THE LEGISLATURE:

F Street: Taking on the Road to Nowhere

Senator proposes city pay to get West Las Vegas reconnected

Leila Navidi

West Las Vegas community members gather during a December news conference called by the group Stop Closure of F Street.

By Sam Skolnik (contact)

Thursday, May 14, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Reader poll

Residents fight for F Street reopening

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F Street March

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Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford

F Street's dead end

Protesters march against closure of F Street (4-18-2009)
Roadwork works up West Las Vegans (12-1-2008)

UPDATED STORY: Senate panel advances initiative to reopen F Street

The West Las Vegas group opposing the permanent closure of F Street has in the past six months held countless neighborhood meetings, worked the media and government officials, and marched on the Strip.

But until state Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, recently entered the picture, nothing seemed to get the attention of the state and city officials it blames for closing the street connecting the historically black neighborhood to Union Park, where the city plans to build a new downtown.

Horsford has introduced an amendment to mandate that the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency foot a bill as large as $70 million to reopen the street. Horsford, who grew up in West Las Vegas and whose legislative district includes the area, said the closure at the city’s behest would continue a decades-long pattern of disregard and mistreatment of the neighborhood, near downtown.

“This would cause an enormous hardship for residents,” Horsford said. “It has to do with the viability of West Las Vegas to be able to grow and prosper as a community.”

This has been the main concern of the group Stop the Closure of F Street: that regardless of intent, the street closure separates them from the gleaming new developments of Union Park, considered by Mayor Oscar Goodman to be his crowning achievement, and much of the rest of downtown. Shutting off access not only makes it more difficult for residents to access retail, medical and government facilities nearby, it makes it much more difficult for the community to develop economically.

Horsford’s amendment, introduced before the Senate Government Affairs Committee, would direct the redevelopment agency to transfer up to $18.6 million to an agency called the Southern Nevada Enterprise Community Board after July 1. The board would work with the Transportation Department to carry out the project. The amendment also mandates that the redevelopment agency arrange for a “long-term financing agreement” for another $51.4 million, presumably as bonds, or simply pay the amount to the board in a lump sum.

Scott Adams, the city’s chief urban redevelopment officer, and Councilman Ricki Barlow, who represents the area, testified against the amendment during a May 8 legislative hearing.

The proposed amendment has yet to be voted on, but it must be by Friday to have a shot at becoming law.

Adams said Horsford’s amendment isn’t feasible.

“We don’t have that kind of money,” Adams said. “It just flat-out doesn’t exist.”

The recession has left the redevelopment agency with no cash and no bonding capacity, Adams said. But he added that he’s still interested in working with Horsford to reach a resolution both can live with.

Horsford disputed this notion, saying that if the redevelopment agency could find ways to fund a local strip club’s beautification efforts — a reference to a $50,000 agency grant to the Olympic Garden for signage — it could find a way to fund F Street.

The City Council voted in 2006 to close F Street as part of the project to widen I-15 from the Spaghetti Bowl to Craig Road in North Las Vegas. The vote also called for a connector to be built between F and D streets, south of Bonanza Road, so that the neighborhood wouldn’t be entirely shut off from downtown.

City officials explained the closure would move cut-through traffic to the wider D Street. Officials also said the proposal was partially prompted by a fatal accident on F Street involving a cement truck and a moped.

The closure of F Street at the corner of McWilliams Avenue took place in September. The area underneath the I-15 overpass, where F Street used to be, has been turned into a dead end.

As of late last year, state transportation officials said reopening F Street would cost $20 million to $30 million. That number has risen to $40 million to $70 million, according to Horsford.

Transportation Department officials have said that because the city asked for F Street’s closure, the city should pick up the tab if any agency is held to account.

After being enlisted to help by Stop the Closure of F Street, Horsford, along with Democratic Assemblymen Morse Arberry, Kelvin Atkinson and Harvey Munford, wrote Transportation Department Director Susan Martinovich on April 16.

