Is it true that when designed, the MGM casino specifically omitted sidewalks to keep any future protesters (striking workers) away from its property? Or what is the reason for no sidewalks? And your link to the new poll, on this website, is at the bottom of the answer.
Although the MGM Grand opened as a non-union property (and its opening was picketed), this sidewalk story seems to be an urban legend.
MGM Grand opened in 1993. We were there when it did and we don't recall there being no sidewalks. Not that we noticed there were, but if there weren't, we certainly would have noted that.
Alan Feldman, who was with Mirage Resorts as the director of public relations during that era (and subsequently made the transition to MGM), offers an unequivocal “No,” concerning the supposed lack of sidewalks adjacent to the massive property.
He explained, however, “There's a related truth. Each property along Las Vegas Boulevard negotiates a development agreement with the county before building. As part of each agreement, the county usually extracts land from the developer to expand roads -- hence the various lane expansions, turn-lane additions, etc., on the Strip, as well as the very existence of Frank Sinatra Boulevard.
“When the MGM was built, they negotiated to give the county private land to build a dedicated right turn lane from westbound Tropicana to northbound Las Vegas Boulevard. They negotiated that the land used for the sidewalk would remain private, with a public easement granted for pedestrians. The intent was to prevent demonstrations, but that never worked, because the courts ruled that once the public easement was granted, protected speech had to be allowed.
“This same kind of private land/public easement exists in several spots: The Mirage, Bellagio, New York-New York and others," Feldman continues. For The Mirage and Bellagio, it was intended to give flexibility to the developer to maintain the sidewalks in a decorative manner that was consistent with the properties. Projected speech was always protected (although occasionally, that required a reminder from a certain PR person to security)! I actually developed a really good working relationship with the ACLU in the rare event that anything ever went awry.
“My knowledge of the MGM situation arose from the fact that as soon as the merger took place, the ACLU reached out to discuss the specifics of NY-NY and the MGM. We quickly cleared up any past concerns and, in fact, there were several speech-related events at both properties in the years to follow.”
And here's your link to the poll that starts today: Which LasVegasAdvisor.com pages do you frequent the most?
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Sandra Ritter
Jul-08-2020
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rokgpsman
Jul-08-2020
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