Nor'Town: Politics in North Las Vegas, Nevada

Kiel Ranch Meeting at 4:30pm Today

As the Review Journal reports, City Council will discuss funding for the "cheapest" plan for Kiel ranch today. (RJ)

However, the discussion will take place at a special meeting of the City Council at 4:30 pm at city hall. (Agenda) So, if you show up for the regular meeting at 6:00, you'll miss the fun. There'll also be talk of reducing health insurance benefits to city workers as part of the continuing budget crisis.

Gee, you think city workers are part of that so-called majority of Americans satisfied with their current health plan? I think they only ask members of Congress in those polls, don't you?

Anyways, stop by to find out why there's plenty of money for a seven-story, palatial new city hall, but not for the historic site of Nor'Town's first drive-by shooting--or health care for city workers.

The regular meeting won't have the fun part about setting up the casino for Credit Suisse's ghost-town at Park Highlands, either, as the Agenda claims. The lawyer-lobbyists have asked for a postponement, and Council never disappoints them. Too much campaign money at stake.

Nor'Town Cowboy Hat Fetishist Sludgecakes

Others have talking points, quick hits, or gleanettes. Nor'Towners are stuck with Sludge Cakes!

• A reader spotted the following note over on the Nevada State Democratic Party site from which we learn that Nor'Town Councilguy Robert Eliason and Clark County Commissioner and cowboy hat fetishist Tom Collins are supporting William Robinson's run for Mayor. Hmm. Given Mr. Collins' support, should we conclude that Mr. Robinson is a full scale supporter of the Clark County Shooting Park and will fail to take any stand on the Sheepdip Highway to Nowhere, like Mr. Collins?
• A suggestion for the next North Las Vegas city slogan: Ah, Nor'Town! The place to go for all your organized crime needs! (Sun) Or, perhaps: Can't fence that copper you stole? Try Nor'Town! Filling fencing needs for over sixty years!
  
• Sounds like the BLM is dragging its feet on the Environmental Impact Study 13,000 acre decision viz. the Sheepdip Highway to Nowhere, so the Tule Springs folk have canceled their powwow on the subject for the time being. However, there will be a candidate meet and grill at the Aliante Sun City Club House, 7394 Aliante Parkway, North Las Vegas, NV, Tuesday, Mar. 10, at 6pm, when you can ask the mayoral wannabes all about it.
• There's a meeting on Kiel Ranch on the same night, Tuesday, March 10, at 5:45pm at the NLV Library, 2300 Civic Center Drive, North Las Vegas. You can see various plans for the scene of Nor'Town's first murder over here.

Busy Day in Nor'Town

• City Manager has a new toy. He's got the Nor'Town housing authority all to himself. (KXNT) Don't miss the city's official announcement. The bit about former housing authority boss Don England announcing his retirement is just too funny. (NLV)
• New faces at the Nor'Town Bidness Club. (IBLV) I hope we've seen the last of the extremist anti-environment leadership of the past. Course, I'm guessing some developers couldn't afford dues this year.
• Nor'Town makes the top ten list of most boring U.S. cities. (Forbes) They obviously have never seen the tire Christmas tree over at Purcell's.
• Another reason to preserve Kiel ranch: it was the scene of the first Nor'Town murder. (NLV) Maybe. There will be a workshop on the ranch at the same time (?!?) as the Planning Commission meeting: Jan. 14, 6pm, at the North Las Vegas Library.
• You know, the UNLV anthropology department has the bodies of the mysteriously killed Kiel folk. If Nor'Townies were a Native American tribe, we'd consider that sacrilegious and demand the bodies back. So we could bury 'em proper under the Purcell tire Christmas tree.
• Now your neighborhood drug lord's kidnapping folk for no apparent reason whatsoever. (MSNBC)
• Don't know why they picked up this guy. Looks like he was driving like most other Nor'Townies.
• Airplane guys will be having a meeting Jan. 14th on how to be better neighbors to folks near the Nor'Town aerodrome. I'm guessing not crashing into houses so much might be at the top of the list.
• You know, Henderson is just plain stuck up.
• The Stephanie Smith for Mayor campaign published a webpage that is only in the Lorem ipsum stage. "Lorem ipsum" is fake Latin filched from Cicero used to create fake text while a page is being designed. It's kind of odd to go live while still in that stage, tho. I'll be publishing candidate webpages and info as I find out about them over on the Nor'Town 2009 Election site.

City Council Swingin'

Woah. You know, you get 3 out of 5 city council members running for mayor and they get busy. There is the portion of the city council meeting set aside for "council items" where city council members introduce initiatives. Usually nothing happens during those because, well, that's what the back room is for.

Even though he can't run for Mayor, Mayor Mike Montandon mentioned two interesting items. First, he wanted staff to get ready to deal with the widening of I-15 which is the main roads project the State will be paying for in the next while because, well, the Governor is an idiot. But don't get me started on that.

The other thing on Mayor Mike's agenda is bit of a brouhaha between Nor'Town and Clark County over what  Clark County Councilman Commissioner Tom Collins apparently calls Nor'Town's "Manifest Destiny."  By which he seems to refer to Nor'Town's rather aggressive annexation of County lands. So, reps from the city and county will be getting together to iron that issue out.

Stephanie Smith, who's planning a run for Mayor, wondered what was happening with the great shopping cart clean up of 2007. Apparently staff is trying to find out every business in the city who might have shopping carts before setting out to do much about it. Seems to me you go after the supermarkets and Target and Wal-Mart and you'll have 90% of the job done. Anyway, our beloved corporate citizens have not picked up even one of the carts collected by the city, city staff reported.

William Robinson complained that code enforcement needs to be stepped up in Ward 2. He wants something more than the "pretty pictures" staff keep showing him. Robinson also wanted a report from staff about Kiel Ranch, which didn't get funding from the state for fixing up. There are apparently some funds for cleaning up and fixing up an adobe structure, but the project seems to be in limbo otherwise. Robinson wondered why the city should fund something falling down--an excellent argument for allowing the Colosseum in Rome to collapse, or the Statue of Liberty to fall to ruin.

Shari Buck didn't have any new initiatives. She'd better get on the stick if she's going look suitably mayoral. Oh wait. She's a Republican. They don't do initiatives.

History in NorthTown = Keggers

Up in North Town, we've found good uses for historical sites, according to the Sun:

Perhaps only in Southern Nevada would one of the oldest buildings in the state and a 45-year-old motel both be considered cultural gems.

But the similarity ends there. Because while dollars and effort are flowing into a campaign to salvage the lobby of La Concha, a motel built on the Las Vegas Strip in 1961, Kiel Ranch in North Las Vegas, a homestead settled in the mid-1800s, sits decaying, used mainly for high school beerfests.

The City of North Las Vegas is looking for $8 million from the state to fund renovations at Kiel Ranch. We'll see if the new Gube is in favor of such largess, what with energy and transportation needing money.

Hey Kids! Don't ever get buried at Kiel Ranch!