EDITORIAL: Power play

Thu, Mar 5 2009 — Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal

Contrary to what Mayor Oscar Goodman and his loyal followers on the Las Vegas City Council might believe, they do not enjoy unlimited power — not in matters affecting city policy and downtown redevelopment, and certainly not in quashing the referendum process to sabotage an election.

But Mayor Goodman and the council put on their totalitarian caps Wednesday morning and acted unilaterally to remove from the June 2 municipal ballot two questions that challenge the city’s redevelopment authority and its plan to build a new City Hall amid declining tax revenues and a devastating recession.

The move laid bare the council’s fears that the questions have a strong chance of passing.

The Culinary Local 226 gathered the signatures necessary to bring the issues directly to the electorate. The union’s motives are not pure here. It wants guarantees from the council that redevelopment projects will be union shops, and the council doesn’t want to scare off potential new taxpaying businesses. Nonetheless, its petitions were validated by the city clerk. … (READ MORE)