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Zappos employees Graham Kahr, a social scientist, and Ashley Kahr, a receptionist, walk to the parking garage on Stewart Avenue from the Zappos temporary offices on Carson Avenue. A security guard follows behind them in downtown Las Vegas on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012. Graham Kahr said he’s a downtowner by choice and this is home to him, “a place where I feel safest.”
Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012 | 2 a.m.
Map of Old Las Vegas City Hall (future Zappos corporate campus)
Old Las Vegas City Hall (future Zappos corporate campus)
400 Stewart Avenue, Las Vegas
Sun coverage
- The Zappos effect: Companies follow the retailer downtown (9-24-2012)
- Finally buying into the Zappos hype (6-20-2012)
- Dogged for years by crime, downtown Las Vegas experiencing improvements (6-11-2012)
- What’s behind Tony Hsieh’s unrelenting drive to remake downtown Las Vegas? (4-20-2012)
- Zappos becoming downtown’s magnet for startups (12-02-2011)
- Zappos putting its stamp on downtown Las Vegas (10-18-2011)
- Zappos CEO envisions a new community downtown (3-17-2011)
- More Zappos news
Barely 10 steps beyond the door of Zappos’ Downtown Project office, Krissee Danger walks past a man who asks for a spare cigarette as she pulls one out of her purse.
“This is my last one,” she says.
Would she have given one if she had more?
“No.”
A block farther, a homeless man, burnished and brown from sun and dirt, has his blackened brown shorts unbuttoned and open. With no hesitation, he makes an adjustment down under, buttons and zips up, and sprints across the street yelling at someone no one else can see.
One more block and Danger, officially known as the Downtown Project’s “Visits Wizard,” is inside Zappos’ temporary office for 200 employees at Third Street and Carson Avenue. The office has been open for about a month; in about a year, Zappos expects to move most of its nearly 2,000 employees from Henderson to the old City Hall, which is being renovated.
“That was interesting,” Danger says, chuckling, about the man on the street.
A Midwest native, Danger spent years in Los Angeles before moving to Las Vegas. She says she’s witnessed scenes in L.A. that make what’s going on in downtown Las Vegas seem “like nothing.”
But not everyone at Zappos has lived or worked in an urban core previously. And some of those now working in the Carson Avenue office are feeling a bit uneasy. The Sun received an email from someone claiming to be a Zappos employee — her identity was unknown — who said safety and office amenities are becoming an issue to some who work in the new office.
“I can understand how some of them feel,” said Pat Warren, 31, who was working at one of dozens of airy spaces in the Zappos office.
Warren grew up in a Kentucky city of 11,000 and lived in Henderson before moving and now working downtown. He seems to take the cityscape and its blemishes in stride. He also has heard the complaints.
“This is a city, and there might be a few people who are freaked out by it,” he said.
The Sun received another email from a person — not claiming to be a Zappos employee but saying he or she speaks for “employees” working downtown — who said those employees have “serious safety concerns” about walking four blocks from their parking garage next to old City Hall on Stewart Avenue to Carson Avenue.
Zappos has hired security to help, the writer said but added that employees still were “harassed and at times even threatened by the homeless population that lines the sidewalk.
“It’s not all roses.”
Zappos is known for lavishing benefits upon employees some say make up for wages that don’t equal those of similar online businesses. In its Henderson headquarters (currently leased from a company affiliated with Greenspun Media Group, parent company of the Sun), there’s a darkened room where workers can nap, a massive kitchen full of almost anything you can think of to eat and drink — all free — and a keg of beer and bottles of liquor employees can dip into if they want. There’s a coffee shop with baristas who fix Starbucks-perfect drinks. Again for free. Parking and safety aren't issues.
Many Zappos employees also live near the Henderson building, so the commute is short.
In the downtown office, a smallish kitchen offers free everything, too — deli meats, sodas, chips, candy bars, coffee. There's just not as much as in the Henderson office. That, too, has irked some employees, the email writer said.
