Let’s do Strip regulations right this time

Although it's tempting, we should resist the urge to assume the county's latest efforts to regulate activity on the Strip will fail.

There's an outside chance the new rules might not end up in federal court, enjoined until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals throws them out, the same way it's tossed out most of the other Strip ordinances during the past 15 years.

A working group charged with examining problems on the Strip -- ranging from street performers to handbillers to pedestrian choke points -- was made up entirely of officials from casino companies, the convention authority, the county and Las Vegas police. In other words, folks who have a vested interest in making sure the Strip looks as much like Disneyland as possible.

The Clark County Commission will discuss the panel's report today.

Nobody from a company that employs handbillers or the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada was invited to be part of the working group. That's especially curious, because handbillers and police officials have been meeting at the ACLU's offices to hammer out voluntary rules that have actually led to some improvement in problems along Las Vegas Boulevard.

(The ACLU was invited to one of the group's meetings -- which were closed to the public and the press -- to give a presentation, however.)

"This is America's last company town," said Allen Lichtenstein, the ACLU of Nevada's general counsel. "But the (casinos') bottom line doesn't trump the Constitution."

Lichtenstein says he suspects he wasn't invited to be part of the group because of a key difference in philosophy: He believes work on Strip-related issues must start with an acknowledgment that handbillers, street performers, homeless people, buskers and all others have a First Amendment right to be on the Strip. That's something Metro accepts, Lichtenstein says.

But casinos and tourism-promotion officials have never been at ease with that idea. They cite surveys of visitors who say porn pamphleteers were the most negative part of their Las Vegas experience. And casinos would rather people forget about their problems and gamble, not be distracted by labor or anti-war protesters, street musicians or people with signs warning that God doesn't much care for gambling.

Then again, it doesn't really matter. Federal courts have upheld the idea that Strip sidewalks -- even those built on private land -- are traditional public forums. As a result, regulations must be narrow in scope and written to advance a legitimate interest (say, pedestrian safety).

Some of the working group's proposals -- which have yet to be adopted -- will simply not fly: A ban on "stopping or standing" on pedestrian bridges? You mean if you stop to take a photo, admire the view or get a better look at an erupting volcano or dancing waters you're risking a ticket?

And it's legally questionable whether handbillers can be held responsible for littering if tourists are the ones who toss fliers to the ground.

A recently passed rule that limits pets on the Strip to between the hours of 5 a.m. and noon won't work with people, such as the costumed characters who pose for photos with tourists for tips.

The ironic thing is that there are ways to regulate -- but not eliminate -- the problems that crop up on the Strip. Lichtenstein says he's more than willing to sit down with county lawyers and write an ordinance that will attack the problems while also passing constitutional muster. It's long past time the county took him up on it.

Otherwise, we're back to square one, which is to say federal courtrooms, injunctions and the 9th Circuit, where unconstitutional Strip regulations go to die.

This may be America's last company town, but it's still in America.

Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist and author of the blog SlashPolitics. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at (702) 387-5276 or ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.