Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Goodman eyes valet parking for bars

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman is pushing two changes to city rules intended to give downtown's nightlife a boost.

One would allow downtown businesses to turn curbside public parking into valet spaces.

The other would permit a new kind of bar in the downtown Arts District, centered around Charleston and Casino Center boulevards, called an "urban lounge," which could operate without the restrictions governing taverns or supper clubs.

Goodman said both proposals would help with the ongoing reinvigoration of downtown.

"I want to get people into downtown, and a good way to do that is to make life easier for them," the mayor said about the valet-parking proposal.

Under the current proposal, modeled after San Diego's valet-parking rules for its Gaslamp Quarter, Las Vegas' traffic engineer would decide whether to allow businesses to use some curbside spaces in front of their establishments for valet parking.

The businesses would pay the city a fee -- exactly how much has not been determined -- for the valet spaces.

The valet zones would be restricted to parts of downtown within the so-called Downtown Centennial Plan, which includes much of downtown between Interstate 15, Sahara Avenue, Las Vegas Boulevard and U.S. 95, plus several blocks of Fremont Street east of Las Vegas Boulevard.

Frank Elam, Downtown Property Owners' Association president, said the proposed valet-parking regulations are an "absolute necessity" for the area's future.

"People do not want to park and walk, they want to get where they're going and just pull up," he said.

While downtown hotels generally have valet parking, Elam said clubs and restaurants that have not yet come to downtown would probably benefit most from being able to offer valet parking to customers.

Perhaps some of the urban lounges will flock to the idea.

An urban lounge would not be required to serve food, as supper clubs are, but would be allowed to have only five slot machines. Taverns are allowed 15 gaming machines.

Urban lounges also would not be subject to separation requirements, whereas taverns are not allowed within 1,500 feet of another tavern, church, school or child-care facility.

"You know me, I want them on top of each other," said Goodman, whose fondness for martinis is well documented.

City Planning and Development Director Margo Wheeler said allowing the new urban lounges would "make it easier for a lot of the planned high rises to have a club."

The proposed valet-parking regulations are expected to go to the City Council for a final vote on Dec. 21.

The urban lounge proposal is on pace for a Jan. 4 council vote.

Reality TV

At one point, the mayor was hearing pitches from four producers who wanted to make him a reality TV star.

But those fell by the wayside when the mayor did not hear an offer to his liking.

During his Thursday press conference, Goodman said perhaps the TV producers should return with a pitch that would focus more on the mayor and his wife, Carolyn. Previous reality TV plots were apparently focused on the mayoral side of life in and around City Hall.

A no-show

A year ago, the mayor made a splash at Major League Baseball's winter meetings by showing up with Elvis and showgirls.

Goodman was trying to put, or keep, Las Vegas on the minds of baseball higher-ups while the fate of the Washington Nationals was still in play, and amid rumblings that the Florida Marlins would leave Miami sooner rather than later.

This year, with the Marlins apparently very much in play, the mayor stayed away from baseball's winter meetings, held earlier this week in Dallas.

"I am not going to allow us to be used as a pawn," Goodman said, referring to the belief that the city was used last year to scare existing major league cities into thinking Las Vegas was ready to take a team.

"I want them to come to us," the mayor said about a potential major league franchise. Goodman said no one from baseball has contacted him recently.

But Goodman said he heard from Las Vegas 51s President Don Logan that Las Vegas was the buzz of the baseball meetings anyway.

Dan Kulin can be reached at 259-8826 or at [email protected].

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