{"id":28075,"date":"2020-10-01T07:11:09","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T15:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=28075"},"modified":"2020-10-05T10:55:10","modified_gmt":"2020-10-05T18:55:10","slug":"massacre-anniversary-brings-accord-stevens-wants-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/massacre-anniversary-brings-accord-stevens-wants-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Massacre anniversary brings accord; Stevens wants you"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Let the healing begin. An $800 million settlement between MGM Resorts International<\/strong> and victims of the Mandalay Bay Massacre<\/strong> has been blessed by a Clark County<\/strong> judge. Said co-plaintiff Stephanie Fraser<\/strong>, \u201cBy the grace of God, myself and my family are going to be OK.\u201d In the unlikely event anyone has forgotten, on this day in 2017, domestic terrorist Stephen Paddock<\/strong> sprayed death upon attendees at a Jason Alden<\/strong> concert, using augmented assault rifles\u2014weapons that nobody outside the military and law enforcement should be allowed to carry. (And yes, we’ve fired them in gun ranges ourselves.) Amazingly, clueless casino personnel helped Paddock roll his arsenal into his Mandalay Bay<\/strong> suite and, during the mel\u00e9e, Las Vegas Metro<\/strong> froze in the hallway, afraid to move in until Paddock’s fusillade had ceased. But we digress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The settlement covers 4,400 victims and their relatives. 58 people died and hundreds more were wounded (the list covers “more than 170 pages of a 225-page civil complaint”) as Paddock rained bullets on MGM’s festival grounds, now a parking lot. By the terms of the settlement, MGM admits no culpability and gets off relatively light ($49 million paid) with its insurance companies picking up the remaining $751 million. We’d hate to be paying MGM’s insurance premiums, though. We presume that MGM has also backed off suing some of the shooting victims, one of then-CEO Jim Murren<\/strong>‘s worst decisions, a PR nightmare. The company stated that \u201cWe are grateful that the decision brings families, victims and the community closer to closure.\u201d And we<\/em> will be grateful if this three-year nightmare has been a wake-up call for casino security and police alike. If you live in or near Las Vegas<\/strong>, you can attend one of several memorial services<\/a> being held at 10 p.m. tonight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorney Robert Eglet<\/strong>, who’s been fighting for the victims since Day One said, \u201cThere\u2019ve been no objections and we expect no appeals.\u201d\u00a0Two retired judges will decide how the settlement funds are to be disbursed. (The money won’t go into escrow at the end of the month.) Putting the best face on the settlement, Eglet concluded that he \u201crecognized there are no winners in long, drawn-out litigation with multiple trials where people and the community are reliving the event every time we try a case.\u201d Indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let the deep cleaning begin at The Cromwell<\/strong>. We are reliably informed that Love Island<\/em> has wrapped for the season, setting the stage for what one reader calls “much-needed disinfection.” As Vital Vegas<\/em> scribe Scott Roeben<\/strong> says, it’s the TV show so skanky even Las Vegans make fun of it. But no amount of cleaner (brain bleach or otherwise) can efface the damage to the formerly high-end, boutique brand that was The Cromwell<\/strong>. A hotel-casino that was known for stylish rooms and a Giada di Laurentiis<\/strong> restaurant is now synonymous with himbos and partner-swapping. Caesars Entertainmen<\/strong>t may have thought it was hyping the value of the former Barbary Coast<\/strong> with an eye to a future sale … but did it? In the words of President Gerald Ford<\/strong>, “Our long national nightmare is over” … until next season, that is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Derek Stevens<\/strong> could use a few good men\u2014and women. As in 1,500 of them. Now, with the Nevada<\/strong> economy (and the casino industry) being in a pickle, you’d think good help wouldn’t be that hard to find. Not so, sayeth Stevens. \u201cFrom our perspective, that was a big concern. How many people left Las Vegas? That\u2019s where my concern came in. I\u2019m aware of a lot of people who have left,\u201d he told the Las Vegas Sun<\/em>, adding that he’s at least 400 bodies short<\/a> with an Oct. 28 opening date looming. One of the lucky ones was new Stadium Swim<\/strong> Senior Operations Manager Jay Huckeba<\/strong>, late of KAOS<\/strong>. \u201cI got zero call-backs. It\u2019s hard looking for jobs right now,\u201d he said, adding that his luck turned when Circa<\/strong> started hiring. Although Downtown<\/strong> remains in a funk, Stevens’ characteristic optimism is undamaged. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen that more and more people are coming to Las Vegas,\u201d he told a reporter. \u201cThe fact that we can bring some good news and some excitement, that has me the most excited right now. We\u2019re getting to the point where the excitement level as well as the stress level are both starting to kick into high gear. We\u2019ve been prepared, but there are always last-minute things that are a little bit in flux.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, ‘flux’ has been the operative word for almost every casino opening we’ve covered. The nailed-down debuts of Paris-Las Vegas<\/strong> and Encore<\/strong> are the very rare exception, not the rule. Casino workers who didn’t make the cut at Circa (and Stevens makes it seem there are quite few) will have to hang on until next spring, when Resorts World Las Vegas<\/strong> hopefully starts hiring. Huckeba is undaunted, telling the Sun<\/em>, \u201cDuring the recession back in 2008, lots of people thought that was going to be the end of Las Vegas, but it came back stronger\u2014building hotels and stadiums and arenas.\u201d Throw in Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>‘s big-ass MSG Sphere<\/strong> and Huckeba may well be right. Meanwhile, news outlets are making heavy weather of Stevens’ adults-only policy at Circa. Makes sense to us (especially with hotel rooms at a premium). Trying to separate 19 year olds from 21-plus customers on the slot floor is akin to picking ant shit out of pepper. Card everybody at the door and you’ll save yourself from having to answer to the Nevada Gaming Control Board<\/strong> for underage play. We think Stevens is onto something.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let the healing begin. An $800 million settlement between MGM Resorts International and victims of the Mandalay Bay Massacre has been blessed by a Clark County judge. Said co-plaintiff Stephanie Fraser, \u201cBy the grace of God, myself and my family … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[244,133,155,51,14,286,189,228,245,25,279,231,12,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28075"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28075"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28077,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28075\/revisions\/28077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}