Questions raised about McDonald’s motives

Erin Neff

Tuesday, March 7, 2000 | 11:03 a.m.

Las Vegas Housing Authority officials are still smarting from City Councilman Michael McDonald's tongue-lashing last week.

Claiming senior citizens were left in harm's way by an inattentive bureaucracy, McDonald called for a full audit and demanded he be placed on the authority's board of directors as a caretaker.

But some public housing officials and residents wonder if the allegations aren't a smoke screen to divert attention from McDonald's pending ethics hearing.

"Sure you'll find your problems at any public housing site," said one director, who asked not to be identified because of McDonald's pending appointment to the board. "But there has to be something more behind this. The allegations aren't specific, and we are at a loss to figure out why he's approaching this with such zeal."

Two other directors are similarly baffled by McDonald's allegations that senior citizens were being "kidnapped, shaken down and extorted from" at Arthur D. Sartini Plaza.

"I was at Sartini yesterday and couldn't find any proof of any crimes to that effect," another director said.

Residents recently interviewed at Sartini during three separate visits shed little light about serious crimes in their midst.

"This is a really nice place to live," one male who has resided at Sartini for two years said. "There's a lot of politics and cliques in here though."

Sartini has its share of problems. Residents are willing to point out vandalism, trash, unmopped floors and shopping carts left in the hallways.

"I saw the councilman on TV talking about all the problems here, and I thought to myself, 'Is that the same Sartini that I live in?' " a woman who has lived in the complex for eight years said. "Shopping carts aren't that big a deal."

Although residents readily speak with visitors at the 320-apartment complex, all begin the conversation with a frightened question: "You're not going to use my name, are you?"

McDonald alleges the housing authority and its board, which act autonomously from the city, have ignored serious problems and left senior citizens in jeopardy.

Part of the problem, housing officials say, is that McDonald does not understand the reasons some nonseniors live at Sartini.

It is those residents McDonald accuses of "terrorizing" the seniors.

Sartini was designated a senior-only complex last year. However, in the past, those under age 62 who had a mental disability were entitled to live at Sartini.

Those residents cannot be evicted simply because Sartini is now only for those 62 and older. They can only be offered vouchers to move to other housing. Most don't take the vouchers because they receive certain services at Sartini, such as shopping assistance.

One resident bemoaned the younger people allowed to live at Sartini by declaring, "We're getting scum. There's a guy in here with a baby. How in the hell did he get in here?

"You can't say anything or it goes downtown to Mr. Brown," he said.

Frederick Brown, the housing authority's executive director, has come under fire for the evasive manner in which he responds to the council. During Wednesday's meeting, McDonald asked Brown the same question three times without getting a direct answer.

If a councilman were looking for a cause, Sartini's residents could offer up a plate of cooked-up ideas and comments.

All of the 16 residents interviewed by the Sun had some minor complaints.

Most of those complaints were about the callous attitude of the building's manager, the "political pawns" who serve on the resident council and an apparent lack of communication from Sartini to the housing authority as a result.

Two residents mentioned hearing about a purse snatching, and one said a prostitute living there overdosed on drugs recently.

"I suspect if anyone wanted to get behind an issue, they could do it at Sartini," one director said.

McDonald won sweeping re-election last spring, largely with the support of senior citizens in his ward.

However, for several months McDonald's press has been less favorable.

McDonald faces a March 23 hearing before the state Ethics Commission to determine whether he acted improperly by voting on a lucrative contract last July for Republic Silver State Disposal.

McDonald did not disclose his associations with the company prior to that vote. He is friends with Silver State President Steve Kalish and company attorney Robert Groesbeck.

Kalish threw a fund-raiser for McDonald last year, and Silver State and its related entities donated $36,800 to McDonald's campaign. McDonald also dates Silver State employee Jennifer Simich.

Although the rest of the City Council voted with McDonald to proceed with a possible audit of the housing authority, he has made this his issue.

When the council first discussed the problems at Sartini during its Feb. 16 meeting, an ailing McDonald arrived only for that item.

"I see this as a way for McDonald to remind people that he's out there fighting for seniors," a housing authority director said.

Mayor Oscar Goodman said last week that no one has contacted his office about any housing authority issues.

"If problems exist, we should be investigating it," Goodman said. "But I've been to these places on the campaign and I never heard about any of it."