The Las Vegas City Council is doing it again.

Bankrupted in part by opposition from competition-shy downtown casino barons who managed to deny him his first choice of location, Bob Snow went belly-up with his downtown Main Street Station project about a dozen years ago. His neighbor, Boyd Gaming, picked up the hotel/casino at a fire-sale price. Just to make things nicer for them, the city then agreed to sell Boyd an adjacent 3.4-acre parcel of land for just $1, with the sole provision that Boyd promise to build there a 900-space parking lot.

But the parking lot was never built. By early 2005, Boyd managed to convince the city the extra downtown parking wasn't really needed. So, rationalizing that Boyd had ponied up some $2 million to help design a yet-to-be-built downtown performing arts center and a never-to-be-built downtown hockey arena (the Las Vegas Wranglers decided to play at The Orleans, instead), the City Council released Boyd from their promise to build a parking lot on the 3.4 acres -- which by then had an estimated taxable value of $6 million.

That's a pretty good deal, for a buck.

But that was OK, Mayor Oscar Goodman explained, because the Boyd folks had been "good corporate neighbors."

Well, another year has passed, and the City Council is apparently feeling antsy that they haven't given anything away lately. So step right up: It's Christmas in July.

Cox Communications is a fine and fast-growing local business, operating a local cable TV franchise once owned by the Greenspun family. (The Greenspuns publish the Las Vegas Sun, which is now circulated as a section inside the Review-Journal.)

Cox outgrew its old headquarters, south of U.S. Highway 95 on Martin Luther King Boulevard, a few years back, and built a newer headquarters at Rancho Circle, where Rancho Drive meets Bonanza Road. Now they've outgrown that building, as well, and plan to move some 1,100 workers into the old Addelar Guy Veterans Administration ambulatory care center, a few miles further east at Vegas Drive and Martin Luther King Boulevard.

After spending $16 million to build that structure in 1996, the VA sold it to a private holding company and leased back the premises. That turned out to be wise, because the building was a mess. The VA broke its lease and moved out in 2003 -- the externally attractive, 149,000-square-foot, two-story structure has sat vacant ever since, its parking lot serving as a useful shortcut for mailmen and police cruisers heading southwest from the MLK post office and the Larry Bolden Metro substation.

Make no mistake: Even allowing for inflation, the current owners were lucky to get $16 million for the structure. According to congressional testimony, American Legion national commander Ron Conley toured the building in 2002, learning "of the numerous problems with the steel used in the construction of the building and the inadequate floor supports, as well. ... The commander was told that at night, employees fill the drains of the sinks with disinfectant because sewer gases back up into the sinks and cause employees to become ill."

Finding a new tenant willing to fix up this structure and bring some workers back to this area is indeed welcome news. The question is how the City Council came to decide, once again, to part with an adjoining parcel of land for $1.

Cox asked for the adjoining piece of city land -- 7.69 acres, recently appraised at more than $4 million -- for use as (does this sound at all familiar?) a parking lot. Cox offered a buck. The City Council said, "Sounds fine to us."

The rationale? Those 1,100 jobs.

But most of those jobs are already in the city -- just a couple miles to the west. Nor has the city made any convincing case that Cox would have moved out of town had the city sought $1 million for the 7.69 acres, or $2 million -- all value lost to Las Vegas taxpayers.

For that matter, does anyone doubt Cox will someday outgrow this location, as well, move elsewhere, and sell that 7.69 acres ... for a lot more than $1? Did anyone at the city think to offer Cox a $1-a-year lease on this land, demonstrating at least some minimal fiduciary rectitude by retaining title to this potentially valuable real estate?

Lots of other Southern Nevadans doubtless wonder how we can get on the mayor's "good neighbor" list to receive pricey urban land for something in the range of 15 to 30 cents per acre.

Failing that, could we interest the City Council in purchasing this handful of magic beans?