Ward 2 candidates question downtown spending

Three leading candidates for an open Las Vegas City Council seat say they will ask tough questions before spending more taxpayer money downtown, even if it means running afoul of Mayor Carolyn Goodman and other downtown boosters.

Candidates Bob Beers, Bob Chinn and Anthony Ruggiero in separate interviews each criticized major components of efforts by Goodman, and her husband, former Mayor Oscar Goodman, that have directed tens of millions of public dollars into projects aimed at breathing life into formerly forlorn parts of downtown.

The candidates for the Ward 2 seat vacated by former Councilman Steve Wolfson say projects such as the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, aka the Mob Museum, and a sparkling new City Hall sucked up money that could have been better spent elsewhere.

And, in some cases, taxpayers shouldn't have lent a dime to such projects, they add.

"We just did not need it," said Chinn, a retired Las Vegas police captain, of the approximately $150 million City Hall at 495. S. Main St. "I just think it was a bad decision."

The city borrowed about $185 million in bonds for the project, but construction and furnishing costs are expected to come in well under that amount.

Chinn also criticized the Mob Museum, which opened Feb. 14 and cost the city about $42 million for construction. It is being run by a nonprofit entity that expects to cover operational expenses with ticket sales and other privately generated revenue.

"I think the Mob Museum would be great if it was a private business," Chinn said. "But using taxpayer dollars for it I strongly disagree with, when we can be doing things out in the wards."

Chinn said he is not alone. In campaigning throughout Ward 2, which covers the southwest part of the city, he said he has encountered many who think downtown redevelopment has gone overboard.

"The people I have talked to, and I have knocked on probably 800 doors, don't go downtown," said Chinn, adding he doubts another downtown dream of the Goodmans, a professional sports arena, will come to fruition. "We can keep saying we are going to get a new stadium and do all this, it ain't going to happen. And we need to focus, I believe, more in the specific wards."

Beers and Ruggiero also made pointed comments about downtown projects during interviews with the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Beers, an accountant by trade, said he is worried the payments on City Hall, which are scheduled to jump to more than $13 million annually in fiscal year 2017, will be a drag on city finances.

"We are trading in a paid-for building for one with a big mortgage," Beers said, a reference to the move from the former City Hall at Stewart Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard, which was dedicated in 1973.

Although Beers acknowledged it is too late to undo the decision, the City Council now needs to focus on how to use its money wisely to make the best of the situation.

"We have got to deal with it. It is probably not the time for somebody who has a WWCD bracelet on," Beers said, referencing the phrase "What would Carolyn do."

"We need to have some independent thinkers," he said.

Ruggiero said he thinks it was wrong for the city to spend what it did on both the Mob Museum and City Hall.

He also questioned decisions to limit lucrative business incentives, such as fee-free liquor licenses, to areas downtown when the entire city could benefit from such programs.

"I think there has been a shift of focus for the entire city of Las Vegas, and it has been downtown," he said. "Why can't it be the entire city of Las Vegas?"

If a downtown spending skeptic does win the seat, it could lead to clashes with Goodman, and her husband, the former mayor.

Both are ardent downtown cheerleaders, and Oscar Goodman in particular has swung back hard at people who question whether taxpayers should subsidize downtown development.

During pre-opening festivities at the Mob Museum, he lashed out at critics in an outburst that was captured on video by the conservative Nevada Policy Research Institute.

"Those are morons and idiots who are even suggesting that," he said of skeptics. "We've had meetings every month for 10 years about this, and all of a sudden these monkeys fell out of bed and a light bulb went on when they hit their head."

Carolyn Goodman has been more diplomatic in her defense of the projects than her husband but remains an enthusiastic backer.

During a media tour of City Hall, she noted that not only will the city dramatically reduce its energy bills in the new building but that the construction employed 1,900 workers.

She also credited the move with clearing the way for online shoe retailer Zappos to move its headquarters from Henderson to the former City Hall downtown, which it will lease from Resort Gaming Group, which is buying the building from the city for about $18 million.

The net result will be as many as 2,000 workers coming downtown to occupy a newly renovated building. In addition, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh and his partners are investing about $350 million of their own money to seed new businesses, improve education and bolster community activities.

"I certainly understand anybody's concern about spending money," Goodman said during the City Hall tour. "But I also learned a lesson a long time ago: In order to make money, you have to spend money."

Another Ward 2 candidate, planning commissioner Ric Truesdell, also said there was plenty to like about the big downtown projects.

That the move to a new City Hall helped attract Zappos was among the positives Truesdell counted.

"It brought the opportunity to make a Zappos deal," he said.

He also noted that downtown is destined to be the target for big projects because it is the heart of the redevelopment zone, an area in which property tax generated by development of blighted areas can be used to perpetuate more development.

Truesdell, a political ally of the Goodmans, has experience in downtown and suburban development.

His firm, Cornerstone Company, has developed projects around the city and has a client list that includes grocery stores, restaurants and government agencies.

Whether Ward 2 voters are ready to tell the City Council to spend more money and energy in suburban neighborhoods remains to be seen.

There are nine candidates seeking to replace Wolfson, with Beers, Chinn, Ruggiero and Truesdell among the higher-profile candidates with better organized campaigns.

Only registered voters in Ward 2 are eligible to vote. Early voting is March 15 and 16, and election day is March 20.

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@ reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.