Hula hoopers fight proposed ban at Fremont Street Experience

In these uncertain times, here's something else that's up in the air -- the fate of Las Vegas' Hula-Hoop ban at the Fremont Street Experience.

The City Council delayed action Wednesday on an ordinance that includes the ban but is largely aimed at corralling demonstrators and street performers into "free expression zones" to keep pedestrian traffic from being blocked.

A handful of pro-Hula-Hoop demonstrators still showed up before Wednesday's meeting, though, to hoop it up at City Hall -- and council members Steve Ross, Steve Wolfson and Lois Tarkanian joined them for some impromptu twirling.

In fact, the hoopers have some City Council allies.

"I don't think we have to restrain hula hooping," said Tarkanian -- at least, not the regular-sized ones.

"I don't think we were talking about Hula-Hoops such as that," she said. "They were talking about big, large ones."

Tarkanian also was quick to point out that the hooping session hadn't swayed her: "I had already determined that we shouldn't do away with Hula-Hoops."

Wolfson said he's "a little concerned" about the proposed ban.

"I just spent a few minutes hula hooping, and I took up about three feet of space, and I don't think I was bothering anybody," he said.

Ross said Hula-Hoops are fun: "It's a great activity. My kids have always done it."

But he and City Attorney Brad Jerbic said that other recreational activities such as skateboarding and roller blading are banned at the Fremont Street Experience and have never been challenged.

"I think hula hooping is a lot of fun," Ross said. "Is it free expression? I don't think so."

City officials put the ordinance on hold while talks continue with the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, which promised to sue the city if the ordinance was passed as proposed. The ACLU successfully has challenged previous Fremont Street rules that sought to ban or regulate activities such as leafletting and demonstrating.

Both sides are taking the talks "very seriously," ACLU attorney Maggie McLetchie said.

"We're hopeful that we can work something out with the city," she said. "It's time for the city and the Fremont Street Experience to accept that it is a public forum and the First Amendment applies."

In its current form, the ordinance would establish two "free expression zones" measuring 12 feet by 100 feet each on the Third Street Promenade, which abuts the Fremont pedestrian mall.

Street performers and solicitors -- those asking for support for a business or cause -- would be confined to the zones. Simply passing out literature or holding a sign would not require a person to leave Fremont Street.

Also proposed are the Hula-Hoop ban and bans on using an amplifier or megaphone and shooting items into the air.

The city and Fremont Street Experience spent much of the last year compiling examples of performers and demonstrators who blocked walkways or drove customers away from storefronts and kiosks. Those are the problems the ordinance addresses, Jerbic said.

The ACLU's counterargument was that blocking traffic and aggressive soliciting are already illegal. The city must treat all speech equally instead of, for example, distinguishing between performers hired by the Fremont Street Experience and free-lancers, the argument goes.

As for the hoopers, they're ready to argue with anything that keeps them from undulating inside a plastic circle in a public place.

"Freedom of expression is what makes us Americans," said Gabriella Redding, chief executive officer of Hoopnotica, a fitness company based in Marina del Rey, Calif. "The free expression zone is the United States of America."

She brought four employees and one local instructor with her Wednesday.

One reason for the proposed ban, she said, is a person brought a huge Hula-Hoop to the Fremont Street Experience as a draw for people to rent smaller hoops from him.

"You can't ban hula hooping because one person brought out a gag joke," Redding said. "That is public space. They have to share it with the performers.

"Maybe they could make 'free walk' zones."

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.