Las Vegans are still in an uproar over MGM Resorts International‘s new pay-for-parking policy. And yet MGM had the gall to issue a press 
release calling the added fees part of a “strategy to provide significant improvements.” Yes, because paying more for the same product is always an improvement. MGM was even so nervy as to call the $10 self-parking and $17 valet-parking charges “modest.” Executives at MGM need to get out of their biosphere and breathe some fresh air. Seventeen bucks is real money to you and me.
The meat of MGM’s announcement was that it was offloading the bulk of its parking-attendant staff to service provider SP+. Parking employees are promised continuation of the same salaries and benefits they enjoyed under MGM. The exceptions to the new policy are the attendants at Luxor, Excalibur and Circus Circus, who are covered by a separate collective-bargaining agreement. SP+ is a real coffee achiever, having grown from one Chicago parking lot in 1929 to two million today. Evidently MGM felt the oncoming T-Mobile Arena demanded outside parking expertise, for it cites SP+’s experience handling Super Bowl and World Cup parking challenges as a criterion for choosing the concessionaire. So you’ll still be shelling out big bucks for parking, just to a different paymaster.
* Ever wanted to stay inside an 800-room guitar? You’ll get your chance if Hard Rock International can finance it, which shouldn’t be a heavy lift. Of the design for a new, 34-story tower at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, company CEO James Allen said, “We could have easily just built some rectangular building … but the tribe is once again trying to create something that is iconic, that creates international tourism coming to Florida.” The striking design managed to upstage Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), who was sharing the podium with Allen when the big guitar was unveiled. The tower, which would dwarf the existing hotel, is part of a planned $1.8 billion expansion, to be financed with proceeds from the new compact between Scott and the Seminole Tribe. A nightclub and five restaurants would also be added.
“We truly think this will rival not only anything in Florida, but Atlantis and anything in the world,” said Allen, who added that Seminole Hard Rock Tampa, also due for expansion, would get a new, more 
conventional, 500-room hotel tower, plus a 2,000-seat concert hall and a helipad for high rollers. You’ve got to hand it to the Seminoles: They don’t think small. They’re also assisting Scott (left) in making the case that the new compact brings with it new economic benefits for the Sunshine State.
Also helping Allen and Scott pitch the compact was florist Melissa Oceola Demeo who “said her business has grown from five employees to more than 100 full-and part-time employees. She said she buys and installs over 35,000 flowers annually at the casino.” Scott, who was greeted like a movie star, outlined the compact as a choice between losing 3,800 jobs or adding 4,800. “I grew up in a family that struggled for work, so I think jobs are very, very important,” he added, saying that the onus was now upon the Legislature to do something about the compact.
Las Vegans are still in an uproar over MGM Resorts International‘s new pay-for-parking policy. And yet MGM had the gall to issue a press release calling the added fees part of a “strategy to provide significant improvements.” Yes, because paying more for the same product is always an improvement. MGM was even so nervy as to call the $10 self-parking and $17 valet-parking charges “modest.” Executives at MGM need to get out of their biosphere and breathe some fresh air. Seventeen bucks is real money to you and me.
