Tesla gets quick OK on factory

Of all the lines to surface during the Tesla session of the Legislature this week, state Sen. Joe Hardy’s observation sure caught my attention.

Hardy noted how fast the Tesla Motors lithium ion battery factory plans went through the process in Storey County and remarked, “That’s a lesson we could learn in Southern Nevada.”

Reno Gazette-Journal government reporter Anjeanette Damon picked up on Hardy’s observation and put it out on Twitter.

Reached briefly on Thursday, Hardy doubled down on the idea. He said that for a business owner “time is money. Yes, it does matter.” He added that the planning department in Storey County is diminutive and obviously made quick work of the Tesla behemoth project.

“Is there something that we could do that would decrease the time that it takes to be permitted to get major things such as Tesla?” he asked in an interview. “Coming from Clark (County), what is it that we could do to make our six-month wait to a shorter period of time? … What is it that we could do to make us more inviting in Southern Nevada for that kind of development?”

He failed to mention that the population of Storey County, where plans get fast-tracked in such an enviable fashion, as of 2012 was 3,935. The county has a long history of being heavily influenced by brothel lords.

STILL KICKING: Let the town hall meetings begin. The first of a passel of gatherings to attempt to convince the public of the upside potential of the city getting taxpayer dollars behind a downtown soccer stadium plan is set for Tuesday at the Centennial Hills Community Center. Meetings are scheduled for each ward, and advocates of the plan from the city are taking to social media to express themselves and communicate with constituents.

The vote is set for Oct. 1. If the term sheet is approved, Cordish Cos. and Findlay Sports and Entertainment will be clear to pursue a Major League Soccer franchise.

IRS LEGEND: It’s not often a living legend makes an appearance at the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, but that was the case Thursday morning. Former IRS Special Agent Bob Feusel of Chicago held court in the converted federal courtroom with a group of current agents, including Las Vegas Special Agent in Charge John Collins, on the subject of the mob and its influence from Chicago to Las Vegas.

Feusel spent years running to ground Chicago mob boss Tony Accardo and a rogue’s gallery of other hoods.

Now 79, Feusel is one of several former agents who earlier this year spoke out against naming the new Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms headquarters in Washington, D.C. after Eliot Ness, the overrated “Untouchable” who has received much undeserved credit for busting Al Capone. The former agents’ remarks before the Chicago City Council made national news.

“He never left the office,” Feusel said Thursday of Ness. “He was afraid of guns. He never did anything.”

Feusel was an adviser to the 1987 Kevin Costner movie version of “The Untouchables.” Costner didn’t listen when he was told Ness was largely a creation of the media and Hollywood, Feusel said.

KIDS’ STUFF: It’s a bird, it’s a plane … it’s time for Candlelighters Shine for a Superhero fundraising race and walk.

With late registration starting at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, you can don your favorite cape, lace up your super sneakers and join several thousand of your neighbors as they generate funds for the local childhood cancer charity. The race starts at Exploration Park at Mountain’s Edge, 9700 S. Buffalo Drive off Blue Diamond Road.

ON THE BOULEVARD: Say you can’t get enough of that crazy gangster subculture? Mob-Con 2014 is set for Sept. 27 and 28 at Palace Station. … Speaking of such things, former Chicago Crime Commission investigator Wayne Johnson is scheduled to speak at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Mob Museum on the subject of the Outfit’s 100 years of troublemaking and its 1,000 murders. Should be a bloody good time. Tickets: info@themobmuseum.org or 702-229-2734. … Longtime UNLV history professor Eugene Moehring’s new book, “Reno, Las Vegas, and the Strip: A Tale of Three Cities,” is due out from the University of Nevada Press.

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.