Short trip report and some general observations about the current status of Vegas

Last Thursday I drove up to Vegas in order to attend a travel seminar at the D on Saturday and Sunday. I had a friend who got delayed over three hours flying in from San Francisco, because there was a severe thunder storm. While it wasn't raining, I drove past the plot of land where they are proposing to build the new football stadium. If they take a small hotel/shopping center out, they will have almost twice the land. Right now there is plenty of room for the stadium, but they will not have enough room for parking if it is on ground level only. They will be near the approach path or take-off path near the airport. They should also take out a couple of seedy hotels on Koval, where I could swear I saw a drug dealer. I drove into the MGM Grand parking structure to see if I could take some pictures of the land. Most of the levels were coned off. They were not charging for parking, but most of the parking ticket machines were already installed and ready to go.


Hotel: I stayed at the Encore. Friend had a free room, and I got a room that was 35% off. My room had a much better view than his. We had to clear out at 6:45 each morning to go to the seminar, so I didn't get to enjoy the room and hotel nearly as much as I would like to. The room was beautiful and the hotel was spectacular. It would have been a $600+ hotel in most other cities.

Seminar Hotel: The D. The "D" may just stand for "dump". The hotel dropped the ball on many items for the seminar. There were over two hundred people and the bathrooms on the 12th floor were too small to handle the size of the group. One elevator was out of service so it took a long time to go back down to use the bathroom on the second floor (none on the first floor). I don't think the people who held the event will go back to the D if it is held in Las Vegas again.

Meals: Went to the Oyster Bar at South Point for lunch. I believe they had lunch items at half price for Sunday through Thursday. I had a dozen oysters and a small cup of NE clam chowder. Great meal and not too pricey.

Because my friends flight was delayed so long, he got in just before 10pm. I picked him up at the airport. BLT Steakhouse was closed. We drove by Ellis Island and they close the barbecue place at 10pm on Thursdays. Ended up at a favorite of mine, The Grand Lux, at the Venetian.

We ate breakfast on Friday and Saturday at the Omelette House and Hash House a GoGo at the Linq. The Omelette House is in a strip mall on Charleston. It had rained on Friday night and on Saturday morning, the Linq parking lot was a flowing river, where they had to shut it down. I parked at Harrahs. It was cold and raining all day Saturday.

We ate at Pizza Rock in downtown on Friday night. Loved it. Any beer that was on the menu and printed in red, was only $3, because they were going to be discontinuing that brand. Saw a Styx cover band performing as we walked back to the valet at the D.

Saturday night ate at Charlie Palmer's Steak House in the Four Seasons Hotel. Wonderful meal.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ABOUT LAS VEGAS AND OTHER THINGS.

Many of the people on the strip and near the strip are somewhat sketchy. While I was waiting at a long light, a homeless guy walks halfway across the cross walk and then stops to change clothes. He could care less that the light was about to change. People had to drive around him.

I stopped at an Albertson's on Flamingo to buy a bottle of vodka. They now have to have a security guard in the parking lot. There were several panhandlers. While I was walking to the store, there was a twenty something with tatoos all over his neck asking me for money. He reminded me of the thugs that pulled the knife on the couple in the elevator at Mandalay Bay. I told him I had no cash and was going to use a credit card for my purchase, when in fact I had over $500 on me. I was somewhat nervous going back out to my car, but I didn't see him. I got the hell out of there.

Much of the housing on streets like Koval and Paradise had bars on the windows. The neighborhood did not look safe at night.

I usually valet my car. At the Encore, there were a lot of millennials. It may have been due to a new nightclub opening. I observed three different times that when they got their cars, they didn't give the valet a dime. Before they go arguing that they don't have the money, then they need to explain why they are staying at the Encore and why they aren't self parking.

The homeless are becoming a huge problem on the strip, and something is going to need to be done to move them off of it. If something isn't done, then Las Vegas is going to have neighborhoods like Atlantic City, where it isn't safe to venture very far from the hotels.

Thanks for the update. I have a friend who is going to Vegas next week, alone. I know Vegas well, but I am not sure if I could journey there alone right now, it must be scary to be a single woman walking to her car in some of those lots.