“These may sound like small concerns, as most jobs don’t provide such benefits,” the email says, “but to many Zappos employees, the added perks are what encouraged them to take the jobs in the first place.”
When Danger saw the unzipped homeless man on her way to Carson Avenue, so did Zach Ware, overseer of the City Hall renovation project, on his way out of the Carson Avenue office.
Ware said the Zappos staff is listening and working hard to address complaints. The company just signed a deal, for instance, to hire a shuttle service within the next few weeks to haul people from the parking garage by City Hall four blocks to the Carson Avenue office. The shuttle also will move people between the Henderson office and downtown.
Additionally, Zappos increased security at the parking garage from two to four guards and has talked with Metro Police about security concerns.
Zappos speaks plainly, though, about the differences between its campus in Henderson and the downtown Las Vegas office. They aren’t the same. They never will be the same.
“We said upfront we were looking for pioneers, and we actually call them pioneers,” Ware said of the new downtown workers. “We said this is going to be challenging. We don’t have adequate parking next door; we don’t have space for a gigantic coffee shop and bistro; and we’re constantly modifying and adjusting.”
Employees will also see and deal with situations that never confronted them in Henderson. Ware knows; he’s lived downtown for the past two years.
“Sometimes you’re going to see a homeless person or someone you wouldn’t encounter on the Zappos campus,” but at the same time, sometimes you’re going to run into an artist here, or run into a musician," he said. "We think that’s the upside and that it very much outweighs the downside.”
Every bit of feedback or complaint, he stresses, is looked at seriously. That doesn’t mean every complaint has an easy fix.
“We realize there’s a lot of things we can do to make it more productive and secure, but there’s a lot of things we can’t do because the city of Las Vegas is not the Zappos campus.”
Flinn Fagg, Las Vegas planning director, said a sense of safety also would come as more people filled downtown streets.
“One of the key things that helps to make people safer in a downtown area and less inviting to other elements is when you have activity on the sidewalks and the natural surveillance of residents on the street, and business owners who become protective and won’t allow undesirable elements to linger,” he said. “That’s going to happen over time.”
To be sure, not everyone feels the fear.
Amanda Wadsworth, a 24-year-old merchandise assistant, isn’t based permanently downtown but said she tries to get to the office as much as possible. The Daytona Beach, Fla., native likes the atmosphere and feels she gets more done. When her apartment lease near Boulder City expires, she said, she also wants to move downtown.
She relocated to Nevada about a year ago and said she never lived in a big city before, but that doesn’t mean she’s a “country bumpkin.”
But what about security and safety? Is she worried?
Wadsworth is told of the homeless man with the open-fly shorts from a few minutes earlier. Her eyebrows rise and she delivers in all seriousness the humor that can make living in a city core more tolerable.
“What?” she says, not missing a beat. “I call that a date.”
Metro will not clean up DT. WE all know it's NOT "PC" to do it. WE ALL know WHAT the PROBLEMS are. Again, The sheriff will send it's Ofc's to ticket REAL CITIZENS ON THEIR WAY TO WORK FOR SEAT BELTS VIOLATIONS OR SOME OTHER BS.
MEMO TO SHERIFF: Clean up Down-town
Your not Kansas or Hendertucky anymore. Haha. OMG a homeless person run for your life!!!
downtown is a nightmare !!! it is like going to a carnival . if you go and somebody says "hey you " keep walking . daytime is not bad compared to night . you dont see metro a lot which is surprising . more foot and bike patrols would help . one thing you dont see compared to the strip is all the peddlers trying to push there stuff on you to buy it . it is not a gauntlet either trying to walk around compared to walking from mgm to the wynn
Well, I can tell you from personal experience first hand that the difference is night and day. I worked on Corporate Circle next to Zappos, then a few years later worked in the Molasky building downtown.
