Editorial: Pride is best tactic against urban blight

Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2002 | 8:47 a.m.

North Las Vegas Community Development Director Jacque Risner says clean and neat neighborhoods are a distinct advantage for cities in their constant and highly competitive task of recruiting businesses. And North Las Vegas Code Enforcement Manager Sheldon Klain, a former firefighter and police officer in California, says it's been proven all over the country that crime rates are lower in clean and neat neighborhoods where the residents take more pride in their properties. For these two reasons alone the city's new approach to code enforcement is laudable.

The past practice in North Las Vegas had been for code enforcement officers to respond only to complaints. Each complaint, usually regarding junk-filled yards or inoperable cars strewn about a property, was investigated by the next available officer. Investigators would crisscross the city checking individual properties, but it was like battling a forest fire tree by tree. "It was not getting the job done," Risner said.

The city is now divided into four zones, with a code enforcement officer assigned to each. It's a matter of pride among the officers to make sure their zones are clean and neat. Along with investigating complaints, the officers now proactively cite properties as they patrol their zones. The citations, wherever possible, are made in person so that rapport develops between the officer and residents. If a person cannot afford to clean his property, or if a senior citizen needs help with labor, the city has redevelopment funds available to hire someone to do the job.

City officials will review quarterly reports to assess the effectiveness of the new code enforcement strategy. But we're betting that casual drives around North Las Vegas will be all that anybody really needs to pronounce the new program a success.