Las Vegas is no longer one of the ‘meanest cities’ in the U.S.

CONGRATS, LAS VEGAS:

YOU'RE NOT QUITE AS MEAN AS YOU USED TO BE.

Long a fixture at or near the top of a list of "meanest cities" in the country for its treatment of homeless people, Las Vegas didn't make this year's list compiled by national advocacy groups.

The city was upstaged in meanness by the likes of Los Angeles, which spent more money in 2007 on extra police officers to patrol Skid Row than on services for the homeless, according to a report that accompanied this month's rankings.

Other cities receiving top-of-the-list dishonors, mainly for passing laws that target the homeless, included St. Petersburg, Fla.; Orlando, Fla.; and Atlanta.

That doesn't necessarily mean Las Vegas is any nicer to the homeless than it used to be, said Michael Stoops, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Coalition for the Homeless.

"It's because there are other communities that are meaner, or were more recently meaner," Stoops said. "I don't think Las Vegas will ever make a 'nice city' list."

The city has thrice been named one of the "Top Ten Meanest Cities" by Stoops' group and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, also based in Washington. The agencies have published five such lists since 2002.

Las Vegas was named the No. 1 meanest city in the nation in 2003, the year after Mayor Oscar Goodman made derogatory remarks about the homeless in his State of the City address and was criticized for downtown homeless "sweeps."

Asked for his thoughts on the city's absence from this year's list, Goodman released a brief statement.

"We were never insensitive to the needs of the less fortunate," he said. "Some uninformed pundit thought it to be cute in characterizing us as mean. As a community we try harder than anyplace else to end homelessness."

In 2006, Goodman called an earlier ranking "nuts" and said it was compiled by "morons" who "should jump in the lake."

Stoops' group has long been a critic of Goodman.

The mayor "has always been a major roadblock to making progress on the homeless issue in Las Vegas," Stoops said. "Hopefully, that will change someday -- when he's no longer in office."

In 2004, the city fell to fourth place in the "meanest" ranking. It was fifth in 2006, the year the city passed a law that prohibited people from feeding the homeless in city parks. A U.S. district judge slapped a permanent injunction on that ordinance in 2007.

No rankings were released in 2007 or 2008.

The advocacy groups looked at 273 U.S. cities and ranked the top 10 cities "with the worst practices in relation to criminalizing homelessness."

Though Las Vegas didn't make the list this year, it was included in an accompanying report as a city that advocacy groups continue to monitor.

The report also gave kudos to Horizon Crest, a new facility to house the homeless, and to "One Congregation, One Family," a new program aimed at helping people get off the streets for good.

The Horizon Crest low-rent apartment complex, which includes units for "chronically" homeless people in the downtown homeless corridor, opened in late 2007. Nevada HAND constructed the $11.5 million apartments using federal low-income housing tax credits, state and city money.

"One Congregation, One Family" is a program of the Community Interfaith Council that links local churches to families who are transitioning out of homelessness.

Church members offer families the emotional support, mentorship and necessities they need to become independent, said one of the program's founders, Pastor Troy Martinez of the East Vegas Christian Center.

"There's a lot of emotional strain coming out of a shelter and all at once working, paying bills and getting the kids to school," Martinez said. "The congregations can offer a lot of compassion."

Stoops said that despite often earning a slot on his "mean" list, Las Vegas has plenty of nice people.

"There are good people and good programs helping the homeless in Las Vegas," he said. "If they weren't around, there would be many more people living in visible need."

In the end, whether or not the city makes it onto the "mean" list doesn't really matter, said Linda Lera-Randle El, longtime director of the Straight from the Streets homeless outreach program.

"It doesn't make our job any easier whether we're at the top or bottom of the pile," she said. "We don't have time to say who's the meanest; we have to continue moving people out of homelessness."

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.