Bob Beers has been on the Las Vegas City Council since 2012, when he won a special election in a landslide. A year later, he ran again and won easily, with 76 percent of the vote.
A year later, when announcing he might run for the U.S. Senate for Harry Reid’s seat, Beers told a reporter that the city council was the “funnest” job he ever had.
But does he still feel that way? There’s mudslinging this time around, and angry voters.
Beers was one of four members of the city council who voted in favor of allowing homes to be built on the former Badlands Golf Course. The course is lined with some of the priciest homes in Las Vegas.
Beers told KNPR's State of Nevada that the golf course land is zoned residential and the current owner is allowed to build there. In addition, the zoning is for much smaller lot sizes, but the developer has decided to create much bigger lots and leave plenty of green space.
“Looking down on a three to five-acre parcel seems to me to be greater likelihood of retaining their view premium than looking down on quarter- and-a-half-acre lots,” he said.
Months before the vote, foes were lining up to try to unseat Beers because of his position on the development project. They claim he is siding with a developer against their wishes; he says he had to vote that way to save the city millions from a future lawsuit he doesn't believe the city could win.
“I’m not going to leave the taxpayers of the city of Las Vegas with a multi-tens of millions dollar bill a couple of years after a left because of a bone headed decision that the city council made during my tenure,” he said.
Beers said the homeowners want the city to buy the golf course to preserve their view, which is not acceptable to other taxpayers.
“These people all have the same responsibility that you and I do to understand what’s next to you before you buy a piece of real estate and this land has been zoned residential for 30 or 40 years,” the councilman said.
Despite the ongoing dispute with homeowners in Queensridge, Beers still enjoys the job he is doing on the council and hopes to stay for another four years.
“The opportunity to improve people’s lives is here every day, if you have a city councilman who wants to make it their full-time job, and that’s what I do," he said, "And that’s what I would like to do for the next four years.”
Also from KNPR's State of Nevada:
City Council Challenger Says Golf Course Development All Wrong
From Colonel to Council: Steve Seroka Says Bad Development Made Him Run
Bob Beers, councilman, Las Vegas Ward 2
