Las Vegas RDA approves $200,000 participation to promote downtown ‘Feed the Block’ series

The City of Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency on April 15 approved an agency participation agreement to provide up to $200,000 for the Feed the Block downtown event series, agency staff said.

Dina Babsky, the city’s director of Economic and Urban Development, told the board the RDA contribution is structured as $20,000 per event for promotion and media content and that organizers must keep the events free to the public and return to the board with measurable outcomes. "This is literally RDA participating and promoting downtown and the great things that are happening here," Babsky said.

Event partner Ryan Doherty, introduced at the meeting as a downtown organizer, said last year’s Feed the Block drew about 20,000 attendees and organizers hope to grow to roughly 30,000. He described a near‑monthly schedule aimed at attracting visitors to downtown midweek and said the series relies on heavy security and programming to shape the crowd.

Board members emphasized downtown activation as a policy goal. Councilman Diaz moved to approve the resolution; the chair called the vote and announced the motion passed.

The agreement ties RDA payments to promotional uses only (not talent or operations) and requires the partner to provide regular reports on outreach and media metrics. The agency did not provide a roll‑call vote tally in the meeting record. The RDA staff noted the item is related to a council item for final approval at the council level.