Good news! All you need to do is invest in an alternative fuel vehicle and your parking woes are over in downtown Las Vegas. The County Commission has approved a new program which will charge a mere $10 annual fee for a window decal that allows free parking for alternative fuel vehicles in all Clark County-owned parking facilities. Lewis Professional Building Parking Garage and the Regional Justice Center are the two downtown Clark County garages included in this plan.

This new program brings the county into compliance with a state law passed at this year's legislative session. However, this excludes parking areas at the airport. Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani has asked county staffers to investigate whether that exclusion actually prohibits the county from including parking parking areas at McCarran International Airport — which could put more money into the county coffer.

United Parcel Service has contracted with Clean Air Fuels Corp. to build a liquefied national gas fueling station in Las Vegas to serve its new fleet of 48 road tractors that will use the alternative fuel. Clean Energy built, owns and operates the station and it is publicly accessible. This location was chosen because it is essentially a midpoint between existing LNG stations in Ontario, California and Salt Lake City.

Funding for the trucks and filling stations comes from U.S. Department of Energy and the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The Department of Energy estimates that the liquified natural gas tractors will save about 1.25 million of Petroleum each year.

Armed deputies from the Laughlin Township Constable's office executed a court order on Saturday, November 12th to seize $40,000 in assets from the University Sinclair gas station on Flamingo Road and Maryland Parkway in Las Vegas.

The station is experiencing financial problems and the owners of the station have launched a public relations campaign against the Bank of Nevada by allowing protesters with the Occupy Las Vegas group to camp on their property which stands at a busy intersection. Because of the court order, there has been infighting amongst the Clark County constables about how the job of peace officer should be done.

In the meantime, while the squabble continues, the protesters with the Occupy Las Vegas movement remained in tents perched on the busy street corner outside the gas station. One protester said the group is also planning to occupy foreclosed homes. The service station owner admits he owes Nevada State Bank money. He has offered to pay back in monthly installments but the bank refused the offer saying the payments were so low they wouldn't make a dent in the loan's interest. Who knew a service station would be involved in a Occupy Las Vegas group!

Don't forget to register for the 2012 WPMA National Convention and Expo to be held February 21-23, 2012 at the Mirage Convention Center in Las Vegas. You will learn a lot and laugh a lot when you listen firsthand to Keynote Speaker Ben Stein, hailed as an "actor, author, economist and pop culture icon." Erin Gruwell, Educator and Founder of the Freedom Writers Foundation is the speaker at the Ladies Luncheon. Not only is Erin a dynamic speaker, she is the founder of the Freedom Writers. And you won't want to miss the Management Session on Thursday, February 23 where Greg Meyer, a former Special Agent in the U.S. Secret Service, will give you pointers on how to avoid identity theft and credit card fraud.

Originally published in the December 2011 issue of the O&A Marketing News.
Copyright 2011 by KAL Publications Inc.