The mayor’s (secret) heart

By Joe Schoenmann

Saturday, March 8, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Shhhhhhhhh.

Here’s the best-kept secret in Las Vegas City Hall.

For all his combative impulses, Mayor Oscar Goodman has a heart.

Her name is Lynn Kerr, and she sits in the front row of the City Council chambers, dutifully taking notes and offering help to the homeless or the mentally ill who sometimes address the council during its biweekly meetings.

Kerr began sitting in on the meetings in January 2007. The 45-year-old Neighborhood Services caseworker has been in the business of helping people for 25 years. But this is the first time she’s been asked to do so at the behest of a mayor.

It’s strange to see a city help the homeless at a time when most cities rely on federal-, state- or county-funded private organizations to do that kind of work, she said.

“I’ve worked in civil service 25 years now, and came from Michigan, a very progressive state in terms of welfare reform,” Kerr said. “And I have never seen a municipality do what we’re doing in terms of dedicating staff and money to this. We’re pulling money out of our general fund to do this.”

This in a city whose mayor has something of a national reputation for what many see as insensitive comments about the homeless. The mayor once suggested moving the homeless into an abandoned state prison in Jean where they would be housed, fed and given help to get jobs.

The city has come down hard in some instances on the homeless. One ordinance, declared unconstitutional by the courts, sought to limit people from sleeping within a few feet of excrement. For years, the American Civil Liberties Union has decried the moves by police and city marshals cracking down on homeless people for seemingly minor offenses such as jaywalking.

As its reward, the city was dubbed the “meanest city” in 2003 by the National Coalition for the Homeless. Since then, Las Vegas has remained in the top five of that ranking.

Goodman has said he has been misunderstood.

Asked about Kerr and his request to have someone like her at City Council meetings, he said the gesture is consistent with his long-standing views on the homeless.

“I’ve made my position so clear on this, but it’s always so twisted,” he said. “Anybody who wants help is going to get help by the city. I’ve always said the ones I have no tolerance for are the able-bodied and sound of mind who just choose that lifestyle to the detriment of the rest of society.”

After the media criticism and after homeless people began appearing in the City Council chambers — partly because they were being fed in the park across the street from City Hall — Goodman took action at a meeting.

“I remember saying, ‘Look, are there any homeless here?’ They stood up. I said, ‘We have somebody from the city and we’re going to provide all the services necessary to get you back into society and to get you out of homelessness.’ And we never had a taker.”

Then, he said, he walked across the street to talk to those at the park.

“And they ran away from us.”

Finally, he decided to station someone permanently at City Council meetings. Now Kerr comes in near the end of the meetings, when a few people typically show up to speak with agitation about people following them or causing problems for them, or about the godless sin of homophobia, or even to beg for help once again from the city.

As these people talk, Kerr takes notes.

She said in a year’s time spending a few hours at the council meetings has led to assistance to about 10 people. It was busier when she started doing it in January 2007. Since then, “I think word spread” and they know they can just go to Neighborhood Services in City Hall.

Since January 2007, Kerr and a half-dozen or so other caseworkers have helped 146 homeless people. They also assist people who are about to be let out of prison, trying to help them get on their feet so they don’t become homeless upon release. On just this one program — not including money the city gave to other agencies or to help construct housing for the homeless — the city spent $78,219 in 2007 on services such as bus passes and rental and utility assistance.

In light of the estimated number of homeless people in Las Vegas — from 11,000 to 15,000 — the numbers aren’t spectacular. But be they 10 people or athousand, to Kerr it’s time well spent.

“This is a dream job on paper,” she beams. “I get paid to help people make their lives better. So I get all the warm and fuzzies, and get paid to do it. How much better does it get?”

Not only that, but in mid-January she got something more, this time directly from the mayor — Goodman presented her with a plaque naming her the city’s employee of the month.

After the clapping and the fanfare, Kerr walked away with her mother, who came to see her get the plaque and a check for $100. Then she sat down in her front-row seat and began to take notes.