Let us celebrate Tark in lights

Notes from a Boulevard celebrating the life of UNLV basketball coaching legend Jerry Tarkanian, the biggest winner in the history of a town where most gamblers go broke.

Whether they dim the neon or have the marquees shout “Reb-els, Reb-els,” there’s no doubt Tarkanian’s best basketball teams ranked with Sinatra and Elvis in the Las Vegas pantheon of entertainment. He deserves to have his name in lights one more time.

DOWN UNDER TO DOWNTOWN: Mark Rowland, affable Aussie and CEO of Downtown Project’s DTP Ventures, these days can laugh about commuting from Sydney to Las Vegas to catch the business energy around Fremont Street.

But he knew sooner or later wife Danielle and children Jack and Emily would have to warm up to the idea of picking up and moving more than 7,700 miles from familiar beaches to a desert city known more for gambling and sin than family values if he were ever going to write a new chapter in his own business story. Talk about a tough sell.

Although there isn’t an ocean wave breaking for many miles, his family was impressed with features most Southern Nevadans take for granted: the beauty of Red Rock Canyon and the Spring Mountains.

Australia has many attributes, but it has just three peaks taller than 7,000 feet. Its tallest point is Mount Kosciuszko at 7,310.

The Rowlands now make Las Vegas their home.

For his part, Mark Rowland knows increasing the profitability of Downtown Project’s many moving business parts won’t be easy.

“I’ve never backed away from a challenge in my life,” he said recently. “I’m going to put every bit of energy and passion into this.”

As the new day-to-day leader of the development, he knows many eyes will be watching.

MAYOR GOODMAN: Crisis, what crisis?

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman has drawn an opponent in her re-election bid, but she’s continuing to let the good times roll with a campaign kickoff event set for 5 p.m. today at her 3800 Meadows Lane headquarters.

While City Councilman Stavros Anthony is focusing on Goodman’s controversial downtown soccer stadium vote, she’ll no doubt be busy reminding constituents of her greater redevelopment vision. But that vote might cost Goodman despite the announcement Major League Soccer won’t be coming to Vegas, killing the proposed 24,000-seat soccer stadium for Symphony Park.

Maybe she’ll just throw a helluva party and let the voters sort it all out. For those keeping track, the Meadows Lane address was also used in Goodman’s first campaign.

Will the second time also be a charm?

TAYLOR MADE: At only 8, Taylor Hammond has experienced a lifetime’s worth of medical challenges while battling T-cell leukemia. But now it’s time to party.

Hammond is a special honoree at this year’s Evening of Hope to benefit Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Nevada. Tickets for the March 6 event on the 16th floor of the World Market Center are available on the charity’s website at candlelightersnv.org.

ON THE BOULEVARD: Longtime Las Vegas singer Bob Anderson’s Sinatra tribute show has drawn the best review possible, one from the great Tony Bennett, but he also generated raves for “Frank — the Man. The Music” at the Palazzo from the locals at this week’s Las Vegas Central Rotary Club gathering. … The scent of Chuck Frommer’s Road Kill Grill was enough to distract the most disciplined sportsmen Thursday at the Clark County Shooting Complex during the Ducks Unlimited Continental Shoot. Of course cowboy County Commissioner Tom Collins was there. Locals may remember the original Road Kill Grill, located at John Mull’s Meats, as the setting of a segment of Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.” … The ongoing drive to generate 10,000 season-ticket deposits for a proposed NHL franchise has passed the halfway mark. Have Las Vegans really been waiting for a chance to watch major-league hockey all these years? … After learning Thursday that Philadelphia will play host to the 2016 Democratic National Convention, I couldn’t help thinking, “Better here than Philadelphia.”

Have an item for the Bard of the Boulevard? Email comments and contributions to Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0295. Follow him on Twitter @jlnevadasmith.