Nevada Republican gubernatorial candidate Joey Gilbert speaks to a formerly homeless man named Patrick Hollis in a wash basin where many homeless people are known to take shelter under Dean Martin Rd during a bus tour throughout Las Vegas Monday, May 16, 2022. WADE VANDERVORT
Wednesday, May 18, 2022 | 2 a.m.
Joey Gilbert steps down a flight of narrow gravel and wire stairs and walks toward a drainage tunnel on Dean Martin Drive that extends about 1½ miles under Interstate 15 toward the Linq resort on the Strip.
About 20 people live under that part of the tunnel, said Patrick Hollis, who said he had called the dwelling home for about 10 years. But “a lot of these people don’t want to be here,” Hollis stressed.
One of 15 candidates on the crowded June 14 primary ballot seeking to become the Republican nominee for governor, Gilbert visited the tunnel Monday as part of a tour with supporters, also stopping at Eldorado High School, Glow Ultra Lounge, the Fontainebleau resort project and Wild Wild West Truck Plaza. (The Sun was on the tour.)
During those stops, he talked about how Nevada needed to improve education, fix water issues, curb the spike in violent crime, increase oversight on megaconstruction projects, fight sex-trafficking and help the homeless.
Hollis talked with Gilbert about the cycle of homelessness, which includes being arrested for trespassing for living in the tunnel, he said. But, once released, Hollis said, there’s nowhere else to go but return to the tunnel.
“It keeps going in circles,” Hollis said, stressing the need for homeless shelters.
Those who live in the tunnel have few possessions, one of the tunnel dwellers told Gilbert. Those possessions are valuable, and often at risk of being thrown out by law enforcement.
“I don’t want to take anybody’s very limited valuables and necessities and throw them out and then have them plead guilty to another misdemeanor and then release them with nothing,” Gilbert said. “That’s not going to help. Now do we take that property and put it somewhere? Do we leave it there for them? I don’t know.”
Gilbert said he planned on using “tough love” to help the homeless. He mentioned how an increase in job training, transitional housing and access to mental health resources could help. He also said he would do an audit of the government services to see where the programs are lacking.
“Being able to rot under the Strip is not going to be an option,” Gilbert said. “It’s just not safe for our community. It’s not safe for them. It’s not safe for children. It’s not safe for tourism.”
The Homeless Shelters Directory (www.homelssshelterdirectory.org) says there are 15 shelters, offering services from emergency to transitional to long-term housing for the homeless, in Clark County. The estimated homeless population in Clark County in 2019 was 5,530 people.
Gilbert said he would not use the “easy” solution of giving more money to the homeless but would make “tough decisions.”
“Just giving them a few bucks and let them go, you know, get their next hit of crack or fentanyl or alcohol and crawl back under the tarp,” Gilbert said, “That’s not being compassionate. That’s not what a leader does. We’ve got to solve the problem.”
At the same time people have to want to change. About 80 to 90% choose to be homeless, Gilbert said.
The Homeless Hub, a Canadian observatory on homelessness, has said that’s a myth and that “no one truly chooses to be homeless.” A New York University 2019 publication also said there was no evidence to support the notion that people experiencing homelessness prefer the freedom of life on the street and are resistant to accepting services.
“We care about these people enough to do what’s right for them,” Gilbert said. “So that’s our job as leaders, is to step in and help the vulnerable.”
The campaign of Joe Lombardo, the Clark County sheriff who also is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, did not comment on Gilbert’s remarks.
Gilbert’s message continued at the Wild Wild West Truck Plaza, where he encountered sex workers and asked them how the state could better help get them off the streets. The workers mentioned wanting an increase in resources and making it easier to get a sheriff’s card, which is required to work at nongaming establishments like bars and strip clubs.
Work cards may not be issued to people with felony convictions, according to Metro Police’s website. Gilbert, a criminal defense attorney, said it also could be difficult for some people with misdemeanors to obtain a work card.
At the hookah bar, where a man with a long criminal record was charged in the shooting in February, Gilbert said he would work to ensure stricter judges were elected. As governor, Gilbert said he would sit down with judges and talk to them about being more strict, inform the public about who they are electing to the judiciary, and if necessary, he would ask the judges to resign if they have a record of “being weak on crime.”
Gilbert, a former boxer who now is an attorney in Reno, told his supporters he did not pretend to have all of the solutions to problems plaguing the state.
“We have enough money to provide services, but it comes down to a willingness and interest to get clean to get help,” Gilbert said.
