Friday, Dec. 19, 2008 | 2 a.m.
Officially, Wednesday’s City Council meeting was just like any other. Politicians pontificated; citizens and attorneys pled their cases; ordinances came to a vote.
Unofficially, it was Larry Brown Day at City Hall.
Dec. 17 was the last council meeting for Brown, Ward 4’s popular representative since 1997.
Mayor Oscar Goodman and each of the other council members (except Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian, who missed the meeting) took the opportunity to shower Brown with extended praise. A brief video testimonial of Brown’s career was shown.
In turn, Brown, who was easily elected to the Clark County Commission and begins serving next month, had plenty of fine words for his colleagues at the end of the meeting.
Brown said Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese – who has noted before the council what a valued colleague Brown has been over the years – is “honest, fair and always wants to do the right thing.
“You’re one of the finest human beings I’ve ever met,” Brown said.
Regarding Goodman, Brown said he was “one of the most unique individuals” he’d ever met.
Brown, who in 1999 was inducted into Harvard University’s Athletic Hall of Fame for his collegiate career in football and baseball, said he’s treasured his occasional one-on-one chats with Goodman in the mayor’s office. Everything Goodman does, Brown said, is to better the city.
Before the council adjourned, the members and council staff gave Brown a standing ovation.
Las Vegas Planning Commissioner David Steinman was appointed to serve in Brown’s place until a new Ward 4 council member is chosen in the municipal elections next year. Steinman has agreed to serve only as a “caretaker” member, and will not run for a full term.
Glenn Trowbridge, also a planning commissioner, and Metro Police Capt. Stavros Anthony, a member of the state university system’s Board of Regents, are running for Brown’s seat. Others are expected to join the race before the April 7 primary.
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This week the city presented its Neighborhood Stabilization Plan, which is designed to address the foreclosure crisis, to the federal Housing and Urban Development Department.
The plan outlines how a grant of $20.6 million would be used to assist neighborhoods with high foreclosure rates.
Goodman used the occasion to send a letter to the chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel for Economic Stabilization, to ensure she knows just how bad the problem is in Las Vegas.
In the Dec. 16 letter to Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law School professor, Goodman listed several sobering statistics showing the economic straits the city faces.
Goodman noted that one in 11 homes in the city is in foreclosure, which places Las Vegas in the top three cities nationally; that unemployment is expected to reach 9 percent; and that the city is anticipating a $150 million to $200 million budget shortfall over the next five years.
“Never before during my tenure as the Mayor have I felt as compelled to seek Federal assistance to minimize the impacts of our current economic situation,” Goodman wrote.
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Tom McGowan, a longtime fixture at City Council meetings, died Thursday. He was 76.
A former lounge singer and candidate for mayor and the Clark County Commission, McGowan frequently commented on issues before the council, offering, in his gravelly voice, an opinion on how he thought officials should vote.
“He spent sleepless nights preparing his critiques of how the city did business,” Mayor Goodman said. “Even though at times contentious, his suggestions were constructive and meaningful. I’ll miss the old fella.”
For years, McGowan attended nearly every council meeting, despite not having a car and using a walker.
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