Las Vegas City Council briefs for May 20, 2004

Thursday, May 20, 2004 | 11:11 a.m.

Rules passed for scooter sellers

The Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday unanimously passed an ordinance requiring businesses that sell motorized scooters and skateboards to disclose that such devices are subject to state laws regarding operator licensing.

Councilman Michael Mack introduced the proposed ordinance after learning that a significant number of people operating the devices told authorities they were not made aware at the time of purchase about restrictions regarding their use on city streets.

Vicious dogs can be rounded up

The City Council on Wednesday unanimously passed an ordinance that would allow animal control and police officers to round up potentially vicious dogs.

The ordinance is intended to thwart illegal dog fighting in the city limits by getting to puppies before they are trained to be vicious as well as confiscating the breeding stock.

Janie Greenspun Gale, a member of the board of directors of the Animal Foundation Inc., which operates the Lied animal clinic and shelter on North Mojave Road that serves as the city pound, told the council the ordinance is a step toward putting an end to the "brutality and devastation" dog fighting causes, including the training that includes beating and starving the animals.

Gale is a member of the Greenspun family, which owns the Las Vegas Sun.

Mayor provides disclosure in vote

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, fresh off one highly publicized bout with the state Ethics Commission, apparently does not want another.

Goodman at Wednesday's City Council meeting asked that a prior meeting vote on a water feature exemption for a Thomas & Mack Corp. project at 2300 W. Sahara Ave. be rescinded so that he could disclose that "it went over my head" that Peter Thomas, with whom he has a 4 percent interest in an unrelated project, could have benefited financially from the exemption.

Goodman said it "never dawned on me (there was a) potential conflict of interest," regarding his business relationship with Thomas of the Thomas & Mack Corp., when he voted to pass a measure that would allow companies to install water fixtures if they replaced turf on the site of the project with desert landscaping to save water.

After rescinding the vote and disclosing the business relationship, Goodman got the go-ahead from City Attorney Brad Jerbic to again vote on the project's approval. It was Jerbic's opinion that all that was required of Goodman was a disclosure, not an abstention. The motion passed 6-0.