Years of contention Sidewalks along the Strip have been a battleground for Southern Nevada labor unions and anti-union property owners for years. They also have been a popular locale for smut peddlers. Despite a 1993 District Court ruling that allowed protesters to demonstrate on sidewalks owned by the MGM Grand, state and county officials are still unclear on the laws regarding private sidewalks. With each new Strip resort, Las Vegas Boulevard and adjacent streets must be widened to accommodate traffic generated by the attraction. When lanes are added, sidewalks are pushed onto private property.
Property owners benefit because they gain some control over activities on the sidewalks.
Metro police, for example, say hotel-casinos with private sidewalks are more successful in keeping handbill peddlers off their property. The megaresorts also can entwine the walkways into the hotel-casino's theme, such as the wooden planks leading to Treasure Island. MGM led the way The MGM Grand was the first casino to take advantage of privatized sidewalks in the early 1990s, when Tropicana Avenue was widened. MGM was named, along with Clark County, in a lawsuit filed by Culinary Union members after protesters were arrested in 1993 for picketing on the hotel-casino's sidewalks. The county has taken steps to avoid similar lawsuits by wording development agreements with hotel-casinos more carefully.