Since 2005, Las Vegas has been in the cross hairs of the Environmental Protection Agency over its storm water management policies.
Now the city is trying, through a proposed ordinance to be introduced to the City Council on Wednesday, to fix things.
The ordinance would adopt regulations to put the city back in compliance with the federal Clean Water Act.
In 2005, EPA regulators faulted the city on its oversight of wastewater from construction sites, according to Dan Fischer, lab superintendent of the Department of Public Works.
Construction companies needed to improve their adherence to “best management practices.” That would help those sites reduce levels of contaminants such as fertilizer and paint making their way into storm water, which could drain into the Las Vegas Wash, which feeds Las Vegas Bay and Lake Mead.
The ordinance would mandate construction sites follow best management practices, Fischer said, and allow city inspectors onto sites to make sure they comply.
Fischer said that although the ordinance is necessary to comply with federal regulations, the city — through discussions over the past three years with the construction industry, contractors and environmental groups — has helped construction sites move toward compliance.
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A groundbreaking ceremony is Monday for a Stupak Community Center to replace the old one, near the Stratosphere.
The two-story, 34,183-square-foot center — which will be more than four times the size of the existing center — will include an indoor multisport gym, classrooms, kitchen, game room and fitness area.
The $7.5 million center will be at Chester A. Stupak Park, across from the current center at 300 W. Boston Ave.
Construction began last week and is expected to take 14 months.
The center is in the Meadows Village neighborhood, which has a high number of low-income households, according to city officials.
“Neighbors rely on the Stupak Center as a social gathering place and as a center for learning,” Councilman Gary Reese said in a statement. “Hundreds of students participate in the (English language) and citizenship classes at this facility that we’ve clearly outgrown, and I look forward to the opening of our new, bigger and better community center.”
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Have you been good?
I mean, truly good, even by Las Vegas standards?
If you’ve suffered lengthy internal debates about such topics, relief may finally be at hand. An exhibit opening next month at the Reed Whipple Cultural Center will explore “the notion of being good,” according to a Las Vegas city announcement.
An artists’ reception from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Sept. 19 will feature a program of performance artists in the Studio Theater.
A main exhibit will run from Sept. 12 through Nov. 29. Visual and performance artists will delve into interpretations of the condition of being good. The program is sponsored by the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs.
Artists are being asked to try to answer several other questions, including whether both good and evil are necessary to be able to “recognize or engage” the other.
Some of the questions noted in the city announcement are perhaps a bit more nebulous. See, for example, whether you know the answer to this one:
“How might an artistic practice simultaneously address an aesthetic or formal system of ethics while acknowledging a societal one?”
Didn’t think so.
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