Wednesday, May 9, 2007 | 7:18 a.m.
In the April primary, the 10-candidate Las Vegas City Council race for Ward 5 was the largest field in any local campaign, which kept mudslinging to a minimum. With so many candidates - and potential targets - such tactics are generally less effective.
But since the field for the June 5 general election was narrowed to two - council liaison Ricki Barlow and lawyer Stacie Truesdell - the mud has been flying.
Barlow launched the first salvo by painting Truesdell as an outsider in the pocket of big-money developers and a paid lobbyist who will focus more on special interests and her law job than residents' concerns.
Truesdell's camp countered by challenging Barlow's residency, which they say brings his legitimacy as a candidate into question and resulted in an improper appointment to the Library Commission. It has even set up a Web site, theproblemwithricki.com, that chronicles the claims against him.
Meanwhile, the issues raised during the crowded primary, but which have not received as much attention from the candidates lately, still exist.
The diverse ward includes economically disadvantaged West Las Vegas, which has not had a full-service grocery store since the Vons on Owens Avenue closed almost three years ago.
Beatrice Turner, a Ward 5 activist, said it is not enough just to bring a grocery store to the area. The new council member, she said, must ensure that the businesses that come to the area provide jobs for residents, which could help alleviate another problem in the ward - crime.
"If people was working they wouldn't be thieving," she said.
The candidates generally agree that reducing crime and increasing economic development are the ward's main challenges.
Barlow lists crime prevention as his No. 1 priority.
"Folks are really concerned about the level of public safety," Barlow said. "I'm looking forward to providing that level of comfort by working with law enforcement officials and city officials."
Barlow would like to employ a block-by-block approach that would assign block captains and include neighborhood watch programs. He said his experience working with the Neighborhood Services Department as a liaison for former Councilman Lawrence Weekly, now a Clark County commissioner, would help him develop and implement such programs.
Truesdell identified economic development as her main concern.
"We need to be proactive - we just can't wait and continue to hope developers come to us," she said.
She sees establishing a positive community image and presenting that to developers and investors as the best way to spur the economic growth lacking in some of the ward's neighborhoods.
"If you show you value the partnership and that we have a lot to offer, it goes a long way to bringing developers in," Truesdell said.
The ward includes a part of downtown already experiencing a renaissance thanks to the city's aggressive redevelopment efforts. Truesdell said that is an example of what the right development strategy can accomplish.
Barlow, 35, served as Weekly's liaison for seven years. His campaign literature claims he has been a lifelong resident of Las Vegas and the Ward 5 area. Election Department documents, however, indicate he has lived in unincorporated Clark County for most of his life and moved to the ward a few months ago.
Truesdell, 26, is a lifelong Las Vegas resident who moved to Ward 5 two years ago after returning from law school in New York.
The racial makeup of the ward mirrors its economic diversity and includes significant black, white and Hispanic populations.
Although Weekly was the only black council member, he does not see that as a prerequisite for his successor.
"It needs to be someone who represents all of the people in the ward and the city," he said when he left office to accept an appointment to the County Commission.
He has not endorsed Barlow, who is black, or Truesdell, who is white.
Barlow has been endorsed by the Las Vegas Police Protective Organization, the Las Vegas Firefighters and the Culinary Union.
Truesdell has made inroads in the black community and recently picked up an endorsement from Turner.
"We don't have to vote for a black candidate just because we're black," Turner said.
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