Mayor Carolyn Goodman speaks during a State of the City address at Las Vegas City Hall, downtown, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024.
Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024 | 9:58 p.m.
It wasn’t a routine address for Mayor Carolyn Goodman, simply listing off the city’s accomplishments for another year; Thursday night was a time to say goodbye and reminisce on a Las Vegas family’s legacy that goes back to 1964, in a very different city than the metropolis it’s grown into today.
Goodman delivered her State of the City with a smile on her face and a sand dial on the podium for the very last time in her career.
Her final address was her 13th — one more than her husband Oscar Goodman, the previous mayor – a fact which she made sure to remind her audience of. But despite promising to keep her time to an hour, Carolyn Goodman raved about her family’s journey in Southern Nevada and Las Vegas’ ascension into a “world-class city.”
“Oscar and I have been so honored to have served as mayors, and believe me, we have loved it,” Carolyn Goodman said Thursday night. “We know and appreciate that the accomplishments, developments and goals that have been reached are because of each and every one of you who cares and loves this community and Las Vegas as we do.”
The mayor, who took the seat in 2011, has seen Las Vegas grow from a small gambling city in the desert to entertainment capital of the world.
She led the city through one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history, a global pandemic that shut down the area’s most important economy and the evolution of the downtown core from “horrific blight” to a “popular area.”
Carolyn Goodman’s term will end in June at the earliest and November at the latest.
The city council chambers were filled with local leaders, including former Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkeley, UNLV President Keith Whitfield and North Las Vegas Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown.
After entering the chambers to the tune of Las Vegas High School’s lively mariachi band, Goodman began to reminisce about her and Oscar Goodman’s ascension to the mayor seat.
The couple left “two very close-knit families behind” in 1964 and moved to Las Vegas from the East Coast shortly after their marriage. When they arrived that August, the pair had a combined wealth of $87 while Las Vegas was home to only about 100,000 people, she said.
Carolyn and Oscar Goodman got started in the city at a time when the Rat Pack and Frank Sinatra were common sights around town, and “it was all about the customer,” a sentiment which she said remains downtown amongst hotels like the El Cortez and Circa.
Oscar Goodman made a career change, from defense attorney to some of the biggest names in organized crime to mayor of Las Vegas, winning the seat in 1999. His wife stepped up about 12 years later to take on the projects he started in areas like downtown, a move Oscar Goodman told the media after the address was not a surprise to him.
“My wife is perfect and whatever she does, she does it through hard work,” Oscar Goodman said to the media after Thursday’s address. “I used to come down to city hall and I thought I could do everything by just giving orders, (but) she actually participates in all of the projects, rolls up her sleeves, works with the staff and works with the public and works with the nonprofits.”
Between the two, the family has led this city for 25 years with a formula they have followed “year in and year out," said Carolyn Goodman.
That formula included prioritizing safety; investing in health care and medical research; providing the best education; becoming a center for culture and arts; building accessible parks; establishing effective transportation; and not forgetting major league sports.
And Carolyn alone has been in the best house seat to see it happen. Under her watch, the UNLV Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine and further development of Symphony Park – home to the Nevada Ballet Company and Las Vegas Philharmonic – were completed.
The city is continuing to add to their list of museums by entering negotiations with philanthropist Elaine Wynn to create the new Las Vegas Museum of Art, which Goodman said was a “missing piece” in the cultural corridor.
Multiple professional sports teams now call Southern Nevada home as well, even if they do play outside city limits.
“What was but a dream 25 years ago, now we enjoy the realities of today,” Goodman said in reference to Las Vegas and major league sports. “The energy, excitement and eyes of the entire world are on Las Vegas and who we are.”
In her speech Thursday night, Carolyn Goodman affirmed the city’s commitment to embracing technology, supporting law enforcement and helping the homeless population before focusing on the accomplishments of each ward.
But even though her career as mayor may be coming to an end, she’s not looking to relax any time soon, she said.
Carolyn Goodman said there are already plans for more medical clinics in the Corridor of Hope, where the Courtyard Homeless Resource Center and other services for the homeless community exist. A deadline for street vending bills to be passed by is coming up in July, and development across the city in areas like Symphony Park continues.
“You will have every fiber of my body, every energy and determination throughout my term,” Carolyn Goodman said. “We share the words ‘carpe diem,’ seize the day; every day is precious, don’t blame people for your own shortcomings, and help keep this city going forward and better every day.”
