Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman gives a virtual State of the City address on Jan. 6, 2022.
Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022 | 8:22 p.m.
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman highlighted the city’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic during her State of the City address on Thursday night.
She touted the success of businesses in the Las Vegas Arts District, attractions such as the Mob Museum in downtown and the ongoing CES gadget show at the Las Vegas Convention Center that is putting “heads in beds” all over the city.
“As we have already begun the process, it will be known as the year the city became a happy place again and began feeling more like itself,” Goodman said in delivering a virtual address. “And slowly, as business began to rebound, we regain the much-needed confidence to keep pushing forward, feeling good about ourselves and in our own skins.”
Goodman also highlighted various public health, education and community development projects that are ongoing in the city, such as the recent opening of Legacy Park in the Historic Westside.
The park is a tribute to the many trailblazers of the westside community — north of U.S. 95, south of Carey Avenue and Lake Mead Boulevard, east of Rancho Drive and west of Interstate 15.
Other city developments, once unimaginable, are also underway, she said. Take The English, a soon-to-open hotel coming to the Arts District in downtown.
“This is proof positive that the vision of what our downtown was intended to be is now happening,” Goodman said of the hotel.
Infrastructure needs
A five-mile stretch of Interstate 15 between the Nevada-California border and Barstow, Calif., will be temporarily expanded with hopes of easing traffic congestion.
The $12 million project funded by California will be completed by the summer of 2022, helping answer the demands of Goodman who had long said it’s bad for business when visitors are stuck on the highway returning to California from Las Vegas.
While the solution will temporarily help ease congestion, Goodman implored that some of the $1 trillion infrastructure package be directed toward a permanent fix.
“Tonight’s address could not be complete without addressing transportation issues and their overriding importance to us all,” she said. “In order for the economy really to rebound quickly and thrive, our eyes must always be focused on the future. But this cannot be in sacrifice of the immediate needs of travelers today.”