I agree, they need to move the homeless and beggars off the strip if they want to keep it a tourist destination. I am heading to Atlantic City next week, and will post the condition of the panhandlers/beggars on the boardwalk. Should be interesting.

It is illegal for them to impede your walking.

They can ask for a hand out,it's a free country.
Just ignore them.
IF some jerk gets in your way,pepper spray will cause a major disturbance.
Earphones stuck into your ears works prety well.
"I can't hear you",I say to myself.

I've felt that way for the past 25 years about certain parts of Vegas. Downtown seemed real seedy when I first started going to Vegas, then they cleaned it up with the FSE, now it's getting seedy again with the folks begging for money and the street preachers telling everyone they are going to hell.

Last year some crap on the sidewalk between the downtown grand and the FSE, looked human.

I've just accepted the best way to avoid that kind of stuff and the riff raft is to go by car everywhere. Used to like going to downtown a few times a trip, now it's once. Used to go to the strip property's more, now it's usually just once to play a poker tournement at the Strat or TI, but am thinking more about just playing at the Orleans where I stay even though the buy-in is more.

Toomany, lots Liberals on this site have assured me that the downtown riff raff does not negatively impact anyone's decision to visit Fremont Street. They also assure me that there is no statistics to prove my point, so they must be right.

You are obviously incorrect when you tell us that the weirdos cause you not to visit parts of Vegas.

As opposed to any other city or town. I went to the festival in my "Mayberry" town and was afraid to walk a block. I did think I was going to get stabbed by a group of kids on a church front step. Heroin has taken over everywhere. Vegas may have weirdos but then you have been very sheltered in the rest of the country. I am aware of my surrounding at all times and make good "college rules" choices as I explain to other young women. Look behind and beside you at all times, walk With another group to your car if alone,etc. but here we are on camera and have more security and police than anywhere in America. I often, unnecessarily, have a security guard walk me to my car if I find that I stayed out too long alone. No charge and no problem. Where else can you get an escort to your car. As for homeless, again I don't think you are looking much in your everyday life. The entire country is not looking pretty or stable. It does not reflect Vegas alone or differently. Now do the time shares and porn slappers annoy the hell out of me. Yes! But again you get accosted by people demanding to put lotion on you in the regular mall. It is the world we live in, not Vegas and while I am not voting for trump. I agree with him that the pc'ness and stupidity of our country is at an all time high. I mean we can't tell people to not wear their pants with their ass hanging out. We can't tell people they are actually the gender they are. It is not a debate. You have a penis. God made you a boy. Take t up with him not me. But we just discussed on another thread the Erin Andrews peeping tom. I would prefer to not have a free for all in the bathroom, the only place without cameras. Yes, people are going to do bad things but laws at least keep us aware and alert to watch for them. And a man in the bathroom is going to let me know he is probably up to no good. Maybe I should start calling my arms legs because it is my right too and sue the world for discrimination and my freedoms. From now on you must agree with me or go to jail and get sued financially. So to me, all this has left one unstable general public. Stop the nonsense of making it "discrimination" if you have common sense and I bet we'd have a healthier society.

For that matter why is murder bad. Because the general public agrees that it is. No more or no less. Murderers agree that it is their freedom and right to murder. And to be honest, where did that notion come from. Religion. Just saying.

I remember that "discussion". I think the arguement was taht it no affect. Obviously wrong.

The homeless will go wherever they think they can get money - which means the Strip and Fremont St.
There's not a whole lot you can do about it. You can pass an ordinance to prevent sleeping on the street...but you cant do much about people just hanging around.
There is a huge gauntlet of them that live on Main Street just before you get to Jerry's Nugget. Its a pretty amazing site - at least for me. We don't have anything like that in Indianapolis. Vegas seems to create a bunch homeless for some reason.

Most are addicts, ex-cons, mentally disabled ....or some combination of the three. Most are not employable for any kind of traditional type job. I don't know what the solution is to alleviating the homeless problem is but I'm sure its a lot more complicated than banning them from Fremont St.

@ Boilerman.
Can we have 1 thread where you don't turn it into a political discussion????
Please try to stay on topic. We get it, you hate the left, duly noted!

I never said I stopped going to Vegas, just certain going to certain parts of it a lot less. Comprehension is fundamental.

I always stay off strip anyhow as that I get better deals and the gambling is better IMHO.