A toast to the rousing reign of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman

EDITOR'S NOTE: After 12 years of boozy boosterism, Oscar Goodman will end his time as Las Vegas mayor on Wednesday. In honor of Hizzoner, Las Vegas Review-Journal City Hall reporter Alan Choate presents this reminiscence.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman made a $100,000 endorsement deal with Southern Wine and Spirits in 2002 to plug Bombay Sapphire Gin, but he didn't keep the money.

Half of it went to a scholarship fund at The Meadows School, founded by his wife. The other half went to a city of Las Vegas fund known as the "chronic public inebriant fund."

Before you ask: No, that's not what pays the mayor's salary.

In preparation for Helldorado Days in 2009, Goodman emerged from a dressing room dressed head to toe in Western garb, looking the part of a well-heeled cowboy, and apparently wanting to play the part as well.

"You look like you're ready to play poker," said Jace Radke, a city spokesman.

"Or shoot someone," Goodman responded.

"Well, the news conference is at 11," Radke said. "You can probably find someone to shoot there."

Goodman receives many visitors bearing gifts, but he is particularly pleased with a robe given to him by the ambassador from Uzbekistan in 2010.

It's plush and royal blue with gold leaf embroidery, and came with a sash and a tyubiteika, the Uzbek national hat.

"I come down here in the evening and walk around in my robe," Goodman said. "I feel very royal and regal."

So, if you're in City Hall after hours and see a strange figure approaching, don't call security. Ask it for a martini instead.

At a meeting with about 500 business people, Goodman reminded the 2008 crowd that the Las Vegas Strip isn't even in Las Vegas. It's part of unincorporated Clark County.

So how do visitors know when they hit the city limits?

"When you get to the corner of Sahara and Paradise, there's a billboard there," Goodman said. "There's a woman in a pink dress in a state of recline, and she says she'll come to your room. Now, I swear on my life I don't know what she'll do when she gets to your room, but the sign next to hers is advertising Viagra. And that is the gateway to my city."

Goodman credits (or blames) his father-in-law for his love of gin, but it wasn't always Bombay Sapphire. His father-in-law was a Beefeater man.

Goodman kept a spare bottle of Beefeater under his desk at City Hall. He showed off the unopened bottle one day near the end of his tenure.

"It's been here for 12 years," he said. "Just in case."

IN OSCAR'S WORDS

"I'm saying maybe you put them on TV and cut off a thumb."
-- His now infamous proposed punishment for graffiti offenders

"A bottle of gin."
-- Answering a fourth-grader who asked what he would want if marooned on a desert island

"I'm the George Washington of mayors. I can't tell a lie. If they didn't want the answer, the kid shouldn't have asked the question."
-- Responding to criticism of that answer

"You want to know how these people get hurt? They hurt each other. If you saw some of the things they do to each other, you'd say, 'Shame on the homeless.' "
-- Responding to a 2003 study naming Las Vegas the meanest city toward homeless people

"It's not illegal, and it's something that the public should really consider because there's a tremendous amount of money that could be raised as a good source of tax revenue here."
-- On bringing legal prostitution to downtown Las Vegas

"It's a sin. They are evil."
-- Describing the Culinary Union leadership's opposition to several downtown projects

"I have no use for him. I'll take a baseball bat and break his head if he ever comes here."
-- On former  New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, who wrote a column calling Las Vegas the worst city for women

"This is one of those times he didn't think, and he should straighten out the record because he's been here. He knows Las Vegas is a great place."
-- Criticizing remarks by President barack Obama that were perceived as slighting Las Vegas

"Oh boy! My liver is starting to quiver!"
-- Reacting to a regional transportation commission ad showing him holding a martini over a new bus

"I don't look at myself as a celebrity. I look at myself as a rock star."
-- After the unveiling of his statue at Madame Tussauds House of Wax

OSCAR GOODMAN THROUGH TIME

June 1999: Oscar Goodman sworn in for first mayoral term.

January 2000: Goodman declares an interest in turning the old post office building on Stewart Avenue downtown into a museum. It will house the Mob Museum, scheduled to open next year.

August 2000: Negotiations break down with the Pappas family over the city's use of eminent domain to take land for the Fremont Street Experience parking garage.

October 2000: Las Vegas approves land swap to acquire 61 acres now known as Symphony Park.

September 2002: Goodman sponsors a bill to waive the 1,500-foot separation requirement for bars downtown. The move eventually led to creation of the Fremont East Entertainment District.

May 2003: Goodman sworn in for second term.

August 2003: Ribbon cutting officially opens Las Vegas Premium Outlets.

May 2004: Nevada Ethics Commission rules Goodman was unethical in allowing one of his sons to promote his company at a cocktail party Goodman hosted at the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Several other allegations are dismissed.

August 2004: Pappas eminent domain case settled for $4.5 million.

April 2005: Goodman serves as a celebrity photographer for Playboy model Irina Voronina for the Playboy Cyber Club.

July 2005: Grand opening of World Market Center.

July 2006: City passes ordinance banning feeding homeless people in parks. A court eventually struck it down.

February 2007: Ceremonial groundbreaking for what will be the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.

April 2007: Goodman sworn in for third and final term.

July 2007: Las Vegas picks REI Neon to build a $9.5 billion sports arena and entertainment district downtown. Those plans eventually collapse.

August 2007: Improvements to Fremont East Entertainment District dedicated. Goodman passes out at the event; heat and fatigue blamed.

September 2007: Nevada Supreme Court throws out the Ethics Commission's ruling on Goodman and the cocktail party.

April 2008: City revokes the business license for Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada amid allegations that the clinic's unsafe practices exposed patients to diseases.

April 2008: Phase 1 infrastructure work starts at Symphony Park (then called Union Park).

May 2009: Start of construction on the Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

August 2009: Renovations begin in the building that will house the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement.

November 2009: Las Vegas and Cordish Cos. agree to exclusive negotiations for a sports arena and entertainment district. Those negotiations are still ongoing.

February 2010: Construction starts on a new City Hall.

November 2010: City gets concessions from last of four unions that represent city employees.

December 2010: Las Vegas and Resort Gaming Group sign an agreement that will bring the Zappos corporate headquarters downtown.

February 2011: Las Vegas and ACLU settle 15-year dispute over free speech at the Fremont Street Experience with passage of a mutually agreed-upon ordinance.

June 2011: Carolyn Goodman, Oscar's wife, elected mayor of Las Vegas. Goodman announces he will work part time promoting tourism for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

July 6, 2011: Goodman's last term as mayor ends.