West Las Vegas residents urge meeting over market

Dan Kulin

Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2005 | 11:17 a.m.

A group of West Las Vegas residents demonstrated at City Hall this morning, calling for city officials to meet with them as the city looks to bring a supermarket to their neighborhood.

Veronica Jones, a West Las Vegas resident and local chairperson of the community-oriented nonprofit group ACORN, said she is pleased the city is seeking offers on 10 acres of city-owned land at Martin Luther King and Lake Mead boulevards. But Jones and her supporters want to be included in future negotiations regarding the development of the land.

Also, Jones said they want built into any land deal wage and benefit minimums, and a requirement that some of the new jobs go to West Las Vegas residents.

"The request for proposals is out there but it does not stipulate good hires, wages or benefits. We want to make sure the community gets the first hires," Jones said.

About 30 local ACORN members and Westside residents marched, many with signs, in the plaza at City Hall this morning, chanting, "What do we want?"

"Good Jobs!"

"When do we want them?"

"Now!"

Jones also complained that a scheduled meeting the ACORN group had with city Office of Business Development Director Scott Adams was canceled, and called on Adams to apologize.

Adams said he met with ACORN representatives on four separate occasions, and has always been professional.

"Our staff goal is to bring a grocery store to West Las Vegas," Adams said, declining to comment further.

Following this morning's demonstration, ACORN members planned to present to the City Council a petition with more than 1,000 signatures from West Las Vegas residents who support setting wage and benefit levels and a requirement for local hires in the city's request for proposals for the 10 acres.

Councilman Lawrence Weekly, who pushed for the city to seek proposals for the land, said he wants to see if the city can legally put a requirement for wage, benefit or hiring requirements in the deal for the land.

Weekly represents that part of the city, a historically economically depressed neighborhood that has been without a supermarket since a Vons closed in the nearby Edmond Town Center in August 2004. Without that store, some residents have been forced to take longer drives or public transportation to other grocery stores in the area. Previously some residents could walk to the store.

In July residents organized by ACORN held a rally to bring attention to the situation and called on the city to release the land at Martin Luther King and Lake Mead.

The city has put together a package of tax incentives and grants that could be worth $300,000 to a grocery store coming to the neighborhood

The 10-acre site was part of a 68-acre tract the city purchased in 1995 for about $3.6 million.

Weekly said the 10 acres could be worth $5 million or $6 million now, but he added that the city could sell the land at a discount in order to secure the right project for the site.

After the city put out a call for offers on the 10 acres on Thursday, Weekly said he had spoken with four developers, including three connected to supermarket chains, about the land. Weekly would not say who those developers or companies are, but he said he is confident the city will receive offers on the land before the Oct. 17 deadline.