As Las Vegas Grand Prix preps for this year, some businesses still smarting from last year

As Las Vegas Grand Prix officials outlined a more condensed installation process and reduced traffic disruptions leading up to the return of Formula 1 in November, business owners warned County Commissioners not to fast track approval for their plans. 

Lisa Mayo De Riso, a public relations consultant speaking on behalf of several businesses, told Clark County Commissioners Tuesday that businesses were still reeling from millions of dollars in lost revenue from the inaugural event.

Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix lasted a weekend in November last year. Months of construction and traffic disruptions leading up to the event that took a toll on local establishments in the area.  

The installation process for the next Formula 1 event is expected to begin Sept. 2, said Terry Miller, project manager for Las Vegas Grand Prix. 

Miller said the process is expected to be “more fluid” than last year when they had to do significant amounts of repaving and tearing up streets. This year work will be concentrated during night to reduce disruptions to traffic, he added.  

Las Vegas Grand Prix is also developing a website in order to help people navigate the construction process as well as be more aware of the events leading up to the race. 

“There were impacts” last year “and we were surely never suggesting otherwise,” said Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson. 

The county is working to make sure those are addressed leading up to the event, Gibson said. 

“It’s my sense we will have a much smoother process leading up to, and then the process of living through, the week that we call race week,” he said. “It’s not lost on us that there are really important businesses in the community that were adversely affected by the race, the events and the paving. I think the paving was singularly the largest impact on us. We don’t have that this year.”

Business owners from the area, including Battista’s Hole in the Wall and Ferrarro’s Ristorante, weren’t convinced.

Tonya Markin, owner of Battista’s Hole in the Wall and the Stage Door Casino, said businesses and locals alike still have “F1 PTSD” and are already feeling anxious as construction is set to begin again. 

“We will see another big drop in our revenue,” she said.  

Many questioned commissioners about a proposed traffic study that was promised but they haven’t seen. 

A traffic plan was submitted in May and is currently under review, said Clark County Manager Kevin Schiller. 

“Once that review is complete it will become publicly noticed,” he said. “It is in review, just like it would be with any of our other events.”

Schiller didn’t specify when the review would be completed. 

Part of the traffic disruptions last year included a massive, four-lane bridge on Flamingo from Koval to the Las Vegas Strip. Mayo De Riso referred to it as the “bridge of bankruptcy and lost revenue.”

Miller said he talked with business owners in June about their concerns, including the Flamingo bridge. As a result, he said it will be reduced down to two lanes. 

“We have moved that bridge, working with public works and other agencies, and it will be entirely on the south side which opens up the entire westbound side of Flamingo,” he said.

Mayo De Riso said while businesses met with Las Vegas Grand Prix officials about the bridge, they weren’t directly asked for their input. 

“We were told the bridge is going in, it’s two lanes, it will be less intrusive,” she said. “It was not a back and forth conversation. It was, ‘this is what is happening and this is what we’re doing.’”

Businesses also pushed back on a proposal from the county to create a Sports and Special Event Department to facilitate events like Formula 1. The proposal will be heard later this month.

Even if approved, the new department would not be created ahead of the November Formula 1 race, said Clark County Chair Tick Segerblom. 

Kirkpatrick said communities across the country have similar departments, even “those who have a lot less events than we do.”

Mayo De Riso said county officials are ignoring the concerns of locals and establishments at the behest of Formula 1.

“It makes it look like F1 has the juice to boss us all around,” Mayo De Riso said. “Come to our city and take control of our city.”