Joe Schoenmann
Story Archive
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Iowa students leave Las Vegas to work on task of making 'an impact, an impression' on downtown
Wednesday, March 27, 2013 Fourteen University of Iowa students involved in a class called “Reimagining Downtown” are finished with their spring break in Las Vegas. Now they're focused exclusively on creating something that benefits downtown Las Vegas.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Danger is who, not what, she is
Tuesday, March 26, 2013 The seafoam-rimmed sunglasses and matching bow in her blond hair aren’t right. If you have to put a finger on the problem, it’s her name. “Krissee DANGER.” The name doesn’t fit the glasses and ribbon. It doesn’t fit the person. There appears nothing dangerous about her. Don’t believe me: Take the word of the people she meets almost daily giving tours for the Downtown Project, where she takes visitors even into the private sanctum of Tony Hsieh’s condo on the 23rd floor of the Ogden.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Web-savvy consultants have work cut out for them with city's site
Sunday, March 24, 2013 By pushing services onto the Internet that used to require a visit to City Hall, Las Vegas – like other cities around the country – is trying to make life easier through technology. But also like other cities, Las Vegas’ website is so hard to figure out, many of the services city residents might want to use – downloading documents or filling out forms online, for example – either don’t exist, are hard to use or nearly impossible to find.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Bartending contest touts bringing 'the Strip to Downtown'
Friday, March 22, 2013 A bartending contest in the Fremont East Entertainment District? Can a roaring volcano, German tiger tamers and dancing waters at the El Cortez be far behind?
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Legislative committee to take up bill seen as vital to downtown
Thursday, March 21, 2013 Fear is growing among downtown supporters that if a bill to extend the life of Las Vegas’ redevelopment agency fails in the Legislature, downtown’s ongoing revival could face a serious setback.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: As work comes to temporary stop on Container Park, tenants begin to come into focus
Thursday, March 21, 2013 Though work on the downtown Container Park came to a stop this week, the array of businesses that will make it home is coming into focus. The mall-like structure at Seventh and Fremont streets will increase by up to 30 the number of new businesses downtown when completed.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Mint 400 events stirring traffic changes downtown
Thursday, March 21, 2013 With the annual Mint 400 off-road race back this weekend, several streets already have been closed down around Fremont Street for race-related events.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Is Romotive's departure a sign of the future?
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 Romotive took a $500,000 investment from Tony Hsieh, built itself up, and is leaving town.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Fremont District, city ready to welcome off-road race enthusiasts
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 To accommodate Mint 400 race attendees and partiers downtown, the city wants people to know there will be plenty of parking available over the weekend.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Rangers stand ready to provide assistance
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 Armed with tiny body cameras and dispensing advice for free, members of a street-level concierge service known as Downtown Rangers are the newest additions to the Fremont East Entertainment District.
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Business
Joe Downtown: Statewide business startup contest finalists named
Friday, March 15, 2013 Judges have selected 12 business startup finalists to vie for a $100,000 prize offered by the state’s economic development division and private donors. Project Vesto announced the finalists Thursday.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: For de facto business center of downtown, nothing beats The Beat
Thursday, March 14, 2013 Thursday morning at The Beat. Just another busy day at the unofficial center of downtown business.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Stephen Siegel sees diamonds in the rough
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 The businessman is renovating 247 apartment units.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Reno PR firm opening satellite office downtown
Monday, March 11, 2013 A Reno public relations firm is adding an office in the Emergency Arts building on Fremont Street, aiming its focus on the growing tech startup business environment in Las Vegas.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Insight of the week
Thursday, March 7, 2013 Downtown as seen through the eyes of Tom Haskins, 56, who moved here from Seattle last week after reading about downtown’s redevelopment.
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Art
Joe Downtown: Plan to cut Percent for the Arts program sparks debate
Thursday, March 7, 2013 For well over a decade, art has been part of the planned rebirth of downtown Las Vegas. So it came as something of a shock to downtowners a few weeks ago when Las Vegas Councilman Bob Beers suggested eliminating the city’s Percent for the Arts program.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Following up on recent columns
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 Downtown is a whirlwind of activity. Take a moment to take stock!
