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By Conor Shine (contact) 
Monday, March 4, 2013 | 2 a.m.
Several proposals meant to improve the pedestrian experience along the Las Vegas Strip will be up for approval by county commissioners at their regularly scheduled meeting at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Commissioners also will consider several grant allocations and requests Tuesday before meeting Wednesday as the zoning commission.
Competing proposals for newsracks on Strip
More than 500 X-rated newsracks lining the Las Vegas Strip could be done away with by commissioners in the coming months.
Commissioners will consider two competing proposals Tuesday. One is an ordinance replacing the current newsracks, which are independently owned and come in a variety of shapes and sizes, with new uniform racks that would be owned by the county.
The second, which has the backing of County Manager Don Burnette, would do away with all newsracks along the Strip as part of a broader cleanup of pedestrian obstructions that also would include removing or relocating trash cans, fire hydrants and traffic signs.
“As a result of our analysis of the pedestrian study, staff will be recommending that no action be taken on the proposed newsrack ordinance. Instead, staff will be recommending that the board move forward with the prohibition of newsracks on the Strip,” Burnette said in an email to commissioners.
To ban the newsracks, a separate ordinance would need to be introduced and a public hearing held at a later commission meeting before changes could be made.
The competing proposals come after two separate reports presented to the commissioners in the past year highlighted needed improvements along the Strip. One report from the Strip Corridor Working Group made 32 recommendations to clean up and improve safety in the area.
A second pedestrian study, done by an outside consultant, identified 17 spots along the Strip that experienced excessive congestion.
Nonprofit support
More than 50 local nonprofit agencies will get a boost from the county when the commission approves its annual outside grant funding, which this year is expected to total $2.6 million.
The agencies, which include homeless shelters, food banks and arts organizations, will receive grants ranging from a few thousand dollars up to $144,000.
County staffers have reviewed the applications and will present a list of recommended recipients to commissioners Tuesday.
The county also will be asked to approve a list of projects to be included in a $4.3 million federal and state grant request. If the grant is approved, the funding would be used for affordable housing projects throughout the valley.
That is a start in cleaning up the strip but that is not going to solve the problem.
There is a way of getting rid of all the card flappers but seems the county does not want to use a simple legal method of doing it.
Maybe in time they will find a legal way on their own of solving one the main problems on the strip.
@ vegaslee..." There is a ways of getting rid of all the card flappers..." Yes, there is ONE way. We could repeal the First Amendment. Handing out promotional materials has been ruled protected under the 1st Amendment.
The city the county in the casinos I have all spent a fortune. Waging war against free expression. The results I have always been the same. Freedom of speech always wins
You are correct bghs1986 because they have gone about it the wrong way knowing it was going to go against them in court.
There are legal ways of slowing them to a crawl and maybe even getting rid of them for good but they still have not gone the right route.
I am betting they are going to end up in court over removing the racks on the strip but they might win that one. Still does not stop the card slappers though.
@vegaslee...by all means share these legal strategies that have eluded litigators all these years.
Courts have not held that space for newstands must allways be available, the county's decision to eliminate them will only result in more card slappers to take up the slack in advertising.