STATE OF THE CITY |
Interview with a Pedicabbie
Used to be you couldn't swing a drunken tourist without hitting a pedicab driver, huffing up Las Vegas Boulevard, calves bulging, sweat trickling, horns around him blaring. But the rickshaws are annoying to drivers and pedestrians alike, causing traffic hazards and, oh, maybe taking some business from the cabs and limos. Now, because of a Clark County crackdown, pedicab drivers risk being ticketed, and finding a rickshaw ride is much more of a challenge. While looking for a driver to talk to, I saw one pulled over by the cops and two with full loads. Finally, I caught up with a red, white and blue spandex-clad AmeriCab driver.
Yeah, well, you have to be careful of that word. We work on a gratuity system—whatever you feel the ride is worth to you.
Yes, I have.
It was basically a ticket saying "Riding within the limits of Clark County"… My ticket had no monetary charges to it. The cops were very cooperative with me, they were good with me. Other riders, they're not.
I've heard other stories where things have happened, but I can't corroborate that because it didn't happen to me. They were very good to me, but yes, they are giving tickets because they want to eliminate pedicabs.
I disagree with it. I think it needs to be regulated, to be quite honest with you. The reason being is, I think there's too many pedicab companies out right now. And a lot of the cab companies are not screening their drivers, they're not going through the proper training. The key is safety out here, make sure the cars know where you're at and people know where you're at at all times. If you're on the streets, you need to obey all the laws just like a car; if you're on the sidewalk, you need to obey all the laws just like a pedestrian. And that's not happening with some of the drivers. Some of the drivers have abused things. They had a driver from another company drive through the CVS pharmacy—he'd drive in one door and out the other door, while the customers' taking pictures. The corporate office, obviously, they see people taking pictures inside their store, that's not a good thing. So that company messed it up for us to, what we call post or stage, that means where we sit for a ride like a taxi would at CVS. A lot of the casino properties, I've taken more newlyweds, personally myself, I take them to the Venetian from where they're at. Newlyweds love to take a drive down the Strip in the middle of the night, all dressed up and go to their casino. It's a great thing to do instead of taking a cab. Plus, I give them a lot of recognition. "Newlyweds ladies and gentlemen!" I just go off, I have a good time.
No, no kickbacks of any kind. With that, Ray had to cut things short. A nice-looking couple from New Orleans had been waiting patiently.
And off he rode, through Strip traffic, past porn-pushing handbillers, in front of roller coasters, water shows and Celine's coliseum, past the Eiffel Tower, looking out now for his newest obstacle: Metro's bike police. |
Thank God One Shirt Was the Right Size
Oscar Goodman models the Las Vegas Gladiators uniform.
A Plea for Sanity in the Form of a Diatribe Against the Term 'Metrosexual'
Beyond the disturbing idea that in Las Vegas, "metrosexual" infers a law-enforcement connection lending a specific meaning to the word "copulation," this fruity, pretend-chic word has got to go.
Coined somewhere in the zeitgeist to supposedly describe mostly urban, heterosexual males who are partial to good grooming, picky about cuisine, fond of the fine arts and can really put together a room (i.e., what the poor-schlub makeover projects of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy are transformed into), "metrosexual" does nothing more than provide cover for jittery, cowardly cultured men to be who they are without fretting about increasingly ignorant societal perceptions. An excuse to be highly civilized—a notion formerly free of sexual-orientation labels—in a coarse culture while proclaiming one's nongayness.
An apology for something that should never need apology.
(Can't picture a so-called "metrosexual"? Think the Brothers Crane, Fraiser and Niles.)
Has American culture become so anal (no, we don't mean it that way, you Potty-Brain) that every twitch, quirk, habit, tendency and trait must be branded by where and with whom one places one's schlong?
Have we become that small-minded and immature in our thinking and treatment of each other?
Are we now as narrowly defined as the 300-some channels we watch? (Coming soon: The Metrosexual Channel, with tips on how to moisturize your skin while still grunting like a Cro-Magnon and reeking of testosterone!)
Have we no memory of a time when a cultured man was simply thought of as a gentleman, rather than as someone who preferred naked romps with his hot neighbor, George?
"Metrosexual"? Stick it straight up your ... well, just stick it.
Maybe That Creepy Little Yellow Guy Is a Harsher Taskmaster Than He Appears
A recent LA Times article on Wal-Mart's effect on Vegas references an informal late-1990s survey of emergency room patients that revealed many employed but uninsured patients worked at the retail behemoth. "Wal-Mart came up more than any other," says cardiologist Dr. Raj Chanderraj, who chairs the Clark County Health Care Access Consortium, which works to provide medical services to the uninsured.
Bush League
A press release noting former first couple George and Barbara Bush's keynote speech at the 44th Annual International Franchise Association convention in March touts George's work on "educational reform" and Barb's work on "family literacy." The results of said work?
According to a 2001 assessment by the federal National Center for Education Statistics, student performance barely increased in the 1990s—reading scores for 9-, 13- and 17-year-olds was the same in 1999 as in 1984; math scores, while higher in 1999 than in 1974, remained stagnant after 1994; there was no significant increase in science scores between 1990 and 1999. A 1993 report by the Office of Technology Assessment, an analytical arm of the U.S. Congress, bemoaned U.S. illiteracy.
"OTA finds that at least 35 million adults have difficulty with common literacy tasks. Although many of these adults can read at rudimentary levels, they need higher levels of literacy to function effectively in society, to find employment, or to be trained for new jobs as the workplace changes. ... Fewer than 10 percent of the population in need is being reached."
Leggo My Lego
"Man, this was intense," says John White, standing outside the Art Institute of Las Vegas last Thursday, waiting with fiancée Tiffiny for his results in the LegoLand Master Model Builder Search.
The 20-year-old native of O'Fallon, Missouri, was one of 30 Lego lovers from around the country given 2,000 building bricks and 45 minutes. In love with Legos since 3—his under-construction mansion has more than 20,000 pieces—White created Las Vegas, with Elvis, a pyramid and Sphinx (representing the Luxor) and a car with a "Las Vegas" sticker on it tooling down the Strip, and hoped for the best.
"I was going to build until I was done." Though his work impressed judges, White didn't make the cut. Winners were: Jeremy Monson of Sacramento who created the Rio hotel, Cory Sanders of Las Vegas for Las Vegas welcome sign with a showgirl in front and Derek Schin of Santa Maria, Calif. for his model of a slot machine.
The national contest's winner will earn $30,000 a year working at LegoLand in Carlsbad, California. The 128-acre park has 5,000 Lego creations comprised of more than 30 million bricks.