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By Erin Dostal, Paul Takahashi (contact) 
Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011 | 10:42 p.m.
Shari Buck
Richard Cherchio
The North Las Vegas City Council tentatively approved spending $500,000 to develop a business-focused master plan to help convince companies to set up shop in the city.
Details of a contract with Gensler — an architecture and consulting firm that designed CityCenter for MGM Resorts International — must be worked out before the council votes on final approval.
The idea behind the agreement, officials said, is to create a clear, city-wide master plan that can be shown to Fortune 500 companies around the world to attract them to North Las Vegas.
Part of that contract will give officials renderings they can present to pique business interest in an area often overshadowed by Las Vegas and Henderson.
It’s a feasibility study, said Rob Cousins, senior associate for Gensler. Companies want to know if and why they should move to North Las Vegas, he said.
“A picture is worth a thousand words,” Cousins said. “If you give someone a written report, they won’t read it. If you give them 10 photos of what the city will look like...they get excited.”
The city council voted 4-1 to pursue a contract, with Mayor Shari Buck as the single dissenter. Buck called the proposal “a very pie-in-the-sky boondoggle.”
“Here we are, we’ve laid people off, closed our parks and recreation, we’ve closed our libraries and now all of a sudden we can find $500,000?” she said.
“I’m really surprised that this council is even considering this,” she said. “I’m very, very much against it.”
Buck also said she worried that the city hadn’t looked at other firms and selected Gensler without pursuing possibly cheaper options.
Councilman Richard Cherchio said the decision wasn’t reached “willy-nilly.”
“We can’t be fearful,” Cherchio said. “We have to start moving this city forward.”
The funds would be made available pending the council’s final approval of the contract, to be set at a later meeting.
I like the moxy in planning a sales pitch to "Fortune 500 companies around the world." I also agree with Mayor Buck, however, that the half a million price tag is ridiculous. You cannot tell me that some local architect and somebody in city hall, using supporting data that is available for free from that new Brookings Mountain West institute at UNLV, could not have done this for considerably less money. North LV, LV, Henderson, and all of the Valley have some distinct selling points: newly competitive housing; ditto for commercial space; no income tax for both entities and employees, alike; good logistical location in Western U.S., friendly business clime in halls of power. Ultimately, the salesmanship of the North LV officials is what will make or break any deals for this, though. That half a million dollars for the calling card is just not acceptable during these times. Get more creative, folks.
Can we please get a master plan to DEPORT the illegals abusing social services? Clark County homeowners, via property tax for indigent medical care, pay more than $100K per ILLEGAL ABUSING University Medical Center emergency DIALYSIS. They fail to find alternatives but keep coming back for "free" / stolen medical care. DEPORT THE ABUSERS.
Mayor Buck is Correct. A New Rec Center on Centennial with no funds to open it. A new regional park on Craig Road with no funds to open it. High crime rates and not enough police to safeguard the public.
You can show them all the pictures you want, however before they invest they will come to look around. Reviewing the lack of existing City Planning, Road Systems, Crime and Quality of life issues in this community - North Las Vegas is not ready for prime time.
Solve the Crime, Education and Quality of Life Issues and employers will investigate on their own.
Stop wasting the limited amount of money available.
$500K sounds way too high for a glorified sales brochure -- maybe the result of limited/no competition for the contract? Or an inept City Council?