The legislators noted that the Transportation Department is funding two major projects in Northern Nevada for a total of $700 million to $800 million — a bridge and an extension linking Reno and Carson City. If the agency can afford to spend hundreds of millions on “engineering feats” in Northern Nevada, the legislators wrote, “surely we can afford to spend a few million in Southern Nevada giving the people of West Las Vegas access to employment on the Las Vegas Strip, health care at the University Medical Center and government services at city and county complexes.”

Martinovich responded April 20. She noted that the department’s original design for the area kept F Street open. The City Council made the change to close the street, she said, because they were concerned about cut-through traffic, including by large trucks.

“It is not the responsibility or obligation of the State of Nevada to provide for the funding to make the changes,” she wrote.

Trish Geran, the local writer and activist who leads the F Street closure group, said Horsford’s involvement has been a blessing.

“What it means to the community is that there’s a sense of hope. We feel like we’re finally being represented properly,” she said. “We’re proud of Sen. Horsford for standing up.”

Discussion: 23 comments so far…

By jstewartnvegas

5/14/09 at 5:34 a.m.

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People have to drive farther to buy crack, big deal. The state needs to pay 70 million dollars for a street that is crime ridden and drug infested. I have a better idea, buy all the run down houses at current prices and develop something that will generate tax revenue for the state.
By maybevegas

5/14/09 at 6:47 a.m.

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Taking D street is not that big of a deal, although there was a guy on Channel 8 claiming a trip that use to take 5 minutes now takes 30! I couldn't believe the reporter didn't ask him about that claim. I thought I read the difference was like 600 feet in travel if you took D street.
By LasVegas2009

5/14/09 at 7:23 a.m.

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They are just making a big deal out of nothing. This is all just a waste and those protesters are being used as pawns in this. What a waste we are suppose to spend $millions to re-open a road? a road? Are you kidding me? Drive in another direction. You can get just about anywhere in Las Vegas in 30 min. Why are these people not busy cleaning up that eye sore neighborhood rather than make a demonstration? Everyone in Las Vegas tries to avoid driving through your neighborhood. It is crime infested and a scary place to be found. Please do us a favor and block off the other roads. These people don't care about cost to tax payers. Look what they have allowed to happen in that neighborhood. Just a waste.
By Jim24681

5/14/09 at 7:41 a.m.

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30 mins my ass. It is about 2 extra blocks to drive to take D street, Washington, or Bonanza. Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill.
By tbvegas

5/14/09 at 9:16 a.m.

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No one uses the stupid MLK flyover, I bet it does not get 750 cars a day. and how much did it cost, 20 million, maybe 50?

The alphabet street access issue had nothing to do with the road itself!
By Wolfdog

5/14/09 at 9:27 a.m.

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It shouldn't take more than a day. To bull doze that road open. Not 20 million dollars.
By b_greene

5/14/09 at 10:24 a.m.

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Please spare me all of your false outrage about where the money is going to come from or about how you feel about a neighborhood that I know you have never visited and people you have never met or spoke to.

This neighborhood has been oppressed by corrupt city officials for well over 40 years. The money that is proposed to open the street (which was never supposed to be closed in the first place) will come from redevelopment dollars slated for use in the community. Not your community our community. Since these dollars are meant for redevelopment on the westside it should make no difference to all of you people who think that my neighborhood should be destroyed.

If you have an issue with the neighborhood that is fine you need not visit, but for those of those who were raised over there, and have grandparents that live there we want the street open. All of the alphabet streets as you call them used to be open, however thanks to the ignorant attitudes that existed and obviously still exist via your comments, several were closed off (not surprisingly without the residents approval) and now here we are fighting the same battle.

PS- I am not a drug dealer or criminal, I am actually highly intelligent and very educated and I am a product of the community you want to destroy.
By b_greene

5/14/09 at 10:29 a.m.

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F Street Timeline

1943: Mayor Cragin refuses to renew business licenses of Black business owners unless th ey relocate to the Westside. Restrictive covenants and failure to rent to Blacks create defacto segregation

1944-1945 Informal urban renewal programs razes 375 homes, causing overcrowding on the Westside

1945: Reverend Henry Cook and West Side residents petition Mayor Cragin to pave "E" Street, the main thoroughfare on the Westside. All requests for public improvement are denied.

