Negatively Affected Vegas Businesses Float Petition to Stop F1 Race

Posted on: May 7, 2024, 10:32h. 

Last updated on: May 8, 2024, 10:04h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Myths.

A new Change.org petition calls on the Clark County Commission to deny a special use permit to F1, which is scheduled to stage its second Las Vegas Grand Prix on the Las Vegas Strip from November 21-23.

Las Vegas small business owners who claim $30M in revenue losses are attempting to stop the goliath F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, which claimed an economic impact of $1.5B last year, using a petition. (Image: Creative Commons)

“Stop the Las Vegas Grand Prix (F1)” was filed on May 3 by Lisa Mayo-DeRiso, a public relations consultant representing at least six business owners claiming severe losses resulting from last year’s race preparations.

So far, the petition has 1,350 signatures, with its next goal set at 1,500. Petitions have no legal weight, though they can wield political power.

“Contrary to the purported economic benefits, hosting of the Las Vegas Grand Prix adversely affects small businesses, Strip employees, and transportation companies, who face large revenue losses, decreased foot traffic, and general business interruptions during the event period,” the petition reads.

Prep work for 2023’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix cost the businesses $30 million in lost revenue, they claim. Construction, which began in early April 2023, locked up Las Vegas Boulevard, denying access to more than a dozen businesses inside the circuit, for six months.

This Shell Station was one of the businesses hurt by the bridge built by F1 over its intersection with Flamingo Road. (Image: Change.org)

A temporary bridge on Flamingo Road near the Strip compounded the damage, said owners of businesses located underneath the structure, which forced their normal customers to bypass them.

The bridge was dismantled until shortly before Super Bowl Sunday, but plans are to rebuild it before every Las Vegas Grand Prix.

“We were not doing even 10 percent of what we were doing,” Magdy Amer, who said the losses forced her to close her restaurant, Tex Mex Tquila, told KLAS-TV/Las Vegas. “We were losing money every day.”

The Demands

While Clark County agreed last year to provide F1 with the use of public right-of-way for three years, it still has a special use permit to issue, which is required to close streets.

The Change.org petition attempts to prevent this approval “until a fair and undisruptive plan can be made to host this event without closing the Las Vegas Strip,”

It also seeks reimbursement for the $30 million.

Mayo-DeRiso said the business owners have contemplated filing a lawsuit against F1, but want to exhaust every administrative avenue first.

A media representative for Clark County declined to comment on the petition to all local television and print agencies on Monday.

F1 officials have promised that the prep work will be less disruptive this year than last. And Clark County Commission chair Tick Segerblom has supported reimbursing those hurt by last year’s construction, though where that money would come from is unclear.