Friday, Sept. 10, 2004 | 5:20 a.m.
Jon Ralston hosts the news discussion program Face to Face on Las Vegas ONE and publishes the Ralston Report. He can be reached at (702) 870-7997 or at [email protected].
WEEKEND EDITION
September 11 - 12, 2004
Life is full of coincidences. They happen, and often, even in politics, disbelief must be suspended.
So it is perfectly possible that a series of coincidences have led mayoral son Ross Goodman to invest in prime downtown land next to a city redevelopment site only 18 months after Dad failed to get the law changed so His Honor would be able to buy it. And I am sure there is an explanation for the most spectacular coincidence in this series -- Mayor Oscar Goodman expressing an interest in the property for his restaurant and mob museum dreams shortly before his son began trying to purchase it.
In fact, Goodman the Younger wants the prime parcel, which used to house the British Bulldog pub, so badly that he is willing to try to steamroll an 85-year-old French-born widow who speaks broken English and can't read English. He and his business partner, mayoral protege Louis Palazzo, who already have purchased another parcel on the block, have filed a lawsuit against the elderly, infirm woman that legal experts say is abusive and violates basic precepts of jurisprudence.
All of this comes on the eve of the city deciding what to do with the 1-acre redevelopment parcel on Las Vegas Boulevard -- a decision that could dramatically increase the value of the land Goodman the Younger is going to extreme lengths to purchase. In another amazing coincidence, mayoral chief of staff Stephanie Boixo, who is about to become His Honor's daughter-in-law, actually sat on the selection committee making the decisions for that redevelopment land and had plenty of information about what was happening.
The mayor, who violated a state ethics law to help Ross Goodman's previous business venture, insisted last week he knew nothing about the transaction. But a few minutes later, he disclosed that Boixo, who is engaged to another Goodman son, had recused herself from that selection committee when Ross Goodman's interest became apparent.
Really? And she didn't tell the mayor when she recused herself on Aug. 18? And they never talk about such things around the Goodman Family dinner table?
It actually turns out that the mayor expressed an interest in the parcel last year, according to Glenda Shaw, who originally listed the property owned by the widow, Christina Von Sturm.
"I made a personal recommendation to the mayor himself to purchase the property at that time," Shaw said. "He indicated to me that he was interested in it, and possibly making it into a speakeasy/mob museum at that point in time."
Seems like you might need more than that parcel for all of that -- perhaps the city property and the Boulevard Hotel, which, coincidentally, Ross Goodman and Palazzo bought a month ago.
Shaw said she actually delivered a packet of information to the mayor last year. "He said he couldn't do it himself," she said. "But he took the packet."
I wonder why. I am sure that's just a coincidence.
Even though the mayor says he never talked to his son about the land, a few months after Oscar Goodman received that information from Shaw, Ross Goodman began negotiating to buy the property from Von Sturm.
Goodman and Palazzo apparently induced Von Sturm to sign an agreement to buy the property for $1.4 million, but by May, they had not given her a penny and they decided they wanted to extend the escrow. They claim in the lawsuit they filed against Von Sturm that she agreed -- although not in writing -- to do so until January. This, coincidentally, came as the city was finalizing its Request for Proposal for the city property next to the old Bulldog site -- in that document, the city promised to keep bids open until July 12.
On July 30 an internal city committee, which Boixo was on, received the submissions. Within two weeks, a flurry of coincidental activity occurred. Goodman and Palazzo formed a corporation, G P Properties, along with a companion holding company. They then sued Von Sturm for breaching the oral agreement and tried to lock up the land so she couldn't sell it to anyone else. Five days later they purchased the hotel next to the Bulldog site for $1.3 million.
Coincidentally, the city committee met during this time to consider the proposals for the redevelopment parcel. Two days earlier, according to the city, Boixo recused herself. And still, he says, the mayor knew nothing.
The lawsuit itself is highly questionable. Lew Brandon, who is Von Sturm's attorney and who had canceled the escrow, was shocked to hear it had been filed. "It doesn't make any sense," Brandon said last week. "There is no basis in law for an oral agreement."
To the mayor, the explanation for Ross Goodman's investment is simple and not a coincidence: "I guess my son is smarter than other people," Goodman said.
So maybe these are all just coincidences. Or perhaps it is how you define the word. Or where you define it.
City Hall is the place where it is considered a coincidence that a troubled strip joint decided the best lawyer it could find also happened to be the mayor's son (Ross Goodman) and the best PR person was a failed pawnbroker who happens to be a councilman (Michael Mack).
Yes, City Hall is a land of coincidences. So just keep suspending your disbelief, folks. I'm sure everything is just fine.
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