City to dress up wall around Bonanza Village neighborhood

Diana Sahagun

Thursday, April 18, 2002 | 9:50 a.m.

After fighting with the city of Las Vegas for more than three years over a $1.13 million security wall built around Bonanza Village, residents say they are satisfied with the council's decision to enhance the project.

By the end of the summer, the city-built wall -- deemed by residents to be an eyesore with its mismatched blocks, lack of sidewalks, and dangerous crevices -- will be enhanced to include split-face masonry, paint and sidewalks on Washington Avenue.

The decision to enhance the wall -- at no cost to the residents -- resolves a three-year feud in which the city was accused of building a project that failed to meet code and bringing down the already struggling neighborhood near Martin Luther King Boulevard.

The wall has been an albatross for the council for years, prompting a lawsuit that went to the Nevada Supreme Court and leaving residents angry with city officials over the result, which was supposed to cost $824,698.

The 168 residents will each be assessed $4,908 over 20 years to pay for the original cost estimate for the wall. But because of the wall's delays and added aesthetics, the city will end up contributing more than $300,000.

Resident Dan Contreras, who has attended dozens of council meetings to protest the project, said the residents accept the enhancements and are glad to put the battle behind them.

"This is the best deal we're going to get from the city," he said. "We all realized that if we don't take this deal, we're going to have to take the city to court."

Dick Goecke, the city's public works director, said he will present an item to the council at its May 1 meeting to get final approval on the enhancements, which are expected to take 90 days to complete.

The enhancements will add approximately $66,000 to the over-budget project.

In 1998 a majority of Bonanza Village residents petitioned the city asking that a Special Improvement District classification be levied on their neighborhood to build a security wall along Washington Avenue, Martin Luther King Boulevard, Owens Avenue and Tonopah Avenue.

Contractors in 2000 tore down the homeowners' temporary walls to construct one continuous block wall, but the project was halted for several months after resident Cuthbert Mack sued the city, saying a majority of the residents did not want the wall. The project, tied up in the Nevada Supreme Court, was halted for nearly eight months.