Chris Giunchigliani’s plan: Build a community one neighborhood at a time

If anyone understands politics and government in Nevada, it’s Chris Giunchigliani.

The candidate for mayor of Las Vegas served eight terms as a state legislator beginning in 1990—before some of today’s voters were born. She’s in her second term on the powerful Clark County Commission and has worked in Las Vegas as a teacher and as president of the influential Clark County Education Association (teachers union) as well as the Nevada State Education Association.

Giunchigliani recently spoke with VEGAS INC about her relationship with the business community and her agenda for jobs and economic development.

Let’s clear up how you pronounce your name.

It’s actually the month of June. There is no “k” in Italian, so the “ch” is the “k” sound. “June-kill-ee-on-ee.”

What’s your basic platform and pitch to businesses?

I have a program to, number one, build the community one neighborhood at a time. In order to do that you have to have economic diversification as well as promoting our smaller businesses that have been here and we’ve tended to ignore as we tried to recruit new businesses. Number two is revitalizing neighborhoods, because if you want people to buy products, goods and services, you have to have a strong neighborhood surrounding it.

The third I think is rethinking government, that is, I want one form, one fee for your general business licenses. I’m already trying to bring all four jurisdictions into a regional business license program. We haven’t really had a focus in the city or the county of true customer service. Instead of saying, “You have to run up to zoning and then you have to run over here,” why don’t we facilitate that for folks? And in this day and age of technology, a lot of forms should be available online.

My fourth tier is about education. If you really want people to locate here or stay here, you want a quality kindergarten-higher education system. It’s not the mayor’s job, it’s everybody’s job. My platform calls on the 114 public schools located in the city of Las Vegas to be linked to businesses and have them adopt a school so the kids can actually see what’s expected in the world of work. And the world of work sees what’s going on in our public schools. There may be efficiencies they can suggest to the administration with their outside perspective. It also provides a role model for our kids. A lot of our children—like it or not—are babies of babies and they don’t have a strong role model let alone a strong male role model. It’s a way to integrate volunteerism into the curriculum.

We know you’re not running against Oscar Goodman, but how would you portray Las Vegas to the world as mayor vs. him with his martini and showgirls?

It’s a different persona. I’ve got a pretty good personality, I’m not bad to look at. But it’s no longer going to be about me. We can be the cleanest, greenest, most customer-friendly city in the United States and then hopefully in the world.

Should Las Vegas continue to be promoted as an adult playground or should the mayor be talking more about the other assets of the city?

Las Vegas is both (an adult destination and a community with families) and I think we can be both.

The Entertainment Capital of the World—we need to do all we can to continue promoting that. That’s what people pay their room tax for and it’s really the convention authority and the hotels doing that and we should support that and limit that to some extent. Part of my platform is building a community a neighborhood at a time. Let’s not forget the people who live here, their families and their businesses. Not all businesses want to locate here because there’s the “adult Disneyland” approach—they want to know what the climate is, what the education is. They ask, “Do I have housing? Do I have parks? Amenities?” Unfortunately part of what’s missing is we don’t have the Wet ’n Wild or the miniature golf courses and things that both tourists and families can use.

There’s been discussion about downtown having more of an adult character or even being a red light district. Does any of that make sense?

No. Las Vegas is an “adult Disneyland,” as I refer to it. Everybody assumes prostitution’s legal—it’s not. It’s a non-starter. You actually have to have the Legislature change the state law for a red light district, not only in Southern Nevada but in Washoe County (Reno), and that’s not going to happen. And it shouldn’t. We have other things that we can promote. Do we have an issue with the sex industry? Yes. But people do a wink and a nod in this community unfortunately, and you have a lot of kids being trafficked. So let’s face that issue.

Has Las Vegas being promoted as an adult destination hurt economic development?

I don’t know if it has. I did walk the Strip with a couple of my colleagues and business executives on a Friday night just to see the landscape. It was filthy, and I mean dirty, not enough trash cans. [Clark County] Public Works hadn’t sprayed down the sidewalks so we went back and said, “You’re buying a sprayer.”