1950: Under Truman's Fair Deal, $1 million federal housing project approved (Kaufman, p. 360)

1951: Predominantly White middle-class residents of Bonanza Village protest use of the 20-acre Zaug Tract for low-cost housing development. Black residents charge racial discrimination. Bonanza Village hires attorney Harvey Dickerson (Kaufman, LV Sun, 4-24-51)

1951: As a compromise to Bonanza Village residents, a "100-foot wide buffer highway" is constructed (Highland Avenue, later renamed Martin Luther King Boulevard), separating the future housing project from Bonanza Village (Kaufman, p. 361; Moehring, p. 179)

1952: City of Las Vegas blacktops areas on the Westside. Federal housing project now known as Marble Manor completed (Kaufman, pp. 362-363).

1955: City of Las Vegas creates ordinance to drive out illegally parked trailer owners. 600 people sign petition to overturn ordinance, but it is retained (Kaufman, p. 375). Paving district established to fund curbing, guttering, and lighting on the West side.

1956: City of Las Vegas applies for federal urban renewal money, allowing it to condemn property for "better" use. City Planning Department extends slum clearance program by recommending that the federal highway (later known as I-15) be routed through the Westside (Kaufman, p. 375
By b_greene

5/14/09 at 10:30 a.m.

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1957: Federal Highway plans cut highway through the Westside. Westside residents protest plan. Highway plan tied in with urban renewal plan to placate residents. 200 families displaced with promise that they would be moved to better housing (Kaufman, pp. 375-376)

1959: Las Vegas Review-Journal describes plan by State Engineer and city officials to extend Highland Avenue , which had ended at Charleston Blvd. Plan states that Highland Avenue may be extended all the way to San Francisco ( LV Review Journal, 10-15-59).

1960: 160 family dwellings completed. This does not meet demand for housing. Advisory Urban Renewal Committee suggests that further low-income projects should be built outside the Westside, but this suggestion was ignored by planners (Kaufman, p. 378).

1962: Plans for widening I-15 include a cul-de-sac at F Street

1964: Civil Rights Act. Title VI prohibits racial discrimination on any projects involving federal funding

1968: Seven streets closed on the Westside. Led by Ethel Pearson, hundreds of people of the Westside community protest street closures, but streets remain closed.

1971: In response to Westside protests, F and D Streets reconfigured to access Downtown.

2004: Nevada Department of Transportation and City of Las Vegas plan expansion of Interstate Highway (I-15) through the Westside which will include closure of F Street and reconfiguration of D Street . F Street renamed City Parkway on development side of I-15. Government agencies claim they notified residents within 400 feet of the closure.

2006: Las Vegas City Council votes to close F and D streets as part of I-15 expansion. Las Vegas Councilman Lawrence Weekly later claims he did not know the plan would include street closings.

July 2008: Concrete wall built across F Street which cuts off direct access between the Westside and Downtown. City Council members claim they know nothing about the closure.

October 2008: Stop the F Street Closure Coalition formed

January 7, 2009: Protest march on Las Vegas City Hall .

January 9, 2009: Ora Bland, Estella Jimerson, National Action Network and Stop the F Street Closure, LLC file a Federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Las Vegas and Nevada Department of Transportation for the F Street closure.
By STV

5/14/09 at 12:01 p.m.

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b greene, you can see that your post is very slanted. The fact remains that it is very hard to justify that amount of money for that amount of road servicing so few people.

If the closure of F street causes traffic congestion on the remaining open roads, then a solution for the congestion should be reviewed.

Regardless of the source of funds, road construction should take place where it is needed most. The heaviest traffic congestion along with traffic and growth patterns need and 'deserve' the attention first and foremost.

If there is any racial bias, it is in the fact that we have a 'black community'. My 'community' is compiled with people of different color, creed, race, national origin, etc.

Why in 2009 do we have a 'black community'? what would happen if we had a 'white community'?

We are always going to have race issues as long as have issues with race. No matter what the situation, if we have an issue in the 'black community', it is going to be a racial issue.

very sad indeed.
By truthinnlv

5/14/09 at 12:05 p.m.

