Goodman sees LV Valley as unified metro area

Diana Sahagun

Friday, Aug. 2, 2002 | 10:38 a.m.

He will no longer be mayor, but Oscar Goodman hopes that by 2014 he will have helped create a Las Vegas Valley that is one contiguous community, encompassing North Las Vegas and unincorporated parts of Clark County.

The city's mayor has a three-term limit, but if he wins a second term next year, Goodman said Thursday, he will make good on his consolidation plans.

"I am convinced it's in the best interest of this valley," Goodman said.

The mayor said he plans to meet this month with Skip Swerdlow, a consultant for the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition, to make consolidation part of the mission of the coalition. Swerdlow is a professor of hotel management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Although he did not have a specific plan, Goodman said he hopes consolidation will be achieved in 12 years so that the issue will not get bogged down by territorial disputes involving current elected officials.

Goodman has been floating the idea of consolidation since he was elected, but has received a lukewarm response from his government counterparts. North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon has said he is in favor of consolidating with the city of Las Vegas, adding that Goodman could be the mayor. But Montandon lacks support from his council, Goodman said.

Goodman said the need for consolidation became more evident after the events of Sept. 11. Although the valley's governments have numerous interlocal agreements in place and conduct regular meetings, Goodman said they aren't enough.

"If there was an emergency similar to 9/11, as we are presently set up I think there's the potential for chaos here without consolidation," he said.

"It has to be the city and county of Las Vegas."

A blue-ribbon committee will be formed to help plan consolidation, Goodman added.

"I don't see any downsides," Goodman said. "One reason (former New York Mayor Rudy) Guiliani was able to become a great mayor -- on Sept. 10 he was a bum, on Sept. 11 he was a great mayor -- was because he could stand up there and speak for the entire five boroughs of New York. We have to have one unified government."