REDESIGN OF FLAMINGO GUEST ROOMS: County checks Harrah's for safety - News

PRINT THIS Popular

Jul. 30, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

REDESIGN OF FLAMINGO GUEST ROOMS: County checks Harrah's for safety

Electrician filed complaint that triggered investigation

By JOAN WHITELY
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Harrah's Remodel

Plans on file with Clark County Building Department indicate the walls behind headboards of the rooms were to stay intact, but workers say they were demolished and rebuilt.
Photo by John Locher.

Electrician Steve Rich poses in one of the Flamingo's award-winning "Go" rooms, which he helped create. Rich says the Flamingo got permits for minor work but did major remodeling instead, thus possibly bypassing proper safety inspections.
Photo by John Locher.

The county has launched a probe into whether Harrah's Entertainment broke safety laws when it did an award-winning redesign of guest rooms at the Flamingo Las Vegas.

The investigation comes just before the Harrah's parent corporation and two hotel employees head to court in late August on misdemeanor charges of breaking safety laws at several other properties in the same group.

Most Popular Stories

NORM: Details emerge in Jackson probe

NORM: When live news shots turn bad

NORM: Lance Burton renews contract

Motorcyclist killed in collision with CAT bus

NORM: Terry Fator, wife ending marriage

Motorcyclist killed in crash on Blue Diamond

Clark County man dies of H1N1 virus

Motorcyclist killed in crash with SUV at Durango and Sahara

NORM: Jackson changes Las Vegas address

NORM: Jacksons set up LV memorial area

"Remodeling of (all Flamingo guest) towers ... exceeded the scope of permits issued," according to a copy of a complaint filed with the county July 16, which triggered the present investigation.

"All the walls in the guestrooms were demolished and rebuilt," reads the complaint, filed by Steve Rich, an electrician who worked on the project, which took place in 2006 and 2007.

The Review-Journal could not locate in county archives any permits or plans that described removing all fire-resistant walls between guest rooms. It could only locate documents authorizing lesser changes to the rooms, which raises the question of whether county building inspectors approved work that did not match the documents on file.

"Only one inspector performed nearly all the inspections on the project," the complaint also says.

The hotel won acclaim in 2007 for the hip redesign of 560 guest rooms into "Go" rooms, which feature hot-pink bathrooms with walls of frosted glass, a TV screen mounted in the sink mirror and other high-tech amenities.

"We're investigating the complaint so it's premature to release any further info at this time," Clark County spokeswoman Stacey Welling recently wrote by e-mail.

"The work was inspected by the county. A Certificate of Occupancy was received. Our review of the project shows it to be compliant," Marybel Batjer, a Harrah's Entertainment spokeswoman, said in a written statement when asked for comment on the complaint. The Flamingo is one of seven local hotels owned by Harrah's Entertainment.

Rich said he told county officials that new walls separating the rooms went up exactly where the old walls stood. But the new walls are thicker, to accommodate the extensive cable and wiring needed to expand amenities in the way of music, television and computer use.

The gutting of walls made it a major remodel, Rich said he told the county.

Yet, "minor mechanical, plumbing and electrical work" is the description that appears in an 84-page set of plans connected with a Flamingo permit issued in May 2006.

"Replacement of all finishes, furnishings" is also listed on the permit. But that would not suggest wholesale demolition of fire-resistant walls between units. Such walls play a fire-protection role in high-rise buildings, and therefore require permits and inspection when reconstructed.

The Flamingo plans on file indicate some walls were to come down, but so-called "headboard" walls -- against which the headboards of beds are placed -- were to stay intact, according to the plans.

"If they did what you described with the permit you described, they really screwed up. That certainly should be permitted differently," said Las Vegas construction consultant Brian Grill of Benchmark Consulting Services, who serves as an expert witness in construction defect cases and also holds architect credentials in California and Arizona.

Roman Empire Development, a now-defunct subsidiary of Harrah's Entertainment that specialized in remodeling at local Harrah's properties, terminated Rich, who believes his termination was retaliation.

