McDonald attends Housing meeting

Erin Neff

Tuesday, July 18, 2000 | 11:07 a.m.

When Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald demanded to be appointed to the Housing Authority board, he told horror stories of senior citizens shaken down by criminals in their complexes.

On Monday when McDonald attended his first meeting of the Las Vegas Housing Authority board, the residents voiced concern not about crime, but about pigeons, air conditioning and the naming of future housing authority projects.

No matter. McDonald grinned widely as he left the meeting at Harry Levy Gardens after spending extra time to shake hands with senior citizens and talk a couple with five children about their pending eviction from Section 8 housing.

"This is my calling," McDonald said. "This is what it's all about, helping seniors and bringing government back to the people."

McDonald was highly critical of the Housing Authority earlier this year amid reports his office received about criminal behavior at Arthur Sartini Plaza and James Down Towers. The Housing Authority had no record of any such incidents, angering McDonald to the point where he demanded a federal investigation.

The City Council has no direct authority over the city's public housing agency - a fact that enraged McDonald in March when he called for a full federal audit of the Housing Authority and asked Mayor Oscar Goodman to appoint him to the board of commissioners.

McDonald missed his first meeting last month because he was attending the funeral of Municipal Court Judge Seymore Brown. But he jumped right into the discussion Monday when commissioners questioned the naming of housing projects.

"Since we have a new board and a new time, I think we need to revisit this," McDonald said when he learned the Housing Authority has no policy in place for naming its buildings. "If you're going to have any legitimate process, you need to include residents in the decision."