Some of the executives didn’t realize they were part of the problem, they had maneuvered onto the street with kiosks without permits. Then you have the handbillers. We’ve lost every doggone case on the handbillers (for First Amendment reasons), four times unfortunately. I talked with some of those businesses and I think there may be a way to get a time, manner and place (situation) so they are responsible for an area and responsible for the cleanup of it. There may be other ways we can do business. I’m willing to reach out and bring the ACLU to the table and the handbillers and say, “This is our town together.” I’m willing to spend that time. I do get letters and emails from tourists who are deeply offended because they’re constantly harassed with it. That’s not a good way to do business.

What have you been working on to bring more family amenities to the area?

I’ve been talking to developers, one for a miniature golf course, if they can get the financing. There are things we can do to supplement that.

Hopefully the governor doesn’t take the school district’s bond money, that was my legislation in 1997 to permanently fund our schools without a property tax increase. I’m very proud of that because 111 schools were built here without a property tax increase. That $430 million still in the coffers needs to go to rebuilding our older schools. That puts people back to work, and an innovative high-technology K-12 (program) can be put in place. We should use our government capital to offset and co-locate a pool, a recreation center, whatever is needed within that community core.

Given that we have a city-manager type of government and the mayor’s role is limited, what role should the mayor play in economic development?

The mayor has a real opportunity to be the voice that brings people together through a collaborative model. I want to create a mayor’s council on small businesses and a mayor’s council on minority businesses. We have a lot of strong businesses—Asian, Latino, African-American businessmen and women we haven’t really focused on. MGM Resorts International has a really good model through its supplier diversity program and a construction diversity program. I have a proposal for the county to consider adopting a similar program. I’d like to bring that into the city of Las Vegas—then you’re growing your homegrowns, then you’re seeing what goods and services are needed from them and then you might be able to create some additional businesses that supply businesses that are already here. There are also some banking opportunities we should take a look at. We don’t have a “Hong Kong-China bank.” With many opportunities, it’s who loans and who the lenders trust.

The mayor really is the one who can put the conversation together. Government shouldn’t do it all, we should facilitate it. We should be good listeners.

You have relationships with the economic development players?

I have working relationships. I served with Gov. Brian Sandoval. I know Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki quite well. I’m a member of the Asian Chamber, the Latin Chamber, the Urban Chamber, I’ve worked with them for 30 years and now I can use that networking and try to get past some of the barriers that are still there so people say, “It’s about business. It’s not about whether you’re Latino or you’re African-American or Caucasian, it’s about how do we do business here and how do we facilitate it.”

We should focus on development with the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Part of what they should do is look at our hubs with the airport. We have an international airport, if we can get more direct flights from various countries and not only increase tourism, but there are business opportunities to move goods and services that we haven’t tapped.

If I’m looking at moving my business to Phoenix or Salt Lake City or Las Vegas, I can call you as the mayor and you’ll open some doors and cut red tape?

Not only that, I can promote the fact we have no corporate tax. It’s not the only thing a business looks at, but fundamentally it’s an add-on. The university has some wonderful programs. I can find out, OK, what do you need for talent and what do you need for training your employees. Then we have this available at UNLV or we have this available at CSN. Linking all of that together as part of the recruitment process is a key.

As a legislator you were credited with passing the bill creating a revenue stream for the Smith Center for the Performing Arts downtown. Why is that important?

It was the private sector that came to us for six years saying, “Help us in Carson City to find a revenue stream.” They kept saying the board needed to have that in order to attract grant funding. I was a good legislator. I understood the process. I knew how to take advantage of amendments. When I saw Sen. Bill Raggio had a car rental tax (for a Northern Nevada stadium), it was a revenue stream paid mostly by tourists. It exempted residents who had auto problems so they weren’t affected. They did it for the stadium up north, so I did it for the performing arts center. It got us off the ground. It was the right permanent revenue stream to be able to attract other investments. That will be a jewel of Symphony Park. It complements our public schools in the performing arts. It’s a different draw. If you have tourists coming in for conventions, now they’ll add on days.

Most important, it leads to the discussion of the film industry incentive. I support that. I sponsored film industry legislation 10 years ago. It always got killed. You have to be careful with public tax dollars, you have to measure what you’re going to get back. I don’t like giveaways, it has to be tied to something. But nobody wanted to do any kind of incentive.

I have talked to some companies that would be interested in coming here and they said they don’t want a lot, they just want something to show there’s a commitment. The private sector should build it, but you could then spin off that your entertainment, your education, it links with the performing arts area. I have suggested if a company came in, I can’t dictate it, but I would entice them with the old Moulin Rouge property. That brings in West Las Vegas, it could be an economic spurt for that area. We have lots of empty warehouses there, places you could store your studio furniture, all the things that support the film industry. We’ve got a lot of nonprofit performing arts groups in town, so why not take some of those empty storefronts and house them there at a discounted rate. At least you have a body in there with some rent coming in for the owner. There’s a real synergy we could create.