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Obsession, Def Leppard and Zappos combine to spell success for businesswoman
Saturday, March 2, 2013 Claire Jane Vranian’s obsession with fashion and feathers, combined with an innate need to be creative, led to an association with Joe Elliott, lead singer for the iconic ‘80s rock band Def Leppard, and success in the clothing business.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: City says plans for Wi-Fi moving forward
Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013 Within the next several months, Las Vegas will unveil free wireless Internet access in a limited downtown area. Jace Radke, city spokesman, said free Wi-Fi would be activated in two phases: The first phase will include an area bound by Charleston Boulevard on the south, U.S. 95 to the north, Interstate 15 to the west and Eighth Street to the east.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Livestream allows free viewing of TED Conference talks
Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013 So a choreographer, serial entrepreneur, nuclear scientist, food engineer, futurist, cancer-detector inventor, multisense designer and violinist all got together one day. And the punchline? There isn’t one. This is actually happening and you can watch it all via livestream video in the downtown Construction Zone speakers space, 158 S. Seventh St., through Friday.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: 36 Downtown developments you should know about
Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013 It’s been just over two years since Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh announced the movement of his headquarters from Henderson to Downtown. In that time, Downtown has changed—greatly in some areas, more slowly in others—and growth and interest in Downtown business has outpaced predictions made before the Zappos declaration in late 2010.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Hackidemia to put youths' imaginations into high gear
Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013 Stefania Druga is only 26 but has lived around the world and, more intriguingly, knows how to make a battery from a lemon, extract DNA from strawberries and create her own video games. Over two hours this weekend, she will help kids make their own video games from scratch using free software, play with graffiti, create a conducting circuit from dough and do other fun tasks that have a scientific bent.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: The call of Downtown persuades successful professionals to uproot their careers
Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013 For Michael Downs, former vice president of operations at Bellagio, Downtown Las Vegas used to barely register on his day-to-day radar. Yet downtown is his new work home. He’s shed the suit and tie for, on most days, jeans and a hoodie as the new executive vice president of operations for Downtown Project. Like Downs, others are drastically changing their lives to become part of the Downtown community.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Fremont Shoes sets sights on downtown manufacturing plant
Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013 Craig Adkins has spent decades creating efficiencies in production lines for a variety of companies; his latest job was as vice president of fulfillment services for Zappos. About a year ago, Adkins started working on a plan to start yet another venture — bringing shoe manufacturing, not just shoe distribution, to Las Vegas. With support from the Downtown Project, an investment group that includes Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, Adkins expects his shoe-manufacturing business, Fremont Shoes, to open by the end of the year.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Decades-old safe discovered in Atomic Liquors yields only old receipts
Monday, Feb. 18, 2013 New owners of Atomic Liquors on Fremont Street, one of the oldest free-standing taverns in Las Vegas, finally opened a floor safe discovered months ago during remodeling.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Amazing Johnathan trades stage for design studio
Monday, Feb. 18, 2013 The Amazing Johnathan, who performed his twisted brand of comedy-magic on the Strip for more than a decade before giving it up late last year, is going into a new line of work. Johnathan Szeles, who grew up in Michigan, says he is going to be redesigning the Las Vegas Club, a casino at Main and Fremont streets. Szeles, who last fall installed the Screamont Experiment, a permanent haunted attraction, in the casino, said he had been asked to do a redesign based on the premise of “fun.” Szeles said he can’t give specifics right now. “All I can tell you is they want me to design the place and make it ‘FUN,’” he said, adding that “they like my ideas and asked me to help. That’s all.”
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Ecomom and the stresses of entrepreneurship
Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013 Matthias Galica flew to Las Vegas for an answer. He hoped being in the same city, in the same coffeeshops, seeing the same people that Jody Sherman saw would provide some solace, resolve the question that had dogged him for more than a week.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: City’s four-day week has some Downtowners frustrated
Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013 "Thursday is the new Friday," according to one Downtown businesswoman.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Former politician now engaged in 'Art of Free Law'
Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013 The oddity of a free legal clinic in Las Vegas isn’t defined by the fact it sits under a tent in the middle of First Friday, a downtown monthly fest for art, entertainment and food. Some advice-seekers might appear odd, such as the bearded lady from a cancelled television show, but that’s not it, either. What puts The Art of Law Free Legal Clinic in a different realm is attorney Matt Callister, the man who started it. Talk to 10 people and you’ll likely get 10 different descriptions for the guy.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Rideshare of future in the works downtown
Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013 Imagine a world without cars. Zach Ware asked some 300 people to do just that, then told them how a system of bikes, electrical vehicles, buses and, yes, a helicopter, should be in place by this fall to allow those living downtown to get by without their own car.
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Music
Joe Downtown: Organizers seek OK for 'Life is Beautiful Festival'
Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013 City leaders next week will consider plans to turn a vacant, three-acre lot on Fremont Street into the home of the Life Is Beautiful Festival, a Downtown Project-supported event scheduled for October.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Business activity under way farther east on East Fremont
Friday, Feb. 1, 2013 Businesses are slowly moving farther east on Fremont Street. Airstream 2 Go just signed a lease for land at 123 N. 10th St., at Ogden Avenue, where current-model Airstream trailers and trucks to tow them will be available for rental.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Las Vegas becoming less a phase and more a home for many
Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013 Most Las Vegans came from somewhere else, but feeling ownership of Las Vegas is on the rise.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: University of Iowa students to help 'Reimagine Downtown'
Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013 University of Iowa lecturer David Gould has created a course that links Las Vegas and Iowa City because of what’s happening downtown; it might not look like anywhere in Iowa, but downtown’s community-oriented redevelopment is the perfect landscape for Gould’s class, Reimagining Downtown.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Social-networking developer sees future in amateur sports
Friday, Jan. 25, 2013 Amateur sports is a $20 billion U.S. industry and some 2.3 billion people participate in amateur sports worldwide. In Las Vegas alone, thousands of people, young and old, play soccer, kickball, football, softball, baseball, basketball and more.
