Downtown Carson City open for business as legislature begins new session

The 79th regular session of the biennial Nevada Legislature began Monday morning, drawing dozens of lawmakers, their staff and a crowd of lobbyists to Carson City for the next 120 days to vote on bills and craft a budget for the state's 2017-19 biennium.

As Nevada's state capital, Carson City is already the center of state government. But about this time every two years, the local economy gets a robust shot in the arm from the official business of the legislature.

According to the Carson City Visitors Bureau, data collected by the Legislative Counsel Bureau (LCB) since 2013 shows hotel occupancy rates of the city's top five revenue-generating lodge properties have typically increased six and 10 percent during a regular legislative session compared with a non-legislative year.

The average four-month stay of legislators and staff in Carson City also brings in a significant chunk of room tax revenue to the area, LCB data shows.

Going back to 2013 LCB numbers, room revenue generated between February and June of a regular legislative session has typically represented more than 40 percent of the total collected throughout the year.

But not all legislators and legislative staff members utilize lodging facilities in Carson City. Some live close enough to the Nevada state capital that they commute daily to the legislature.

Yet everyone at the Nevada Legislature has to eat — before, during and after a daily session of bill wrangling and lobbying — and that's where Carson City sees the most significant increase in business and tax revenue.

T.J. Saputra, Maitre D' at The Basil along North Carson Street in downtown Carson City, said the popular Thai restaurant sees business increase by nearly one third during a regular legislative session than a non-legislative year.

"We see about a 30 percent increase business during a legislative session," he said, hoping that the restaurant may see an even greater increase in 2017 following the changes that took place downtown last year. "Especially after this downtown renewal, we might have a better increase in people coming to eat here."

Comma Coffee owner June Joplin agrees, saying she has seen a steady increase in business since the 2013 legislative session. She is expecting things to only get busier this year.

"The last two sessions we've gotten so busy that we had people waiting for tables," she said. "I have seating outside now, weather permitting, and a heater for outside when it's chilly."

The recently completed Carson Street reconstruction downtown could mean an even greater boost in sales for downtown restaurants like Comma Coffee, located near the corner of North Carson and Second streets, directly across the street from the Nevada Legislature building.

"Because it's more friendly to walk across the street and walk up and down, I think all of the businesses will do much better this year," Joplin said.

Breakfast can be busy for places like Comma Coffee and Mom and Pop's Diner, but lunch is the biggest rush for most downtown Carson City eateries during a typical day at the legislature.

"Breakfast is always good, but lunch is busier," said Doug and Jamesa Cramer, owners of Mom and Pop's Diner at the corner of North Carson Street and Bob McFadden Plaza. "The business always increases at Mom and Pop's Diner."

The Basil owner Birdie Harthono concurs, saying that although her restaurant is known to draw in crowds for dinner on weeknights and weekends, the mid-day meal tops them all with respect to legislature patrons.

"Lunch is the highest amount of people," she said.

In addition to Mom and Pop's Diner — located across Carson Street from the State Capitol grounds in the new Bob McFadden Plaza — the Cramers also own the Caucus Deli, situated conveniently inside the Legislature building, a venture they started six years ago during the 2011 regular legislative session.

"The deli gets very busy," they said. "We give them almost the same menu over there as we have here, and we give them the same quality."

Both the Cramers and Joplin said they will be hiring additional staff to handle the increase in business over the next four months.

Mom and Pop's will add two staff members during the session, the Cramers said, one at the diner and another at the Caucus Deli counter. Joplin said she looks to hire a couple more people to handle the increase in business during the session.

Harthono said she will add one wait staff in the dining room and another cook in the kitchen during this year's legislative session to help cover her restaurant's spike in business.

She said additional staffing will not only give her restaurant adequate coverage, but allow her to meet the needs of more patrons.

"Once we add the staff we're going to be able to do a lot more different things," Harthono said.

This means trying innovative ways to draw in more people, including the introduction of new menu items.