Are you in favor of incentives for productions coming in and out of town or are you focusing on a permanent studio?

I want to focus on the permanent studio. We’re the Entertainment Capital of the World, and we do not have a permanent studio. That should be the first step.

You’ve talked about development of a medical school in the Las Vegas area. Would that use existing buildings at University Medical Center or UNLV or would this be new construction?

Construction. We need an actual facility here to attract something like a Cleveland Clinic. We’ve got renowned trauma, we have renowned cardiology, we’re No. 1 in OB-GYN, oncology—those are areas we ought to promote to be able to link someone to work with UNLV on a school of medicine. I met recently about this and a young man said we don’t have a community campus. If you construct something maybe we’d do student housing or resident housing. We need to build that core. If you make people feel comfortable, they’ll stay in practice here. If they go to Reno, it’s a very small campus. There’s a connectivity and they stay in Reno even though they’re from Las Vegas.

We have a (proposal) at the County Commission to say either the (University of Nevada School of Medicine) dean moves here and you commit to construct, or we’re going to find somebody else to do it.

You have the county-owned hospital, UMC. Is there some thought of turning that over to UNLV or the University of Nevada for the medical school?

No. There would be a linkage, it would be a part of it. It doesn’t have the financing. It has its own role. UMC is the second largest contributor to the School of Medicine, so that’s what we’re talking about. Either they physically come here, or we don’t need to send those moneys from UMC, we’ll put it into a program here and try to link up with UNLV or another model. (Once it’s built) you have spinoffs, your bioscience, your R&D and your technology.

What would you like to see accomplished with an arena or stadium?

I didn’t support the one in my district on the Wet ’n Wild site (south of the Sahara). The entire County Commission didn’t believe that was the right site.

I believe if a stadium is going to be built, if somebody in the private sector wants to build it, God bless them. Come on down if you find the right location.

I served on the original task force that looked at the downtown core. We still have traffic issues. I think the UNLV proposal probably has the best public/private model, if they’re going to look at something along those lines.

The Caesars’ proposal is also in my district. The problem in my opinion is the taxing district extends to my small businesses (nearby) and they don’t benefit from that. It’s not fair. The public doesn’t want to subsidize a stadium or an arena. The best bet would be UNLV because you get to rebuild the Thomas & Mack Center. But they need to make sure they get the right public benefit back—some percentage of concessions, some percentage of any retail that comes in.

Of course that’s not in the city of Las Vegas.

That’s OK.

It still benefits the city?

Absolutely. This territorial garbage needs to stop. I support consolidation. I consolidated the housing authorities, I got all four jurisdictions to adopt similar spay-neuter ordinances. It shows it can be done, you just have to take the time to work through the bureaucracy. Business licenses, code enforcement, all of that should be shared services across boundary lines.

Anybody who can bring in a funded (stadium/arena) project—that’s the game that has been played over the years. It’s, “I’ve got this idea,” and then we never put infrastructure in. I’m trying to change the policy now that infrastructure has to go in first. So we’re prepared for the next wave when and if it comes. I’m working on master-development project agreements to update those. I brought a group of town boards together and just everyday folk and said, “Work with our staff and tell me what’s wrong with our process. Where did we goof up because everyone was cutting deals with everybody?”

There is a proposal for a downtown Las Vegas arena. You’re saying it’s not the right project because they want public funding and there are traffic issues?

I don’t think the public will support public financing. If the private sector wants to build one downtown and work on traffic issues, “Come on down!” If George Maloof Jr. thought it was a viable thing, I think he’d be bringing his group here and using his own capital. If you look at the stadium studies, our population is just on the cusp. We don’t have that TV market, we don’t have the critical mass. But I don’t want to say “never” because it could be something down the road. But in this town we don’t have a lot of taxes to be working with or giving away. I am of the mind the private sector needs to build it.

If you’re the mayor, are taxes going to go up, down or stay the same for businesses?

