Nor'Town: Politics in North Las Vegas, Nevada

No Debates Chickenmen!

Yep, it's about that time in the primary when I  bring out the No Debates Dancing Chickenmen!

Originally created when Jim Gibbons was running away from Dina Titus and avoiding debates, the No Debates Chickenmanwas resurrected during the 2007 council election when Shari Buck was nowhere to be found when it came time for a public debate.

Councilguy and Candidate Robert Eliason is pulling the same trick on his opponents. The tactic is roughly this: suck up a bunch of campaign money from developers, casino moguls, and the lawyer-lobbyists that serve them, blanket the ward with signs and flyers, and never ever speak to the media. Then, hope for a majority in the primary which will guarantee election.

Dodging debates is a disservice to his constituents and the democratic process. Voters have a right to hear from their candidates even if media types consider the opposition "weak." By the way, it's the voters' call as to who's a "weak" candidate, not the media's.

Missing from the Pate to Pate Debate was William Robinson who was suitable designated a Chicken by Mr. Ralston, although Mr. Robinson did show for a KNPR gabfest earlier in the week.

The show is worth a look. Ralston worked over Ned Thomas a bit, which, believe it or not, is actually a good thing. Ralston only treats candidates nicely when he knows they can't handle the fullblown, in-your-face Ralston treatment. He reserves the nice routine for newbees and hopeless cases destined for the dustbin of Nevada political history. Like that guy with a biblical verse instead of a name.

Frankly, bible-verse guy is a real disappointment. He has this idea that developers should be required to hire workers who speak English. Look, if you have bible verse for a name, at least pick one of the biblical languages. I think businesses should only hire people who speak Aramaic, like Jesus, with maybe some allowance for Hebrew or Koiné Greek.

Thomas reminded us of why we need change: the city zoned a playground right next to a railroad track. One wonders why they didn't embrace the most efficient use of the land and simply place the playground on the tracks. Isn't that what they call a Multiple Use District?

Stephanie Smith was enjoying herself way too much when Ralston asked her about making Shari Buck's Republican party affiliation an issue. (4th Segment) Without explicitly saying that Buck is inextricablly linked with the failed policies of Bush/Cheney, Smith smiled so sweetly as she said she was merely "setting the record straight"--all the while enjoying the fact that the discussion made clear that Buck is hiding her party behind a picture of Harry Reid. The school teacher can be pretty sneaky when she wants to.

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.

Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful...and Armed

Gubewannabe and lame duck Nor'Town Mayor Mike Montandon will be hosting a clay shooting event to raise funds for area Boy Scouts, tastefully announced over on the site Ammoland.com, which has all sorts of neat pictures of bullets on it. (Ammo)

Now, I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing--given that pretty soon you won't be able to walk around Nor'Town without a sidearm strapped to your thigh. Maybe the boys should know how to plug a drug dealer--or a wacky gun nut toked up on testosterone and beer.

Overnight, William Robinson for Mayor signs appeared around my neighborhood in Robinson's ward 2. Not a surprise. The mayor's campaign will be about getting out each candidate's "base" in their wards since most apathetic Nor'Towners will be napping that day. 

Robert Eliason will be interesting to watch during the campaign season. He's got a little match up of his own in Ward 1, but will probably have tons of funds and thus tough to beat. (Tune in next week to look at Eliason's reports to see.) The question is, which one of his colleagues on the Council will he support? Given he'll be working to get his base out to the polls, some lucky colleague would be thankful for a good chunk of those votes.

Ah, unflattering pics of Nor'Townie Democrats in extremist, government-hating Republican rag today. Not a big surprise there. The web pics aren't too bad, but the ones in the hard copy version would make you choke on your Cheerios. Steven Horsford, Stephanie Smith, and Tom Collins were out with Americans United for Change trying to change the minds of earmark-loving, government-hating, government employees (no, I don't get that, either) John Ensign and Dean Heller to abandon the gold standard and support the Obama stimulus. Well, good luck with that, guys.

Will the Real Nor'Town Please Stand Up?

They should rename the town Dr. Jeckyll, Mr. Nor'Town, it has so many faces.

The opening of Aliante Station presented the town's face that the Mayor and City Council prefer to have in the public eye. And they had much help from the local newspapers telling us over and over just how nifty the first Casino Alley casino is. You'd expect it from the Sun which is owned by a co-owner of the casino, but they were buying so much ad-space in the Review Journal it was hard to find a bit of news in the local fish-wrapper of record. Except for a piece or two saying how nifty the opening night was. (RJ,RJ)

Despite having to lay off a few workers. (RJ)

And isn't it soothing for the Sun to assure us that the traffic tie-ups on the Woodbury beltway and parking lot will go away, maybe in January. Maybe. (Sun)

Just wait until there are five or six Casinos along there.

