Las Vegas City Council approves expanded Vegas Loop, punts on animal shelter

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman on Wednesday railed against the Vegas Loop, a planned maze of tunnels to run primarily under the Las Vegas Strip, to the University of Nevada Las Vegas and Harry Reid International Airport, but voted for its expansion nonetheless.

Goodman said no city but Las Vegas “would undertake this entire project for a variety of reasons.” She cast the lone dissenting vote in 2019 when the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority Board, on which she serves, approved public funding for the first leg of the Vegas Loop, a two-mile stretch beneath the Convention Center, ending at Resorts World. 

Goodman said she hoped the tunnels would work.

“But there’s so many issues with which to deal with, I think it’s impractical,” she said. “If this car that you’re looking at gets a flat, that backs up all the way. There’s no exit.” 

The Boring Company, founded by Elon Musk, is paying to dig the tunnels, fill them with Teslas that shuttle three passengers at a time, and collect a fare that can be changed at whim by the company.

“I have spoken out at the Convention Center again and again and again about my own personal beliefs,” said Goodman. “However, I am going to vote in favor of this extension because of the plea of the hotels and the private sector to move more and more people easily around our Southern Nevada community.”

The expansion, if completed, would result in 68 miles of tunnels. A map provided to the city by Boring Co. indicates locations for 81 passenger terminals, but the company will not say how many properties have entered into contracts. All but one of five currently operating passenger stations are above-ground, contrary to the company’s original plan for subterranean stations.  

“How Las Vegas seems to be going forward is not with public transit, but with some modified version of a public-private transit operation,” said Councilman Brian Knudsen, adding, “I do think there are risks associated with it at this point in time. I think it’s a risk that I’m willing to take.”

The council voted unanimously to approve the expansion.

In other matters, with dozens of animal activists in attendance, the city council followed the lead of Clark County and held off on a proposal to contribute more than $200,000 to a call center for The Animal Foundation (TAF). The troubled shelter is asking Clark County, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas for a total of $600,000 to staff the hotline, which is designed to assist pet owners find resources and curtail what shelter officials say is an upward trend in relinquished animals.

Animal advocates protested outside city hall before the meeting, then pleaded with the council to cut ties with TAF and construct and operate its own shelter.

TAF CEO Hilarie Grey, who did not attend Wednesday’s meeting, told county officials last month the shelter’s effort to manage intake by setting appointments was “a mistake.”

“If you have an animal that you find on the street right now and you want to surrender that animal, you’re looking at the end of August,” animal rescuer Tracy Paz told the council. “So you have to keep it till the end of August.” Those who want to relinquish their own animals can get appointments at the end of November, she said.

City and county officials say they are awaiting the results of separately commissioned audits of TAF before proceeding with the funding request for the call center.

TAF officials, who expressed urgency in the need for the call center, are not responding to requests for comment on alternate plans.