Carolyn Goodman: Let’s just move the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign
Mayor Carolyn Goodman held up a sign this morning. Two, actually. One was that she will run for re-election. The other is that she is taking the Las Vegas title as her own.
“I want to remain in office, absolutely,” she said during an event marking the opening of The Nerd nightclub on the second level of Neonopolis in downtown Las Vegas. “I have the greatest job in the most exciting city in the world. I want to continue to be mayor, if my constituents will have me, of course.”
Goodman is up for re-election in two years, having succeeded her husband, Oscar Goodman, who spent three rollicking terms as the city’s mayor ending in 2011. Carolyn Goodman’s willingness to serve another term had been discussed openly by those supporters of former Rep. Shelley Berkley — including Berkley herself — as a fitting successor to the Goodman reign. But Berkley, a Las Vegas native, has said she’d run only if Goodman did not.
The mayor also used the event to fire a shot at the Clark County Commission in an ongoing issue (and of course I am helping to make it “ongoing”) between the that board and City Hall. The issue centers on which governing body should appear to issue proclamations and keys to the city or Strip at significant civic events.
The most recent of these celebrations was Monday at the opening of Wahlburgers at Bally’s Grand Bazaar Shops on the Strip. Both Goodmans showed up at the location, which is in unincorporated Clark County and thus under the jurisdiction of County Commission (which today offered no comment when asked about this issue). Typically, Commissioner Steve Sisolak shows up at Strip events, packing a Key to the Las Vegas Strip and his own proclamation.
But it was Goodman’s territory Monday, as she accepted the invitation of the organizers (including the Wahlbergs) who wanted the mayor there.
“It’s like when you go to London, even when you go outside of the city limits, you want the mayor of London here,” Goodman said. Then she proposed: “What I want to do is is move the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign to the north side of Sahara and the Strip, where it will be in the city (the replica sign on LV Boulevard north of the Stratosphere, was destroyed in an auto crash last summer). It’s better than changing it to “Welcome to Fabulous Clark County!’ And we should start calling the key to the Strip, ‘The Key to the Clark County Strip.’ “
She smiled and added, “I’m being cute, but then everyone would be happy, right?” Everyone except, maybe, the Wahlbergs.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section, and Fridays in Neon. He also hosts “Kats! On The Radio” Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on KUNV 91.5-FM and appears Wednesdays at 11 a.m. with Dayna Roselli on KTNV Channel 13. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.