Editorial: Slumlords and justice

Friday, July 8, 2005 | 4:55 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

July 9-10, 2005

Last week the Las Vegas City Council authorized the city attorney to go to court in an effort to shut down the Monterey Villas, an 80-unit apartment complex in the downtown area. Metro Police and city officials contend that the Monterey Villas, located near the Stratosphere casino, is immersed in crime and squalor. Just one month ago city officials sealed off 24 units in the apartment complex because they had been taken over by squatters, whom police say were prostitutes and drug users. Those apartments were in terrible condition -- they had no electricity or working plumbing systems, resulting in raw sewage accumulating on the floors.

Jen Lawson, a Las Vegas Sun reporter who visited the Monterey Villas on Wednesday, found that the trash and debris littering the complex had actually worsened over the past month. Broken glass, empty beer bottles, discarded food wrappers, paper plates and other garbage were strewn about a courtyard. Despite the abundant evidence of deplorable conditions at the complex, the attorney representing Monterey Villas, Robert Nersesian, told the City Council that conditions have improved at the apartments and that the company that owns the complex wants to work with the city. "This company wants to be a good citizen," Nersesian claimed.

Well, if Monterey Villas wants to be such a "good citizen," then just why does Nersesian refuse to identify those people who are behind this corporation that owns the complex? The reasons are obvious. Anyone who is part of Monterey Villas, a company based in Los Angeles, doesn't want the shame of being identified as a slumlord. They might even be looking to evade further legal action for letting the complex get run down to the point where it's a danger to its residents and surrounding community.

At some point, we hope that local officials are able to find out just who owns the complex. Indeed, shutting down the complex doesn't seem to be enough. We hope that a local judge, assuming he shuts down the place, first makes the slumlords live in the complex for a few weeks so that they can experience the squalor firsthand. Now that would be justice.