Comments on: Bad Mojo

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:49:40 +0000

I’m heading out to Vegas in March and planned to stay downtown for the first time. When I was out that way last March I checked out FSE and enjoyed it way more than I ever did the strip. The whole less-pretentious atmosphere aside, it’s nice to be able to wander around without some pushy guy in an Elvis costume trying to hand you playing cards for a free limo to his strip club at his timeshare full of girls who want to give you bottled water and fly you around the Grand Canyon every two minutes.

Hopefully FSE doesn’t fall victim to the same nonsense

By: Aero

Aero — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:04:29 +0000

They should hire Rudy G. as a special consultant on this matter. He cleaned up Manhattan. I’ve had several encounters on Fremont in the past and none were too memorable. Rex is 100% correct in that, if it becomes a “every time I walk 10 ft there’s another person in my face asking for a nickle” type situation, I will avoid Fremont St. The only thing I’ve ever “donated” to these folks is food.

By: The Fonz

The Fonz — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 23:45:06 +0000

As a male from Minnesota, no, I don’t want to be hassled by dozens of beggars looking for a handout instead of wanting to do something productive with their lives.

I get that it’s a challenge to pull thyself up by the bootstraps when you have nowhere to turn, but if there’s a will, there’s a way.

I don’t donate a dime to anyone on the street begging for a handout, it only enables the behavior.

And no, I’m not interested in being hassled all day long just because I scrape and scrimp in order to afford a few days of low-roller entertainment in Vegas.

By: leni

leni — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 20:55:16 +0000

If this is true then our love affair with vegas will come to a screeching hault, I can go to mexico if I want to feel unsafe. The reason we go to vegas is for the fun and we feel safe. We can also have fun in Cuba where we are %100 safe and the people are the nicest I have met anywhere. I’m pissed I already booked the GN in july. The wife is not going to like this.

By: ginny

ginny — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:45:20 +0000

As a solo female traveler (coming from Minnesota) I am not looking forward to this in two weeks. I always enjoy staying downtown, but hate being called after and harassed by the street folks, but then again I have had it happen on the strip just as much if not more.

By: Disco Stu

Disco Stu — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:28:24 +0000

No, this is not good at all. I enjoy Downtown. I truly have fun down there. This is not what I want to experience on vacation. I will not experience this on vacation. This will make Downtown excursions go from my favorite part of many trips to a place I will avoid entirely.

It isn’t like you can simply stay away during certain hours. These are street kids. They will be there all day long. They know people have small bills on them. Who wants to book a hotel stay on a street where they’ll be harassed every time they walk out the door? I understand why the kids are there from their standpoint, but I’m not playing their game.

By: james h

james h — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 02:32:26 +0000

i was on freemont street last week, last monday to be exact,,,and of all the times ive been there, i thought this time was the worst, the street people were everywhere. lots of 40ish year old men, underweight, dirty, missing teeth, drunk, all getting just a little to close. the street just had a bad feel, the worst ive seen. its only a matter of time before a tourist gets hurt or killed, it wouldnt take much for this to get out of hand. as a tourist attraction, freemont street should be cleaned up, the beggers, street kids and derelics, all need to be gone…the city should just make it too difficult for them to be there…new orleans just started arresting everyone that didnt have money, put them in jail trucks, kept them for 12 hours, made them feel unwelcome and funny thing….they went somewhere else, they didnt like the hassel of being detained, and along the way the police found many people with warrants and such…this is war, a tourist war, if las vegas wants the tourist money, then las vegas needs to provide a safe fun environment…

By: Howard Park

Howard Park — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:54:47 +0000

Honest, over the last few years I’ve felt just a bit safer on Fremont than on parts of the Strip, esp. the north Strip. In any case, the guy who really scares me is the one who hits first and askes questions later. Any panhandler who is agressive won’t last long — there are planty of cops on Fremont.

By: mike_ch

mike_ch — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:44:10 +0000

ColinFromLasVegas: Yes, the First Amendment is more important than gambling in Las Vegas. In fact, most Americans would probably choose to shut down Las Vegas than lose the amendment if they had to pick one of the two. Jesus christ, man, where is your head at?

Every urban setting has it’s blights. Would homeless people be any less homeless hanging out anywhere else in the city? Not really. Would they be just as inconvenient anywhere else in the city? Yes. I doubt that Rex wants these people off Fremont so bad that he would rather they be in his own corner of town, nor would anyone else.

It’s a bit silly for Rex to call it unfair to the casinos of all things, some of the city’s biggest taxpayers, when the reason people are hanging around in public like this is the failure of the city to put them anywhere else. City Hall’s position has been to go around chasing the homeless and shutting down parks and other public places they take up residence in, hoping that they’ll go squat in another town’s boundaries (or another metro entirely) if they get tired of all the harassment.

If you want to blame anyone, go blame them. Their official policy on this stuff is “be so inhospitable and unaccomodating as to make these people leave.”

By: FleaStiff

FleaStiff — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:24:59 +0000

South America has the right idea.
There the police death squads take street urchins out to the jungle pits.
Problem solved.