Comment removed by staff.
By b_greene

5/14/09 at 1:21 p.m.

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STV,

Very interesting that you would say why is there a black community except for the fact that my grandparents were forced to reside where they do. S quite naturally the neighborhood which exist prior to yours would still be there.

Had the City not wrongly closed the streets as they hae over the last 4 decades there would not be this problem now.

As far as other ethnicities there are some, this might shock you but there are white people who live in the community and are outraged.

This is human rights not simply racial justice we are talking about. I would be equally upset if this happened wherever you reside, because more than likely have friends or family there too.

That is the problem people want to quantify my struggle for my neighborhood as a race issue when in fact it is not. Simply minded comments like the ones from the idiot that wrote this doesn't help

Keep the road closed! Don't want crack from the HISTORIC WESTSIDE to pour into Downtown. In fact, close down Vegas at MLK, D street at Lake Mead and Bonanza at Main...then people have something to talk about, the lack of crime in the rest of the city

Fact is downtown and the neighborhood surrounding UNLV and the boulevard mall having some of the highest crime rates in the city, most of the pedophiles are found in the so called crime free areas, meth labs are spread all about.

BUt in the name of ignorance we have people like that idiot making your call for a "heal the world" or colorblind society that much harder to manifest to reality.

Injustice for one should be injustice for all, and until we get to that point we will never be able to simply see people as humans, because issues like this deny us our humanity.
By jstewartnvegas

5/14/09 at 2:10 p.m.

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B Green, A human rights issue? You can try to sell it, but we arn't buying. You and the rest of the residents of west Las Vegas need to quit being victims, quit playing the race card and realize that all of you have let your community become crime ridden, drug infested, and a gang land. The white man may have put you there in the 40's. But the black man destroyed it in the proceeding decades. Remember when there was no grocery store for around 2 years. All the resident's were "victims" no store would open there. Truth is, the store that was there kept getting shop lifted, and robbed. You want to protest, protest the deplorable conditions that all the resident's have sat back and watch happened to the area over the years. Where was the march then, why didn't they protest drug dealers, gang bangers. Stop looking at everyone else, west Las Vegas all of you are responsible for making that area irrelivant.
By LV4LIFE

5/14/09 at 3:17 p.m.

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Thanks for the history lesson b greene. Still, some won't acknowledge the truth when its right in front of them. There is less crack/meth etc. in the westside than many other parts of the valley. Still the bigotry of some will not allow them to believe this. The continued systematic strangling of the westside has never stopped. Even now they are building new "Midrise Projects" there instead of affordable houses. Although I didn't grow up on the westside, we lived there for a couple of years in the mid 70's. I have fond memories of swimming at the rouge and hanging out at the A.D. guy and the ice cream joint next to the rouge. I even walked to school (Madison 6th Grade Center). Its time the westside be allowed to grow and share in the prosperity of the rest of Vegas.
By b_greene

5/14/09 at 3:17 p.m.

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jstewartnvegas

Yeah and you just see us poor souls calling out for the help of the whiteman. Get over yourself. As I stated before it is a human rights issue and as someone who is born and raised here in the city I would been just as upset if they did what they did to us to you.

You are the one blinded by race not me. I am on the westside everyday and miraculously I don't see all the gang bangers and drug dealers you speak of in the mythic westside you have developed in your own mind. Everyone I know who has sold drugs lives in Summerlin.

The westside will never be irrelevant because the same people who care about it now have been the ones who have fought and cared since it's inception.

You should learn your history before you show your obvious stupidity. I am quite sure you are much older than me so it's a shame you have not matured passed your juvenile view point
By LV4LIFE

5/14/09 at 3:28 p.m.

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jstewartnvegas, who are we? Do you honestly think you speak for everyone? I think not! You certainly do not speak for me. b greene is absolutely right. People of color on the westside have struggled there since the 30's and they are still there. There are people who have lived there all their lives. bought homes,raised families, sent kids off to college and have been vital members of this city. This area must be preserved.
By LV4LIFE

5/14/09 at 3:41 p.m.

