Image is everything

Diana Sahagun

Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2000 | 11:35 a.m.

North Las Vegas spent the '90s trying to reinvent itself and a new motto says the effort paid off, that the bad old days of "Northtown" are waning and the new millennium will see a whole new city at the top of the valley.

Northtown, with its street crime, gang territories, and streets burdened with homeless people, was not the community of choice for most newcomers as the '80s came to a close.

But city officials say the Northtown moniker is rarely heard anymore and the news today is of North Las Vegas, a city where new people and businesses are changing things for the better each month. The FBI's Uniform Crime Report from 1997-1998, for example, showed that violent crime was continuing its downward trend.

At a recent retreat, City Council members felt confident enough in what has happened during the past 10 years -- beginning with a redevelopment plan adopted in 1990 -- to declare a new motto for the city: "North Las Vegas -- Your Community of Choice." The motto is set to be officially adopted at tonight's City Council meeting.

Figures from the state demographer's office lend credence to the motto.

The population has more than doubled since 1989, when it was 55,000. The latest figure is 117,250. Just from June 1998 to June 1999, another 10,590 people chose to call North Las Vegas home.

As the city's population continues to boom and prosper, city officials continue to work toward an image that matches the city's progress.

But the city's growth can cause pitfalls. As more resources poor into the new, growing areas, the more danger there is of alienating the mature areas, including downtown. A divided city would hamper efforts to recruit new businesses, officials say.

Such recruitment is vital now as the city needs new services for its residential areas. This would be nearly impossible without first ensuring that "Northtown" never comes back.

Projections show residential growth extending into the foreseeable future, with a development boom certain to accompany construction of the northern leg of the Las Vegas Beltway and the opening of 7,500 acres of Bureau of Land Management land in the city's northwest.

With the future holding such immense potential, part of the city's challenge was to overcome the negative image of downtown, once home to dilapidated shops and a high crime rate.

Jacque Risner, economic development manager for the city's Community Development Agency, said creation of two redevelopment areas helped erase that image.

The first city downtown redevelopment plan -- approved in December 1990 -- was generally confined to the core of downtown and its easterly extension to Pecos Road along Lake Mead Boulevard.

A second plan for a north redevelopment area was approved in November 1998 with similar goals. That area encompasses Las Vegas Boulevard from Carey Avenue to Pecos Road and Cheyenne Avenue from Civic Center Drive to Van der Meer Street.

Since the two areas were created, more than $122 million in private investment has been generated.

"As in the older metropolitan areas, people tend to move outward into the suburbs," Risner said. "And there are times that older areas get neglected."

Aubrey Branch, who owns an insurance agency at 2700 E. Lake Mead Blvd., said he took a gamble when he came to North Las Vegas.

"The redevelopment agency and the councilmen all want businesses to stay here in North Las Vegas, so they're assisting me in any way they can," said Branch, who has owned the company for two years.

"A lot of people say they can't do business here, but it's just not true. Business opportunities have really increased here."

Risner said many of the businesses coming into the redevelopment area are like Branch's company, private and commercial.

"When you're in a smaller community, you need to find something that makes you competitive with other markets -- and with us, it's service," she said. "We really try to make it as easy as possible for people to do business with us."

The Community Development Agency sends direct mail to businesses that would be a good match for the redevelopment area, with the goal of attracting new businesses and keeping the established ones.

A company like Branch & Associates enters into a binding agreement with the agency, agreeing to rehabilitate, develop, improve, utilize and maintain the property in conformance with the redevelopment plan.

Riser said the future of redevelopment is more businesses targeting different minority groups, mainly Hispanics.

"We're trying to draw some retail projects that emphasize the high number of Hispanics in the downtown area and trying to target retailers that would help draw services for that market," Redevelopment Manager Kenny Young said.

Driving through North Las Vegas, there's no doubt where growth is happening. Every day, residents face gridlock when trying to make their way into the city via Interstate 15 and U.S. 95.

Ten years ago everything north of Cheyenne Avenue was vacant land. But today that land is being gobbled up by builders of tract-home developments.

If the benefits aren't spread out, however, the fear is that the city will become divided between the new and the old.

Glen Easter, a 15-year resident, says the older areas of town continue to struggle with a negative image because they do not have all the new developments and benefits of the growth.

"I like all the growth, don't get me wrong," said Easter, who lives in the newer area at Fifth Street and Lone Mountain Road. "We've got all the traffic, all the congestion, all the things that come with increased population. But (the older areas) don't have any of the services."

Senior Planner Frank Fiori said a majority of new developments north of Cheyenne have been residential, created by developers like Avante Homes, Real Homes, and American Communities.

As the land in the city has been developed, the assessed value has shot up five-fold, to $1.6 billion. Ten years ago all of the city's land was worth just $352 million.

But Fiori said commercial development is catching up and will eventually spill over to the older areas.

Shopping centers anchor three corners of Craig Road and Martin Luther King Boulevard, and there's a Wal-Mart and future Target down the street at Camino Al Norte.

"The commercial areas provide services needed in those areas," Fiori said. "It helps bolster the tax base and provides job opportunities."

Driving along Craig from U.S. 95 to I-15 the image is that of a booming commercial area -- everything from Applebee's, Starbucks, and Home Depot have settled there in the past few years.

That's great for residents like Frank Vasquez, who praised his city while picking up his daughter at Addeliar Guy Elementary school.

"Sure, we love the growth," Vasquez said.

Resident Mary Capri commented while shopping at the new Wal-Mart on Craig Road. Capri, who lives in the city's mature area, near Lake Mead Boulevard and Civic Center Drive, wished she didn't have to trek across town to buy school supplies for her son.

"It seems like all the growth is going in to the master-planned communities, and the newer parts of town. I love this Wal-Mart, but why can't it be closer to us?" she said.

Dr. Leonard Goodall, professor of public administration at UNLV, said the right mix of commercial and residential is essential.

"If you have just residential growth, (the revenue generated from property taxes) isn't going to come close to providing adequate services," he said. "Any area that's growing has to find a way to have different kinds of growth."

As part of the city's redevelopment efforts, it has tightened controls in two areas that commonly plague cities -- sexually oriented businesses and neighborhood blight.

Two ordinances intended to strictly regulate the sex industry were recently passed. Although the city has only two strip clubs, Acting City Attorney Mark Zalaoras said it was necessary to get the policies in place before more are built. Both ordinances require would-be owners of sexually oriented businesses to go through stringent background checks.

And another ordinance was proposed to attack blight. The ordinance would require a license plate on vehicles stored or parked in residential districts and limit car repair at private residences to "minor."

Mayor Michael Montandon said such an ordinance would stop people from running repair shops from out of homes.

Councilwoman Stephanie Smith said there will be no letup as the city moves away from its old seedy image.

"We're pulling up standards in all areas ... from the aesthetics of Lake Mead Boulevard and cleaning up the mature areas of town, to bringing in commercial development and setting standards and having policies in place for residents," Smith said.

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