EDITORIAL: Tarkanian, Heryet, Voyard for Las Vegas City Council

The Las Vegas City Council has been making front-page news for months, thanks to its efforts to build a tax-subsidized, privately owned soccer stadium in downtown’s Symphony Park against the public’s will. That issue alone was enough to awaken city voters from the slumber that normally surrounds municipal politics and compel thousands of them to sign petitions demanding a public vote on the project. The stadium plan died last month when Major League Soccer declined to award Las Vegas an expansion franchise, but the council’s handling of the project remains the dominant theme of the April 7 municipal primary election.

Three council incumbents are seeking re-election. The Review-Journal offers the following endorsements:

In Ward 1, Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian is seeking a final four-year term. She is being challenged by Raymond Fletcher, a Clark County School District substitute teacher. Mr. Fletcher’s command of city issues is impressive, especially for someone who has lived here for just two years. He’s engaged in council business and particularly concerned about the number of blighted homes in Ward 1, as well as the state of streets and sidewalks. He knows every unpassable crack because he uses a wheelchair. But no one is more committed to the ward than Mrs. Tarkanian, who voted against the soccer stadium and criticized the city’s lack of transparency in developing and approving the plan. Among her priorities for the next four years: seeing a UNLV medical school open in Ward 1 and revisiting City Hall’s four-day workweek, which saves money but doesn’t serve the public as well as a five-day workweek. The Review-Journal endorses Lois Tarkanian for Las Vegas City Council, Ward 1.

The Ward 3 race is a six-candidate free-for-all, with incumbent Councilman Bob Coffin seeking a second term against information technology professional Hart Fleischhauer, translator Alicia Herrera, real estate agent Megan Heryet, financial planner Eric Krattiger and perennial candidate Carlo Poliak. Last year Mr. Coffin put away the compass that had made him such an effective councilman and state lawmaker. He switched his principled “no” vote on the soccer stadium to a “yes” vote to secure the construction of debt-funded parks in the eastern side of the city. Instead of listening to the public’s concerns, he ignored them. Instead of killing the project and halting a reckless, overreaching boondoggle, he gave it new life. He sold out. Ms. Heryet stands far above the rest of Mr. Coffin’s challengers. The longtime Las Vegas resident opposed the stadium plan, but is critical of Mr. Coffin on a number of neighborhood issues. “Our sidewalks are atrocious,” she said, adding that the city isn’t doing enough to address homelessness and public safety in the area. She wants a reassessment of the city’s spending priorities, she wants complete transparency in all city business, and she wants to block any future taxpayer handouts to private interests. The Review-Journal endorses Megan Heryet for Las Vegas City Council, Ward 3.

In Ward 5, incumbent Ricki Barlow is seeking a third and final term against Randy Voyard, who failed to unseat Mr. Barlow in 2011. Mr. Barlow joined Mr. Coffin, Mayor Carolyn Goodman and Councilman Steve Ross in supporting the downtown stadium project, which would have given The Cordish Cos. and Findlay Sports &Entertainment about $40 million worth of Symphony Park land, about $56 million in construction and infrastructure support and the revenue from an as-yet-unbuilt $20 million parking garage that would be funded by the creation of a downtown sales tax district. Mr. Barlow said the project would serve as an economic engine for downtown that puts residents back to work. Mr. Voyard, a physical therapy assistant who has lived in Las Vegas for 15 years (the past 10 years in Ward 5), said he was led to run again primarily by Mr. Barlow’s support for the stadium project. “I couldn’t sit back and let four people decide what do with (that money),” he said, adding that change is needed to ensure the project isn’t revived. “If the City Council stays the same, that stadium is going to go through in one form or another.” Indeed, Mr. Barlow still supports the construction of the parking garage, which would divert sales tax revenue away from essential city services. Additionally, Mr. Voyard criticizes Mr. Barlow for the closure of F Street more than six years ago as part of Interstate 15 improvements. Mr. Barlow was a city staffer when city government asked the state to close the underpass, which has since been dug out and reopened — at great expense to the public. The Review-Journal endorses Randy Voyard for Las Vegas City Council, Ward 5.