Happy 50th Birthday, Empire State Plaza; Las Vegas' Painted Circles for Buskers
Empire State Plaza in New York, New York. Pete Spiro / Shutterstock.com
Also: West Virginia’s first gigabit city?
Here’s some of what we’ve been reading today ...
ALBANY, New York: While the architectural aesthetics of Empire State Plaza, the massive New York state government complex that dominates the skyline of New York’s capital city, might not be everyone’s cup of tea, that shouldn’t muddy the celebratory feelings for the 50th birthday of the campus. There were fireworks and other celebrations on Wednesday. [Times-Union]
LAS VEGAS, Nevada: As New York officials continue to grapple with the problem of street performers in Times Square, Las Vegas officials have laid down the law for buskers along the tourist-heavy Fremont Street Experience. As the Las Vegas Review Journal reports, city officials may not have painted the buskers into a corner but have literally painted them into a circle:
Starting Nov. 1, street performers plying their trade along the five-block pedestrian mall will have to confine themselves to one of roughly three dozen 6-foot circles painted on the pavement.
There are a whole host of other rules, too, including a daily lottery to secure busking locations. [Las Vegas Review Journal]
JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri: On Wednesday, House Republicans in the Show Me State failed in their efforts to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of legislation that would make Missouri a “right to work” state, falling short of the 109 votes they needed. [St. Louis Public Radio]
BRIDGEPORT, West Virginia: This city of roughly 8,300 residents near Morgantown is poised to become the Mountain State’s first gigabit city. As the Charleston Gazette-Mail reports, the West Virginia Economic Development Authority has given the preliminary green light to a $3 million low-interest loan to help the city and a local Internet service provider install fiber-optic cable through the entire city, but it would take a few years to complete full installation. [Charleston Gazette-Mail]
TALLAHASSEE, Florida: Gov. Rick Scott may be pleased that there’s a historic per-pupil spending increase for Florida public school students. But homeowners and businesses might be all that pleased. Why? As The Miami Herald’s and Tampa Bay Times’ joint Tallahassee bureau reports:
. . . [T]he state's proposed education budget relies more than ever on higher property taxes paid by homeowners and businesses, and a key Republican senator calls that an election-year tax increase that he can't support.
That budget would increase education spending by $104 per pupil to a total of $7,209. [Tampa Bay Times / Miami Herald]
(Photo by Pete Spiro / Shutterstock.com)
Michael Grass is Executive Editor of Government Executive’s Route Fifty.
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