Nor'Town: Politics in North Las Vegas, Nevada

Just a Coding Error

So, executive-leaving Nor'Town City Manager characterized the use of "More Cops" funds to support cops already on the force.

"The issue is a simple coding error. It's just paperwork," City Manager Gregory Rose said earlier this month. (RJ)

However, the "More Cops" funds, we are told, are meant only to support new hires in an effort to increase the force. They should not be used as a bookkeeping tool to shuffle funds from one account to another in tough economic times.

The, dare we say, scandal is beginning to make everyone look bad. We learn: Nor'Town Chief of police Joseph Forti knew about the shift of funds, although he has denied it elsewhere. And the assistant chief says they knew about it in early 2009.

So, one wonders, when did Mayor Shari Buck, who's supposed to be in charge of the such goings on, know about it? Or are we to believe she doesn't know what's going on in her City Hall?

We also learn that Assemblyperson Marilyn Kirkpatrick "has long questioned why North Las Vegas hasn't hired more police officers with More Cops money."

Really? When did she plan to share those concerns with her constituents?

One thing is clear, though, Richard Cherchio has found an issue for his campaign coming up in early 2011. So, I'm guessing "More Cops" won't be going away anytime soon. I wonder if the mayor will be endorsing his campaign?

Hold Your Nose, Nor'Town!

No, not because of the usual stench circa Craig and Losse--man, that ain't the pigfarm, is it?

Nope. I mean: you'd better hold your nose because the BSS Nor'Town is agoin' down!

We learn today that Councilperson Anita Wood has told City Manager Gregory Rose to have his staff-folk start up some "critical needs" assessments.(VN)

I suggest it might just be quicker to pull out a pink highlighter and slap a spot on the foreheads of the underlings who can expect pink slips in the next year or so.

Councilguy Cherchio mentioned that maybe those assessments are coming a year too late. You know, back when the council was voting to sink millions into that new City Council Building.

Maybe they should dedicate the new building to all the staffers they'll be letting off. Put up a lovely plaque with all the names on it or something. Next to a big pigeon statue, maybe. Something with real, Nor'Town class.

Meanwhile, the Mayor continues her quixotic quest to lure California firms to our fair city. Say, how many have signed up, I wonder? (Sun)

Personally, I'm finding those ads by Swarzenegger pretty tempting. You know, the ones where the gube of California says: "California, find yourself here."

Wonder what Nor'Town's slogan should be?

• North Las Vegas: find something really smelly here!
• North Las Vegas: find a foreclosed home here!
• North Las Vegas: find a pink slip here!
• North Las Vegas: find a dead pigeon here!
• Nor'Town: lose your will to live here!

Oh well, look at it this way. Our ghost town will make a wonderful exhibit in that new national monument. Another extinct creature, right next to the Mastodon bones.

Woah. Follow Nor'Town on Twitter. Sounds like a pigeon cooing.

Stuff Coming Up

• North Las Vegas Association of Home Owners' Association and Concerned Citizens meets tomorrow, Jnue 10, at the Aliante Library at 6pm. Here's the Agenda in Microsoft Word format. And lookee, Richard Cherchio's in the news again. (Sun)
• Same day, the City of North Las Vegas will hold a meeting about the Master Plan for downtown Nor'Town.
• Wednesday, Nor'town Planning Commission will crank through a bunch of reclassification applications for the Boyd's Gaming casino slated for Park Highlands. (NLV). It's been in the news that Boyd's Gaming got the nod from Olympia Corp., presumed developers of Park Highlands, to put up the casino alloted to the development. The casino company will be asking the commission to allow them to move the site up to the beltway so that the west end of 215 will make a more suitable extension to Casino Alley. I say "suitable" because the city clearly is unconcerned about the number of casinos in the area--having decided they don't want to spend any money on a consultant to learn anything about it. (Sun) The planning commission in turn snubbed no less an organization than the Nevada National Guard at its last meeting in its haste to approve the Miller Casino as it backed motions by none other than army reservist Angelo Carvalho.

Area Man Relieves Nor'Town of Gas

The Sun looks more and more like the "Daily Nor'Towner" as Mike Trask posts the second North Las Vegas-centered story in as many days. Today we learn how one of our neighbors has learned more about the gas company and its multifarious regulatory bodies than anyone would really care to know in an attempt to stop the local utilty from wasting a precious and costly resource. (Sun)

Meeting on Northeast Career Technical Academy

The notice speaks for itself. There seems to be some concern that there will not be enough North Las Vegas police to protect students at the new school--or the surrounding neighborhoods from unruly kids.

A sister school is on shaky ground. I'm not kidding.

The Google Map for Legacy High School is amusing. Select the satellite view--and there is nothing there!

