LOOKING IN ON: THE SUBURBS

By Mike Trask

Monday, Jan. 8, 2007 | 7:24 a.m.

Advocates fighting to preserve the Upper Las Vegas Wash are organizing to try to stave off development in the area. Friends of the Upper Las Vegas Wash will hold its first meeting at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in the Sun City Aliante Community Room.

The 13,000-acre wash runs across the northern edges of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas. Fossils have been found in the wash, and it is the site of several rare plants, including the Las Vegas buckwheat poppy.

Jill DeStefano, a North Las Vegas resident organizing the group, said she wants the wash to become a national conservation area, complete with trails and educational resources. She will likely have the support of several preservationist groups, including the Las Vegas arm of the national Sierra Club.

The federal Bureau of Land Management and Utah State University are eight months into a 30-month study looking at the impact of development in the area.

The city of North Las Vegas wants to crack down on loud noises, unsightly houses and other blights in the 82-square-mile city. Representatives of the city's code enforcement and police departments will hold a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. today in City Hall to discuss proposed revisions to the nuisance ordinance. Those include updating codes dealing with public, behavioral and property nuisances.

Assistant Police Chief Joseph Chronister has said that some of the revisions could help police avoid repeated responses to the same locations for routine disruptions. North Las Vegas has not updated its nuisance code since 1987.

Candidates jumping to the municipal elections now include Henderson Deputy City Attorney Mark Stevens, who will run for Henderson Municipal Court Judge, Department 1.

Stevens is a Marine veteran and has been a member of the state bar since 1991.

Municipal primaries will be held April 3; the general election is June 5.

Boulder City Mayor Bob Ferraro will give his annual State of the City address Jan. 31 in City Hall. It will be Ferraro's last speech as Boulder City mayor. The veteran of more than 30 years of public service in the city does not plan to run for re-election.