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Film
Joe Downtown: Theater dedicated to LGBT-themed films to open
Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013 Many people know about the the 2005 movie, “Brokeback Mountain,” a story about a romantic relationship between two modern-day cowboys that won three Academy Awards. But there are so many movies involving the lesbian/gay/bi/transgender lifestyle that a gay nightclub under construction downtown will include a theater devoted to LGBT movies.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: 'Sorceress' Sarah Nisperos and the origin of Tony Hsieh’s Downtown dream
Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 Get to know the person who steered the Zappos CEO to Downtown Vegas.
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Music
Joe Downtown: Siren song of downtown is music to his ears
Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 Justin Graham was looking to build his record label, Attain Records, in Las Vegas long before he heard of Zappos, Tony Hsieh or the Downtown Project. But the fact that community-oriented development is being nurtured downtown strengthened Graham's conviction that downtown was exactly where he wanted to establish roots.
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Music
Joe Downtown: Cosmopolitan, First Friday Foundation cultivating local arts scene
Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013 A multigenre local band, Juice, will be playing this weekend at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. They caught the eye and ears of resort honchos at the launch dinner for the First Friday Foundation.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Entrepreneurs have designs on Garment District in Las Vegas
Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013 Most people think of new taverns, eateries and music when envisioning the unfolding redevelopment of Fremont East, that portion of road east of the canopied Fremont Street Experience. Most people also know Tony Hsieh is behind much of the redevelopment. Hsieh is CEO of Zappos, an online shoe and clothing retailer. For that reason, it isn’t hard to see why much of what’s to come is tied into the garment, fashion and clothing business.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Strange messages, a mysterious sender and mental health Downtown
Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013 Joe meets the man who's been leaving him odd messages at the Beat.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Forget fishing for change; proposed new parking meters will take credit, debit cards
Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013 A long local nightmare with downtown parking meters may be moving in the right direction. Las Vegas officials will consider the purchase of 233 computerized parking meters that accept debit and credit cards.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Startups sharing offices, skills, ideas
Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013 On a tiny slice of street in downtown Las Vegas, in an area south of Charleston Boulevard between Las Vegas Boulevard and Maryland Parkway, startup companies are sharing homes and each other’s technical skills.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: New-to-downtown doctor sets out to demystify medicine
Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013 There may be no one better suited to configure a new way to practice medicine in Las Vegas than Zubin Damania, a Stanford-trained doctor who last year uprooted from the Bay Area and moved his family to Las Vegas. Joining an army of people lured downtown to try something new, Damania is dead serious about medicine — and he embodies a streak of witty silliness displayed on his website.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Dome arrives for installation atop Container Park
Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 Three pallets full of vortex dome “stuff” have arrived in Las Vegas, now just waiting for a concrete pad to be poured at the site of the downtown Container Park to be built at Seventh and Fremont streets. Ed Lantz, CEO of Vortex Immersion Media, said the dome could be up in March.
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Joe Downtown
Can housing keep up with the Zappos Downtown move?
Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013 Later this year, 1,500 Zappos employees move into their new headquarters, boosting the number of people living Downtown. Trouble is, affordable living in relatively crime-free areas there is hard to find.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Bar contemplated for The Ogden
Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013 A watering hole at The Ogden means some of the people who work online from their high-rise condo may never have to leave the building for nightly entertainment.
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Joe Downtown
Joe Downtown: Prospective tenants juiced about business prospects in former hotel
Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013 A war of juices is taking place behind the scenes downtown, as almost a half-dozen small businesses vie for space in the soon-to-be renovated John E. Carson Hotel at the northwest corner of Sixth and Carson streets.
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Art
Joe Downtown: Project brings 'Our Las Vegas' images to smartphones daily
Monday, Jan. 7, 2013 The energy surrounding downtown’s resurgence isn’t all about turning the old into a new business. Some tapping into the human current sense it’s a rare chance, a small opening in the window of the city to connect people to people.
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Museums
Joe Downtown: ShoeZeum's short stint at Neonopolis was plan all along, building owner says
Friday, Jan. 4, 2013 The ShoeZeum's run in Las Vegas' Neonopolis was more of a sprint than a marathon. But Neonopolis’ owner says the departure of the shoe museum after only three months was according to plan.