Senator criticizes Las Vegas pickleball complex in ‘wasteful’ government spending report
A northwest Las Vegas pickleball complex in development was singled out this week by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, who listed the project in a yearly report in which he chastises what he considers wasteful spending.
The city is developing the 30-court complex at Wayne Bunker Park through a $12 million grant from the Bureau of Land Management, which also is providing a few acres of federal land for the park’s expansion.
“There’s irony in a city synonymous with high-stakes gambling investing $12 million American tax dollars in pickleball — a sport often associated with retirees looking for a low-stakes, leisurely pastime,” Paul, R-Ken., wrote in his 2024 “Festivus Report” released this month. “In short, you’ve been pickled!”
It’s the tenth year Rand has produced the report, which takes its theme from Festivus, a Dec. 23 secular holiday popularized by the TV show “Seinfeld” that includes an “airing of grievances.” Paul modifies the idea to share his “airing of (spending) grievance.”
Construction of the courts in Ward 4 is slated to begin next year, according to the city.
“The BLM sets these grant funds aside for outdoor recreational projects to benefit communities,” a city spokesperson wrote to the Las Vegas Review-Journal Tuesday. “The pickleball complex at Wayne Bunker Park is an outdoor recreational facility and meets the requirements.”
In 2023, the City Council voted to accept the BLM grant with pushback from several residents who’d raised issues related to the noise created by the growing and popular racket sport.
“We do need more pickleball. We just don’t need it 50 feet from my house, to where I’m going to be exposed to this 24/7,” said resident Steven Priedel at the time.
The city said that the grant was awarded through a competitive process that pitted Las Vegas with other Nevada jurisdictions, adding that the funds were raised though the sale of public lands that go toward public projects.
“The 2024 Festivus Waste Report shines a spotlight on a grant that’s bouncing its way into the hearts of pickleball enthusiasts everywhere: the grand vision of a 30-court regional pickleball complex in Las Vegas, Nevada,” Paul wrote. “Apparently, Las Vegas has more pickleball players than Elvis impersonators, and these racket-wielding enthusiasts are running out of places to play.”
Local governments are racing to keep up with building courts to keep up with public demand.
Other projects criticized
The pickleball complex was one of more than 30 items listed in Paul’s report.
Also highlighted were: $8 million of pandemic-related dollars allegedly stolen by a man who bought an island, more than $15 million in funding for the Internal Revenue Service and more than $15 billion “to push Americans toward electric vehicles they don’t want.”
Paul placed blame on rising national debt on “everyone.”
He added: “This year, members of both political parties in Congress voted for massive spending bills, filled with subsidies from underperforming industries, continued military aid to Ukraine, and controversial climate initiatives.”
Paul said that the debt had surpassed $36 trillion.
“No matter how much money the government has wasted, politicians keep demanding even more,” Paul wrote.
He complimented billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s Department of Government Efficiency, an unofficial government-aligned agency established for the upcoming President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
“I’ve been fighting government waste like DOGE before DOGE was cool,” Paul wrote. “And I will continue my fight against government waste this holiday season.”
Paul noted that Las Vegas officials and enthusiasts are aiming to bring pickleball tournaments to the city.
“Move over ‘World Series of Poker,’ there’s a new game in town,” Paul wrote.
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.
