Question of the Day - 23 January 2024

Needless to say, the new Clark County ordinance has been controversial, as it can be interpreted so broadly as to cause someone to be arrested or fined simply for pausing for a moment to admire the view, snap a selfie, have someone to take a photo of you, stop to chat with a friend, take a moment if you're overcome by the heat, ask for directions, or even just bend over to tie your shoe. 

Perhaps not coincidentally, the law was passed during the week of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, when F1, in conjunction with the county, attempted to crack down on lookie-loos who might be copping free views of the race from the Las Vegas Strip’s pedestrian overpasses.

As for enforcement, for that we go straight to the enforcers. A spokesman for Las Vegas Metro stated, “The new ordinance is another tool available to officers to ensure the safety of visitors and residents.” Metro continues that it’s an "educational tool" that officers can cite when approaching offenders who are, in one way or another, obstructing passage on a bridge. (Educational tool? Hm. Sort of like the rattan canes, wooden paddles and yardsticks, and leather straps that teachers once used to emphasize a point with their pupils?)

Metro claims they intend to apply the new law sparingly. “On the rare occasion someone objects to the officer’s warning, the officer can now take action and either issue a citation or make an arrest.” In other words, unilateral action will not be taken if you stop to snap photos, for example, of the Cosmo's marquee from the bridge to Miracle Mile Shops. 

Continues the official statement, “Patrolling the pedestrian bridges and surrounding area will continue to be a regular activity for officers assigned to the Strip. Officers will continue to respond to calls for service and issues our cameras notice on the bridges.”

The law applies to the “resort corridor” as defined by the Clark County Commission, a broad swath extending from Sahara Avenue to Russell Road and from Decatur Boulevard to Maryland Parkway. The ordinance “prohibits any person from stopping, standing, or engaging in activity that causes another person to stop or stand within a Pedestrian Flow Zone to ensure the continuous movement of pedestrian traffic on pedestrian bridges and surrounding touchdown structures.” (The law specifies up to 20 feet from where the overpasses connect to Strip sidewalks.)

The text of the ordinance states that it “is narrowly tailored to accomplish this goal by requiring every person utilizing the pedestrian bridge to keep moving across the bridge to ensure pedestrians get to their desired location in the safest matter possible.”

To some ears, "narrowly tailored" doesn't quite equate with requiring every person to keep moving.

Whose ears? These include not only those of the Nevada Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, but those of the Las Vegas branch of the NAACP, the Clark County Black Caucus, the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, Nevada Now, and four other interested parties. While the ACLU wouldn’t address whether panhandling, street performances, and unlicensed vendors (the presumed targets of the new law) constituted protected speech, it did share a letter that it and eight co-signatories sent to the county.

“In the aftermath of a viral video showing security harassing pedestrians on a pedestrian bridge who stopped for a mere moment during the Formula 1 race, it is somewhat appalling the county would bring forth a proposal to target members of our community for criminal prosecution,” ran part of the text. 

It complained that the ordinance, which could also be construed to prevent picketing, was “a dangerous intrusion on civil liberties. This proposal is so overbroad that it will apply to anyone who stops for any reason, resulting in individuals who merely stop on a publicly funded pedestrian bridge ending up with a criminal record.”

Calling the ordinance, in essence, a law in search of an offense, the ACLU letter noted the irony of Metro, Clark County, and others complaining of “rising crime” even as they add new crimes to the book. 

In addition, officers’ discretion may lead to "selective prosecution," which could make it impossible for citizens to know when they are or are not in compliance with the law. 

Tomorrow: We give the devil its due.