[UPDATE: Richard Cherchio writes in to say that neighbors have some question about the Clark County School District Police (CCSDP), not with the North Las Vegas Police Department. School police are restricted to dealing with problems that occur on school property and must call the NLVPD to handle situations elsewhere, even though the school officer may be much closer and able to respond much more quickly.

So, one of the questions to be addressed at the meeting is: should the responsibilities of the school police be expanded off campus? Of course, this raises other questions, such as, is the training of school police officers commensurate with that of the NLVPD to ensure Nor'Towners receive the same level of service and protection from both departments? Perhaps the meeting will afford some answers to that question. Another question may or may not get answered as well: is Cherchio, who lost a run for city council in Ward 4 against Shari Buck, looking for an issue for a future campaign?]

MetroSexual MaXaction Hits the MSM

The North Las Vegas City Council tripped over it's marketing tool today. The RJ ran a story on MaXaction, the gender ambiguous cartoon character designed to sell city services to 'Tweens, that age group between 9-12, which, city publications inform us, have a  "high influence on family spending" and "exert more purchase influence in the family than ever before."

Hmm. Wonder why all the emphasis on spending and purchasing??

Taking a page out of just about every comic book in the last decade--or two--we find city leaders and concerned citizens debating whether MetroSexual MaXaction is a hero out to do good or a vigilante set on terrorizing the city.

Richard Cherchio supports the vigilante view:

"To me, it looks like he's running from the police after graffiti-ing someone's backyard," Cherchio said of MaXaction ... "It makes it look like it's OK to be flipping people off, answering back and throwing stuff out of the window just to be obnoxious." 

Cherchio, along with Councilman William Robinson, didn't quite know what to make of Maxie's purse satchel man-bag either. However, a spokesman for Parks and Recreation suggested that it contains magic, um, balls spheres, one of which may have been the source of that surprise fourth plan for the Craig Ranch Regional park snuck in during a hastily called special meeting of the city council:

[City spokester] Stritchko said the city logo-emblazoned bag MaXaction carries is full of magical energy spheres that can be used for "a multitude of different things" such as creating an impromptu soccer field.

Hmm. Magic spheres? That's not 'Tween slang for Meth is it?

And did you notice that Shari Buck and Richard Cherchio haven't taken down all their signs yet? I can't help wondering: has the race for Mayor already started, and will we see Cherchio matched against Buck again?

Hey Kids! Councilman Robertson was NOT the first to wonder about Maxie's purse.

Cherchio Walking

This weekend is the time to walk with a candidate since it's the last weekend before the primary. You can go with Jo Cato Saturday and Richard Cherchio both Saturday and Sunday:

Disclaimer: I do not officially support any candidate in the North Las Vegas City Council races. However, I do support political activism in our "apathetic" city. So, I will post information about campaigns and campaign activities which show up in my mailbox. If you want to send me info, send it here. If you don't send anything, then don't be upset when info about the other candidates shows up instead.

WHAT: Richard Cherchio get out the vote walk things
WHEN:  Saturday, March 31st and Sunday, April 1st. 10 AM til they drop.
WHERE: starting at Eldorado Park, Located at the corner of Camino Eldorado, and Tropical

Eldorado's gonna be busy Saturday. And it's a great opportunity to see what democracy is really like. Heck, you should drag the kids out to Cato's or Cherchio's (Or Lewis's, if you can find it) walks as an educational experience. Shoot, should be homework for social studies.

Disclaimer: I do not officially support any candidate in the North Las Vegas City Council races. However, I do support political activism in our "apathetic" city. So, I will post information about campaigns and campaign activities which show up in my mailbox. If you want to send me info, send it here. If you don't send anything, then don't be upset when info about the other candidates shows up instead.

WHAT: Richard Cherchio get out the vote walk things
WHEN:  Saturday, March 31st and Sunday, April 1st. 10 AM til they drop.
WHERE: starting at Eldorado Park, Located at the corner of Camino Eldorado, and Tropical

Eldorado's gonna be busy Saturday. And it's a great opportunity to see what democracy is really like. Heck, you should drag the kids out to Cato's or Cherchio's (Or Lewis's, if you can find it) walks as an educational experience. Shoot, should be homework for social studies.

Ward 4 Candidates On KNPR's State of Nevada

The Cato campaign sent me a note that the North Las Vegas 4th Ward candidates Jo Cato, Richard Cherchio, and Deborah Lewis will be on the radio on KNPR's (88.9 FM) State of Nevada tomorrow morning, Thurs. March 29, sometime after 9am.

You can call in questions to 258-3552 or email them to son@knpr.org.

The incumbent Shari Buck will not be appearing. That makes two of Ralston's Face to Faces and a KNPR appearance that she's ditched. Wonder why she's hiding? Surely the Fertitta Brothers or Garry Goett would be happy to lend her a limo to get her to the studio, stocked with tasty snacks like champaign and caviar.

