Goodman may yet realize dream of ‘Oscar’s Speakeasy’

Diana Sahagun

Thursday, Aug. 22, 2002 | 11:23 a.m.

"Oscar's Speakeasy," a proposed downtown gin joint the mayor of Las Vegas has envisioned for years, may one day be permitted to open its doors.

After a failed attempt to persuade city lobbyists in 2000 to submit a bill to the Legislature that would have given Mayor Oscar Goodman and other public officials the ability to invest in redevelopment areas, the controversial idea is being revived.

At Wednesday's City Council meeting, Deputy City Manager Betsy Fretwell said the city would submit a bill for consideration in the upcoming legislative session to amend the Nevada Revised Statutes to allow an elected official or employee the ability to invest in a redevelopment area.

Those officials would have to disclose any direct or indirect financial interest in a property in the redevelopment area in order to comply with current ethics codes. The bill is one of two that will be forwarded to the Legislative Counsel Bureau for consideration.

Goodman first proposed in 2000 that the city include a bill draft to send to the 2001 Legislature that would have given the members of the City Council and the Centre Development Corp. -- a group of local stakeholders who advise the council on redevelopment matters -- the ability to invest in downtown redevelopment projects.

But the bill draft was never sent after city lobbyists spoke of the controversial way most people read it. The criticism was rooted in the fact that much of downtown redevelopment has benefited from public funds.

Goodman has said he should be able to open a tavern downtown -- called "Oscar's Speakeasy" -- if he desires. He said Wednesday that officials in other cities are allowed to invest in redevelopment projects.

"I say put your money where your mouth is," Goodman said. "We're talking about redevelopment and if we're fortunate to have a little bit of money and we believe in what we're talking about ... as far as the redevelopment is concerned ... I just don't seen any downside at all."

Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald said she was shocked to learn that if her husband, when he graduates from law school, wanted to set up his practice downtown, her family would be prohibited from making the investment under the current laws.

"This will correct a problem," Boggs McDonald said.