Thursday, Jan. 2, 2003 | 11:04 a.m.
After the barricades had been removed from Las Vegas Boulevard Wednesday morning and the all of the confetti was cleaned up, the Strip vs. Times Square debate had been settled for one New Yorker.
Bertha Williams had come to Las Vegas to celebrate New Year's Eve, but the large crowd and fireworks display just didn't measure up to the celebration in Times Square, she said.
"You just can't duplicate New York," she said, as she played the slot machines at the New York, New York. "In New York the people hustle and bustle all year around. But on New Year's Eve New Yorkers just come together."
Officials and organizers never did intend to duplicate New York's celebration, but they did hope to establish Las Vegas as a New Year's destination on par with the Big Apple.
To that end, the past three New Year's Eve celebrations have featured what the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority calls Las Vegas' "signature event" -- a fireworks show shot off the rooftops of resort hotels along the Strip. And this year a concert broadcast nationally on the Fox network from in front of the Venetian was billed as an alternative to Dick Clark's traditional New Year's Eve celebration at Times Square.
It was a dramatic change from the New Year celebration that ushered in 2000. That was the New Year when "frankly, we were outdone by the rest of the world," LVCVA President Manny Cortez said at the time.
Las Vegas' millennium party was one of many broadcast on network television that year. But while fireworks went off in Sydney, Australia, Seoul, South Korea, Paris, London and Washington, D.C., the only unusual sights over the Strip were drunken revelers climbing lightpoles and other public structures. A California man died just minutes before midnight, when fell from one of the poles and grabbed an electrical line on his way down.
Las Vegas tourism officials set out to improve New Year's in Las Vegas with the fireworks show billed as "America's Party," and they said it may be paying off.
Las Vegas was the most popular New Year's destination for people on the West Coast, followed by San Francisco and San Diego, according to AAA.
This year the crowds on the Strip and at downtown's Fremont Street Experience were estimated between 240,000 and 265,000, and tourism officials proclaim that it's just a matter of time until revelers choose Las Vegas over Times Square.
"You have to remember that the New York tradition has been going on for about 100 years, so Las Vegas has accomplished quite a lot in the last few years," LVCVA spokesman Rob Powers said.
Already Las Vegas is the premiere New Year's Eve place to be in the West, said Hal Rothman, professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and author of "The Neon Metropolis: How Las Vegas Started the 21st Century."
"We live in a self-indulgent society where people want to feel important and that they're the center of attention, and Las Vegas is the place to do that."
The fireworks show has helped bring people to Las Vegas for the celebration.
"It was a big draw for us, no doubt," said Tina Wood, 38, of Commerce, Ga.
Ben Clonts, 24, of Modesto, Calif., agreed. "I thought this was the place to be, with the excitement, fireworks and people."
This year it also was a relatively safe place to be. Of 11 arrests at the street party, only one was a felony, according to Metro Police spokesman Sgt. Chris Darcy. That compared with 44 to 46 arrests last year.
About 1,200 Metro officers were on duty throughout the night, 400 of them on the Strip and 200 to 250 downtown.
The fireworks helped, Metro Sgt. Rick Barela said.
"I am grateful that the Strip hotels provided so much entertainment, because the more things people have to do, the less apt they are to start problems," he said.
Several tourists said Wednesday afternoon that Las Vegas is giving New York a run for its money on New Year's Eve.
Cathy Pappas, who visited Las Vegas from San Francisco, said Tuesday's spectacular fireworks display was unlike anything she'd ever seen.
"You've got the lights on the Strip and to top that off with the fireworks lighting up the sky was just phenomenal," she said. "There's just so many people and the spirit of the people is amazing."
Sabrina Vierra, who was visiting from Salt Lake City said she was already making plans to come to Las Vegas for 2004.
"Everyone I know comes to Vegas for New Year's Eve. No one goes to New York."
When asked if Las Vegas' celebration measured up to New Year's Eve in New York, Timothy Collins, who was visiting from Oxnard, Calif., said there was no comparison.
"This is Las Vegas," he said. "It's New Year's Eve every day."
Sun reporters
Dan Kulin, Timothy Pratt, Jace Radke, Judy Odierna and Jean Reid Norman contributed to this story.
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