I went from having lunch with yuppies at the District in Green Valley, to stepping over human feces on the sidewalk downtown in an attempt to find a decent place for lunch.
Zappos employees are not the only people that have these issues. Clean up Downtown Las Vegas.
Tony Sheih and Zappo's should donate some of their enormous wealth to feed and house the homeless, instead of fearing them, stepping around them, needing guards from them, needing shuttle buses to ride 4 blocks not to walk near them, etc., grow up, this is real life kiddos. Having a 24 hour barista is NOT real life, providing shelter and rehabilitating your fellow human earth dwellers is real life. DONATE ENOUGH MONEY TO THE HOMELESS CORRIDOR AND VETERANS HOUSING TO GET ALL THESE PEOPLE OFF THE STREETS. Help Downtown Las Vegas improve for Zappo's and everybody, now. Don't look away, don't complain, organize, do it NOW.
Welcome to Downtown LV... where the homeless know your name... we have more homeless in LV than anywhere else I've lived aside from San Francisco... I don't know why/how Metro let's them just stand IN traffic pan handling... The *only* thing I will say is that at least they aren't aggressive like in San Francisco. Our city needs to focus on cleaning up the city OUTSIDE of the tourist zones.
I would NOT be sad if the apartment blocks all along Karen avenue burnt down and were replaced with empty lots.
If I were homeless... I don't think I'd live in LV anyhow! Far too hot in the summer and cold in the winter... I'd drift towards the bastion of homelessness SF! What else would I have to do beside walk there?
But, but, but, I thought that Zappos was happy downtown and that other businesses were following Zappos to downtown?
Downtown is where businesses go to die...I've said it here a million times and been proven right over and over again....escorting employees to their cars? What a dream job hahahaha
Is this the Zappo's effect? Being escorted from your office to your car? Hahahaha
http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2012/sep/24...
I have worked in the downtown for over 11 years. Each day at lunch time I walk throughout the area. I don't find the area scary at all. I love the energy, diversity of the people, and the landscape of the area. Its funny though that Zappos employees need escort considering that you see judges, casino owners, lawyers, and regular employees walking around without escorts. It appears Zappos employees have been sheltered too long. There is world beyond suburbs. I would like to say welcome to downtown and don't be afraid. By the way, I live in a master planned community.
Downtown is nothing to be scared about. If you wanna be scared take a walk west of the Stratosphere. Downtown is rainbows and daffodils compared to that. There are plenty of cops, especially at night.
Such wussies. Spend some time in a big city and you will find the homeless situation much worse. San Francisco is a great city but the homeless problem is so much worse. Don't give them cigs or money if you don't want to.
At least in Denver on 16th St. the homeless seem to all play instruments which makes for an interesting walk. Since they actually "work" for their handouts--and some of them are quite good--I felt compelled to donate once in awhile.
Once the entire Zappos crew gets down there and other businesses follow it'll be a lot better. Hang in there pioneers!
zappo is an online retailer that already sold out to Amazon. They create nothing. Its not Ethel-M, Ocean Spray or Shuffle Master. Its ok, the pet rock people didn't save the world either.
Downtown still has issues and it probably always will. Some people don't mind stepping over homeless people or being bummed for some "change". Personally I'd rather be in an environment where I feel safe and don't have to walk down the street with eyes in the back of my head. Down by the El Cortez I see security guys walking up and down the sidewalks. Is that what is supposed to make me feel the area is safe?
Waaaaa! At least they have jobs...I would trade places with them in a second.
"That was interesting," Danger says, chuckling, about the man on the street."
Welcome to humanity, Yuppies.
A security escort for just walking down the street in broad daylight? What an over-reaction. Downtown isn't the sterile family-friendly suburbs, and it isn't really any more dangerous than walking down the street of any other major city.
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." -- George Orwell's "Animal Farm" (1945)
Picture 11/15 in the gallery makes the place look like a sweatshop from a 3rd world country.
