LV COUNCIL DROPS RESOLUTION AGAINST BALLOT INITIATIVES

The Las Vegas City Council withdrew on Wednesday two resolutions
expressing opposition to initiatives on the November ballot after the
city attorney's office said that by approving the resolutions, the
council might violate state law prohibiting expenditure of public
resources on political causes.

The Clark County Commission last month passed two resolutions against
the ballot initiatives, one of which would limit governments' use of
eminent domain and another that would allow possession of small
amounts of marijuana.

North Las Vegas on Wednesday passed a resolution against the eminent
domain initiative.

"If PISTOL (the eminent domain initiative) were to pass, we could be
hamstrung for the very thing the city is supposed to do, build
streets," North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon said.

Boulder City adopted a similar resolution earlier this
month.

At the Clark County Commission meeting Sept. 19, Neil Levine, campaign
manager for the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana, told the
Clark County Commission that a state law prohibits the commission from
taking a formal position on the matter.

Commission lawyer Mary-Anne Miller said the commission would not be
spending resources if it merely discussed the marijuana question and
expressed its opposition.

City Attorney Brad Jerbic said Wednesday that an attorney general's
opinion found that a Northern Nevada government's newsletter included
a few sentences against a political effort.

"It might be a strong opinion, but given the fact that the meeting is
televised on a taxpayer-paid-for television station, I thought it
would be best" for the council not to vote on the resolutions, Jerbic
said.

Also Wednesday, the City Council passed a resolution expressing city
policy to use its power to seize land for public projects only, such
as roads, and not to use the power to pass land to private developers.

On Tuesday, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman stood with Montandon and
other politicians and business leaders to denounce PISTOL, the
People's Initiative to Stop the Taking of Our Land.