Visions of Stadium Splendor

Uh oh. Maybe no goal?

In recent weeks, Las Vegas City Hall has been heating up as speculation has been ramping up over a proposed soccer stadium Downtown. Findlay Sports & Entertainment and The Cordish Companies have been hyping the cache of a prestigious sports stadium in the heart of "The Entertainment Capital of the World". Yet while they and Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman (I) have been hyping the razzle-dazzle of this stadium, others have been asking the tough questions. How many will actually attend games here? What are the real revenue projections? And how much will Las Vegas taxpayers have to pay for this?



Now, we know Cordish wants $3 million per year from the City of Las Vegas in addition to all the other subsidies Cordish & Findlay are demanding from city government (such as the ~$130 million they want the city to chip into stadium construction). That money would come from hotel tax revenues. Mayor Carolyn Goodman actually admitted it earlier this month on his show, even as she was claiming room tax revenue "isn't tax dollars, it's tourist dollars".

Last night, Las Vegas Council Member Lois Tarkanian (D) told Jon Ralston she would not vote for the Cordish-Findlay Stadium if the vote was today. She mentioned the issue of those hotel room tax revenues, and in particular how those room tax funds are used to maintain Las Vegas city parks. Council Members Bob Beers (R) and Bob Coffin (D) have already been sounding the alarms on this, and Tarkanian added that the city is just about to finish repaying bonds for parks in Northwest Las Vegas.



And the City of Las Vegas just recently raised user fees for youth sports leagues to use city parks. So how much will Las Vegas residents actually have to pay for this stadium?

Las Vegas isn't the only municipal company chasing after a MLS team. And when we look at the history other sports stadium subsidy deals, the outlook turns from merely very concerning to downright frightening.



Look, we're not against soccer. Far from it. And no, Mayor Goodman, we're not all just "naysayers". We're realists. And all we're asking for are the real numbers behind this stadium proposal.

We can see why Cordish won't talk to anyone and Findlay only agrees to "happy talk". However, Las Vegas city officials don't answer to Cordish and Findlay. They answer to Las Vegas residents. So they should not be afraid to drop the spin and start talking about the reality behind these visions of stadium splendor.

Clark County... WTF?!

Yesterday, I was shocked. And I wasn't the only one. Even Ralston was appalled.



So what actually happened? In case you can't see the above video, let me give you a quick synopsis.

Steve Sisolak wanted to be Clark County Commission Chair. And he knew 3 of his Commission colleagues (outgoing Chair Susan Brager, Larry Brown, and Mary Beth Scow) agreed.

However, Tom Collins also wanted to be Chair. He figured he had 2 more votes in his corner (Lawrence Weekly and Chris Giunchigliani), but Giunchigliani was still out of town and Collins needed more time to round up the extra vote he needed to get that Chair.

Here's where it starts getting nasty. When Tom Collins tried to delay the vote for Chair by mentioning Chris Giunchigliani's absence, Susan Brager quickly shot him down and claimed Giunchigliani never requested a postponement! With that out of the way, Steve Sisolak was then elected as the new Commission Chair.

But wait, there's more! The Commissioners present even squabbled over their seats! Larry Brown no longer desired to sit between Tom Collins and Chris Giunchigliani, so he asked to move. Yet right after Brown made his request, Lawrence Weekly refused to change his seat! And Tom Collins followed suit!

I'm not even kidding here. So what happened? Jon Ralston has an idea.

You can’t make this stuff up, folks. This really happened at a public meeting of the most powerful elected body in Nevada.

Beyond the immature pyrotechnics, here’s the serious conclusion: This is a bitterly divided board, one of the most in memory. And it’s personal. If Giunchigliani had been there, it would have been 4-3 on many votes, including for the chairmanship, perhaps, and certainly on one at the end on the coroner’s inquest system.

But the Sisolak-Brown faction won that one, too, with only Weekly and Collins opposing a proposal put forward by the new chairman and his lieutenant that abolishes the current coroner’s inquest system and replaces it with one derided by critics who say it is not nearly as transparent.

Certainly not as transparent as the power play executed by Sisolak and Brown on Monday, which gave us a window into a board that someone will soon be calling The Silly Septet.

So there are actually some serious policy disagreements behind the personal squabbles. In particular, there is a sharp divide on issues like reforming Metro (Police) and privatizing UMC. Still, that was some awfully juvenile behavior on display at Clark County HQ yesterday.

And this has folks asking what's next over there. Last year, there was a renewed focus on the problems facing city governments in Southern Nevada. Will 2013 be the year when Clark County retakes center stage?

There's actually another dynamic behind what happened yesterday. Rumors abound on the political future for Steve Sisolak. Will he run for Governor next year? Will he run for another high office? So is he using his new Chairmanship of the Clark County Commission as a launch pad for higher office?

And does Tom Collins resent that? Or is his animosity towards Sisolak mostly rooted in policy disagreements? Or may it be a combination of both? And is it really a coincidence that Collins seems to have the support of the more progressive Commissioners while the moderates and conservatives are coalescing behind Sisolak?

Whatever the case, it looks like we'll all need to buckle up... Because Clark County HQ will be in for quite the bumpy ride this year.