Scott’s story: How government put his business ‘through a circus’

Scott Godino, Jr. opened Born and Raised Las Vegas, a Vegas-themed bar, in 2010, but his business was almost crippled by the very city he was celebrating.

“There was an hours of operation restriction on this location,” said Godino. “They wanted us to close from two to six, and you can’t call yourself a Las Vegas bar if you aren’t open all night.”

Godino met with the city council but received “little help.” Ultimately, Godino ended up spending $20,000 in lawyers’ fees and countless hours petitioning council members just to lift the four-hour restriction.

“Graveyard shift is our busiest shift, so if we didn’t get it lifted, we would’ve missed out on a lot revenue,” Godino said. “I don’t know why it’s in existence, but instead of sitting down and solving it quietly, they had me go through a circus.”

Recently, the Nevada Policy Research Institute, which publishes Nevada Journal, released a study on economic development, The Path to Sustainable Prosperity, which details steps Nevada needs to take to encourage entrepreneurs like Scott Godino, Jr. The study is available at http://www.npri.org/issues/publication/the-path-to-sustainable-prosperity.

Kyle Gillis is a reporter for Nevada Journal, a publication of the Nevada Policy Research Institute. For more in-depth reporting, visit http://nevadajournal.com/ and http://npri.org/.