Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

LOOKING IN ON: CITY HALL:

Redevelopment czar for Vegas?

City official will ascend to new post, pending the council’s approval

Scott Adams

Steve Marcus

Scott Adams, director of Las Vegas’ Business Development Office, takes part in an interview at City Hall in April 2008. He will become the city’s chief redevelopment officer if the council approves creation of the $164,912-a-year job, one Adams says would be like that of a deputy city manager in terms of managerial responsibility.

As any city-watcher could tell you, the city’s political leadership has made revitalizing its downtown core a priority.

For Mayor Oscar Goodman, it’s been the overriding focus of his decade in office, some would argue. This has manifested itself in the spate of downtown projects he’s pushed, from a new city hall to the mob museum, and today the City Council is set to create a high-level leadership position — chief urban redevelopment officer — that will further bolster this focal point.

If the council gives the go-ahead, Scott Adams, director of the city’s Business Development Office and top redevelopment officer since 2004, will assume the new post. He would oversee not just the business development office, but the Neighborhood Services Department and the Cultural Affairs Office as well.

Adams’ new post would pay $164,912, a 5 percent increase from his current salary, a city spokesman confirmed.

Another business development official, Bill Arent, will take over for Adams on an acting basis, and Arent’s old job will be vacant, the spokesman said.

Adams said the move was in the spirit of the city’s ongoing Fundamental Service Review effort to streamline city government. He said his job will be the equivalent of a deputy city manager, in terms of managerial responsibility.

The three departments have a strong relationship in promoting projects such as the mob museum, he said, so having one official to oversee them makes sense.

• • •

The Las Vegas Valley has suffered some devastating results during this economic crisis, including record numbers of home foreclosures.

But how many fewer homes are being built because of the recession?

A significant number, it turns out — especially within Las Vegas city limits.

According to statistics from the city’s Building and Safety department, the number of permits issued for new “single-family dwellings,” meaning houses, dropped from 251 in the first three months of 2008 to 96 during that same period this year. That’s a 62 percent drop.

During the first two months of 2009, 311 new-home permits were issued throughout the valley, according to numbers compiled by SalesTraq. That compares with 723 issued during the same period the year before — a 57 percent drop.

The numbers are even more stark when looking at new city permits for multifamily dwellings, meaning apartment complexes or condos. In the first three months of last year there were 13 such permits issued, for projects that included 739 units.

This year the city issued just one permit through March, for a project with 78 units.

This has resulted in lower city revenue, officials confirm — and laid-off employees.

Before April 2008 the building department had 121 full-time employees and one hourly employee. In part because of less work from the fewer permits issued, the department is down to 51 positions, according to a city spokesman.

Thirty-one full-time positions and the hourly job were eliminated in April 2008, though 27 of those employees were transferred to other city departments. Last month 20 more positions were dropped — but this time only five workers were kept on by the city.

“It is not only the reduction in the number of permits but the valuation of the permits that has resulted in lower revenues to the department that caused the reduction in force,” Chris Knight, the city’s building and safety director, said in a statement.

The department’s precise revenue drop over the past year could not be immediately determined.

In Business Las Vegas reporter Brian Wargo contributed to this report.

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