North Las Vegas councilman calls for greater community involvement

By Erin Dostal

Tuesday, May 11, 2010 | 11:47 p.m.

The efforts of community volunteers are becoming increasingly important in North Las Vegas, as the battered economy forces the city to cut back on services, City Council member Richard Cherchio said.

Speaking at a Ward 4 town hall meeting Tuesday night, Cherchio said greater community involvement is “long overdue here. We’re going through a difficult period.”

Volunteering can be as simple as reporting a pothole or as involved as staffing a library for extra hours, he said. “A sense of community is just...looking out for each other, “ he said.

But six-year North Las Vegas resident Dan Walsh, who attended the meeting, said the lack of turnout only highlighted North Las Vegas’ problem of limited civic involvement.

“I do a lot of volunteering,” he said. “We can’t even get people to come to meetings.”

Fewer than 100 people attended Tuesday’s meeting, and many were city officials. The meeting at Legacy High School, 150 W. Deer Springs Way, North Las Vegas, lasted about two hours.

Capt. Frank DiMartino of the North Las Vegas Police Department talked about Volunteers in Police Services, VIPS, during the meeting.

“The majority of the successes with the arrests we make...is (because of) the participation of citizens,” he said. “We respond to the calls.”

DiMartino said his Northwest Area Command receives about 1,800 calls a month, a volume that requires citizens to look out for each other’s safety.

Cherchio pointed out that public safety is “more than police and it’s more than fire.” It’s about community awareness, support and involvement, he said.

Kathi Thomas-Gibson, an outreach coordinator for neighborhood services in North Las Vegas, said her group has numerous volunteer opportunities for ongoing programs and events, such as World AIDS Day and Make a Difference Day.

Volunteer opportunities have included anti-violence programs, neighborhood cleanups and revitalization projects, and youth-involvement programs, she said.

Thomas-Gibson said her group put together several school programs aimed at keeping children safe. “We need a lot of people power on these. We want to do fun things that aren’t related to gangs or violence," she said.

Cherchio said greater community involvement could help North Las Vegas become a more well-connected community, where neighbors know each other and look out for each other.

“When money’s flowing, there isn’t much incentive for the city” to create volunteer programs, he said. “Right now, it’s to the point where it’s needed.”