Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

municipal general election:

Clary, Diaz have different backgrounds, similar visions for Ward 3 in Las Vegas

Olivia Diaz, Melissa Clary

Courtesy / Sun File

Las Vegas City Council ward 3 candidates Olivia Diaz, left, and Melissa Clary, right.

Public safety and crime have been at the forefront of the Las Vegas City Council race for Ward 3, the diverse, Latino-majority, historic urban core of Las Vegas.

The two candidates vying to represent the ward say that if elected in the general election on June 11, they would take a similar approach to tackling those issues: One that starts with strengthening neighborhoods.

Former state assemblywoman Olivia Diaz and neighborhood activist Melissa Clary both say that growing neighborhood watch initiatives and improving the community’s relationship with Metro Police are key to reducing crime and making Ward 3 residents feel safe.

“Collectively, if we’re vigilant and are helping one another, we definitely deter break-ins and criminal activity that shouldn’t be happening in the first place,” said Diaz, who stepped down from her Nevada assembly seat in December to run for city council.

They also agree that the ward would benefit from a stronger police presence, and they each promise to organize community meetings as part of their approach to public safety. Diaz suggested meetings with Metro officers, and Clary, who’s active in the Huntridge Neighborhood Association, suggested social-oriented events.

“I think neighborhoods are stronger when they know their neighbors and are more communicative with each other,” Clary said.

Clary and Diaz advanced to the general election for Ward 3 following a crowded and close primary race that included former one-term congressman Ruben Kihuen. Kihuen has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women, and his decision to run for city council brought national attention to the local race.

Diaz, who has been endorsed by both Nevada senators, the Culinary Union, public safety groups and the Metro Chamber of Commerce, among others, came out on top in the April primary with 1,016 votes, or about 33% of all votes. Clary, a manager at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs who at one time worked in the Las Vegas Planning Department, came in second with 866 votes, or about 28% of all votes.

A longtime elementary school teacher, Diaz said that helping establish Zoom and Victory funds for schools with high-needs populations was one of her biggest accomplishments from her four terms in the assembly. She also highlighted her efforts as an assemblywoman to revitalize the Las Vegas economy following the recession.

While Diaz has legislative experience and received several high-profile endorsements, Clary touts experience revitalizing the Huntridge Neighborhood Association and co-founding the nonprofit Huntridge Foundation, dedicated to preserving the historic, currently vacant Huntridge Theater.

“I’m ready to do the heavy lifting for the ward,” Clary said.

In addition to their similar visions for improving public safety, Clary and Diaz have overlapping plans for addressing homelessness in Ward 3, which has a lower median income and a lower homeownership rate than the city as a whole. If elected, both candidates promise to push for a regional plan to solve homelessness in collaboration with surrounding cities, Clark County and state leaders.

To fund such a plan, Clary said she wouldn’t push for a sewer surcharge to help construct more affordable housing, something for which outgoing Ward 3 Councilman Bob Coffin had advocated. Instead, she believes that the city could tap into financial support from the private sector with the help of a regional plan.

“Especially businesses downtown, they’re willing to contribute, but they need to see a plan,” Clary said.

Discussions about homelessness in Ward 3 often come back to the temporarily closed Huntridge Circle Park, which some residents say has attracted an indigent population as well as crime.

Diaz said she approves of a recent proposal from local developer J Dapper to repurpose the park into an interactive sculpture garden and children’s play area. She would also support limiting the park’s hours and increasing monitoring of the park.

Clary said that in addition to encouraging use of the park to deter criminal activity, she supports a public-private partnership model for the park. On the other hand, she said some in the ward who don’t live near the park are frustrated by the amount of attention given to the park in the last decade.

“How often are we going to keep putting money into this little park and expect it to change?” Clary said.

When it comes to economic development, Diaz said she would look to modernize and expedite certain licensing processes to make it easier for small business owners to thrive. She also favors increasing and diversifying the housing stock downtown.

“I love the way that the downtown part of the ward is reinventing itself and revitalizing,” she said.

Clary emphasized the need to capitalize on existing cultural and historic resources in the ward and to support small businesses, including local artisans in the Arts District. In addition, she pledged to crack down on vacant land, especially downtown.

“We have to create incentives and get these people to stop sitting on the land. That’s been a huge issue for our ward,” Clary said.

In a ward where residents are more likely to walk or use public transportation to get to work than the rest of the city, Diaz said she would like to see more diverse transit options that serve people of all incomes.

“The bus system is great, but sometimes it’s not always as quick as some of us need it to be,” she said. “And also, rideshare apps for folks of lower income levels sometimes are not sustainable modes of transportation.”

On transportation issues, Clary would push for “augmenting” existing complete streets plans, which generally make roads more pedestrian and bike-friendly. She would also look to solve transportation woes with zoning tools.

“For us to handle the amount of people moving here without complete sprawl, we need to start increasing density in the core and paying attention to urban infill,” Clary said.

Both candidates are in favor of bringing light rail to Las Vegas to ease traffic, especially recognizing the public’s support for it.

Prior to the general election in two weeks, Coffin, a two-term councilman who opted not to seek reelection, said there’s a change that he’ll endorse a potential successor.

“I like both,” he said.

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