LOOKING IN ON: SUBURBS

By Mike Trask (contact)

Friday, Dec. 7, 2007 | 7:28 a.m.

The president of the roughly 50-member North Las Vegas Democratic Club has done the unthinkable.

No, she didn't embezzle the group's money. Nor did she burn its files in an act of defiance. It's worse than that.

About a year ago, Willia Cheney donated $500 to the campaign of Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Gibbons.

How could she?!!!

Club members are flabbergasted. Some even want to remove her from her position.

A lot of things are acceptable in politics. A Democrat giving greenbacks to a Republican, though, apparently is not one of them.

"The club's bylaws expressly prohibit this type of misconduct and Mrs. Cheney and her husband are hoping nobody notices this misconduct," Mike Zahara, a member of the state party executive board, said in a widely distributed e-mail.

Cheney did not return telephone calls.

Richard Cherchio, the North Las Vegas club's vice president, was less angry about the perceived traitorous nature of Cheney's donation to Gibbons, though he said he was "surprised by it."

He just doesn't want the club to look silly. After all, big-time political organizations don't have these problems.

Station Casinos is getting an even stronger grip on the suburban gaming market.

The company will next add locations in two of the valley's most hyped master-planned communities.

Last month Station purchased 45 acres in the recently opened Inspirada along St. Rose Parkway near the Henderson Executive Airport. That site will serve as the hub of the pedestrian-friendly community.

Inspirada will add 13,500 homes on 2,000 acres to the fast-growing city, as well as a commercial center and 300 acres of parks. Construction of its seven neighborhoods will continue for several years.

Station also is adding a site in Aliante, a master-planned community in North Las Vegas, where construction is well under way.

No official timetable has been set for the Henderson project.

The Greenspun family, which owns the Las Vegas Sun, is partners with Station Casinos in Aliante Station and the Green Valley Ranch Station Casino in Henderson.

For the remainder of 2007, business in suburban government will be slower than usual.

Henderson moved its second meeting of the month to Tuesday. But the 39-item agenda is sparse compared with those with 100 or more topics often scheduled. The City Council then will break until 2008.

Boulder City also will hold its final meeting of the year Tuesday, with the seemingly never-ending issue of what to do when the Hoover Dam bypass opens in 2011 likely to get another round of discussion before the council breaks for the holidays.s

And North Las Vegas will have its final meeting of the year Dec. 19.