Mayor disputes report on homeless

Ed Koch and Timothy Pratt

Friday, Aug. 8, 2003 | 9:39 a.m.

Jermaine Green, a 22-year-old who now works as a housekeeping supervisor for a Strip hotel, says that in his sojourn through homelessness he did not find Las Vegas to be the nation's "meanest city."

"If you want help, there are so many people here who want to help you," Green said after Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman's weekly news conference, in which Green was introduced as a success story from the streets.

The mayor, surrounded by two dozen workers from the Center for Independent Living, one of several organizations in the city that helps the homeless, disputed a report this week by a national organization that ranked Las Vegas No. 1 on a list of "Meanest Cities."

Goodman called the National Coalition for the Homeless "a dime store novel group out of Washington." The mayor also also called them "clowns" and questioned how an organization from the nation's capital could criticize Las Vegas when that city has its own homeless problem.

Quoting Philip Mangano, executive director for the Bush administration's Interagency Council on the Homeless, Goodman said the coalition has "questionable research practices."

Reached in Washington, Mangano later laughed at the mayor's comment and said he meant to say that the coalition's "reports of this nature (were) less than scientific ... and somewhat subjective."

Though he said he hadn't seen the report, he said the coalition's reports were "meant to make an activist statement, and appeared to be doing that in Las Vegas."

Donald Whitehead, executive director for the coalition, said "it doesn't take a lot of research to see homeless people being jailed because of quality of life infractions in Las Vegas.

"This isn't rocket science," he said.

At the mayor's press conference, Green told his own version of being homeless in Las Vegas.

Born in Denver and raised by a single mother of five, he ran away to escape his mother's boyfriend who he said was abusive. In the process he became alienated from his mother.

On the street, Green drank alcohol and smoked marijuana and spent his teenage years in and out of detention centers.

In 1999, Green sought shelter at the Center for Independent Living at 1417 Las Vegas Boulevard North.

"He had expected rough authority figures but was greeted with respect and friendliness," Nancy Gillis, director for the center, said.

Green received counseling that led to him to contact his mother and mend fences. After spending a year at the center, Green got his own apartment.

In September 2000, the Bellagio hired him in the housekeeping department. In January 2001, the hotel promoted him to relief supervisor in housekeeping.

A shy and nervous Green told reporters that his life "is 100 times better" because of the help he received in Las Vegas.