Beyond the Sun
Almost a year after Steven Ross was given the nod to work as a union lobbyist while serving on the Las Vegas City Council, the Nevada Ethics Commission has released a written version of that advisory opinion.
Ross represents Ward 6, in the city’s booming northwest sector. In May 2007, he sought the Ethics Commission’s advice because he wanted to run for the job of secretary-treasurer of the Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council. The commission gave him the green light to seek the job and in July he won the seat.
However, the written opinion, dated April 21, clearly spells out the potential conflicts Ross might face.
“Contractors and other private businesses often come before the council on matters requiring council action,” the opinion said. “These may be entities that Ross has contacted for (the Trades Council) in an effort to encourage their use of organized labor.
“Although abstention may be a safe harbor, the commission cautions Ross that frequent abstention deprives his constituents of a voice in matters which come before the council.”
The commission’s advice on how to stay clean? Seek the counsel of the city attorney, go back and read this opinion again, look at previous commission opinions or even return for another advisory opinion “when such matters that may pose a conflict between Ross’s public duties as councilman and his private interests come before the council.”
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As the days grow hotter and longer, there never seems to be enough shade.
Want to know just how little — or how much?
The city already has done quite a bit of work in that area, defining percentages of “canopy” cover throughout the city. As expected, older sections of town have the highest percentages of canopy cover — ground covered by tree canopies.
Ward 1 (Lois Tarkanian’s ward) had the most coverage, 13.83 percent. The lowest coverage was in the newest section of the city, Ward 6 (Ross), at 3.72 percent.
It’s not much. Then again, we live in a desert.
To further an effort to develop an urban forestry plan, the City Council will consider this week accepting a matching grant of $38,000 from the Nevada Forestry Division. With that grant, the city would be required to contribute $10,000. The Southern Nevada Water Authority also would contribute $10,000.
If the grant is approved, Paul Grimyser, a city planner, said the inventory will take stock of a tree’s health, species, number of stems, canopy width and other characteristics.
A later report would identify the benefits of those trees, including how much carbon they absorb from the air and their value in storm water management.
“That will give us an idea of how to write an urban forestry plan,” he said.
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Although Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman verbally eviscerated its design last year, the city’s official seal is headed for the big leagues.
In a consent agenda item, the City Council is likely to give permission to The World Book Encyclopedia to use images of the Las Vegas flag and seal in print, online and on digital products.
The images would appear in an encyclopedia entry about Las Vegas.
That means the seal Goodman loves to hate is going to be propagated even more.
During a news conference in July, the mayor looked at the seal, which features a plane flying past a high-rise, Hoover Dam (which is not in the city) and rectangles that look embarrassingly like billboards.
In sum, the mayor said back then: “It’s the worst city seal I’ve ever seen.”
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