Plan proposed to save character of old neighborhoods

Denise Cardinal

Thursday, Dec. 4, 1997 | 10:52 a.m.

A series of town meetings held by the city of Las Vegas a few months ago exposed a growing sentiment among residents -- they want a sense of community in their neighborhoods.

Since then, city officials have been looking for ways to create that sense of community in one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation.

One way that's being looked at by the city's Planning and Development Director Theresa O'Donnell is to preserve the character of older neighborhoods in the city by creating neighborhood plans.

It's a process that several other cities around the country are using to stave off inner-city squalor and commercial encroachment.

O'Donnell knows a lot about the system -- she worked on neighborhood planning in San Antonio and Houston, Texas.

The process would work something like this:

Creating neighborhood character is the next logical step for neighborhood services, O'Donnell said, which has already addressed existing problems in neighborhoods. It's something the City Council has been looking at doing for awhile.

"Now, we should be planning our neighborhoods," she said, citing the example of how in Seattle, their neighborhood vision was for every child in Seattle to be able to walk to a library. "That's a heartwarming vision, that incorporates safe streets, nice walkways. I'd like to be a child there."