Why Hasn't the City Annexed the Las Vegas Strip?

Last weekend, we stayed and played at the Sahara. When we mentioned to a dealer that we were going to walk to the STRAT, he said something like, "Really? All the way to the city of Las Vegas?" He was just joshing us, of course, but then he told us something we didn't know, that the city itself ends at Sahara Avenue, where the county begins. We were very surprised to hear this. Has the city made any moves to change the boundaries to include all the casinos that it doesn't collect taxes from?

Well, considering that the boundaries of the city of Las Vegas range from the original 40-block townsite downtown all the way west to the 215 Beltway and as far north as the fringes of Mount Charleston, it’s not lacking in casinos for its tax base. However, it's no secret that the higher tax cost of doing business within the city limits is, and has always been, a powerful incentive to keep one’s developments in unincorporated Clark County.

As far back as 1940, when west coast hotelier Thomas Hull was planning Las Vegas' first resort-casino, the El Rancho Vegas, he was advised to build just south of San Francisco (now Sahara) Avenue -- in the county, not the city -- in order to escape the more rigorous controls of the downtown bureaucracy.

To be sure, as several more hotel-casinos were built and opened on the incipient Strip, the city looked into annexing the stretch of Highway 91 all the way down to the Flamingo, but naturally, the Strip bosses didn't want any part of it. That was what inspired the legislation that permitted the creation of the Paradise and Winchester townships in the county (the jurisdictional divisions here are a huge can of worms, as elucidated in this Question of the Day). As a result, an unincorporated township can be annexed only with voter approval and the last time they even suggested it, the ebullition was fierce.

Even relatively simple attempts to exercise eminent domain within the city have resulted in bitter and protracted litigation. To attempt a land grab of Las Vegas Strip dimensions would require an audacity that even both aggressive Mayor Goodmans never showed or even hinted at.

No, the city is the city, everything else is the county (or North Las Vegas and Henderson), and that status quo is unlikely to change, short of some major catastrophe or a very long-term conspiracy.

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Comments

John Foisy Jul-14-2024

Ebullition

Thanks for the "word of the day"! My vocabulary keeps increasin. Also thanks for the well-written QOD.

John Foisy Jul-14-2024

Ebullition

Increasing. Duh. Vocabulary is better than keyboard skills.

Kevin Lewis Jul-14-2024

It would be a great name for an energy drink

Oh, wow, I just found out that "Ebullition" is the name of a brewery in Vista, CA. Somebody beat me to the idea.

When I read this, I had never heard of the word, but suspected that it was derived from "ebullience."

And John, "increasin'" is a word, if you put an apostrophe after it. "That thar wind velocity on the prairie is increasin'."

And yes, the QoD answers are always well written and erudite.

Robert Jul-14-2024

Vocabulary

I, for one, LOVE when the QoD features a word that I haven't heard of before. Never stop learning is what I say.

Teeye Jul-14-2024

Huh?

WTF is the questioner talking about, "where the city ends and the county begins "?

Question of the Day - 14 July 2024

Comments