Saturday, October 18, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Culinary joins with Sierra Club to oppose Station Casinos tower

The flier opposing a 300-foot tower that Station Casinos wants as part of its Red Rock Station casino at Charleston and I-215.

Culinary Local 226 and the Sierra Club have joined forces to fund a flier opposing Station Casinos' plans for a 300-foot tower at its proposed Red Rock Station casino site in Summerlin.

The flier being mailed to more than 10,000 Sumerlin-area voters advises recipients that Station Casinos wants to get Clark County permission for a 300-foot hotel tower it wants to build as part of its Red Rock Station locals casino complex near Charleston Boulevard and Interstate 215.

"Clark County zoning says the tower can only be 100 feet tall," the flier notes. "Station Casinos wants the County Commission to change the rules for them. You can save the beauty of and majesty of Red Rock Canyon for generations to come. Call the Clark County Commission ... (and) tell the commissioners you oppose a 300-foot tower and any zoning change for Station Casinos."

The flier lists the commission's phone number and also asks recipients to call Las Vegas City Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald, a recently appointed Station board member.

"Ask her to stop the company from destroying the view of Red Rock," the flier instructs.

The single-sheet, single-fold mailing began Friday, with the bulk of the fliers scheduled to be sent Monday, Culinary Political Director Glen Arnodo said.

The mailing is expected to cost about $4,000.

"It's a first," Arnodo said of the union's partnership with an environmental group on an environmental issue.

Arnodo said the union's beef with the project is strictly environmental and has nothing to do with the company's nonunion workforce.

"Saving Red Rock is in everybody's interest, and that's why we've joined with the Sierra Club," Arnodo said. "Red Rock belongs as much to dishwashers and housekeepers in our valley as it does to anyone else. We treasure Red Rock and we're going to fight for it."

A Sierra Club official did not return a phone message left Friday afternoon.

But a casino spokeswoman rebuffed the mailing.

"They are clearly opportunists," Station Casinos spokeswoman Lesley Pittman said of the Culinary's part in the joint mailing. "They're trying to inflame this issue."

Pittman said the company has not decided to compromise on the tower height issue.

"The fact of the matter is that (the Howard Hughes Corp.) has an entitlement for a 250-foot tower," Pittman said. "For our tower to have an unobstructed view, we need 300 feet."

Zoning for the area near the casino site includes plans for a shopping mall and a 250-foot tower.

Station withdrew its plan for the casino from a Clark County Planning Commission agenda last week, saying opposition to the tower's height caught it by surprise.

Station has scheduled an open house to discuss its Red Rock Station plans at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Ober Elementary School, 3035 Desert Marigold Lane in Summerlin.

The open house is slated to last until 9 p.m., and will let citizens ask questions about the project and fill out comment cards with their opinions.

"On Tuesday we'll have an opportunity to share correct information with members of the community and also provide the community with an opportunity to share their concerns," Pittman said.