Las Vegas Ward 3 candidates stress improvement projects

The ballot in the Ward 3 Las Vegas City Council race has seven names on it, but the contest has narrowed to three main contenders who are trying to make it past the primary to the general election.

Former state legislator Bob Coffin entered the race in front, followed by Adriana Martinez, the former head of the state Democratic Party, and Las Vegas Planning Commissioner Steve Evans.

"It's a three-way race," Coffin said. "I think that I'm leading, and I think it's getting tight."

A poll in February showed him in the lead, but it also showed more than half of likely voters undecided. Martinez and Evans noted that at the time of the survey, done for the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, they had barely started campaigning and predicted their numbers would improve.

Improving the ward, which includes many of the city's older neighborhoods, is chief on the mind of voters, the candidates said, and it comes up in all manner of issues: foreclosures, neighborhood integrity, the condition of parks, concerns about the homeless, maintaining and improving sidewalks and roads.

"They don't want their neighborhoods run down," said Martinez, who said she encourages residents to form neighborhood associations. Those groups can apply for beautification grants, start a neighborhood watch or campaign for speed humps, which many people have been asking for near schools, she said.

Evans said the model used downtown in the Fremont East District and the Arts District needs to be transported to the east side of the city, perhaps by establishing a Latin quarter that serves as a focal point for the area's significant Hispanic population.

"You have to plan the areas that you want to develop," Evans said. "Like, a lot of communities have a Chinatown, and that becomes a destination. I think that's entirely possible for the eastern portions of my ward."

Coffin said Ward 3 didn't get its fair share of improvements and funding as the city grew, and new parks and trails and the like were installed in the freshly built parts of town.

"There's so many issues. You could throw a dart at the wall and hit an issue," he said.

He promises to reopen Huntridge Circle Park. The park closed in 2006 after several incidents involving homeless people, culminating in a fatal stabbing.

Management of the homeless issue would be done "the same way you do it in any other city park," Coffin said. "You have the marshals around. They respond to complaints. There's no magnet there that's going to attract homeless any more than any other park."

Las Vegas, like other governments, has struggled laying off workers and negotiating pay and benefit cuts. Evans and Martinez said growing businesses is the solution to the city's revenue problems.

"If we're creating more businesses, we're obviously creating more revenue for the city," Evans said.

Martinez said the planned relocation of the retailer Zappos to downtown Las Vegas will create a "business environment" that will attract residents and other businesses.

"I really believe in taking that proactive approach -- incentives for businesses to come," she said.

Coffin said a different kind of proactivity is needed.

"The council has to take a closer look at the numbers and not just delegate to the managers," he said.

Another candidate in the race, Carlo Poliak, has a completely different set of concerns.

At one forum, he said the city shouldn't spend money on parks because it's wasteful.

He wondered whether the city is overpaying for electricity used in streetlights and street-sweeping services. The amount of lighting at night could be reduced, he said, to save money.

"People say, 'That'll cause crime,' " Poliak said. "Crime occurs during the daytime. If someone's going to commit a crime, time doesn't matter."

Candidates Tony Liker, Taroub Montoya and Lisette M. Ruiz could not be reached for comment.

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@review
journal.com or 702-229-6435.