The growing pains of the Arts District continue.
Months after fending off a potential noise ordinance, the burgeoning downtown neighborhood is now contending with rising parking costs. They include price hikes on existing meters, new meters awaiting activation and once free, private lots now charging fees. It seems that whatever free parking remained is now all but gone.
Business owners, their employees, and arts district patrons are furious, if social media and the public comments at City Hall are any indication.
Councilwoman Olivia Diaz, whose jurisdiction includes the Arts District, said during the January 7 City Council meeting that she would be open to meeting with the community to explore other avenues that could relieve some of its financial burden, including offering more discounted monthly permits to area employees and residents. But during that same meeting, following a marathon of complaints from her constituents during public comment, she firmly maintained the need to generate revenue that addresses rising costs in the burgeoning neighborhood:
"We must also have an honest conversation about sustainability," Diaz said. "The Arts District has transformed into one of our city's premier destinations through collective investment, and with that success comes a reality that we cannot ignore — growth must pay for growth. As the Arts District has expanded, demands on infrastructure have skyrocketed. We have seen unprecedented needs for street maintenance, improved lighting, safety patrols, sanitation, et cetera. For years, these costs have been absorbed by the city's general fund, meaning they were subsidized by every taxpayer in the city, regardless of whether they ever visited the district. The model ... will probably no longer be sustainable. Every dollar collected needs to be reinvested back into the area where it's collected from.”
Diaz was unavailable to speak with "State of Nevada."
The City tapped the general fund for nearly $113 million dollars when it settled the Badlands golf course lawsuit in December 2024.
Skaught Gibson, owner and stylist for Josephine Skaught Hairdressing at the Arts Square complex in the north Arts District, recently experienced a double whammy when the lot in front of his business suddenly converted to a paid parking and began charging $4 an hour late last year, and then saw the emergence of brand new meters north of Charleston Boulevard.
His employees, who already rent stations in his salon, will now have to pay even more just to work at the salon.
"There are permits for employees and business owners to get $10 parking [spots], but there's been a wait list for months and months and months and months for those $10 permits," Gibson said. "Right now, the only available options are the private city lots, and those are about $50 to $60 a month."
Troy Heard, owner and artistic director of Majestic Repertory Theatre on Main Street south of Charleston — where metered parking suddenly increased to $2-$4 an hour last fall — managed to acquire six $10 permits before the wait list. But his productions can have as many as 25 cast and crew members.
As for his patrons, meter charges can now cost as much as a couple of cocktails. "You're not just coming to the theater," Heard said. "You're coming to the theater, you're coming down to eat, you're coming down to walk around, you're coming to have a drink after the show. You're there for four to six hours, making an event of coming to the Arts District, and that's going to add up quickly."
Heard also had a response to Councilwoman Diaz's insistence that the growing costs of infrastructure and municipal maintenance of the district require everyone to contribute monetarily.
"Is [the parking meter revenue] coming back to the area?" Heard said. "Is that money coming back to the Arts District, or is that covering other expenses within the city? And also, I know that we've had, up to this point, discussions [about] a business improvement district — privatizing those services, privatizing sanitation, security, et cetera. If so, then that's definitely going to take the onus off the shoulders of the city and back onto the shoulders of the business owners. So where are we along those discussions?"