The city and county can’t raise taxes unless the Legislature gives us authority. We can’t even put in certain business fees unless they give us authority. That’s unfortunate. I believe in home rule. Those closest to a job know it best. That’s the best way to hold me accountable. I have no authority over taxes. So the city and county can’t raise taxes. The only thing we can do is fees. And right now I’m proposing lowering the (city) liquor fee and doing a cost-benefit analysis on what we’re charging for all of our applications and fees. That could actually lower fees in some cases.

Some have said you’re basically a career politician. What’s your experience in the private sector and your experience with business that would cause businesses to feel you can represent them?

I worked in bartending and I’m a public schoolteacher, I’ve taught off and on for the last 25 years.

As a legislator I worked closely with business, we didn’t always agree on everything. But I use this example: Businessman Tim Cashman had been criticizing the state process, so I met with him 20 years ago and asked him to walk me through it. So in 1993, I sponsored the first legislation to coordinate all fees and forms in the state. And we spent four years working on that process. I brought every single state agency together—the taxpayers association, the chamber of commerce, businesses—and we worked the process through. I was in the lead and here I am 20 years later finding out we still haven’t done the same thing at the local level.

My door is always open. I have always worked to make sure we don’t “fee” businesses to death. If something needs to be paid for, do it through a stabilized broad-based tax. Unfortunately, local governments can’t raise taxes, so the only thing they do is fees, which is not the right thing to do.

I’m the one who said the city should never have had a $70,000 origination fee for liquor licenses. Just to suspend it (as the city did) is not the right policy. Eight businesses opened after they suspended it. If it’s good for two or three blocks why would it not be good for that whole general area? Especially when the county is $350. What does it take to process an application? I hear what businesses say and I do try to go in and change what they run into.

Business people understand I have the experience. I have always had my door open. I’ve always listened to them and I’m open to new ideas and new ways of doing business. They know I am willing to come to them and say, “What’s working and what isn’t?” I can go to employee groups because I have a good relationship with them and say, “Here’s what’s missing. Here’s what we’re not doing.” Or, “Here is what we are doing, we need you to do more of it.”

Business overall wants someone who will listen and get something done, and I’ve proven I can do that, including my years in the Legislature. “Can’t” is a swear word in my classroom and it is in government. I am here to serve. I’ve always seen this as a public service role.

What else do you see happening downtown besides the Smith Center?

Any good city has a downtown core. It can be the entertainment, the theater, the cafe and pedestrian-friendly model. It can be green. We should have free Wi-Fi everyplace that interconnects. Through the Regional Transportation Commission, we’re doing a complete street study so we can see where we can do pedestrian models. There should be bicycling. We want interconnectivity. I want people to be able to walk to the grocery store or to the cafe. You need that landscaping there. We’ve made it very difficult with the parking meters.

What Las Vegas really needs is jobs. What’s your plan there?

Through infill development is mostly what we’re going to concentrate on. You have to do it wisely. That’s where you bring in your mayor’s business council. You do a business match. You have people who can match zoning and opportunity and make sure they have a critical mass of people to purchase their goods, otherwise you set them up for failure. Part of what has to come about is if we have this piece of land, let’s master plan the area and then say, “We need a bookstore or this or this or this. Or we need this type of housing.” We’re overbuilt, but we don’t have affordable housing in some areas of the downtown core. Rebuilding older schools will create jobs. Modernization of current hotels would be a key piece in construction, but we will not get back to the 75,000 jobs that we lost unfortunately. I want people to have hope and not scare them. I want them to know the times have changed. We should have reteaching programs, retraining programs. CSN needs to be available to working men and women who worked in the construction industry in a nonthreatening way where we say, “Maybe there’s a technology piece where we’re retooling them for a different world of work.”

That’s something a mayor can do while recognizing what’s missing out there and then identifying how to link those folks together.

The performing arts center, I created jobs through the construction of that. I believe through a film studio I can create jobs. Part of my recommendation for a revolving loan fund is we, especially in the historic areas, maybe the code doesn’t need to go to the fullest standard (in renovation work). Maybe we have a landmark designation. So you get your safety, but you’re not to the fullest extent. That saves people money and it gets construction jobs going. It gets a business open sooner at a more reasonable cost.

Are you open to doing more redevelopment projects where the business is financed partly by retaining the tax increment?

Tax increment financing works, but you don’t give giveaways. There have been some that were no payback to the public, which I don’t agree with. We have to be careful with public dollars and public land. But yes, that’s a subject we should be able to take a look at.