Editorial: No plan, no heart, no toilet

Friday, April 5, 2002 | 9:16 a.m.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has been on the wrong side of the homeless issue for the three years he's been mayor. Regrettably, he seems unable to understand the misery his callousness has caused among homeless people or the despair his policies have caused among citizens who expect their city government to fulfill all of its responsibilities. If Goodman would only view homelessness with the same passion that he views such issues as economic development, we would have a city progressing on all fronts.

Instead, at a time when homelessness is growing, we have a city with no plan and, worse, a mayor who disparages the men and women out on the streets. He has left no doubt as to his true feelings, which are that the homeless should get out of Dodge. If cities were judged solely by how well they treated the least fortunate among us, Las Vegas would be labeled a disgrace.

Even when Goodman offers a glimmer of hope, such as Wednesday when he -- finally -- suggested the city consider hiring a homeless coordinator, the hope is diminished by his unrelenting objective of depriving homeless people of even the slightest of city accommodations. His March 25 action of driving homeless people from their encampment at Foremaster Lane and Main Street ostensibly was motivated out of concern for public health. When they regrouped at A Street and Owens Avenue, the MGM MIRAGE began providing garbage bags and cleaning supplies. And Brother David Buer, who has been assisting homeless people for years, rented a portable restroom. Now Goodman is ordering that the restroom be removed, on the grounds that it impedes pedestrians. That might be a valid reason -- except there are no pedestrians there.

If Goodman wants to counteract the goodwill of those trying to help, then the city should build its own public restrooms. They're found all over Europe and Asia and in most larger, tourist-oriented American cities, such as New York City and Washington, D.C. In fact, public restrooms might just be one of the first things a homeless coordinator would suggest after spending even a short time studying programs in other cities. The coordinator's first task, however, for any suggestion to have a chance, would be to persuade the city to replace its obstinacy with a new spirit of cooperation.