On Thursday, residents in Las Vegas’ Westside neighborhood will finally get back what they once lost six years ago: the ability to drive down F Street without running into a wall.
In 2008, when construction equipment and machinery began to appear around the neighborhood, not much was thought about it, until a solid concrete wall appeared under the Interstate 15 underpass, preventing access to downtown from F Street.
Westside residents began to wonder if the decision was a race-based one, as the neighborhood is predominantly black and Hispanic. The City of Las Vegas and the Nevada Department of Transportation maintained that the wall was part of an overall remodel and widening of Interstate 15.
But that answer wasn’t good enough for the people in the Westside, and the F Street Coalition was formed to hold meetings and plead with government officials. They also began to hold protests and march along the streets of Las Vegas.
A divided City Council approved a $13.6 million plan to take down the wall in 2012, despite opposition that still wasn’t convinced the takedown was necessary; after all, F Street is not, and never has been, a major thoroughfare.
Activists argue that it’s not the first time the city has spent millions on historic preservation in neighborhoods – the curvy road down Alta, or downtown’s new image, for example.
Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Anita Womack was already on to the unique history of black neighborhoods in Las Vegas – she started work on a documentary in the late 90s surrounding the plight of black entertainers during the Civil Rights era. Not allowed to stay on the Strip where they performed, many were forced to knock on doors in neighborhoods that would welcome them – neighborhoods such as the Westside.
In 2008, when F Street Coalition organizer Trish Geran called Womack in her New York home to tell her about the latest struggle the neighborhood was undergoing, it provided the perfect narrative for “ Betting on Black.”
Shooting the final scenes of the documentary on Thursday to witness the ribbon cutting and surrounding emotion in the neighborhood, Womack will follow Geran and attorney Matthey Callister as they look at what was accomplished, and what work there still is to be done for civil rights in Las Vegas.
GUEST
Anita Womack, director, “Betting on Black”
Trish Geran, organizer, F Street Coalition
Matthew Callister, attorney
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