Mayor gives gaming industry earful

Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2002 | 11:13 a.m.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman joked that when he was asked to give an address on the record of corporate responsibility by the gaming industry to the American Gaming Summit that he could do it in about 10 seconds.

But when Goodman completed his Monday keynote speech, gaming executives in attendance weren't laughing. And, when Goodman blasted them for their lack of support, they knew he wasn't joking.

"I like to be the cheerleader for this city when I make appearances," said Goodman, who often refers to himself as the "happiest mayor in America."

"But I've been sorely disappointed by the lack of support" from gaming interests on everything from battling a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain to rallying for a National Basketball Association team.

"Unless the gamers step up, we're going to lose it," Goodman said of the fight on Yucca Mountain, "because the city can't do it alone."

Goodman listed several issues in which he's been disappointed with the gaming industry's apparent lack of interest. In addition to the fight against Yucca Mountain, the mayor said the community's problem with homeless people is multiplying and the industry has impeded efforts to get a major league sports franchise to locate in the city.

Bill Bible, president of the Nevada Resort Association, said nothing positive can come from the type of remarks Goodman has been making.

"I think over the past year or so, the mayor's rhetoric has seemingly gotten harsher because the gaming industry has not stepped up to back what are his pet projects," Bible said.

In his speech, Goodman also said the industry doesn't pay its fair share of taxes.

"We've already passed Cleveland (by population) and they have baseball, football and basketball," he said.

He said when he asked representatives of the gaming industry to help woo the Vancouver Grizzlies NBA franchise to town, two industry representatives he didn't name told him they wouldn't support the effort because NBA games "would take people out of the casinos for four hours."

The NBA had asked casinos to remove its games from sports book betting as a condition of locating a team to Las Vegas. The gamers balked. The Grizzlies ended up moving to Memphis, Tenn.

Bible said the mayor's call for gaming to help fund a downtown arena and a medical center campus are simply unproductive because he said the industry can not "realistically" contribute to either project without more study.

On Yucca Mountain, Goodman said any kind of accident involving nuclear waste would clear out Las Vegas the same way the aftermath of the terrorists attacks did Sept. 11.

Bible noted that the NRA has opposed Yucca Mountain for the past 10 years, approving resolutions to fight the proposed waste dump and even seeing some members -- like Station Casinos -- donate money to the state's fight.

While Goodman chided the industry in general and said no one had come forward to help, he did single out two businessmen -- Stephen Cloobeck, owner of Polo Towers near the Strip, and Glenn Schaeffer, president and chief financial officer of the Mandalay Resort Group -- for contributions to the community.

Cloobeck has been one of the few industry voices opposing Yucca Mountain. Schaeffer has helped bring 1986 Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to hold its Endowed Chair of Creative Writing, and Syl Cheney-Coker to become the first writer to participate in Las Vegas' City of Asylum program, which protects writers who face persecution in their home countries.

Asked about his expectations of the industry after his speech, Goodman said all he wants is for them to pick up the phone.

"I just want the (Nevada Resort Association) to give me a call so we can talk about what they can do," Goodman said. "Let's talk about it and figure out what we can do together."

Bible, however, said he would meet with the mayor if he was asked, but Bible was critical of the mayor's comments.

"Nothing positive can come from the type of comments the mayor has been making," Bible said.

Goodman apologized to his hosts for telling them something they didn't want to hear and for being abrasive.

"Maybe it's just me, but I think that the state's primary industry should do more to get behind the city," Goodman said. "But it may be me (that they don't like) because I don't kiss their rear ends."