Opponents of city hall file Supreme Court brief

By Cy Ryan (contact)

Monday, May 4, 2009 | 5:11 p.m.

CARSON CITY – Two groups aided by the culinary union say there is a "deep unpopularity" of plans by the Las Vegas City Council to build a new city hall in downtown Las Vegas.

And they say the 14,000 citizens who signed a petition to put the issue on the ballot for the June 2 city municipal election "have a constitutional right to vote on these measures."

Andrew Kahn, attorney for the Las Vegas Taxpayer Accountability Committee and the Las Vegas Redevelopment Reform Committee, has asked the Nevada Supreme Court to order that the issue be placed on the June 2 ballot or order a special election.

In this time of financial troubles, Kahn said the Las Vegas City Council "is moving to greatly expand its redevelopment activities and to construct a quarter-billion dollar city hall using a form of financing that bypasses the normal voter approval requirement."

District Judge David Barker has ruled the initiative petitions are defective and should not be placed on the June 2 municipal election ballot. The two groups have appealed the ruling and now it will be up to the Supreme Court to decide whether to speed up its consideration.

Attorney Jackie Gilbert, representing the city, told the court last week in her brief that this was too important an issue to be decided in haste. She suggested the question of a new city hall could be decided at the regular election in November 2010.

She said placing the issue on this upcoming election ballot will cost the city an additional $450,000. And the court, Gilbert argued, has no authority to order a special election.

Supporters of the new city hall in downtown Las Vegas say the structure will cost $150 million in a lease-purchase plan, not the $267 million cited by opponents. And it would produce 13,000 new jobs in the downtown area.

Kahn said the city hall, by arguing for the issue to be placed on the 2010 ballot, “wants to present the courts and voters with a fait accompli, instead of fairly and democratically debating the city’s development strategy at the ballot box.”

Barker, in his ruling, said there were two issues included on the initiative petition when only one is allowed. And he held the petition failed to tell the voters that the petition, if approved at the election, would affect funding of present redevelopment projects in downtown Las Vegas.

At present there is only one race on the June 2 election ballot – the contest for Ward 4 councilman.

Kahn says, “If there is any doubt as to the measures’ validity, the court should order them placed on the ballot and allow the city’s challenges to be heard after the election.”