WESTSIDE STORY: Historic black neighborhood looks for respect

To most valley residents, permanently closing off F Street to improve a highway might be considered a necessary sacrifice for growth and progress.

After all, it is a road so ordinary it hasn't warranted a more distinctive name throughout its decades of existence.

But for those who live along that street, and in the neighborhood where it serves as a historical gateway, closing F Street is a step backward and serves as a reminder of past slights, the importance of reputation and maybe even presumptions that no longer apply.

West Las Vegas or the Westside, as it is known to those who have ties to the area, is the valley's historic black neighborhood, where residents built a strong community and robust businesses during segregation. Once integration came to Las Vegas in the 1960s, many local blacks who could afford it moved to other parts of the valley, sending West Las Vegas on a downward economic spiral that continues today. The community is loosely bordered by Carey Avenue, Bonanza Road, Interstate 15 and Rancho Drive. F Street has long served as the entryway to that community.

In the late 1980s, West Las Vegas developed a reputation as a crime-infested community mainly because it was, past and current residents say. Despite great strides in dealing with the neighborhood's problems, the bad reputation persists, which some think may have given the city a reason to close F Street and erect a permanent dirt wall, says Trish Geran, a local author who grew up in West Las Vegas. Though she technically lives in North Las Vegas, she still visits her family in West Las Vegas.

The street closing, she says, serves a dual purpose: It supports the widening of I-15 and it seals off a "problem area" from the rest of the valley.

"It's almost like they're (the city government) trying to corner them and hope they'll die out. I think they feel that the community doesn't care," says Geran, who is part of a group that has filed a lawsuit against the city, asking that the street be reopened.

But if the recent street closing and ensuing controversy illustrate anything, it is that many residents do care about what happens in their neighborhood. Despite its problems and persistent negative reputation, West Las Vegas is, in fact, a complex neighborhood with a devoted following both from its current residents and from people who admire it from afar.

"I haven't thought about the big, bad Westside of Las Vegas in a long time," says Nyla Christian, whose family has lived in West Las Vegas since 1972. Though she now lives in Summerlin, she brings her 10-year-old son every day to the Andre Agassi Boys and Girls Club on Martin Luther King Boulevard because she wants him to experience the culture. "There is a stigma that has been placed on the Westside. Some of it might have been warranted. However, this is the African-American cultural mecca of Las Vegas. It is growing and flourishing. The Westside is nothing like it used to be. A lot of people have moved here from other areas where black culture was revered and they've brought that attitude with them."

CRIME DECREASING

West Las Vegas' bad reputation was warranted until recently, according to Capt. Patrick Neville of the Metropolitan Police Department's Bolden area command. Shootings, murders, drug deals, gang activity, all of it found fertile ground in the neighborhood.

Neville recalls that in the mid-1990s when he was a sergeant and walked the streets of West Las Vegas, he regularly heard the distinctive "pop-pop-pop" of gunfire. It was so common that people became almost immune to the sound, he says.

Today, it's a far different story largely because of the efforts of the people who live and work there, Neville says.

He refrains from painting a too-rosy picture, though, pointing out that it's impossible to eliminate crime, especially in a neighborhood as complex as West Las Vegas.

On its westernmost edges, the signs of growth are everywhere. Martin Luther King Boulevard, which splits nearly the center of the neighborhood, is torn up with construction projects and congested with the traffic of people passing through. Businesses near the boulevard seem to flourish; old buildings have gotten face-lifts while other businesses, such as CVS and Gritz Cafe, have moved in.

But to the east, the neighborhood remains stuck in a time warp of sorts, with dilapidated houses, vacant lots, and little to no industry and no sign that things will change anytime soon.

In 2006, police began tracking certain violent crimes, Neville says, such as domestic battery, attempted homicides, murders, assaults and robberies. A rash of shootings spurred them to pair up with clergy from the community and support them as they reached out to local youths in an attempt to curb the crime.

It worked, Neville says. Violent crimes decreased 35 percent from 2006 to 2007 and an additional 17 percent from 2007 to 2008.

"That's pretty telling," Neville says. "It's not just Metro doing that, there's a lot of community people who came together to make it happen. We're part of the solution but we're not the solution."

Religion was once the hub of the community, says the Rev. Sylvester Rogers, pastor of the Greater Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church.

"Without the churches, there wouldn't be a West Las Vegas," he says. Church is still a must for older generations; it's the young adults and teens who haven't developed the same attachment to a house of worship, Rogers says.

Working with a gang task force, Rogers has gone door to door, passing out literature about gangs and talking to kids about their future. He stresses the importance of education and employment.

MORE BUSINESS NEEDED

While the community has made positive changes, there is room for additional improvement, especially economically, Neville says.

"I would like to see more businesses in West Las Vegas. We've seen things here close down and nothing replace them," Neville says. "Once those businesses were gone, you could almost see the community wither away."

Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly, whose district includes West Las Vegas, agrees that attracting business to the neighborhood will help deal with problems such as homelessness, alcohol addiction and unemployment.

Ever since desegregation, West Las Vegas has experienced a major decline in investment, Weekly notes. Some businesses, such as barber shops and salons, have "stayed the course, through all the pessimistic news," he adds. But sustained expansion has yet to be achieved.

