Downtown plan gets citizen input

Erin Neff

Thursday, May 11, 2000 | 11:15 a.m.

Every day city officials spend hours courting businesses and thinking of ways to redevelop the aging downtown core.

Now, thanks to a diverse committee of downtown residents and business owners, there's another piece of advice available to elected leaders to consider.

Downtown residents and business owners gave their blessing to the Downtown Central Development Committee's Downtown Neighborhood 2000 Plan during a meeting Wednesday at the Arturo Cambeiro Center.

It is the first city-authorized plan developed solely at the grass-roots level by a recognized neighborhood association.

And, although the document likely won't lead any city money to the plan's specific ideas, it will help city officials make decisions with the community's ideas readily available.

"Now when proposals come in from developers, they'll have a document on record stating what the community wants," said Yorgo Kagafas, a neighborhood planner for the city who provided help to the grass-roots committee.

The ambitious plan is 20 months in the making, with input from Metro Police, residents, business owners and social service providers.

Roughly 40,000 people live in the downtown area and deal daily with problems of crime, urban decay, blight, insufficient sidewalks and roads and the lack of decent housing and parks.

The plan suggests ways to solve the social problems, including development of a comprehensive housing plan and creation of a city team to address blight issues.

Addressing those key issues and outlining ways to improve communications between residents, the city and Metro are seen as the first steps.

"We're very proud of where we are right now," said Jeanne Hood, chairwoman of the Central Development Committee's Downtown Planning Team. "But let's see about where we're going."

Hood said one of the key elements to the downtown plan involves splitting the area into specific geographic districts.

Although the planning team identified nine such districts, angry residents of one district demanded to be removed from the plan because they object to attempts to turn their neighborhood into a historic district.

John Mendoza, who represents homeowners near the former Las Vegas High School, have fought the city's efforts to designate several blocks around the school as a historic area.

"Eliminate it entirely from this report," Mendoza asked. "If a neighborhood doesn't want something, don't force it on them."

Kagafas explained that the downtown plan was simply naming their neighborhood the Las Vegas High School Historic District for classification purposes due to the area's historic designation by the federal government.

Still, Mendoza and another homeowner said using the term historic biases the character of the neighborhood.

As a result, the high school district was removed from the downtown plan. The downtown plan approved Wednesday includes eight specific districts.

The district with the most obvious problems also is earmarked for the most work.

The East Fremont Corridor District is the most "physically depressed area of downtown and features functionally outdated motels and several vacant buildings and lots," according to the plan.

The Central Development Committee plans to work with state legislators to reduce the area in which gaming is allowed on Fremont Street. The plan also specifies the need to work with Metro to address crime.

Other districts specified in the plan include an arts district near Charleston Boulevard and an office core district to include the new federal courthouse and Regional Justice Center.

The committee members hope the city council will adopt and implement the character districts, a downtown housing plan and a team to address blight.

Erin Neff covers Las Vegas government for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-4062 or 229-6436, or by e-mail at erin@lasvegassun.com