Friday, Sept. 3, 2004 | 11:08 a.m.
A group of residents in Las Vegas' Ward 1 launched a recall effort against Councilwoman Janet Moncrief Thursday, saying she has failed to protect the district from development and calling her recent indictment "the straw that broke the camel's back."
Moncrief was indicted Aug. 5 on charges of falsifying campaign reports during the 2003 election,
But the residents said the significant issue for them was her inability to stop the City Council from approving a rezoning that allowed powerful developer Irwin Molasky to build a federal Social Security building along Buffalo Drive in a residential area. That vote is now the subject of a lawsuit against the city.
"It's been open season in our ward since she's been elected," said Larry Anspach, one of three people who signed the notice of intent, which was received in the secretary of state's office this morning and launched the recall. The group now has 90 days to collect 2,106 signatures, which is equal to a quarter of the people who voted in the last election.
Anspach said that various attempts had been made over the years to rezone the land the Social Security building is to occupy.
"Once Janet Moncrief was elected, almost immediately Irwin Molasky said 'I want to change it' (the zoning) and put in the Social Security building," Anspach said.
Moncrief was elected in spring 2003. The Social Security building rezoning was approved 4-3 in December. Moncrief voted against the rezoning and angrily objected to the project, which lies in her ward.
"Moncrief voted for us, but typically if a council member doesn't want a project to go in, the other council members respect that. That didn't happen," Anspach said.
Anspach said he was not involved with a separate group that had announced its intention to recall Moncrief. However, that group, which called itself the Ward One Cleanup Committee, has not filed a notice of intent and previously had said it was unable to find a third person to sign the form, as required by law.
Moncrief was not available for comment Thursday. Earlier this week she said she believed that her constituents were happy with her and her staff so she was not going to quit.
One group put out a statement of support for her. The Charleston Neighborhood Preservation Association wrote in the release that Moncrief "has our unequivocal support and endorsement. ... The 'I will work hard for my constituents' phrase is true for this councilwoman."
The release applauded Moncrief for her attendance at council meetings, her availability for meetings with the group and her lack of conflicts that would disqualify her from voting on issues.
Moncrief said earlier in the week that she was gratified by the group's support.
Anspach said his group is just now organizing, and he wasn't sure how much money had been collected to fund the recall effort.
"There's some people who have pledged monies we have not collected yet," he said.
He pointed to the lawsuit against the city over the Social Security building rezoning and said neighbors contributed probably $50,000 to that effort.
"This is a very strong neighborhood and we don't think that (collecting donations for the recall) will be a problem," Anspach said.
He said neighbors were willing to risk getting another new council member who may face the same issues Moncrief did.
He acknowledged that she may have supporters in the ward.
"This is a big ward, so there's people who like her," Anspach said. "In fairness, I don't have anything personally against her. This is just business."
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