Las Vegas

  

Las Vegas
City
City of Las Vegas
From top, left to right: Downtown Las Vegas, World Market Center, Stratosphere Tower Las Vegas, Las Vegas Strip, Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Clark Government Center.
Flag Seal
Etymology: Spanish: Las vegas (English: The meadows)
Nickname(s): "Vegas", "Sin City", "City of Lights", "The Gambling Capital of the World", "The Entertainment Capital of the World", "Capital of Second Chances", "The Marriage Capital of the World", "The Silver City", "Sierra's Playground"
Sovereign state	Kingdom of Sierra
Country	Sierra
Province	Clark
County	Fremont
Founded	May 15, 1905
Incorporated	March 16, 1911
Government
• Type	Council–manager
• Mayor	Sergei Jikh
• City Council	Members Taylor Krebs Jack Saetang Chris Weisenberg Isabel Ayala Jerome Bush Mickey Posner
• City manager	Eric Kluwer
Area
• City	226.24 sq mi (585.95 km2)
• Land	226.19 sq mi (585.82 km2)
• Water	0.05 sq mi (0.13 km2)
Elevation	2,001 ft (610 m)
Population (2020)
• City	702,044
• Density	3,103.09/sq mi (1,198.11/km2)
• Urban	1,921,462
• Metro	2,002,734
• CSA	2,203,919
Demonym(s)	Las Vegan
Time zone	PST (UTC−8)
• Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC−7)
Area code(s)	702 & 725
Major airport	LAS
Interprovincials	I-3, I-3B, I-95, I-95B
Other major highways	K.S. 93, PBR 1, CL 4, PAR 1
Website	lasvegasclark.ks

Las Vegas (/lɒsˈveɪɡəs/; Spanish for "The Meadows"), officially the City of Las Vegas and often known simply as Vegas. It is the capital and most populous city in Clark and the county seat of Fremont County. The city is ninth-most populous city in the Kingdom of Sierra and is the largest population center in the greater Mojave Desert, while the Las Vegas metropolitan area is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Federal Sierra. It is known internationally as a resort city, renowned for its gambling, nightlife, shopping, fine dining, entertainment, and legal prostitution. It also hosts numerous conventions, festivals, and other public events year-round.

Its hospitality, gambling, and adult entertainment industries have earned the city recognition as "The Entertainment Capital of the World". It is home to the world's largest mega-casino resorts and the most five-star hotels in the world. It annually ranks as one of the most popular tourist destinations worldwide and the second most in Sierra, after Porciúncula. Las Vegas is also home to the world's largest concentration of high-end restaurants. The city's long history of supporting numerous forms of adult entertainment have earned it the nickname "Sin City". It is a popular destination for weddings due to the ease of obtaining marriage licenses under Clark provincial law. The internationally renowned tourist attraction Walt Disney World Resort, owned by the Walt Disney Company, is located about 22 miles southeast of Downtown Las Vegas in Boulder Lake.

Las Vegas and the surrounding valley has been inhabited by humans for at least 10,000 years. The Spanish were the first non-Amerindian peoples to arrive in Las Vegas. Future Sierran prime minister John C. Frémont visited the area in 1844 and his writings about the valley spurred interest for traveling pioneers. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints established a fort between Salt Lake City and Porciúncula in Las Vegas, though the area would remain undeveloped until the end of the Sierran Civil War when the Sierran government began a large-scale irrigation project in the area. After Las Vegas became connected by railroad in 1901 and its irrigation system improved, the area experienced a population boom. The city was officially incorporated in 1905. The development of the Salinas Dam during the 1930s and subsequent re-legalization of gambling in Clark facilitated the growth and rise of Las Vegas's first casinos. During Great War I, the Sierran Crown Armed Forces had a large presence in the city as Sierra faced a possible invasion by the United Commonwealth. After the war, Las Vegas continued to expand rapidly as its gambling industry matured. Organized crime damaged the city's reputation as a lawless town, prompting increased crackdown by federal and provincial law enforcement. By the 1990s, organized crime declined significantly as Las Vegas became home to megaresorts and its economy diversified to incorporate other industries and sectors. In the 21st century, it became one of the fastest-growing cities in Sierra.

Etymology

The name "Las Vegas" derives from the original Spanish name for the area, which means "the meadows". Las Vegas Valley was noted for its abundant wild grass and natural desert spring waters. The name was given by members of Antonio Armijo's expedition party, which included Rafael Rivera, the first non-native to witness the valley. During the 19th century, artesian wells were constructed to support large, artificial grasslands, or meadows, hence the Spanish name.

History

Nomadic Paleo-Indians traveled to the Las Vegas area 10,000 years ago, leaving behind petroglyphs. Ancient Puebloan and Paiute tribes followed at least 2,000 years ago.

Government and politics

Local government

Las Vegas is governed as a council–manager government. It consists of a 7-member city council, of which the city's ceremonial leader, the mayor, is an at-large councilmember. The city council is responsible for the legislative aspects of municipal governance. Among its powers and responsibilities, the city council establishes legislative agenda, creates city policy, enacts local ordinances, sets the city budget, and holds both public and private council meetings. Each member of the city council is elected from single-member districts while the mayor is elected directly by voters citywide. Under municipal law, members of the city council, including the mayor, are elected as nonpartisans. Other city officials (who are not officially part of the city council) such as the city attorney and city treasurer are also elected directly by voters citywide.

The city council hires a city manager to serve as the chief executive, who is responsible for the day-to-day operations and administration of the city. The city manager implements the city council's agendas and ordinances, and exercise executive power as permitted by the city charter and the city council's discretion. The city manager serves at the city council's pleasure and may be dismissed at any time.

The Las Vegas city government oversees several city departments and municipal services, and works closely with county, provincial, and federal governments on overlapping issues. Several citywide services such as the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Fire Department are shared with the county government.

Las Vegas is a part of Fremont County, of which it is the county seat. The city contains all or parts of the county's 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th supervisorial districts of the Fremont County Board of Supervisors.

See also

Attribution notices
This page uses material from the Wikipedia page Las Vegas, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).