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Now, now b greene. I don't think jstewarnvgas in stupid. I believe he wraps him/herself in a blanket of ignorance that a lot of people (not of color)tend to do when it comes to the westside and minorities. Us versus them has been norm when it comes to these things. But if j-vegas looked closer at the issue he would see that its just us versus us. We do all a disservice when we marginalize one segment of a population.
By JUSTUS21

5/14/09 at 5:59 p.m.

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I grew up in Southern California in Echo Park and the same thing was done in this area. The crime rate shoot up and the good people moved out of the area. It became know as the death zone, One way in and one way out. If this street is not reopened the city will be faced with the same crime rate increase and find it would have been cheaper and better off to reopened these streets in the first place. I now live in this community and am very upset at the city officials for not taking more pride in this community.
By geenab65

5/14/09 at 6 p.m.

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LV4LIFE and BGREENE
You gotta remember, these people posting, are in all probability not minorities, but have a minority "best friend" or "work" with some minority people and therefore have absolutely no sympathy or real knowledge of the F Street closure issue. They only go by what mainstream media feeds them. We have to educate the messengers and you both know as well as I do, that's hard to do. But we keep plugging away. As much as people don't like it, Michelle and Obama are here for the next 4 years!!!
By tbvegas

5/14/09 at 7:28 p.m.

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I told you I was right earlier when I said the Alphabet streets issues have nothing to do with the road itself!
By b_greene

5/14/09 at 7:42 p.m.

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tbvegas,

It has everything to do with access. DO you not understand that the Westside used to have 6-7 streets that fed directly into downtown and as a result of unwarranted illegal measures on the part of the city of Las Vegas, 5 of the streets were closed off, leaving only F and D street.

In the new millennium (right now) it was then proposed to use the same tactics to close off the only tow streets remaining even as they are building a 6 billion dollar project 100 feet away.

Understand that a community does not become "depressed" on it's own not does it become functional on it's own. Communities don't develop themselves they are developed using money from local and state government the same money that has not been spent on the Westside since long before I was born.

The oldest community was the last to get plumbing, paved roads, electricity. This was no accident, and that is why is is a "human right's issue and not a color issue.

City governments do the same thing in impoverished communities that are predominantly white and it is just as wrong!!

Let's stop promoting the false notions of hate. I was born and raised on the Westside but I also attend high school with many different ethnicities. I am a Las Vegan and it is a shame that other Las Vegans would wish something on a community that they would not wish upon their own.

It is disgusting for people to act as if we want anything less than you in terms of quality living, quality schools, reliable elected officials.

These again are human issues and Mrs. Jimerson who is 95 years old and has paid her due in taxes and everything else deserve no less than the best.
By tbvegas

5/14/09 at 8:51 p.m.

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Give me a break! -F street, -D Street, -Bonanza, -LV BLVD, -MLK, -MLK flyover, (that is an unused joke), -Rancho. and you dont have access to the area?

I drive several miles on surface street once i get off an interstate or interchange, no one drives more than a mile downtown. Cry me a river! That area has more access than any in town. "Human rights issue" lol

You like the new 10 lane roads, you like the new lights, you like all the other nice amenities progress and taxes brings, until it costs something, to you.

So tell me green, what would offend you more, losing an access for progress for the city as a whole, or being left as it was and nothing done in that area at all, EVER!
By b_greene

5/14/09 at 10:14 p.m.

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tbvegas,

As I stated previously and as Las Vegas City Life has reported on extensively the redevelopment agency has not spent any money on redevelopment so your question as framed is asinine.

As a matter of fact when business that are in the redevelopment district approached the redevelopment agency the director lied and said that they were not in the redevelopment district (also reported by Las Vegas CIty Life)

We want the street open. Period! I like everyone else is my family are tax payers who deserve the same things as anyone else.

Most of the older male residents like my grandfather are veterans so they are definitely deserving.

You keep putting LOL in your comments but the only thing that is laughable is your supreme confidence in your demonstration of utter ignorance.

But by all means continue to indulge me with your dimwitted nonsense.

By the way the name is Greene.

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