What In The F1 Is Going On At The Clark County Commission?

This article has been updated to include comments from Lisa Mayo-DeRiso, President of Mayo & Associates

Numerous reports related to the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix have highlighted the negative impacts the race had on Strip employees, small businesses, and residents. Although a few casinos reported profits during the racing weekend, the construction and road closures leading up to the international event forced some small businesses into bankruptcy while others reported significant revenue losses.

Yesterday, local business owners launched a petition to stop the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix, citing a loss upwards of $30 million due to a bridge built on Flamingo and Koval and the extensive road closures in the many months leading up to the inaugural 2023 Grand Prix.

The petition asks the Clark County Commissioners, who still have to approve the 2024 Special Use Permit, to not approve that permit until the issues from 2023 have been settled. This includes a reimbursement of the losses incurred by local small business owners.

The reasons for the petition include the adverse affects on small businesses, strip employees and transportation companies who faced large revenues losses, traffic congestion and disruption, and a lack of meaningful consultation with residents and stakeholders.

The lack of meaningful consultation with residents and stakeholders is once again highlighted in a concerning article written by Alan Snel, publisher-writer of LVSportsBiz.com.

Snel claims that the Clark County government is “hiding” the F1 traffic report from the public for the upcoming 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix. According to Snel, Clark County refuses to release the report citing that the report is in “draft form” and “not allowed to be seen by the public.”

“LVSportsBiz.com made several requests to Clark County for the 2024. Las Vegas Grand Prix traffic report, which was submitted Wednesday. Clark County said the report is a ‘draft’ and not allowed to be seen by the public. That counters the state open records law,” Snel reports.

Snel also charges that the Democrat-controlled Clark County Commission, whose current Chair Tick Segerblom was one of five commissioners to receive complimentary tickets to the race, “appeared out of their league in evaluating and assessing the Las Vegas Grand Prix’s impact on business and life on the Strip and surrounding roads…If only the county commissioners applied the same level of scrutiny and regulations to F1 as they did to sidewalk vendors and walkers stopping on pedestrian bridges along the Strip…The county’s seven commissioners handed over the public roads without receiving compensation for Clark County.”

The resistance to providing a draft for public consumption not only violates open-records law, it violate the commission’s past practices of inviting public comment and input to drafts that are considered by the commission.

For example, after the completion of the 2020 Census, the commissioners were tasked with redistricting the county’s voting districts. Although the maps were in draft form, the county held numerous public meetings so that nonprofits, stakeholders, and the general public were engaged in the process and could provide comment. The public’s input revised the maps until the final maps were approved by the commissioners.

Lisa Mayo-DeRiso, President of Mayo & Associates who is representing the local business owners behind the F1 petition provided comment to The Globe:

“Transparency is the only thing that develops trust of citizens in their government. Traffic was the biggest issue of the F1 race; from the business killing bridge, to traffic jams that created anxiety and even job loss for citizens of our community. This traffic report should be open to public scrutiny from the onset–from the first report and any edits in between. How can we  find the truth if it is negotiated behind the scenes with lobbyists and pro F1 executives. This traffic report needs to be revealed to the public each step of the way”. 

We have reached out to Chair Segerblom for comment and will update the article with his comments if and when received.