Officials to talk foreclosures
Gov. Jim Gibbons will meet privately Monday with bankers, state regulators and federal regulators to discuss the credit crisis and "growing foreclosure problems."
"It's critical to the health of our economy that we reduce the number of foreclosures in our state," Gibbons said in a statement.
The conference will address the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which gives money to local governments to repopulate neighborhoods that have vacant, foreclosed homes, said Elisabeth Shurtleff, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Business and Industry.
The meeting, however, will be closed to the public for the first 90 minutes "to facilitate open discussion." The final 30 minutes, which will be used to summarize the discussion, will be open to the news media, the Department of Business & Industry said.
Barry Smith, executive director of the Nevada Press Association, questioned the decision to conduct government discussions in secret.
"It certainly doesn't inspire confidence in the public when the governor meets behind closed doors with private industry," Smith said. "These are hard times."
He said the governor should let the public attend the conference so the public knows what is being said.
"That way you don't have any worries that there are any deals on the table that we don't know about," Smith said. "(Gibbons) just doesn't seem comfortable talking to reporters."
The meeting starts at 9 a.m. in Suite 1100 of the Sawyer Building, 555 E. Washington Ave. in Las Vegas.
Contact reporter John G. Edwards at jedwards@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0420.
