Commission gives a boost to protested Head Start plan

Thursday, Aug. 22, 2002 | 9:20 a.m.

The County Commission approved a permit Wednesday for a federally funded day-care center that has divided an older residential community. The Boys and Girls Club of Clark County sought a use permit for a Head Start day-care center at Mohawk Street and Tara Avenue in southwest Las Vegas, but some residents fought the proposal. The controversy pitted neighbors against each other.

The County Commission, despite petitions urging it to reject the use permit needed for the day-care center, approved the facility. Advocates for the project argued that a high percentage of families living nearby needed the Head Start program, which generally helps out financially strapped families and targets 3 and 4-year-olds.

But nearby residents said they feared that traffic congestion would increase in the neighborhood, making the streets dangerous for drivers and children.

Leona Kelso noted that the area already has a school, Elaine Wynn Elementary, and the day-care center would be on the campus of the existing Boys and Girls Club recreational center.

"We try to be good neighbors, but I really don't think we could handle another school," Kelso said.

Don Somerville, another opponent, said most of his neighbors have higher incomes and will not need the center. He fears that the students will commute to the Boys and Girls Club by car.

But advocates for the centers, including Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, said residents have it wrong.

Gates said few of the people using the center even have cars. Most rely on public transportation.

Angela Quinn, administrator of the Economic Opportunity Board of Clark County, said the neighborhood has a dramatic need for a Head Start program. She said 63 percent of the children who could apply for the program are now not served by a day care. Most of the children are within a few blocks of the program and will be walked to the day care by their parents, Quinn said.

Quinn said although a core group of neighbors opposed the project, more supported the effort. About two dozen people showed up during Wednesday's long zoning meeting to support the effort. About half that number came to oppose the project.