R U kidding me? A security guard to walk you to work in broad daylight? So "social scientist" is another name for yuppie wuss? Gimme a break.
Mr. Sun comes clean, Zappo's rents from Greenspun. Maybe that explains the golden-boy treatment.
I'm struck by Zappo's human resources model, which I describe as The Wetnurse Workplace -- low wages and a free supply of sugar, fat, caffeine and alcohol. Even if they feel safe and comfortable on downtown streets, employees have little need to venture outside the nanny-bubble. It reminds me of Henry Ford's attempts to create a socialist community to optimally utilize his employees.
Why did Zappos leave beautiful henderson to relocate to downtown las vegas? Talk about two different places. Downtown las vegas is more like a third world country than an american city. Its old, ugly and full of out of work and homeless people. I wonder what politician or city deal was offered to propel Zappos to make this terrible move? Really stupid!
I'm not quite sure why people feel Zappo's is the first step toward rejunevating downtown. Frankly, the District at Green Valley is a ghost town most days, clearly Zappos didn't help that center at all, and it's a much nicer area then downtown.
.
Want change, build a state of the art arena, invite a professional team, open restaurants and new businesses that cater to those visitors. The ability to buy a pair of shoes from your computer is nice, but it isn't going to drive business downtown.
Why did Zappos leave beautiful henderson to relocate to downtown las vegas? Talk about two different places. Downtown las vegas is more like a third world country than an american city.
-------------------
What Large American city isn't like a third world country? The smart citizens moved to the suburbs a long time ago. Not sure why Tony saw this as a good move other than it's closer to his penthouse at the Ogden.
One anchor business does not make a downtown. If you look at a downtown, like Seattle, you see scores of recognizable, non gaming businesses. Lunch hour is a time there for office workers to shop and congregate. Zappos could be the beginning of something, but it won't remake downtown, as a viable scene, all by itself.
777s, that's a great message and I agree 100%.
Tell us all how much of YOUR annual income YOU are donating to the cause and then we'll all encourage Tony and Zappos to do the same.
Or is this one of those causes that's important for other people to donate to...but not important enough to get YOUR money.
I don't know the facts, but it seems to me that Zappos got a sweet tax deal and the employees are paying for it.
"Tony Sheih and Zappo's should donate some of their enormous wealth to feed and house the homeless"
hahaha, good one. the homeless around the downtown area don't want food or shelter - they want to be crazy, live on the streets, panhandle, and abuse drugs and alcohol.
Downtown will always be for the creative and strong people. Take a look at where most bands, artists, and writers come from or go to look for inspirations. It is the struggle, vibe, and energy of people that lives and work in small area that drives them create more. It isn't for everyone.
How much money was saved on rent between the two places? That's the million dollar question. If a person doesn't feel safe walking around down-town, I feel sorry for you. It's not that bad. I'm sure there are thousands of people ready to take those jobs if the employees are that dissapointred.
Ha ha Told you so,
A security escort in broad daylight? Gimme a break...There are some kooks down there for sure, but it's not gangland. Graham should be ashamed of himself. I think Ashley looks like she'd be more useful in a fight...
ZZZ comments are way off, I have dealt with homeless people for years, they are for the most part lazy and have no respect for anyones elses' property, the world is their toilet. If the city was smart they would pass laws against pan handling, drunkenness, maybe even smelling like a unflushed 3 day old toilet and clean up the city streets for those who will bring value to them. There is plenty of desert out there, put up big tents and let them sleep out there away from those they bother. If our military can sleep in that environment surely these "poor" homeless can. Maybe some would change to productive in a controlled environment, which of course is available all over the city if they wanted that.
every city has homeless people, whats unique about the homeless in vegas is they are stuck there, even if they wanted to leave, im guessing few of them would have the funds to leave the desert island they inhabit.
as long as the homeless live and hang out on the streets downtown, they will always scare the average office worker, as it does in every city.
so, what can be done with them, where can they go, would the city pay to send them to other cities, is that even legal. this seems to be a problem...can you arrest all of them and house them at the publics expense...so everybody who says the police should get them off the streets, what should they do with them...
dont get me wrong, i would like them gone also, but i just dont know what can be done long term...
