Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2002 | 11:05 a.m.
A grassroots effort to rally Southern Nevada residents who need jobs and training for permanent work at a wholesale furniture mart ignited a call for action at the next Las Vegas City Council meeting.
About 65 people attended a town hall meeting Tuesday night at the Zion Methodist Church and pledged to go to the council meeting and ask what kind of jobs and training will be available to ethnic minorities, the disabled, women and military veterans. There are no employment plans for the development, they were told.
They left vowing to put pressure on the City Council.
Las Vegas officials have not inked an agreement with World Market Center developers yet, spokeswoman Elaine Sanchez said earlier. The council has twice not voted to approve the project. Once an agreement is reached, then there will be an employment plan, she said.
If the furniture mart develops on 57 acres west of downtown, city officials anticipate 35,000 jobs.
Stan Washington, spokesman for the 15 consortium groups that organized the town hall, urged each person to start calling Councilman Lawrence Weekly, who represents Ward 5, and Mayor Oscar Goodman today to find out how many jobs will be available to the community.
Weekly was one of five elected officials invited to attend the town hall by the Southern Nevada Disenfranchised Veterans' Consortium. Others were Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald, County Commissioner Erin Kenny, state Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, and Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas. None attended.
The Rev. Marion Bennett of Zion Methodist said it was time to stop talking and take action. "We have to plan where we go from here other than talking," Bennett said.
Each person attending the town hall promised to call City Council members and the mayor's office and attend the council's Sept. 4 meeting at City Hall.
Gary Peck, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the city is violating a state law and its own year-old requirement that developers spell out the details for employment on a project that is getting taxpayer funds.
"We're not going to pay for a corporate boondoggle," Peck said. "There's no lack of interest in lap dancing, but there seems to be a lack of interest in how we spend tens of millions of dollars."
What the ACLU wants is make sure benefits from new development flow fairly to everyone in the community and that the government obeys the rules, Peck said.
The ACLU has asked to review the employment plans for a half dozen other projects such as the Neonopolis, Peck said. There were no plans to review in the city's files, he said.
Sanchez said city employees were still looking for the documents.
Gene Collins, a local activist leading the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network in Las Vegas, said it was time for the residents to stand up and fight for economic diversity.
"Where are the people you elected to watch out for your welfare, and where is your welfare?" Collins asked.
Las Vegas activist Frank Perna said he is most concerned about the homeless and veterans. Of the estimated 6,700 homeless, 2,200 of them are veterans who do not get the care they need, he said.
George Spicer, chairman of the National Association of Black Veterans, said he is working on a plan to cover mental health care and substance abuse treatment for veterans. That could take nine months to a year, he said.
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