Rock concert too loud for some residents

Metallica, unofficial used car lots and mowing the lawn were some of the subjects that Las Vegas City Councilman Gary Reese answered questions on at his first neighborhood dialogue meeting at Halle Hewetson Elementary School Monday night.

The meeting was the first of four neighborhood question-and-answer sessions that Reese plans to hold for his Ward 3 constituents.

"If there is one thing that people get out of this meeting, I hope it's that they can call my office if they have concerns about their neighborhood," Reese said. "I can't get to every street in my ward everyday, so these people have to be my eyes and ears."

More than 50 residents turned out to talk to Reese about their concerns, and get answers to a wide variety of questions.

Joan Poole complained about the Saturday night Metallica concert at Cashman Field, saying that she could hear the band and its fans as she sat in her living room on Eastern Avenue.

"My husband usually goes to sleep at 8 p.m. and he couldn't get to sleep until 11 p.m. because of that music, whatever kind it was," Poole said.

Reese said that he received several phone calls about the noise level at the concert.

"They already had a license to perform, so there was not much that we could do," he said. "Now we have the heads up about the noise so we can work to keep the volume down in the future."

Lore Carrillo, the new principal of Halle Hewetson was concerned with the lawn mowing schedule at an area park, while other residents wanted action taken on people who are parking six or more cars that are for sale in their front yards.

Reese said that it was the first he'd heard about park lawns not getting mowed, and that the City Council was addressing the problem of people using their lawns as makeshift used-car lots.

Members of Reese's staff took down each question and comment as the councilman answered the questions or promised to follow up on them.

Dewain Steadman, a resident in Ward 3, said that he appreciated Reese coming to talk to the people who put him in office.

"Him coming here and establishing a dialogue is important, because we don't have to go through a layer of bureaucracy to have our questions answered," Steadman said. "He wrote down all the questions no matter how foolish or off the wall, and he'll get the answers to them."

Some wanted to know why the meetings had to be limited to four, and why Reese could not meet with the public on a regular basis.

"I wish that we could do that, but we can't," Reese said. "My staff and I are always available to answer your questions or direct you to the people that can."

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