Beautification bill bitter pill for motels

Since Debbie Shoofey took over her father's businesses along the Las Vegas Strip in January, she has experienced what it's like to run small motels in the shadows of mega-resorts.

The last time the 44 rooms in her Casa Malaga Motel and the 88-room Happy Inn Motel were full was in April. Since then, her vacancy signs have steadily glowed.

Shoofey is one of several motel owners along the south end of the Strip who is angry about a proposed ordinance that could force them to spend thousands of dollars to spruce up the Las Vegas Boulevard median.

But what torks them the most is that they may have to pay the same fees as the new 3,700-room Mandalay Bay and its Circus Circus Enterprises owner.

"We're all for beautification," Shoofey said. "But we can't afford it."

At the request of Circus Circus, the Clark County Commission put off creating a special improvement district until Sept. 15.

Mandalay Bay has agreed to pay half of the $4.5 million it would cost to plant palm trees and install decorative lights along a half-mile stretch of median between Hacienda Avenue and Russell Road.

But the burden to put up the other half may be too great for smaller businesses across the street from new hotel-casino.

Many of the smaller motel owners -- most of whom charge about $29 a night -- said if a special improvement district is formed, they won't be able to afford the fees. They fear if they become delinquent, the county will take their businesses.

Allen Rosoff, who has owned the Glass Pool Inn, would be in for about $195,000 if the ordinance if approved.

"It's ludicrous," Rosoff said. "The county isn't paying a dime. They just vote for it, and we have to pay for it. The KGB was bad, the Gestapo was bad, now we have the county commissioners."

Larry Semenza, who represented Mandalay Bay at Wednesday's meeting, said the company needed more time for its landscape architects to evaluate the cost to landscape the median.

If Mandalay Bay finds it can do the work for a lesser cost than estimated by the county, it may fund the entire project.

"We are sensitive to the property owners across from Mandalay Bay," he said.

Semenza also expressed concerns about the other special improvement districts along the Strip. He said although his firm pays fees for the northern portion of the Strip, it has seen nothing but concrete medians in front of the Circus Circus and Excaliber hotel-casinos.

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