Goodman seeks Senate’s help with his wish list

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, July 24, 2001 | 10:06 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A monorail whisking tourists and Las Vegas residents from the Strip to downtown was at the very top of Mayor Oscar Goodman's wishlist when he and three other mayors on Monday implored Congress to send more federal money to the nation's cities.

"We're the largest city in the United States now that doesn't have a fixed-rail system," Goodman told a Senate public works subcommittee. "That's why it is so crucial that we have a monorail."

Goodman joined Democratic mayors from New Orleans, Atlanta and Washington, D.C., who said the nation benefits when its cities thrive because the United States has become so urbanized.

They said their cities desperately needed help from Congress fixing up aging roads and highway systems, schools, libraries and water systems.

Washington Mayor Anthony Williams said there are still wooden water system pipes in the nation's capital; New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial said some pumps that help keep his city from flooding are 100 years old.

Goodman came with a short list of projects he wants Congress to help pay for, including widening Interstate 15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, development of the Ivanpah airport south of the city and waste-water system improvements.

The mayors said they were not looking for hand-outs, but partnerships with the federal government. Goodman made a case that Nevada has a long history of local-federal project partnerships, including the Nevada Test Site, Nellis Air Force Base and Hoover Dam.

"Las Vegas is a great place," Goodman said. "It represents everything America is about -- free enterprise, capitalism. We do very, very well. But we can't do it by ourselves."

The subcommittee chairman, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., invited the mayors to testify, admitting some "prejudice" at Goodman's invitation. Goodman, along with the Regional Transportation Commission, are working with Reid to help secure federal money for a proposed Strip-to-downtown leg of the monorail project.

Hotel companies broke ground last year on a privately funded, $650 million monorail system that will run along the resort corridor from the MGM Grand to the Sahara hotel. Goodman said an extension from the Sahara to Fremont Street is vital to the city's future, especially in revitalizing downtown.

Goodman also said the Las Vegas Valley faces serious air quality issues, which are tied to traffic that would be alleviated by a monorail.

The Senate is expected to pass a transportation spending bill Wednesday that allows the local government to claim the privately funded, $650 million monorail project as its contribution to the project, which would set up possible federal matches for monorail extension projects.