Friday, March 25, 2005 | 9:48 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Residents who live in an older section of North Las Vegas are being shortchanged in city services, say three Democratic Assembly members from Clark County who want to change the election makeup of the City Council.
Assembly members Kelvin Atkinson, Marilyn Kirkpatrick and Bob McCleary told the Assembly Government Affairs Committee Thursday they should pass Assembly Bill 197 that would have City Council members elected from their wards, rather than at large by the full city population.
Kirkpatrick said 73 percent of the population lives north of Cheyenne Avenue and "things are going to the new area" such as parks, fire stations and police units.
The present four council members must live in each of the four wards but are elected at large. The three said those who live in the "mature" section of the city don't know who they can go to for help.
But North Las Vegas City Manager Gregory Rose said the council opposes the plan, unless it is submitted to the voters. He told the committee the distribution of revenue on capital improvement projects is "very balanced."
Rose said developers in the new areas are taking care of the improvements and it is a "pay-as-you-go" system. The residents in the other sections of the city are not taxed on those projects.
Rose argued that Boulder City, Henderson and Mesquite elect their council members at large and North Las Vegas was being singled out.
The committee did not take action on the bill.
Atkinson, the prime sponsor of AB197, said he has heard rumors that he is pushing the bill because he has candidates lined up ready to run or that he wants to create wards where racial minorities dominate.
Those rumors are false, he said. "This is not an issue of race."
But Assemblyman Harvey Munford, D-Las Vegas, said "Yes, it is."
Munford said residents who live south of Cheyenne Avenue are "neglected." Six percent of Munford's Assembly District is in North Las Vegas.
McCreary said it is an issue of fairness. "One section of town gets all the benefits."
McCreary said he lives in the older section of North Las Vegas and he takes his children to the parks in the newer section because the ones in the mature neighborhood are not adequate.
Rose argued that the North Las Vegas City Council has been responsive to the wishes of the residents, even creating advisory groups of citizens to draw up plans for the future of the city.
Assemblywoman Peggy Pierce, D-Las Vegas, who chaired the committee during the hearing, said the talk has been going on for years. She said a suggestion by Rose to study the matter was "overkill." She said legislators were chosen to "exercise leadership."
Sen. John Lee, D-North Las Vegas, said he pushed a bill six years ago to create the ward system that elects council members at large. He said it was necessary at the time because most of the council members lived near each other in newer developments and weren't responsive to older parts of the city, and were too entrenched to consider such changes.
"I know my mother called about graffiti abatement, and they weren't responsive," Lee said in pushing for the ward system.
Lee said he doesn't have a position on the Assembly bill until he learns more about the arguments behind it. He said he withdrew a bill this session that would have expanded the council to seven from five members, but added he would have wanted North Las Vegas voters to have the final say. He said the bill may resurface as the city continues to grow.
Atkinson said the bill must be amended so that it doesn't take effect until the 2007 election, rather than the present June election this year.
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