Indeed, you can find the Mayor if you want a comment on Aliante Station. It's a little harder to reach him on the unfolding story of the wretched Casa Rosa apartments, a nasty tenement apparently ignored for years by the North Las Vegas Housing Authority. We learn:

• After reports of bugs, sewage, mold and other nastiness, the Board called for an emergency relocation of tenants. The use of the word "Emergency," however, should not be considered to entail swiftness as the tenants are still in their hovels and will probably remain there for another week. (RJ)
• You do not want to piss off Carl Rowe, grand poobah of the Las Vegas Housing Authority. After concluding he'd been snookered by Nor'Town's housing authority into taking on a hopeless, wrecked tenement, he explained his dismay to his counterpart in Nor'Town, Don England:

“I’m not sure what prompted your e-mail but as your counsel knows, the City of North Las Vegas staff knows, my staff knows, and, most of all, you know, you have issued no request for our services beyond our existing agreement. At best, this looks like a disingenuous attempt to transfer responsibility that is and has been yours, alone, to someone else.”

“I am absolutely loath to deal with someone who is as blatantly interested in ducking responsibility as you are. If it weren’t for the residents that need some relief from your failed stewardship,” Rowe continued, “it would not bother me at all to leave you ‘high and dry’ to take care of this fiasco yourself.” (Sun)

I suspect we'll continue to see a whole mess of ducked responsibility from the Board as the story unfolds. I also suspect that Shari Buck's mayoral campaign is thrilled that she wasn't on the Housing Board and will joyfully remind us of that fact as the mayoral contest heats up. Though she's probably got an uphill battle educating the notoriously poorly informed and apathetic Nor'Town electorate that she wasn't.

But wait, there's more to the seamy side of Nor'Town. During the city council meeting on November 5th, council members tussled over how to use their share of federal funds aimed at alleviating the foreclosure mess. One plan, backed by Mayor Mike Montandon, Shari Buck, and William Robinson, would take the money and use it to tear down yet another set of crummy Nor'Town apartments called Buena Vista Springs.

Those stinkholes sure have nice names, don't they?

Stephanie Smith and Robert Eliason were opposed mainly because the money was meant to buy up recently foreclosed homes and "rehabilitate" them so that surrounding neighborhoods wouldn't also go down the toilet. Smith and Eliason seemed a little dubious that tearing down an apartment complex and using the money for other bits of blight that have graced the city for years would do that. (Sun)

Be sure to look at the comments to that Sun story. You'll especially enjoy the story of the new teacher who wanted to live close to her new school which was near the Buena Vista Apartments, then known as the Carey Arms. She found the NLV police investigating a crime at the place, and they advised her to run away and never look back.

You know, maybe the city should offer all it's tenement dwellers a discount coupon to the Aliante Station or something. Oh, wait. We wouldn't want to bankrupt the place so soon, would we?

Casa Rosa Gives North Las Vegas a Wedgie

Well, okay. It's more of a wedge issue, but I'm guessing it feels like a wedgie to the North Las Vegas Housing Authority.

It's pretty hard telling the difference between Nor'Town councilmembers if you look at their voting records. Most issues they face are pretty straightforward and pretty dull. Arguing over ten feet versus five feet of desert landscaping around the newest Quickie Mart clone just isn't that exciting, and it doesn't count for much on the old campaign bio.

The Casa Rosa scandal hwever, that has popped up like mushrooms in a tenement ceiling, has provided councilgal Shari Buck a chance to distance herself from her potential rivals for the mayor's chair in elections next spring.

In case you've been living under a rock, or inside a mold-encrusted apartment under the jurisdiction of the Nor'Town housing authority, here's a quick, and biased (natch) recap.

The Nor'Town housing authority recently handed management of its properties to the Las Vegas housing authority because the fed department of Housing and Urban development said the Nor'Towners were doing a stinky job. The Las Vegas guys inspected the Casa Rosa apartments and found all sorts of awful things: mold and mushrooms growing all over the place, broken locks, electrical boxes that throw sparks, broken staircases, and other nastiness. (RJ)

Now, bear in mind that most of the North Las Vegas City Council actually sit on the North Las Vegas Housing Board. In particular, Mayor Montandon, Stephanie Smith, and Robert Eliason are on the board, with Councilman William Robinson sitting as chair. (NLVHousingBoard)

Two of these are presumed mayoral wannabes: Smith and Robinson.

