Community hopes for comeback as money questions linger
A boy stands atop a tall playground rocket ship made of ropes. From this point, which he has worked so hard to reach, there is seemingly endless green, in the distance mountains. It's a perfect vantage point to take in the scope of the 170-acre park that commonly elicits this praise.
"It doesn't feel like North Las Vegas," and usually right after, "It doesn't even feel like Vegas."
It's dusk, and he is one of many children playing on an October day at Craig Ranch Regional Park in North Las Vegas. It's a Tuesday, a school night. Which is to say there is no special draw — no city-sponsored event, no day-off picnic.
Still, there are slides in demand, loud dads and several strolling families on an ordinary day in this place that stands in stark contrast to the gritty feel of a city with a graffiti problem so bad that officials literally speak of it in terms of being "at war."
Craig Ranch, which opened two years ago on Nevada Day, is a key character in the North Las Vegas narrative, which city leaders are desperately trying to make a comeback story.
The recession hit the bedroom community hard. In the years that followed, it developed a deficit so debilitating there were threats of a state takeover. A significant amount of the debt has been cut, but the city is still battling it back, with all departments bracing for a 7 percent budget cut in 2017.
The city purchased the park — which was a golf course — in 2005. At that time, North Las Vegas was among the fastest-growing cities in the nation. After the economy tanked, doubt set in about the $130 million park, which it bought using a Bureau of Land Management grant.
A few months before the park's opening, the city's former head of parks told a reporter if he had known what was going to happen to the economy, everyone would still be playing golf.
But now, two years in, and with a brand-new amphitheater, city leaders say they aren't concerned about paying the park's price tag.
"I remember wondering 'Hey we've got other parks in this city that need help too, can we really afford to open this?' — I'm leaps and bounds happy with where we're at," said Ken Kraft, chairman of the city's Parks and Recreation Advisory Board.
"Even when I drive by Craig Ranch I feel this overwhelming sense of pride for the city and what we were able to accomplish during this huge economic downturn."
Things have changed
The optimism comes in spite of a heated debate just a year ago about whether the city should charge for use of its 65,000-square-foot skate park to help offset costs. The City Council told the then-parks director to find ways to increase programming to generate revenue instead.
Since then, the council member in favor of charging for the skate park didn't run for re-election, and a new council member took his place. Also, yet another person is in charge of the city's parks, the third director in less than two years.
Although it is unclear just how much the park is even costing the city and although the programming isn't projected to cover the park's expense, officials don't appear worried.
Cass Palmer, who became director of Neighborhood & Leisure Services in February, told the Review-Journal that Craig Ranch costs $2 million annually. But when a reporter questioned if that was the actual total cost, as $2.2 million was the number the city reported before the amphitheater was up and running, she was told the city had not provided the Review-Journal with numbers that included the annual amphitheater expenses. Construction of the amphitheater was covered by grant funds.
Palmer said he expects the park to eventually generate $450,000 from its rentals. He expects the amphitheater, which had a four-event soft opening in October, will generate $500,000 in revenue by its third year. The city has partnered with a booking company to find talent at discounted rates for the amphitheater and will be reaching out to local bands, Palmer said. Single-artist shows should net about 500 to 900 attendees while multi-artist shows and festivals will aim for thousands.
Those goals look good so far, he said. The amphitheater's first show, a Beatles tribute band, had roughly 1,500 attendees. War, which was the next soft opening act, had about 850 people.
The outdoor venue can handle a crowd of up to 10,000. Palmer said Craig Ranch offers a unique space in Las Vegas' competitive entertainment market.
At Craig Ranch you can see a show surrounded by nature — no neon in sight.
Trial and error
As with anything new, there will be a lot of trial and error. In May, the city brought back Taste & Tunes, an event that was a community staple before the recession. Palmer said at the time the city spent roughly $20,000 and needed about 10,000 attendees to break even on costs.
That day — picked to celebrate the city's birthday — coincided with the Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, billed as the "Fight of the Century," and a breast cancer awareness event, Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.
City data shows only about 2,500 people attended.
Kraft said he's confident — especially having been able to see the park open for two years — that if the park is programmed accordingly, everything will work out.
"Are we going to have stumbles? Sure. We're human. The city's human," Kraft said.
"I'm seeing that the city is learning from its mistakes. When it makes a mistake it learns from it and doesn't repeat it."
Council members agree.
Mayor Pro Tem Pamela Goynes-Brown said she couldn't even find words for how proud she felt on the amphitheater's opening night. The discussion of charging for the skate park is dead, and city employees are "working their tailbones off" on park programming, she said.
"I think Craig Ranch is really starting to take off," Councilman Richard Cherchio said. When you're standing on the grass berm, looking at the amphitheater and its anchoring pond against a layered backdrop of trees and mountains, "it's like you don't even know where you are for a second."
Contact Bethany Barnes at bbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Find her on Twitter: @betsbarnes