Harrah's Entertainment shut down Roman Empire in December 2007, after a Review-Journal investigation uncovered evidence that other Harrah's properties -- the Rio and Harrah's Las Vegas -- had done undocumented or substandard remodeling work in guest rooms.

Harrah's Entertainment itself and several employees face arraignment in Las Vegas Justice Court on Aug. 26 on misdemeanor charges in connection with improper work done at a number of its local hotels. In preparation for those appearances, the gaming company prepared for the district attorney an audit of all remodeling projects it had done since about 2000 that had bypassed county monitoring for safety compliance.

The audit does not mention the "Go" room project at the Flamingo.

Contact reporter Joan Whitely at jwhitely@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0268.

Share & Save

Leave Your Comment	7 Reader Comments
Terms & Conditions The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The reviewjournal.com does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please notify the web editor. Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 48 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. irs wrote on July 30, 2008 05:49 PM: why dont you pay taxes like all of us mr. exempt!!!!!!!youll have time to explain it to an agent.hopefully soon because we are all sick of takeing care of people like you!!!!! Steven Rich wrote on July 30, 2008 04:57 PM: Hey 501 (if you are quantified to claim that you are a representative.) Not that I want to deal with IGNORANCE! Where do you claim to know my personal business? Why did my pay stub show me paying union dues? And WHY did I have to run down to HR (oh, I'm sorry, that's HUMAN RESOURCES), to make a special pay WITHDRAWAL for the $500.00 dollars that the union threatened I had to have paid up first to continue working? (on top of my dues withdrawals.) And if you are a representative, why didn't you or 501 stand behind the members whose health and well being were jeopardized by the conditions at the Flamingo? Isn't that what a union does, protect their members? (Their WELLBEING?) And why didn't I and another employee receive pay that was supposed to be retroactive, BECAUSE We were told a VALID CONTRACT wasn't in place. Isn't a paycheck a CONTRACT? OFFER / ACCEPTANCE! If this is whom I think it is, then you should understand "Contract Law?" Why didn't the union investigate the conditions that We all were subjected to? And why were we told, "We would never work on the Strip again!" Is that the proper action that a supposed legitimate organization should make? I guess the MOB hasn't left Las Vegas. Oh! And If I were you, I wouldn't speak unless I had my facts straight! But there is a LOT of IGNORANCE out there be it feigned or real. Yogi Berra wrote on July 30, 2008 03:35 PM: Union due-ers are evil-doers! Local #501 wrote on July 30, 2008 03:11 PM: Mr Rich you never paid a dime to us either as you promised when we let you join.You worked over a year and never paid dues.LEECH irs wrote on July 30, 2008 01:36 PM: hey steve when are you going to start paying taxes to the irs like the rest of us you are a creep answer qustion no 1 first before the irs finds you Steven Rich wrote on July 30, 2008 01:28 PM: What amazes me is, if the people ATTEMPT to cut corners, WE ARE CRUCIFIED (usually at a burdensome financial rate), but large corporations get a slap-on-the-wrist! Is that because of kick-backs? I know the people that did their jobs 100% and/or to the best of their ability, as for most it was their first attempt in the field that they were hired for. Minor cosmetic work is quite different than Major construction or reconstruction. I know that most of the people that were on site were committed to doing the best job they could, and took pride in what they accomplished. Why couldn't management (at all levels) do the same? I know one supervisor that attempted to get answers for his crew and was threatened with being fired for his efforts. (This fact came to light much later.) I only hope that the ones that besmirched and placed a stain on the remodel are not haunted by the actions they chose. But then again, has the MOB REALLY left Las Vegas? Yogi Berra wrote on July 30, 2008 10:11 AM: It's deja-vu all over again! Hopefully the judge throws the book at the misdemeanor kangaroo show, and then we can start rooting out the public crotchrot in the building department and city/county, and then send all local, state, and national elected incumbents packing. Maybe even hang a few of them from the Stratosphere as a reminder/warning to their replacements.