However, the other mayoral wannabe, Shari Buck, isn't on the board, and she took advantage of that to attack the others, to whit:

Conditions such as those found in Wilson's home are deplorable, North Las Vegas City Councilwoman Shari Buck said on Friday.

"It just raises questions about how a situation could have gotten that bad without the (housing authority) board members knowing," she said. "That's shocking to me."

Ah, yes! How could it have happened--especially since Smith and Robinson are members?

But Buck, the only member of the city council who doesn't also serve on the housing authority board, said board members should have known about substandard conditions years in the making. (RJ)

No doubt, no doubt. But one can only wonder if everyone on City Council, the final authority in Nor'Town, won't all have to share the blame of the travesty at Casa Rosa.

Nonetheless, it will be entertaining to see how Smith and Robinson respond. So far they apparently want to blame underlings for leaving them, like Casa Rosa residents, in the dark.

Nor'Town Talking Points: Gimpy Edition

• For want of a healthy foot, the top secret budget meeting of the North Las Vegas City Council would have nixed the money for staff at the new Alexander Library. Mayor Mike Montandon and Stephanie Smith were in favor of the money for staff at the library, and William Robinson and Robert Eliason were against. Shari Buck was not in attendance because she busted her foot. She says she'll be in favor when she hobbles to the next meeting. (RJ) Now, this is one of those "yes, in my backyard!" issues. Us folks in Ward 2, Mr. Robinson, need a library that's south of Aliante and west of I-15. Why Mr. Robinson would mind having Aliantoids pony up for a library in his own Ward since us Ward twoers have been paying for theirs, boggles the mind. Doesn't he want a place for Ward two kids to go read? And if he's so worried about the high price of gas, then wouldn't a neighborhood library actually save gas?
• Hmm. I wonder if that budget meeting was in violation of the open meeting law....
• Pardee punts. Maybe. Pardee has pulled a plan to place 660 apartments at Revere and Deer Springs. (Sun) The lawyer-lobbyist for Pardee called it a "business decision," but, come on, they caved because you can't sell houses to people that hate you. However, they could revive the plan, so everyone should keep an eye out for that.
• Neighbors vehemently agin the Sheep Mountain Parkway, MSM fails to note. (NorT)
• "Everyone seems to like the idea of preservation, but sometimes it takes cash and lots of it.  Take for example Kiel Ranch, home to the oldest adobe house in Southern Nevada.  The city of North Las Vegas made a commitment to restore it three years ago.  Since then, nothing." (KVBC)
  

Are You Happy?

On theory suggested in a recent Sun piece as to why North Las Vegas folks, and Clark County denizens in general, avoid city council meetings, was that, well, we're just so damned happy.

"I think as a whole the citizens are happy with the government and the way it's being run," Hafen said.

Of course, that was Henderson councilguy Andy Hafen. I suspect Nor'Towners would drop dead in their tracks if they ever heard one of our own saying such a thing.

It's one thing to say that Nor'Towners are apathetic about politics. This idea is supported by pathetic voter turnouts--although if the cities gave up holding elections on off-years, and off-months like May and June, they might see better turn outs. The real question is: why are they apathetic?

There is probably more than one factor at work. One factor is that it's difficult to look over a city council agenda and determine how an item affects the average one's own life.  It's difficult to care about the kind of fence a business should put up or the number of units a business wants to build on its land. Indeed, those who can afford it hire rather expensive attorneys to keep track of that.

I suspect that better access to the meetings would help create some interest. North Las Vegas Councilperson Eliason doesn't want cameras in the chambers:

Count North Las Vegas Councilman Robert Eliason as among those glad the cameras aren't rolling during council meetings.   

"People like to see themselves on TV," he said. "I think it might sometimes get abused. By some council members, too."

Course, that might mean he would actually have to publiclly defend a vote or two. But there are ways to create better access than T.V. cameras, like better coverage of the council in local main stream media. Nearly every item on the Las Vegas City Council or Clark County agendas gets picked over by the press. You only hear about Nor'Town if somebody gets gunned down by gangs or they let the pedophiles loose.

It's probably economically impossible these days, but wouldn't it be nice if Nor'Town still had a newspaper like the North Las Vegas Valley Times around?

And I still like my suggestion about the NLV council posting videos of the meetings on the web. The drama queens Eliason is worried about wouldn't be tempted to put on a show, but those of us interested in the city could keep up.

So, what do you think?

Why Don't Nor'Towners Go To Council Meetings?

