Golden Nugget garage faces closure

Jen Lawson

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2004 | 11:09 a.m.

Las Vegas' top building official said Tuesday that shutting down the Golden Nugget parking garage is a possibility following the second accident in which a vehicle crashed through a concrete panel and plunged to the ground.

Paul Wilkins said he'd prefer not to take such a drastic action -- which could strike right at the heart of "Vintage Vegas," the campaign to recreate the Fremont Street area's core identity.

But he's concerned about the accident and the failure by the Golden Nugget owners to deliver the final safety report Wilkins said he ordered after the first accident in January, in which two people died.

Although Wilkins said he thinks the garage is safe, this second incident has heated up his requests for the final report on the first accident.

"Under the law I can (deem the garage unsafe)," Wilkins said. "But if I get my report there is no need to do that. All it will take is communication ... I want to make sure this doesn't happen again."

However, the Golden Nugget owners say that in March they issued a preliminary report on the structure safety, which found the garage met codes, and thought a final, more detailed report was not needed.

In January's incident, police concluded that 83-year-old Las Vegan George Yago stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake and drove his car through a concrete panel on the fourth floor of the parking garage. He and his 79-year-old wife, Maureen, died.

City building officials inspected the garage and said they found it complied with the applicable building code. The garage, built in 1985, falls under a code written in 1982 that just says it must have adequate curbs and railings, Wilkins said.

Building officials ordered Golden Nugget officials to subject the garage to a more rigorous inspection.

Earlier this year engineers hired by the Golden Nugget determined the garage was safe and they submitted a preliminary report to the city in March, but no final report confirming the earlier findings has been issued.

The final report is supposed to give the amount of lateral pressure the six-inch concrete panels can withstand without breaking.

A new building code written in 1994 says the panels must withstand 6,000 pounds of pressure but there is no requirement for structures built under the earlier, less stringent code.

On Tuesday Tim Poster, the co-owner of the Golden Nugget, said he planned to hire an independent engineering firm to inspect the garage in connection with Monday's accident.

But Wilkins said he told Poster he should first submit the final report for the January accident.

"What I'd like him to do is hire another engineer and do some destructive testing of the panels. We need some scientific evidence," he said.

"I need to make sure we have safe buildings," he added. "I'm sure (the accidents are) fluke, but still, it's a question."

Poster told reporters Tuesday that he thought the final report was unnecessary.

"I'm not an expert in engineering or the way these investigations proceed," Poster said, "but I am told it's not customary to do a final report after the preliminary report has satisfied all parties."

However, Wilkins said: "As the building official, I am not happy. There is a preliminary report but there needs to be a follow-up report."

After the upcoming inspection, Poster said he will review the results and decide if he should go a step beyond what the code requires.

"We are going to look at anything and everything possible" to determine if the garage can be made safer, he said. "Our first and primary concern is our guests and their safety and security."

Wilkins said he gave Poster some informal suggestions on how to improve safety in the garage, including adding cones, speed bumps and extra guard rails, and designating only the first floor of the garage as a self-park area and make the other three floors valet.

Metro Police have not yet determined what caused 83-year-old Edward Marcinkowski to crash his rented Chevrolet Impala through a concrete panel and plunge off the second floor of the Golden Nugget's self-parking garage Monday morning.

However, Metro Police Detective Bill Redfairn, who is investigating the accident, said the car has been examined and he has ruled out mechanical problems as the cause for the sudden acceleration.

Police now believe that Marcinkowski either had a medical problem while driving or he mistook the accelerator for the brake pedal -- or both.

Marcinkowski remained in critical condition Wednesday and his companion, Violet Krywinski, also 83, was in fair condition. Both are from Middletown, Conn.

Redfairn is waiting for Marcinkowski to be taken off a respirator so he can interview him about what happened right before the crash.

He said Krywinski was wearing her seat belt, but it's not clear if Marcinkowski was. The airbags probably prevented them from being more seriously injured or killed, Redfairn said.