City Councilman Stavros Anthony said that after the city voted to approve millions in taxpayer funding for a private soccer stadium, voters urged him to try to unseat Mayor Carolyn Goodman.
Goodman has been the biggest supporter of a downtown arena suitable for a Major League Soccer team.
After the City Council voted 4-3 for the stadium funding, Anthony and the two other dissenting council members asked the council to put the funding on a ballot to let voters decide. The council again voted no, by the same 4-3 margin.
City Councilman Bob Beers is spearheading an effort to get enough signatures to put the matter before voters. However, Anthony said a dispute over the correct number of signatures means the issue may not make it before the voters.
“I believe if it was put to the vote of the people 90 percent of people would say they wouldn’t want the soccer stadium,” Anthony said.
After the council voted not to put the issue on the ballot, Anthony told "KNPR's State of Nevada," he received numerous messages from people imploring him to take on the mayor.
"We’re taking $30 million of that dollars and giving it to a developer to build something that you have to pay to get into," he said. "And if this one somehow gets stopped by a vote of the people, maybe there’s going to be another one that comes down.
He said the pursuit of publicly funded projects for private developers is the biggest contrast between Goodman and him.
Connections to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
Anthony is a former Las Vegas Metro police officer, which could bring up questions about expanded funding for the department.
Asked how that might influence his decisions on police funding if he became mayor -- both Las Vegas and Clark County fund the police department -- he said he has demonstrated fiscal responsibility while sitting on Metro's Fiscal Affairs Committee.
“Look at my record in the last four years when it comes to fiscal matters especially when we were in a downward spiral I wanted to make sure our employees were paid but that they were paid appropriately for the time period,” Anthony said.
Medical Marijuana
Anthony has been vocal about not supporting medical marijuana.
He told KNPR’s State of Nevada that he has done is own studies that show smoking marijuana is not a medicine, but it has been approved the voters. He now wants to focus on making sure the drug it is dispensed properly.
“I just want solid people running these dispensaries so that they’re not impacting neighborhoods and that they’re only selling to people who have cards,” the candidate said.
He did express strong opposition to recreational marijuana. Anthony believes legal recreational use of the drug will cause a lot of problems.
Plans for being mayor
Former Mayor Oscar Goodman is still known for showing up to events with two showgirls.
Anthony said if he is elected mayor he won’t be showing up to events with showgirls but he will be working for the people.
“I won’t have showgirls. I’m just going to do the peoples’ business. I’ll make sure the people are represented,” Anthony said, “I think they’ll remember me because I’ll put a lot more money into their parks which isn’t flashing but that’s what touches people every single day.”
Guest:
Stavros Anthony, Las Vegas City Councilman, candidate for Las Vegas Mayor
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