Why do you think most North Las Vegas citizens do not participate at North Las Vegas Council Meetings?

Choose One Work conflicts Traffic Wouldn't change anything Just don't care Too busy taking drugs Why? the city's perfect now! They're sooo boring!

View  Results

SB 352 Passes Out of Committee

Steven Horsford's SB 352 passed out of the Assembly Government Affairs committee today. Although the City of North  Las Vegas originally had some questions about the bill, the spokesperson for the city, Kimberly McDonald, said all those had been addressed in the revised version of the bill sent to the Assembly. Councilman Eliason spoke in favor. No one spoke in opposition. Kirkpatrick mentioned that she received some nasty emails from what she called "misinformed" citizens.

Next, the bill goes to the Assembly, which, given the Committee's "do pass" decision, will pass, after which, it heads for the Governor's office.

Mayor Bows Before Fertitta Brothers

The RJ reports that although the North Las Vegas City Council was originally opposed to the new Stations Casino, they changed their minds over time:

' "Five years ago when they first started planning Aliante, when they said they wanted a casino, my initial reaction was no," said North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon. "It took a lot of lobbying and effort to convince me that it is a good part of the community. Apparently, they were right." '

Part of that lobbying effort were generous campaign contributions to the Mayor and Council members from the Stations Casinos owned by the Fertitta brothers:

Mayor Montandon, $10,000 on March 7, 2005 (CC&E p. 8).

Stephanie Smith $5,000 on April 11, 2005 (CC&E p. 3).

Robert Eliason, $10,000 on February 1, 2005 (CC&E p. 3).

Shari Buck, $20,000 total in 2003 from Texas Station, Santa Fe Station, Fiesta Rancho, and Palace Station Casinos (CC&E, p. 11).

William Robinson, $10,000 total, January 18, 2003, from Fiesta and Boulder Station Casinos (CC&E pp. 6 + 7), $5,000, May 29, 2003 from Texas Station and $5,000 , June 26, 2003, from  Santa Fe Station (CC&E p.  2).

Progress?

The RJ thought that the most interesting item at the North Las Vegas City Council Meeting Wednesday night was the proposed ordinance that will require the City Council, not just the rubber stampers in the Planning Commission, to approve special issue permits for adult businesses, pawn shops, and the payday usury biz. And, oh yeah, gotta have the obligatory pic of the Palomino stripper. O, seductive Nor'town, hail the ever tasteful RJ!

The Council was no doubt trying to show that it was paying attention to the referendums last Fall in which voters expressed their disgust with such businesses despite the fact that only the payday loans and pawn shops seem to be growth industries--the nudie clubs and salacious book stores seeming to prefer locations in Oscar Town and hotels near the strip. And it won't hurt the campaigns of William Robinson and Shari Buck if the ordinance gets passed on March 7th. It will certainly be interesting to see who comes out with lawyer in tow to argue agin it.

More interesting was one of the very few items that passed but not with the customary unanimous vote. Olympia Group, the 10th largest taxpayer in the county and run by our corporate overlord Garry Geott Goett, has decided that filling up Aliante with pricey high-end homes just ain't Nor'town. Instead, Olympia is planning to stuff medium and high density housing into the area "south of Grand Teton and East of Clayton," which had been originally zoned for a low-density master-planned community. And the Council went along without as much as a whimper. You'd think they'd be screaming about the downgrading of the property. What of those dreams of a Northern Summerlin, a Northern Henderson? Gone: nothing left but high-density Nor'town.

Wait. There was one dissent. Without a peep or a comment, boy scout Robert Eliason didn't support the ordinance. And the citizens of North Las Vegas can only wonder why he did not approve of such a sweet deal for developers and a poor one for Nor'town. He owes Nor'town an explanation, and if he really didn't like the idea, why didn't he try to persuade the rest of the Council to vote against? Aren't boy scouts honest and trustworthy? Or was he simply being obedient to his--and our--Corporate Overlords?

[UPDATE: Mayor Montandon received $10,000 in campaign contributions from Olympia on May, 17, 2005 (p. 9 CC&E)

Stephanie Smith, $2,000, April 6, 2005 (p. 2 CC&E) from Olympia.

Robert Eliason, $2,000, April 7, 2005 (p. 3 CC&E) from Olympia.

Shari Buck, $10,000, Dec. 21, 2006, (p. 3 CC&E) from South Valley Investors, a Geott LLC.

Shari Buck, $10,000, Dec. 31, 2006, (p. 2 CC&E) from C&O Holdings, a Geott LLC.]