It’s been two months since Carolyn Goodman left her job as mayor of Las Vegas.
That’s given her enough time to reflect and assess the changes that 12 years have brought about in the city and for her.
But she’s been in Las Vegas, with her husband and former Mayor Oscar Goodman, since the 1960s. Together, the two have led unique lives that few others get to experience.
Oscar Goodman became famous for his defense of mobsters and many others as a lawyer in Nevada. Carolyn Goodman spent her early years with her children. Then, as they got older, and as she looked at education in the state, she founded the private Meadows School.
Oscar Goodman served as mayor from 1999 to 2011. Carolyn Goodman took the seat in 2011 until 2024.
The following interview highlights have been edited to clarity. Hear the full interview with former Mayor Carolyn Goodman above.
On being out of the mayor’s office
Cleaning out the office after 13 years was a challenge, but now I'm busy. I am so busy, but it is so boring. It is so boring, I can't tell you.
On her biggest accomplishments and what she’d like to see more of in Las Vegas
We had a big bump, of course, with UNLV and the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine occupying there. And, of course, it is the only trauma one in the state. You know, they have a phenomenal burn unit there. There's so much going on in … the county public hospital there. And it is a center. It should be a research, really big research center, medical research. … And now, with a top administrative change out of Washington, what kind of monies are going to be there? How are we going to continue to integrate technology? They've gone ahead, and now we're having a new pediatric standalone hospital down in the southwest. That's wonderful, but it's not for the more challenged public. They need to have a similar one right there in the Medical District … But Las Vegas should be recognized as a top medical research component of our community. But the reality is, funding it, funding it ... And it so happens Las Vegas, Global Economic Alliance upon which I sit this past year, a year ago, came together to prioritize what the focus would be. And unanimously, we all agreed. And there are about 100 of us in that meeting: healthcare has to be first.
On taxpayers criticizing the city for the huge monetary loss in the Badlands Golf Course case
What has been put out on social media, what's been printed …What do you think we were doing it for? We know we are the guardians of the tax dollar. We all pay, and so it's such a complicated issue … We must have made eight or nine offers to the developer all along the way, but this was these were meetings well into the night time, having started 9 in the morning. Those are long days of screaming and yelling and anger, and no part of the (City Council) had the background education experience to do other than listen to what our legal advice is. And again, law costs money. What do you think we were doing it for? To spend tax dollars willy-nilly? That's a ridiculous thought.
On if she would change anything from the interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper from April 2020, during which she said he had offered Las Vegas to be a control group for the COVID-19 virus
I said, ‘excuse me, this is Las Vegas,’ and the reality is it wasn't to be a test point, but just leave us alone. Let us handle our community, but I know I'm only in control of me, and that's all. I am not in control of you or anybody else, and you have a right to your decisions. My only hope is, if I know a little bit more than you do, that I would say to you, Joe, have you considered this? ... Have you thought about that? And so this whole thing -- but I am waiting for Anderson Cooper's apology, and I would like to have a further discussion.
What do you want him to apologize for?
I thought the entire interview was embarrassing for him.
On the late Tony Hsieh and his investment in downtown Las Vegas more than a decade ago
But there's no question in my mind, the revival of downtown was so much definitely attributed to his excitement, investment, his out-of-the-box thinking, and the generosity of his of his largess … And of course, people to fly paper to money. It was, they destroyed him. I just really believed it. He had too much money. And was so young, really. I mean, he made his money, started when he was in college, figured something out, and then didn't have to work. And so many young people that become very successful make the multi-millions, whether they're in entertainment or they're in technology. So many of them pass away because, and they don't realize that, in fact, the people they think are their friends really want the money. But Tony was unusually generous and did want everybody to be happy. He had a beautiful spirit, and it was just tragic … He was a good person and did a lot, and so now the estate -- that's the hard piece of it, left to his father and family and so much property downtown. If we could just get it to move a couple of pieces faster and then get it going, because if it all stays tied up and doesn't resell, we're going to see that area of town again suffer.
