Mission moving from downtown

By Timothy Pratt

Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004 | 9:36 a.m.

City Mission of Las Vegas, a source of food, clothing, meals and other services for the indigent on and around Fremont Street since 1998, will be moving out of the downtown area in mid-January, after having its lease terminated.

The conditions of the lease's termination are unclear. The lease ends Dec. 31, but the property owner, Mission Springs Property, will be giving the mission longer to move to a new site several miles east, near Pecos Road and East Lake Mead Boulevard, according to Jackie Davis, director of development for the faith-based charity.

Davis said the owner of the mission's site on 1118 Fremont told her in October that the lease would not be renewed and that he had "received pressure from the city (of Las Vegas) for us to be out of here."

Mike Edwards, president of the five-person board that oversees the charity's $950,000, privately funded annual budget, said his first response on hearing the news this fall was to ask, "Have we done something?"

The owner said that they had not, according to Edwards.

"I guess it's due to changes that have occurred in plans for that area," Edwards said, referring to the strip of Fremont that is now dotted with cheap hotels, pizzerias, liquor and convenience stores.

"Undoubtedly, we are not a good fit," he said.

City spokesman David Riggleman said the city had not talked to the property owner, however, and that he checked various city departments only to find that no one was even aware of the owner's decision to suspend the mission's lease.

"People who would know are not familiar with any conversations about this and we have no involvement in this situation," Riggleman said.

Several calls to Mission Springs were not returned.

Meanwhile, the impact on the downtown area was also unclear.

Davis said she hopes to serve the homeless in the same way, including some of the same people, at their new location, also set to open in mid-January.

"If someone is hungry, they're going to find a place to get a meal," she said.

She also said that the mission "was not out to make any problems for the city," and intended to carry on with activities during what she called "the busiest time of year" in the coming weeks.

That included setting up a toy give-away for low-income families scheduled for today.

Tuesday afternoon one of the four storefronts that comprises the mission was stuffed with dolls, toy cars and board games.

Outside, Marta Gonzalez, a 53-year-old local who walked with a cane and bundled herself in gray wool, said she would miss the mission.

She said Fremont Street was "filled with indigents who had no place to sleep and looked for help."

"And they found it here."