The proposal for a ‘Filipinotown’ in Las Vegas, to honor the city’s prominent and growing Filipino population, has been seeing increasing attention and support.
Supporters envision the cultural hub as a 1.2 mile-long corridor on Maryland Parkway, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which will be anchored by a Seafood City. 25 Filipino-owned businesses will be located along the path, with some of them being in Boulevard Mall, a popular gathering sport for Filipinos, with 15% of the mall’s tenants being Filipino businesses.
“It’s wonderful that we are allowed to have a designation and that’s one of the first things that I have thought about”, said community leader Rozita V. Lee, in an interview with ABS-CBN. “The designation for the Filipinos and we chose Flamingo to Desert Inn. It’s short enough and long enough to start”.
Lee, who formerly served on the White House advisory commission for Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, also said that creation of a Filipinotown will help honor Filipino-American contributions to Las Vegas, boost local businesses, and strength community ties.
“This is a pride for the Filipino community,” Lee further explained. “There are so many Filipinos living here. Let us be happy that Filipinos are being recognized.”
Lee pitched her vision to Clark County commissioners this month in a public hearing attended by many of her supporters, and signed the application earlier in September.
Filipino restaurant owner Paul Tejada also told ABS-CBN that a Filipino in Vegas in long overdue, saying, “Filipinos have been in this area for three decades now as far as restaurants, businesses, nurses, school teachers coming in this community and making it what it is now.”
Over 200,000 Filipinos currently call Nevada home, a sharp rise from the first five recorded in the 1920 U.S. census, and are the largest AAPI group in both the state and in Las Vegas. Nevada began recruiting doctors and nurses from the Philippines in the 1990s amidst a shortage of healthcare professionals. The early 2000s also saw a large number of Filipinos moving to Clark County, making the region one of the most populous centers for Filipinos in the U.S.
Some notable Filipino Las Vegans include Rudy Crisostomo who designed and handcrafted the early neon signs for casinos, and Las Vegas Municipal Judge Cedric Kerns, who became the first and youngest Filipino American elected to the court.
In order to get approved, the proposed district must get approval from the Paradise Town Advisory Board and a final vote from the Clark County Commission, according to The Nevada Globe.
If approved, ‘Filipinotown’ could begin construction as early as next year, and will be Clark County’s second-ever cultural district, after the designation of Little Ethiopia last year.
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