County ordinance targets Strip sidewalk vendors

Jessica Adams smiled as she handed a group of tourists in front of Caesars Palace four bottles of cold water.

She was chuckling in response to a quip from the middle-aged man who paid for the drinks and jokingly asked if she could follow his family while they walked along the Strip, which was baking in the afternoon sun.

"We're doing something good out here," said Adams, 23, of herself and other sidewalk water vendors. "We're selling water at a better price than the casinos."

But to Clark County government officials, whose jurisdiction covers the Strip, sidewalk vending is no laughing matter. They say it's an unregulated nuisance that should be banned on public sidewalks.

Today, an ordinance that would ban the practice and put Adams and others like her out of business is scheduled to get introduced before the County Commission.

"We're out here trying to make a living like everyone else," said James Dupree, 32, as he cracked open another case of water bottles and dumped them into Adams' cooler. "They won't let us do it."

The ordinance would ban selling goods or services "on any improved or unimproved portion of a public right of way, including private property" with a public easement.

It's aimed at cracking down on sidewalk vendors on the Strip, but the way it's written means it covers any unincorporated area in the county.

County staff is recommending the commission schedule a hearing on the ordinance for 10 a.m. July 3.

STRIP WORKGROUP IDEA

The idea comes from the county's Resort Corridor Workgroup, a panel established by County Manager Don Burnette in August that includes public officials and executives from major resort companies such as Caesars Entertainment, Wynn Las Vegas and Boyd Gaming.

The group, which meets in private, makes recommendations on what its members think would improve the visitor experience on the Strip.

Its first recommendation, adopted by the County Commission in March, was a ban on pets from noon to 5 a.m. every day. That ordinance was criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada as a "poorly written" ordinance meant to target the homeless and panhandlers.

Backers of the group's idea say it's in response to complaints from visitors, the lifeblood of the Nevada economy, who say the Strip is so cluttered with handbillers, peddlers, litter and unauthorized advertising that it detracts from the environment.

"Obviously there have been a lot of complaints from tourists and locals alike," county spokesman Erik Pappa said. "This is part of that overall effort to change things for the better."

County Commissioner Steve Sisolak said the proposed anti-peddler ordinance will prevent the Strip from becoming an open-air bazaar that is off-putting to visitors.

He said T-shirts, sunglasses, water and all manner of products are already being hawked by unregulated, unlicensed merchants.

Sidewalk peddlers are unfair because they undercut brick-and-mortar businesses that have to pay rent and other overhead costs, he said.

"One guy was selling beer on one of the overpasses," Sisolak said. "You can't just make it an open air market up and down Las Vegas Boulevard."

He also said there is no accountability to prevent unlicensed vendors from selling faulty or even dangerous merchandise.

"What happens if someone gets sick from one of the bottles of water," Sisolak said. "We can't have something happen with someone selling something unsafe."

ORDINANCE OPPONENTS

Others, however, say the proposed ordinance is overly broad and unnecessary.

Geoffrey Lawrence of the Nevada Policy Research Institute, a pro-business think tank based in Las Vegas, said a steady increase in visitation since 2009 shows sidewalk vendors aren't scaring off business.

The vendors' mere presence shows the opposite, that they are a result of consumer demand, he said.

"There wouldn't be a market for those types of activities if tourists weren't patronizing those people," Lawrence said.

He also said a crackdown on sidewalk vendors would disproportionately harm small-time operators who are earning money to cover basic needs and don't have the cash to invest in storefronts and other overhead.

"This is one of the ways they make ends meet," Lawrence said. "If they are blocked from doing this, they are going to have a harder time feeding their family or making rent."

Both Adams and Dupree said they're selling water on the Strip because they can't find regular employment.

Adams said that the money helps with rent and supporting her two children, but that she would readily give up selling water on the sidewalk if she could find regular employment.

"Of course we put in applications, we go to interviews. But we still get no jobs," Adams said. "Until we get that 9-5, this is where we are at."

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.