LV gets $75,000 to refurbish post office

Monday, July 28, 2003 | 9:56 a.m.

Las Vegas is getting $75,000 in federal money to help refurbish the historic downtown post office. The building is slated to become a new museum and cultural center for the city.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., was able to include the funding requests in the VA-HUD spending bill which was passed by the House on Friday.

"As a child I remember going to the post office and admiring what a beautiful, regal building it was," Berkley said.

"Downtown Las Vegas in those days was where we did our shopping, with Woolworth's and JCPenney, and of course all of the casinos were there. But just a block away stood this incredible structure with its different architecture -- such a contrast to the casinos and stores."

When Berkley got the request from the city to refurbish the building and convert it into an art museum and cultural center in the heart of downtown Las Vegas, she did not need much prodding to push through the funding request.

"I knew there were other purposes for this structure other than imploding it," she said. "It now will be utilized to increase the enjoyment of the entire downtown experience."

The federal government gave the neoclassical public architectural-style brick building to the city last year.

The building is continuing to be used as a post office, but the mail operations at the building will be phased out. Plans are for the museum to be operating in time for the centennial celebration of the city on May 15, 2005.

In May 2002, when ownership of the building was transferred to Las Vegas, Mayor Oscar Goodman said he would like part of it designated to honor mob figures who helped build the town -- an element from which other city fathers and gaming officials generally shy away.

But before Goodman was mayor, he was a prominent local attorney who represented high-profile figures who were purported to be mobsters by law enforcement. Among them was the late Tony Spilotro, whose character was portrayed by Joe Pesci in the movie "Casino," in which Goodman played himself.

"My vision is for the museum to tell the history of Las Vegas -- our entire history, warts and all," Goodman said today.

"Our history is different than other cities, it makes us unique."

Goodman indicated that in the days when the mob had great influence in Las Vegas -- the 1950s through mid-1980s -- "were exciting days. You want a museum to be exciting place to provide a wonderful educational experience for locals and tourists."

Goodman also thanked Berkley for the money that will "help create an urban renaissance in the downtown area. Every cent is appreciated in these hard economic times."

The total cost for the project is still being determined. Goodman said a game plan from consultants should be revealed in the next two months.

Goodman and city staff negotiated with the federal government for ownership of the building for more than three years. In addition to being a longtime post office, it was the city's first federal courthouse.

The post office has long been considered one of the mayor's pet projects. It is so much so that other city officials deferred all inquires about it to Goodman.

Goodman envisions the museum as the focal point of a sprawling urban park. The first phase of the park, to the east of the post office, has been completed.

Along with the 61 acres of former railroad land to the West and other downtown attractions such as Neonopolis and the entertainment overlay district, Goodman's vision is to redevelop downtown by encouraging new residential, commercial and cultural uses.

Built in 1933, the old post office was one of the sites of the 1950 Kefauver hearings into organized crime and the site of numerous criminal proceedings. Goodman's first local case was tried there.