For 30 years, Louis Conner, 66, has been doing his part for the economy, operating his Seven Seas restaurant and tavern at H Street and Lake Mead Boulevard. As neighbor businesses left, he gobbled up the surrounding land with the goal of one day opening a strip mall. He hasn't been able to realize his dream because the customers just aren't there.

"This community is not ready for that yet," Conner says.

He moved to West Las Vegas in 1959, before integration took full effect, and remembers when the neighborhood thrived. The community was self-supporting and had just about anything a person needed, he recalls.

Desegregation caused an exodus from the area as people left when the rest of the valley, along with new opportunities, opened up.

Before, families moved to West Las Vegas with the goal of raising their children there, Conner says. Now, "it's in and out. It's cheap rent, as soon as they get on their feet they move out."

Even though he moved to the southwest part of the valley in 1998, Conner says he spends 15 to 18 hours a day in West Las Vegas, sometimes sleeping overnight in his office. He loves the neighborhood, despite its flaws, and wants to leave a lasting mark on it.

His vision for the strip mall includes doctors' offices, real estate brokers, lawyers, a wide array of industries to supplement what is already there.

Conner intended to retire this year, but the economy has caused him to postpone his plans one more year. He hoped to pass the business down to one of his four children, but none of them is interested. He plans to sell. He doesn't like to think about what he will do if he can't find a buyer.

Mack Smith, a barber, owns Hair Unlimited on Martin Luther King Boulevard. He has been in the same spot for 29 years and has had better luck achieving his goals -- to a point.

"I figure this is about one of the biggest streets in Las Vegas because so many people have moved out to the (northwest) and this is their main thoroughfare for them to go to work," Smith says.

Indeed, business has been so strong that he was able to remodel the salon and take over the strip mall where it's located. But, he still has to deal with the perception that his business is in a bad part of town, and Smith is reminded every time he calls a cab for a customer.

"Man, I'm on a main through street, nobody's going to bother you," Smith says. "If I say the customer wants to go to the Strip, it's OK. But if I just say they need a cab in the neighborhood, they want all kinds of information."

Improving the business climate in West Las Vegas is key to its future, Weekly says. Not only do businesses provide residents with jobs, services and a sense of pride in their neighborhood, they also increase the tax base.

"Being in government now, I've learned that it's the tax base that drives economics," he says. "Businesses come to where there are paychecks. They will go where they can make a return."

A SENSE OF COMMUNITY

One way to encourage businesses to come is to change perceptions of the community.

"People stay away because it's been painted as a dangerous place," Weekly says. "Whether you're white or black, when you're new in this valley, people will tell you, 'That's the part of town you don't want to be in.' And I think that's absolutely horrible. It's a slap in the face to the history of this community."

And that rich history shows success is possible.

"This is where (black) people had to live, this is where icons were made, stars were created and trailblazers were born," Weekly says. "I know many affluent people who have come out of West Las Vegas and have done real well, so I know it's possible."

Weekly says success for the neighborhood will come as a group effort. That's how he remembers it growing up.

West Las Vegas was close-knit and ruled by the idea that it takes a village to raise a child, Weekly recalls.

Neighbors served as fill-in parents when the real thing wasn't around, doling out punishment to misbehaving kids and telling on them when Mom or Dad got home.

That same sentiment is expressed by several people who grew up in West Las Vegas before change came in the early 1990s.

Geran, the author and activist, has fond memories of playing summer league softball in her neighborhood; joining the Sunbeams, a Girl Scout-like organization; and taking dance lessons from a former Cotton Club dancer.

"There was always something to get involved in, it was wonderful," she says. "The neighborhood was very close-knit. It was like everyone knew each other, everybody felt like they were one big family."

That sense of kinship is still present; it can even be seen on the neighborhood's streets.

From a folding chair in the parking lot of Zion Ministries House of Holiness, James Sanders presides over a small, but formidable, tamale empire.

As odd as such a scene might be in another neighborhood, Sanders is a fixture in this one. A few times each week, the lifelong West Las Vegan sits in the parking lot and doles out his homemade tamales. It's a bit of a neighborhood secret, but anyone can get in on it if he or she sees his neon green, handwritten sign pointing the way. Regulars know to watch for him and get there early, before he runs out.

Throughout the day, cars pull up to his picnic table, calling their orders out to him. He moves slowly -- Sanders has multiple sclerosis -- but expertly works his GE roasters. Some cars don't buy, their drivers just stop to visit.

"There is a perception that the community is infested with crime, that walking down a street is taking your life into your hands," Sanders says. "But it's not like that."

To him, the streets are full of people like Tamekia Cooper, 34. She pulls into the parking lot, gets out and greets Sanders warmly. They exchange a few pleasantries before she orders her tamales.

She's a nice person who treats people with respect, Sanders says.

And that is how people should treat West Las Vegas, says Seven Seas owner Conner. With respect.

"It has its problems. There is some crime but that's in any neighborhood," Conner says. "No matter what has happened to it, West Las Vegas is still a community and you still have to respect it. I am very proud to be in this community serving the people who live here."

Contact reporter Sonya Padgett at spadgett@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4564.