Anti-city-hall sentiment could alter council ranks

By Sam Skolnik

Monday, March 23, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Depending on whom the voters choose, the Las Vegas City Council could soon become a very different place to do business.

The seven-member council, which includes Mayor Oscar Goodman, in recent years has been a panel of little public dissension. Big-ticket and contentious proposed redevelopment projects such as the new city hall and the mob museum have typically been pursued with one voice.

During a recent one-year period, in fact, the Sun found that the council had voted unanimously 98.4 percent of the time.

The two contested council races this year, in Wards 4 and 6, both feature candidates who disagree with the council’s dogged pursuit of a new city hall. The issue has pushed the city into a power struggle with the powerful Culinary Union, which is demanding that such expensive redevelopment projects be halted, or at least put to voters.

Come June, Goodman might have to handle two new council members who unambiguously oppose a new city hall — up from zero.

Such discord on the council would be a blow to the mayor, whose strong presence and beliefs are rarely questioned publicly by other members of the council.

The contrast is most stark in the Ward 6 race, which pits incumbent Steve Ross against Jennifer Taylor, a lawyer with at least the implicit backing of the Culinary.

Ross, secretary-treasurer of the Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council, is one of the project’s biggest boosters, in part because his unions’ workers stand to benefit. Ross says the city has clearly outgrown its current city hall, and that now is a good time to build because construction costs are so low.

Taylor takes a decidedly different view. According to her campaign Web site, “Jennifer Taylor believes that the new City Hall project is simply too risky and commits too much of our public funds without any guarantee that the city, and its citizens, will truly benefit from this bargain.”

In Ward 4, a half-dozen candidates have signed up to run for the seat recently vacated by Clark County Commissioner Larry Brown.

Two candidates who so far stand out, in terms of the amount of money they’ve raised and other factors — Metro Police Capt. Stavros Anthony, a member of the state higher education system’s Board of Regents, and Las Vegas Planning Commission Chairman Glenn Trowbridge — have expressed differing degrees of skepticism about the city hall project.

Trowbridge says downtown redevelopment is “crucial to diversifying our community” and putting people to work. But in response to questions posed by the Sun he said he would not support the project if it means increased taxes for city residents.

City leaders have said the project will not entail new taxes. Critics maintain that the city will take on as much as $267 million in debt to support the project, money that could be going to support vital city services.

Anthony is direct in his opposition to the project. “I do not support a new city hall,” he said in an e-mail. “The one we currently have is in good shape and meets the needs of city government.”

No current member of the council is against the project. Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian initially voted against it, but she said her reservations about the project’s finances have been assuaged.

The Ward 6 race between Ross and Taylor will be decided by the April 7 city primary, and the winner will be seated May 6.

In the Ward 4 race, the top two candidates will face off in the June 2 general election — unless the top vote-getter receives more than 50 percent of the vote. The winner of the general election will be seated June 17.

Early voting for the two City Council races, and one seat on the Municipal Court bench, began Saturday and ends April 3.