Churches make it hard for bars, nightclubs to open

Angie Wagner

Friday, Aug. 18, 2000 | 10:54 a.m.

It's happening all over west Las Vegas - dozens of churches are making it tough for new bars or nightclubs to set up shop. So what's wrong with that? This is Las Vegas, where images of liquor and gambling usually come to mind, not steeples.

Pastor Harold Dorsey says for a long time many people didn't believe there were churches in Las Vegas.

But it's true, and in west Las Vegas there are 176, some just small, storefront churches. Most have been here for awhile, but now a new ordinance that bans the sale of alcohol within 400 feet of a church is hampering efforts to bring new bars, nightclubs, conveniences stores or markets selling alcohol to the area.

Some say that's affecting the redevelopment of west Las Vegas.

"It's an area of town that is in desperate need of some redevelopment," City Councilman Lawrence Weekly, who represents west Las Vegas, said Thursday.

The ordinance passed by the City Council in December restricts alcohol sales within 400 feet of a church. Taverns are restricted within 1,500 of a church.

Existing bars and stores were grandfathered in, but they cannot expand or be sold with a liquor license.

Weekly believes many developers simply haven't proposed new bars or stores in the area because of the ordinance. He has also has had complaints from convenience stores that have lost their liquor license and now can't reapply.

"I don't think it's the churches causing the problems," said Sarann Knight Preddy, president of the Jackson Street Redevelopment Co. "They had nothing to do with the ordinance."

In the 1940s and 1950s, west Las Vegas was known for its clubs - places such as the Harlem Club, Brown Derby and Ebony Club. Many black performers, including Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole and Sammy Davis Jr., headlined on the Strip, but were forced to stay at west Las Vegas boarding houses.

West Las Vegas is regarded as the start of segregation in Las Vegas and remains predominantly black today. Now, it is often overlooked and has decayed, becoming infested with gangs and drugs. Few developers have been interested in the area.

Preddy's nonprofit group and others are working to revitalize the neighborhood, but the ordinance is impacting people who have purchased land in the area and want to open clubs and other businesses.

"They won't be able to carry their dreams out," she said.

Preddy suggests the churches, her group and government officials work out some kind of agreement.

The fact that churches will actually keep out bars doesn't seem that bad.

"You only hear it in Las Vegas," Dorsey, pastor of the Neway Church of God in Christ, said Thursday. His church has been in the neighborhood for 17 years. It's right across from a grocery store that sells alcohol.

He believes there are enough clubs and bars in the city and doesn't see why limiting bars in the city would limit redevelopment.

"It's crazy," said the Rev. S.C. Hooks, pastor of the Great Commission Interdenominational Church and a member of the West Las Vegas Neighborhood Council. "We've got a lot of casinos, but we still got to raise our children here.

"That's just the law and they'll just have to abide by it."

Weekly is sympathetic and understands that quality of life is important. He's just not sure what the answer is. He also said churches in the area take up a lot of parking and that could also influence whether a major retail project would be developed in the neighborhood.

"There is always room for discussion. If it calls for changing something to make it work, that's open for discussion," he said.