Sands and start over, instead of tinseling a sow's ear.
JAMES RICHARD LUCAS
archive
