.png)
Friday, Feb. 21, 2025 | 2 a.m.
Mayor Shelley Berkley, wearing a bright yellow blazer and even brighter smile, stood next to a podium in front of a small crowd Thursday morning inside the council chambers of Las Vegas City Hall, fielding questions from reporters.
It’s been about 10 weeks since she took office, and Berkley has learned a lot, she said. One of those lessons — which she’s also taken from her time as a member of the Nevada Assembly and her tenure in Congress — is the need for transparency.
The city of Las Vegas announced in February that Berkley would begin hosting two news conferences a month with members of the media — a move that hasn’t been done since former Mayor Oscar Goodman was in office, city officials said.
“I believe in transparency, and I have a long history of public service,” Berkley said at her first news conference as mayor. “I don’t think that there should be any secrets in government, and I want to make sure that the community knows what I’m doing (and) how it impacts them. The best way to get our message out is obviously through the press.”
In an interview with the Sun last month, Berkley revealed plans for these monthly news gaggles to discuss her recent actions and take questions from the media.
After being elected in November, she approached David Riggleman, communications director for the city of Las Vegas, about reinstituting what she called “mayor press conferences.” Riggleman said Oscar Goodman had regularly scheduled news conferences during his time in office. His wife and successor, Carolyn Goodman, had many news conferences, but didn’t schedule them on a regular basis.
Berkley’s news briefings, on the first and third Thursdays of the month, will be broadcast publicly through the city of Las Vegas’ website.
Berkley stressed that these sessions would be “very important” for transparency, accessibility and ensuring the public was informed on what the city is working on.
Thursday’s conversation came a day after the city council’s most recent meeting, where members had struck down in a 6-1 vote a proposal to create an animal advisory committee but also approved plans for the new Campus of Hope project.
Berkley told members of the media that she voted against creating an animal advisory committee, which was pushed by Councilwoman Victoria Seaman, because “it would have no authority and nothing that they did would be binding.” She added that, “Given the situation throughout Southern Nevada when it comes to our four-legged friends, we could and must do better.”
She wanted instead to explore other, multijurisdictional solutions to help with the overpopulation of shelters and other animal issues, such as backyard breeding.
Berkley also took the opportunity to urge the public to “be responsible pet owners” by getting their animals spayed or neutered, microchipping them and constantly ensuring the information in those microchips is up to date.
During the roughly 30-minute meeting, Berkley mostly answered questions regarding the Badlands dispute — a legal battle that began almost a decade ago when past city council members blocked EHB Cos. CEO Yohan Lowie from building housing on a defunct golf course.
Since her campaign, Berkley was adamant on settling, and the city reached an agreement with the developer to settle for $286 million.
At Wednesday’s city council meeting, members greenlit plans for Lennar Homes to build just under 1,500 homes on the former Badlands Golf Club at Alta Drive and South Rampart Boulevard.
Berkley on Thursday also talked about her favorite musicians (the Beatles and Andrea Bocelli); what she learned during the mayoral onboarding process (all about the different city departments and their roles); the city’s efforts to approve more residential development; the future of the Cashman Center (she has no set hopes for Cashman Center but it is up for sale with various options for use from a sports stadium to affordable housing); and some upcoming housing projects to help the local homeless population
The new efforts for transparency are a welcome one, said David Damore, a professor of political science and executive director of the Lincy Institute and Brookings Mountain West at UNLV. He explained that many political leaders make promises of being open with the public during their terms, but tend to scale back transparency efforts as their tenure goes on.
There are also issues where media don’t get access to certain events or information, which can limit public knowledge of city actions and projects.
Damore said he hoped Berkley would continue this line of communication with the public, and is looking to see if other leaders follow her example.
“I think it certainly is welcome to get that interaction, particularly because I think local government tends to not get as much coverage as it should, so it’s nice to see a mayor welcoming that,” Damore said. “It’ll be interesting to see if other people follow that lead, and again, I think it’ll be welcome.”
English (US) ·