Poll: Two-thirds of Reno residents want hotel demolition postponed

Scott Sonner

Wednesday, Dec. 15, 1999 | 10:26 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Activists trying to save the Mapes Hotel released an independent poll showing most Reno residents oppose demolition of the historic building and two-thirds want the city to take more time to review alternatives.

Nevertheless, City Councilman Dave Aiazzi said Tuesday there doesn't appear to be any interest among city officials in reconsidering plans to demolish the hotel where Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra once performed.

A hearing begins in Washoe District Court in Reno on Thursday on a lawsuit by historic preservationists aimed at blocking the Jan. 30 implosion.

"The trend across the country is to save and reuse landmarks like this, not tear them down," Holly Fiala of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's regional office said at a news conference in Reno on Tuesday.

Fifty-seven percent of the Reno residents surveyed said the Mapes Hotel should be saved from demolition, said Dave Line, president of the Reno-based InfoSearch International, which conducted the poll.

Thirty-three percent favor demolition and 10 percent don't care or have no opinion.

"It shows there is a strong reservoir of support for the Mapes," said Gary Kozel, spokesman for the National Trust in Washington, D.C.

Perhaps most significant, according to Mapes backers, 67 percent of the people surveyed want substantially more time allowed for prospective buyers to present alternatives to demolition.

"There are people standing in line to reopen this building," said Jon Dewey, vice president of the Truckee Meadows Heritage Trust.

The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent. Pollsters surveyed 401 adult, Reno residents by telephone between Nov. 27 and Dec. 5, Line said. Those surveyed were chosen at random.

Persons who had not heard of the Mapes were screened from the poll, Line said.

Dewey said that City Council members who oppose reconsidering a vote to demolish the Mapes have argued in the past there is no strong public sentiment toward saving the hotel-casino built in 1947.

"This survey refutes all that kind of thinking," he said.

Aiazzi said he's not convinced. He said he wants to review the survey questions.

"If you ask somebody, 'Do you want to save the Mapes?' they might say, 'Yes.' But if you ask them 'Are you willing to put more tax money into it?' it might be a different story," he said.

"If you told somebody it would require a $30 million bond issue, I don't think that would pass," he said.

People surveyed were asked: Do you think that the Mapes building should be saved from demolition?

Among the 57 percent who answered "yes," 35 percent said it should be saved because of nostalgic reasons, 32 percent because it is an historic building and 17 percent because of the "beautiful architecture."

Among the 33 percent who answered "no," 40 percent said it had been an unused eyesore for too long, 22 percent said it was not economically feasible to remodel and 14 percent said Reno needs something new.

In response to another question, 69 percent said they oppose the use of public funds to demolish the building.