"As a business, it's always a good time to start new things," said Joplin, who will be introducing an evening menu this year. "Because we are so busy from the time we open our doors until they're done across the street, it's a good time for me to add new things to the menu, and try new things because you are getting so many people every day."

Other area eateries take business as it comes and tend to go with the flow.

Chef Charlie Abowd, co-owner of The Cafe at Adele's with his wife Karen, said gearing up for a regular legislative session isn't something his establishment makes any special preparations for, because it has been business as usual every other year since his parents opened the restaurant in 1978.

"We're part of Nevada's dining fabric, 39 years now of doing what we do," Abowd said. "We have the experience to take care of their needs, and to make sure that their meals are made in a timely fashion and they are able to take care of their business and go about their day."

Neither does Adele's increase its staff in response to a regular legislative session, nor does it change the menu over the four months that legislators and lobbyists are in town.

This is because Abowd has already done his homework on what his core patrons in both legislative and non-legislative years like to eat.

"We are what we are," Abowd said. "Through the years, we've come to know their likes, dislikes and preferences."

He said Adele's staff will see increased hours during the 120-day regular legislative session, but that comes with the territory. Increased business is a welcome boost that benefits everyone.

"It's a blessing for everybody, because instead of having their hours decrease, they're actually increasing their hours," he said.

Most of the owners, too, expect to be working the floor more.

Doug Cramer, Abowd and Harthono already put full days in the kitchen, while others like Mom and Pop's co-owner Jamesa Cramer run the dining room, helping to wait and bus tables.

"We will all work more," Joplin said. "I will be back on the schedule, too. I put myself there so that we have enough people all of the time."

For lawmakers and lobbyists, going to lunch is more about efficiency, Jamesa Cramer said, so that they can spend their break doing business.

"We always make sure legislators get their food as quick as possible and they really appreciate that," she said.

Abowd said this is because the mid-day meal has as much or more to do with breaking bread as eating it.

"They are usually very busy," he said. "They're not coming here for a dining experience. They're here taking care of business and to eat."

But this doesn't mean Adele's and other downtown restaurants are simply a place to sit and negotiate. Abowd said his establishment takes its role as a political venue seriously.

"We never really talk about anything that goes on in here, because the term 'what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas' actually started here as 'what happens at Adele's stays at Adele's,' " he said. "The thing is it's business. Everybody's treated the same, and that's all they ask for."

Discretion is something the Cramers understand all too well at Mom and Pop's, where colorful characters of Carson City's legislative past have spun their yarns and made doing business often humorously unforgettable for restaurant staff.

"One of the things we like about our location is all the legislators we've gotten to know over the years at every legislative session," Jamesa Cramer said. "I always say I'm going to write a book called 'As the Toaster Turns,' because of all the crazy things around here."

The diner — owned and operated by Doug and his dad, Sidney, for several years before the couple took over in 1998 — has been serving food to the legislature for so long that the list of anecdotes the Cramers have gathered over the years probably now outnumbers the dozens of items on their menu.

"Mom and Pop's location has been a convenient location across the street," the Cramers said. "Being at this time and location for so many years, we know so many of the lobbyists and others."

Of the 63 lawmakers seated between the 42-seat Assembly and the 21-seat Senate, 17 of them are freshman this year, the Nevada Legislature web site shows.

And many of them are legislating in the Nevada state capital for the first time.

As such, downtown restaurateurs welcome the first-time lawmakers making their legislative debuts in Carson City, as much as the veterans coming back for another round of politics.

"This is a small town, very family-oriented and very warm," Harthono said. "We hope that they'll have a good time while they're here."

Joplin said the freshmen lawmakers and new legislative staff will learn quickly that downtown Carson City offers a variety of spots for them to go and unwind on their breaks.

"Carson City's a happening place now with something going on all of the time," she said. "Come in here, dial it down, take a break before you go back in there so that you keep your head level."