Former journalist Delen Goldberg now public information officer for city of North Las Vegas
Following six years of working as a journalist with Greenspun Media Group, Delen Goldberg decided to try something different.
After covering politics and becoming the executive editor of Vegas Inc. and The Sunday weekly magazine, — which won Nevada Press Association’s general excellence award in 2015 and 2016 — Goldberg had an itch for a new challenge. Goldberg was appointed as the public information officer (PIO) for the city of North Las Vegas in late April after Mitch Fox’s two-year run came to an end.
Despite her never-ending love for journalism, Goldberg said she is excited to continue her duty as a public servant by informing residents and the media of all of the “exciting and new things happening in the city.”
Between representing North Las Vegas, being a wife and the mother of two boys, Goldberg has her hands full.
View recently sat down with Goldberg for a question-and-answer session.
Let’s start off by talking about your past work as a journalist. How did you get into that line of work and what topics did you cover?
I came to Greenspun Media Group as a political reporter and my first assignments were covering the Nevada Senate race between Harry Reid and Sharron Angle. I really enjoyed covering politics, and that race was as intense as they come. I also covered the Las Vegas city race for mayor against Chris Giunchigliani and (current) Mayor Carolyn Goodman.
Then, I became the general assignments reporter and covered all sorts of things from the Strip to businesses and entertainment. Eventually in 2013, the executive director approached me about an idea for The Sunday magazine. He wanted me to be a part of it, and I was 100 percent on board for this new opportunity to bring print back to the valley in a different way. Instead of working solely on long-form narrative stories, we did five-minute expert stories that included more graphical information — instead of dumbed-down clickbait — so that people could look at the story and become an expert on a topic in five minutes.
Why did you decide to make the transition from journalist to PIO?
I’ll always be a journalist at heart, but I wanted to try something new. I wasn’t exactly looking for a new job, but I heard about this opportunity, and this particular job drew me in because there’s so much exciting stuff happening in North Las Vegas. Mitch Fox did a phenomenal job putting North Las Vegas back on the radar after the city had a tough time, and now they need someone to grow that vision and teach people about the new city. There’s an exciting momentum here, and that energy really drew me in.
What are you in charge of as PIO for the city?
I handle all of the media outreach and even some government affairs. I also do a lot of community outreach and help connect residents with the departments. Additionally, I’m in charge of the internal communications newsletters for all the council members and of promoting events through social media.
How did your previous job prepare you for your role as PIO?
In many ways, I still feel like a reporter. I’m just an internal reporter for North Las Vegas. My role is to get information out to the community and reporters, so it’s not that big of a departure from journalism.
At the heart of everything what motivates me is transparency, truth and just information for the masses — that’s what inspired me to be a journalist and, really, that road hasn’t changed much. I’m not trying to drum up stories. I’m telling people about what’s happening in the city.
How has it been so far?
I’ve been here for almost six months and it doesn’t feel like that — it still feels new. I love it, and I’m even more excited to be on board in the midst of all these changes. It’s a little scary because you never know exactly what to expect, but I’m always blown away from all the exciting opportunities that are happening here.
We have a lot of caring people who have the best interest of the city and of the valley at heart. I feel like part of a team that is truly doing good for the region where I live and where my kids are growing up in. I’ve gotten calls from people saying “thank you” for creating effective and positive change. It’s been worth it.
What has been the biggest challenge of taking over this position?
Initially, it was a learning curve. Covering the government and politics as a journalist is different than municipal operation. On my second day, I learned about utilities, codes, police and fire, and every aspect of how the city operates.
Luckily, we have so many experts here that they made my life very easy. The first couple of weeks were a bit overwhelming, so that was the initial challenge. Now, I’m just really busy because we’re a small team.
What is your favorite part about this new position?
I love the energy that the mayor (John Lee) has. He jokes that he has two speeds — fast and faster. I think it’s true, and it trickles down to City Hall because this is certainly not a place where people are pushing pencils or twiddling their thumbs. Everyone is moving a million miles a minute because so much is being thrown at us. People are excited to come to work here, and they really take pride in the results — which is the progress of our city.
What city issues are you most passionate about and how are you tackling those?
I think my biggest goal is to help people recognize that this is a new North Las Vegas. A lot of people have preconceived notions of what North Las Vegas was and it’s really a very different city now. There’s so much opportunity here and so many exciting things happening. It’s really the best place to live, work, play and do business. I don’t want people to judge North Las Vegas on what it used to be or what they think it is. I want people to come check it out and see all of the progress the city has made — it’s a beautiful and thriving city.
The city has a large Latino population. How have you tried to bridge communication with them?
We are constantly trying to welcome and make residents feel comfortable communicating with City Hall. We really have a very diverse municipality and we really pride ourselves on that. We’ve forged a relationship with the Hispanic media and we’re always working with Councilman Isaac Barron and Councilwoman Pamela Goynes-Brown, who represent wards that are three-fourths or more Hispanic. Every day, we ask our residents, “What do you want from City Hall?”, so we can improve outreach. I’ve also tried to write social media posts in Spanish as well.
What is the best way for residents in North Las Vegas to stay informed about what’s happening in their city?
They can check out our city of North Las Vegas on Twitter and Facebook and they can also visit cityofnorthlasvegas.com, click on the mayor and council page and click on the link to their councilmember to sign up to their newsletter.
— To reach North View reporter Sandy Lopez, email slopez@viewnews.com or call 702-383-4686. Find her on Twitter: @JournalismSandy.
