The upside of anger: Neighbors meeting neighbors

By Mike Trask

Tuesday, May 6, 2008 | 2 a.m.

On Saturday at a park tucked into one of the nondescript neighborhoods in the nation’s fastest-growing city, dozens of people got together to eat some ice cream sandwiches.

On the surface, there’s nothing special or unique about neighbors, with kids and dogs in tow, gathering in the sun.

Yet within the ebb and flow of life in North Las Vegas — where, as in much of the Las Vegas Valley, the constant cycle of people moving in and moving out, full-time jobs and the keep-to-yourself facet of the Vegas lifestyle leave many neighbors vaguely acquainted, at best, with each other — it took on significance.

Six months ago most of the people calling the middle-class neighborhoods surrounding Centennial Parkway and Revere Street home really didn’t know one another. They waved, sure. But they seldom spoke at any length and never organized a community event as quaint as an ice cream social.

That was before what’s become known in this area as simply “the apartments.” The apartments are coming to the chunk of vacant land just east of the ice cream social site at Seastrand Park. Last month the North Las Vegas City Council allowed plans for the 320-unit complex to proceed, with members saying a 1988 development agreement prevented them from opposing the project.

This month there will be Planning Commission and community meetings about a proposal to build 660 apartments just north of the first site.

So with the goal of stopping what many of them see as a monstrosity in their neighborhood, the residents did something special. They started talking to one another. Nothing, after all, makes a friend more quickly than a common enemy.

“It’s not complex,” said Ken Angel, a lifelong valley resident who moved to North Las Vegas three years ago. “It’s just getting people together, getting to know the neighbors and building relationships.”

At the center of the simple concept is Sarah Humphreys, a 28-year-old who purchased her first home in the area with the idea of living in a nice neighborhood.

She became involved with her homeowners association, where she heard about “the apartments.” And somehow she became the opponents’ ringleader. Hundreds of e-mails and phone calls later she’s cemented herself as the resident other residents ask about what’s happening.

She even went door-to-door to raise $1,500 for ice cream to throw the Save Our Community Ice Cream Social. She’s like a cuter Che Guevara, with Nutty Buddies instead of machine guns.

“I’ve never done anything like this,” she said, though she once raised money for an animal rights group. “I just stay on top of people.”

That was a tough job, because she started off not knowing anybody. Then she started trying to meet people, knocking on doors and chatting on the phone. She met for the first time people who live a block away in her gated community.

It’s a challenge with which Dee Warner, like many others in the neighborhood, is familiar.

A retiree making the move to North Las Vegas from Oregon, where she still owns a home, Warner finds life in her new community a bit strange. One of her neighbors is nice, but not overly friendly. Others don’t seem to want to know who lives next door.

“I’m amazed at how different it is,” she said. “You’re in this neighborhood, you should share and share alike.”

Yes, she said, the ice cream social was a good step toward building a community. It had the two main ingredients that always bring a crowd.

“Anger and food,” she said. “That will get people. Anything else, forget it.”

The few folks who have been active in the community for any length of time hope the interest and passion generated by the battle to block the apartments carry over to the next community issue, whatever that may be.

A municipal election is coming next year, featuring a race for mayor among three current council members. A possible battle over future casino sites along Interstate 215 also looms.

And even if the residents aren’t banding together to fight for or against something, some hope the ties forged by the current campaign leave the community filled with neighbors who are, well, more neighborly, day in, day out.

“I’ve met a lot of people who really care about our community,” said Bob Borgersen, a regular at City Council meetings. “Even if we lose, people are meeting people.”