Las Vegas council briefs for March 6, 2003

Thursday, March 6, 2003 | 8:23 a.m.

Landscape ordinance passes

The Las Vegas City Council unanimously approved an ordinance to allow enforcement officers to cite apartment complexes that do not have adequate landscaping.

Multifamily developments within the city are required to maintain landscaping to certain standards. However, developments approved before the landscape requirements were established in 1997 did not have to meet the standards.

After developments are cited, their managers will be required to submit a landscaping plan and maintain it.

Guarantee OK'd on light show

The Las Vegas City Council approved a change to the $7 million Fremont Street improvement agreement that gained initial approval in January.

On Wednesday the council voted 4-1, with Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald dissenting, to allow a corporate guarantee to replace full bonding on the project.

Mark Paris, president of the Fremont Street Experience, asked the council to reconsider requiring the bond to ensure the completion of the $16.5 million project because it would cost an additional $140,000, city officials said.

Instead, Paris said LG, the Korean electronics company hired to replace the almost 2.1 million light bulbs with 9 million smaller bulbs for a clearer image, will sign a corporate guarantee.

The corporate guarantee is a contract that would require LG to pay for someone else to do the job if it cannot complete it or pay for the whole job if the Fremont Street Experience cannot pay its share.

Senior services center moves ahead

Las Vegas is moving forward with efforts to establish a one-stop services center for seniors at 320 S. Ninth St. The City Council voted unanimously to support creating a location where seniors could go for various social and health services.

Seniors have expressed a need for such a place since the Cannon Center closed more than a year ago. The Cannon Center housed agencies such as the state Welfare Department, the city's Senior Law Project, a community health clinic and Catholic Charities.