Editorial: City vision of 61 acres still foggy

Friday, April 19, 2002 | 9:20 a.m.

Someone on the City Council, preferably Mayor Oscar Goodman, could have asked Southwest Sports Group during a special meeting Monday: "What part of 'We don't want a minor league baseball stadium' don't you understand?" There the matter could have ended about a home for the Las Vegas 51s on part of the 61 acres of prime downtown property the city bought in 2000. A performing arts center? Yes. An academic medical center? Yes. Apartments and condominiums? Yes. Office space? Yes. A minor league baseball stadium? No.

Or, the City Council could have said, "Yes, bring us a development plan that includes a minor-league baseball stadium." That would have gone against the advice of a $74,000 feasibility study, but at least people could have left the four-hour meeting understanding the city's vision. The meeting, after all, was scheduled to at long last synchronize the City Council and the company it chose as the master developer. To ensure there would be clarity of vision at meeting's end, the city paid a Washington, D.C., consultant $2,450 to lead the discussion.

But a consultant is not the same as a leader. Nothing was accomplished. No one walked away knowing anything more about the 61 acres than what has been known since July 2001, when Southwest Sports was chosen. At that time, Goodman proclaimed, "We are the captains of the ship," meaning the City Council would guide all that comes of the land. And with the exception of Councilman Larry Brown, a former 51s employee, the council members -- Goodman foremost among them -- have been against the idea of a minor-league stadium. The predominant thought has always been that an academic medical center should be the anchor. Yet the council rejected a bid from a firm with vast experience in building medical centers and selected Southwest Sports, which specializes in developments anchored by ball fields and which stated it would partner on the development with Mandalay Spo rts Entertainment, a Los Angeles company that owns the 51s.

So it's no surprise that Southwest Sports has all along pushed for a minor-league stadium as the centerpiece. When the question came up again Monday, council members had their chance to say yes or no. Instead, they whimpered that no, we don't want a minor-league stadium, but yes, you can keep working on the design for one. A consultant would have struggled in vain to get a definitive answer, which is what happened. An umpire would have called a balk. A leader, however, would have presided over a long overdue decision.