In a few weeks, when summer reduces to a simmer, some Downtown residents will get on their bikes. And when they ride to their favorite cafés, bars or parks, they’ll find stylish new ways to chain up.
The City of Las Vegas unveiled the first few pieces of its Central Las Vegas Bike Parking Project—12 artistic bike racks (with nine more to come), designed by Randy Mendre and Mark Melnick. Melnick’s are sports-themed—soccer ball and tennis ball shaped. Mendre’s are inspired by classic Vegas iconography—twisted, neon sign-like racks that read “BIKE” and “NEON.”
Such is the artists’ enthusiasm for the project that, in some cases, they over-delivered: Mendre, tasked with creating two designs, produced a hundred-page notebook of them. The project also includes 400 traditional bike racks, 28 bike lockers and a bike corral adjacent to the Bonneville Transfer Station.
These artistic racks add utility and visual interest to Downtown Vegas streets, and Mendre is bursting with pride about them: “I love Downtown,” he says. “If there’s a way to improve it, I throw my hat in the ring.”