@ mtmfx...."Why did Zappos leave beautiful henderson to relocate to downtown Las Vegas?" First off, where is this "beautiful henderson" of which you speak. I have lived here all my life and wouldn't describe a single block of Henderson as beautiful.
But, to answer your question, Tony moved the company to downtown because "Downtown las vegas is more like a third world country than an american city" not in spite of that fact. The only way to invoke change in areas like downtown is to fill it with law-abiding people who will both support business while not tolerating lawlessness.
That being said, I have to admit I am always amazed that, with double digit unemployment, people have the audacity to complain about the job they have. Those who don't like the move can just quit. Someone else will be at your desk before your seat is cold, and you can just get a job at one of the other national retail corporations in Henderson that provide you a room to take a nap.
Bad break for the current employees of Zappos. Walking the gauntlet through the stench of urine and garbage along with the cornucopia of down and out inhabitants of the street on daily basis would be too much for me. I don't care how much security you have, it's like getting your own private tour of hell twice a day.
Now, if you were unlucky enough to be born and raised in Monrovia, Liberia, it might all be tolerable. But I don't think anyone who has seen what a city is supposed to look like could possibly cope with the cheesy shops and restaurants assaulting the senses on every block.
Let me end with this. Everything downtown has been executed with such shortsightedness and in such poor taste and inferior quality, that even the busted out, uneducated and un-socialized vagrants feel right at home. Why should they leave when the city has gone through so much trouble to accommodate their taste.
Only once in ten years have I gone to downtown Las Vegas and that was to fight a traffic ticket. Why even bother going unless you have no choice.
"Everything downtown has been executed with such shortsightedness and in such poor taste and inferior quality, that even the busted out, uneducated and un-socialized vagrants feel right at home. Why should they leave when the city has gone through so much trouble to accommodate their taste."
Clearly, someone who has never, ever been downtown.
The move from Henderson to downtown will turn out to be the biggest mistake that Zappos could make.
Tony bought a ton of property down there that will no doubt be razed and new businesses and living places will be created. This is Tony - not Zappos. That will help clean things up. The guy has the chance to be the next Howard Hughes of Las Vegas - and I MEAN Las Vegas - not Clark County's Strip nightmare which is not in the city limits. Sounds like a lot of Zappos' employees have been molly-coddled. Well, welcome to America.
The homeless in this country has been a social issue no one wants to address - most Americans are two paychecks away from homelessness. A vast majority of them are veterans. And those idiots who think it's a choice are just as mentally disabled as a lot of the homeless. No one of any sane mind chooses to live that way. Lots of new homeless were created in 2007 and 2008. But this Christian nation, with over 80% of the populace claiming to be, would rather by spending billions on other things than helping other human beings. Maybe if they were looked at as imprisoned Americans we'd think differently.
Here's the thing... until there is many different types business with support businesses like restaurants, print shops, the stuff in suburb Vegas... downtown is not going to be a great location. Everyone champions Fremont East, but it's just a bar haven. What do we need next to Beauty Bar, oh a British themed bar the Griffin. What do we need across the street from the Griffin, an arcade-themed bar Insert Coins. What do we need on the corner near Beauty Bar, another bar?!?! Goodman championed in Fremont East... a place to bar hoop and nothing more. Mix it up and get cafes, restaurants and small support business and you maybe get succcess.
The Zappos CEO screwed over his employees royally when he moved the headquarters. now people who own homes, mostly in the area of the old headquarters, have to slug it out in traffic in order to go to the new location. Thanks boss for the extra hour a day I get to spend in my car.