LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley kicked off her second annual state of the city speech with a nod to the city's past, a live performance by "The Rat Pack is Back."
But her remarks took aim squarely at the future of the city she was elected to lead in 2024.
Berkley outlined new initiatives designed to increase housing, improve public safety and deal with the problem of homelessness in the city. before it gets worse.
WATCH | Berkley charts course for Las Vegas's future
It wasn't all business, however: In a video that preceded her speech, a waiter offered her a stiff martini, the drink of choice of former Mayor Oscar Goodman, who served from 1999 to 2011.
"Well, you know, martinis are so last decade," Berkley said to knowing laughs from the crowd.
Berkley ran through a laundry list of new residential projects throughout the city, including projects that will bring nearly 400 new homes to downtown Las Vegas.
The projects are an answer to an ongoing housing shortage in Las Vegas, especially in the area of affordable housing. The city is planning to utilize the former site of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building and the Cashman Center for new residents, which Berkley said would transform the area.
She also touted projects such as the new art museum planned for the area near the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, the venue of both of Berkley's annual state of the city speeches.
She got some scattered applause when she announced a new parking garage for the arts district, where visitors and businesses have objected to the city's institution of paid parking in recent months.
"Because of all of this development, we have a new parking garage coming to the arts district that will add 500 desperately needed new spaces to the area this coming Sunday. Summer! It's not on Sunday. It's summer. Sunday would be nice," Berkley said.
Later, she told reporters the paid-parking policy was necessary.
"Personally, I hate paying for parking, but the city has need for some revenue," she said. "We don't want to overly burden the businesses. That's our bread and butter. But on the other hand, I don't think it's unusual for cities, especially in the urban core. Any city you go to, you're paying for parking."
Berkley admonished her fellow drivers in Las Vegas to obey traffic signals, advice that seems unnecessary until you drive local streets.
"We all have a responsibility to keep everyone in our community safe," she said. "So I will say here what I say in my press conferences: A red light is not a suggestion. You gotta stop. Red light."
Berkley said after her speech she stopped at a red light recently only to have another driver change lanes and blow through the intersection, completely ignoring the signal.
The mayor acknowledged the homeless issue is more complex than she realized when she was elected, pledging to stop people from sleeping on city streets.
She vowed not to let Las Vegas resemble cities in California notorious for encampments.
"I will not allow the city of Las Vegas to become another San Francisco or Los Angeles," she said to applause. "We will deal with this problem now, while we can."
Berkley said she was invited to participate in a program put on by the Bloomberg Foundation and Harvard University, focusing on the city's homeless problem. Researches interviewed locals involved in trying to help curb homelessness, and some concrete steps have already been taken.
Instead of leaving the problem primarily to police, Berkley said the city is deploying teams of therapists and medical professionals to address issues of mental health and addiction, which affect a significant portion of the population experiencing homelessness.
"We're hoping that there will be a trust that we can get them off the streets and get them the help they need," she said. "We're not going to get everybody off the streets, but I'm going to do everything I can to stem this tide, because it's going in the wrong direction. And I can assure you, the city is spending a considerable amount of money doing everything we can right now, and we just have to do it better and smarter."
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