City wants bail bondsmen to leave downtown

Jeffrey Libby

Tuesday, March 26, 2002 | 11:12 a.m.

Downtown Henderson's two bail bond businesses are being threatened with a forced exit as part of the city's redevelopment plan.

A city regulation passed in 1999 gives bail bondsmen until Jan. 1, 2003, to find office space in light industrial areas, Bob Wilson, manager of the downtown redevelopment agency, said.

The two businesses, All Star Bail Bonds and Jailbusters -- both of which are on Water Street and within walking distance of the jail -- will have to move, Wilson and city officials say, probably to an industrial park several miles away.

Courts have upheld such forced reassignments in other states as long as cities give reasonable notice -- in this case, the notice was three years.

But All Star Bail Bonds won't go without a battle.

"The city may think we're going to go away, but trust me, they've got one hell of a fight ahead of them," said Seaynoah Mayfield, 70, who opened All Star Bail Bonds in 1991 and later turned operations over to one of his sons.

"I've fought the city for so long I've got to the point where I like fighting them. Just tell them to put the gloves on."

Allen Lichtenstein, an attorney for the ACLU, said in a legal dispute, much would depend on the city's rationale behind the zoning change.

"Clearly the city has the power to zone," Lichtenstein said. "But it's bizarre when you think about it. The jail is right there, and many who probably don't have transportation need that (bail bond) service."

The city also is drafting laws that would ban tobacco shops on Water Street, but is not yet confident of the statutes' constitutionality.

"It's a pipe dream," said Shawn Mayfield, 34, who with his sister, Angela Mayfield, has run the family's three Las Vegas Valley bail bond businesses since 1998. "The city's trying to make a Scottsdale, Arizona, or a Santa Monica out of Water Street. But it's not that. These people are blue collar."

Wilson says ousting the bail bondsmen is part of a strategy designed to improve the quality of downtown life.

"If all we have downtown is bail bonds, counseling for drugs and that kind of thing, all the depressing things in life, we're never going to get anyone who wants to come in and sell clothes," Wilson said. "We want people buying trinkets and getting haircuts."

Shawn Mayfield said in the 10 years he has written bonds on Water Street, mostly for DUIs and domestic battery, he has seen plenty of retail shops open nearby only to close months later, unable to compete with the two downtown casinos. Henderson established the redevelopment agency in 1995, and since then, the city has paid for several studies with the goal of bringing more retail business downtown.

Little positive momentum has been created, however.

The City Council approved the latest effort earlier this month, a $164,000 study by a Chicago-based consultant. Another $56,565 in cost overruns is scheduled for approval today by the redevelopment agency. Officials say they are optimistic things will be different this time. Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers said as redevelopment efforts take hold and rents increase along Water Street, she hopes other downtown businesses -- such as Kent's Firearms -- will choose to relocate on their own.

"When you sit there and think about the gun shops, bail bond (businesses) and smoke shops that sell paraphernalia, you have to ask, 'Is this the atmosphere I want to take my family to dinner in?' " Cyphers said. "The answer is, 'No.' "

But even if the city manages to eliminate bail bondsmen along Water Street, the Henderson jail will remain.

The jail fronts Water Street, running two stories of chain-link fence and razor wire parallel to the four-lane road for half a city block. The jail's fenced-in delivery yard is plainly visible from the street.

The jail is the reason that the bail bond businesses have set up shop there.

In 1999, when the city proposed the law limiting bail bondsmen to light industrial areas, Seaynoah Mayfield hired Las Vegas attorney Andrew Leavitt to oppose the measure.

"We've never had a problem here. The police have never had to answer a call," Seaynoah Mayfield said. "We get the mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles. We don't get the criminals.

"And it's the mothers mostly. What does a guy say when he's in jail? 'Don't call my dad.' A mother's love is unreal."

Mayfield said the city dropped the proposal after he protested. He watched City Council agendas for a year before assuming the proposal was dead, he said. He had not heard of the upcoming deadline until asked about it by the Sun.

"This is unreal," Mayfield said.

Cyphers said the city notified the bail bondsmen of the Jan. 1, 2003, deadline in 1999.

Wilson has said the bail bondsmen might be allowed to relocate elsewhere on Water Street as long as their businesses were not at street level.

But even that arrangement would be difficult, given the fact that other than a motel, a utility building and a casino parking garage, there are few two-story private buildings on Water Street.

In the meantime, Wilson is also mulling ways to soften the pall cast over Water Street by the jail. One plan is to build in front of it.

"There's always room," Wilson said.

Jim Hogan, jail administrator, sees obstacles to that plan. Patrol cars and delivery trucks drop off prisoners and supplies all day, he said, and there's only one way in and out -- along Water Street.