Editorial: ‘Flight risk’ needs close monitoring

Wednesday, July 2, 2003 | 8:47 a.m.

By now people in the Las Vegas Valley have gotten used to incompatible land uses. Picnickers at Floyd Lamb State Park must listen to continual bursts of fire from a nearby rifle range. Visitors to the otherwise quiet and marvelously scenic Clark County Wetlands Park must contend with the noise generated by enthusiasts of model airplanes. Hot air balloons float over neighborhoods, inciting dogs to frenzy. Incompatibility is so ingrained in urban planning that developers here propose things that wouldn't even be considered elsewhere, such as building thousands of homes across the road from a national conservation area, or building homes directly under airport flight paths. So it should come as no surprise that the Las Vegas City Council recently rolled out the neighborhood welcome mat for pigeon racers.

By authority of the council, anyone who lives in a residential area zoned for half-acre lots may keep up to 300 racing pigeons on his property. In other cities the absurdity of such a decision would send people flocking to City Hall. Here, no one showed up to register any protest and far be it from us to be a voice in the wilderness, or loft, as the case may be. We even agree with the racers' point that pigeons have noble qualities belying their "flying rat" reputation.

Yet we have a major concern. Racers dismiss the cleanliness issue, saying the pigeons fly free only a couple of hours a day and that neighbors won't have to contend with fecal showers. If complaints start rolling in, however, city code officers should investigate. Confirmation of the complaints should result in writing off pigeon keeping as decidedly incompatible with neighborhoods, even in Las Vegas.