She's probably relying on what she called "the same people" to show up at the polls:

Buck, though, seems unconcerned that the change [to Ward voting] will knock her out of office. "I guess my assumption is that the same people that normally vote will come out," she said. (Sun)

Or, as Jon Ralston described the strategy:

It's hard to make people be interested if they believe the election is fixed. But the saddest news of all is that incumbents generally like super-low turnouts because they can afford the infrastructure to get their people to the polls. That is, they can fix the outcomes. (Ralston)

1,219 out of 18,882 registered voters in Ward 4, or 6%, have voted as of this posting. Buck has spent about 6/10th of a penny for each one of those votes. Looked at that way, I guess a Nor'towner's vote is pretty cheap! Looked at another way, not so much. As Ralston concludes:

So for all of you who won't vote this time, I hope you like the government you didn't take the time to ask for.

Ward 4 folk can still do early voting:

March 28, Wednesday, Vons, Martin Luther King/Craig 9am - 6pm
March 29, Thursday, Vons, Martin Luther King/Craig 9am - 6pm
March 30, Friday, Vons, Martin Luther King/Craig 9am - 6pm

Also at City Hall and the Clark County Election Center. More info here.

Campaign Finance Reports Are In!

Whoohoo! Contribution and Expense Reports for most of the candidates are up on the North Las Vegas city site.

Who's winning the money game? Incumbents, of course!

Total Contributions:

Ward 4

Shari Buck: $183,300
Richard Cherchio: $44,064
[UPDATE: Jo Cato $18,000]
Debra Lewis: $10,350

Ward 2

William Robinson $114,850
John T. Stephens $610

With all that money, you'd think Robinson would figure out a way to type his entries. And Ward 2, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Send that John Stephens some money. He can't even afford a website, for pete's sake. You all are just making a mockery of the democratic process.

I'll be looking over those reports real careful the next few days, but lookee what I've already spotted in Shari Buck's: the Fertitta Brothers:

[UPDATE: Aliante Holding is owned by Aliante Station: $5,000]
[UPDATE: Fiesta Rancho: $5,000]
Boulder Station $5,000
Palace Station $5,000
Station Casinos, Inc. $5,000
Texas Station $5,000
Texas Station In Kind Contributions, $2,567.25
Fertitta Total:      $22567.25 $27,567.25 $32,567.25

Now, in the state of Nevada, the maximum contribution allowed is $10,000, $5,000 in the primary and $5,000 in the general. How is it that Stations Casinos can give over 22K? Let Sun reporter Coolican explain:

Some of the anonymity stems from what is known as "bundling." Although contributors can give only $10,000 to a candidate, a 1994 ruling by then-Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa argued that the Nevada campaign finance law allows different entities each to give $10,000.

As a result, wealthy individuals and companies form limited liability corporations so they can bundle their contributions and give candidates hundreds of thousands of dollars. These new companies have no public profile and exist only to funnel campaign cash, so they can remain a mystery to the public.

So, you ask, why bother with the $10,000 limit if Nevada politicians and their rich donors are cynically going to ignore. Now, that's a good question to ask your state Assemblyperson or Senator. Unfortunately, you'll find that no one has drafted any bills that directly address the problem for this session of the Legislature.

And if you want some real fun, go do a corporate entity search over at the Secretary of State's page for some of those Limited Liabilty Corporations, or LLC's, that you find in abundance in Buck's Contribution and Expense Report. I know I will.

Ignored Again, Naturally

Over in the Las Vegas Sun we learn again how the Will of North Las Vegas residents is thwarted by our supposedly elected government officials. The story reminds us how the majority of North Las Vegans voted for plan 1 of the Craig Ranch Regional Park, but in the dead of night afternoon, the City Council pulled out yet another plan that was not among the original three and somehow was elevated to most-favored status.

And if you read the transcripts of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board you see that board members were under the impression that City Staff were "going" with plan 1  (p. 6). Oh no, staff responds. One member liked 1, one liked 2, and one liked 3. Ergo, by a leap of logic worthy of North Town, the board favored 2!

Is it any wonder that North Town is so famous for it's apathy? Or is it just a matter of giving up, given all the decisions are made behind closed doors?

It's good to see the Ward 4 candidates Deborah Lewis and Richard Cherchio are leaning toward option 1. And kudos to Councilman Robinson who also seems to be supportive of a more natural plan for the park:

At least one current council member supports the push for the natural park.   

"I'm going to listen to the residents," said Councilman William Robinson, who is running for reelection in Ward 2. "I don't want to take all of the trees out of there."

Just one thing though, in the original RJ story, it was reported that Councilgal Stephanie Smith was concerned about the loss of trees in plan 4. In the Sun article those remarks were attributed to Shari Buck. Or did Buck just co-opt those remarks 'cuz they take the edge of her contention that all those parents who supposedly called her want her to mow down those trees for soccer fields? Hmm. We have a record of the web survey. Guess we're supposed to take Buck's word about all those phone calls.