|
Can Ricki Barlow Replace Councilman Lawrence Weekly As The Next City Councilman for Las Vegas Ward 5 |
|
Written by Steve Sanson
|
|
Wednesday, 14 February 2007 |
We all know that City Councilman Lawrence Weekly has been appointed to County Commissioner District D by Governor Jim Gibbons to replace outgoing County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson-Gates.
Now we have a vacated seat for Las Vegas City Council Ward 5. There are eleven candidates: Marion D. Bennett, Richard B. Blue, Jr., Gene Collins, Katherine "Katie" Duncan, Melvin "Beetle" Ennis, Earnestine L. Howell, Jeffrey Loveall, Shondra Summers-Armstrong, Stacie Truesdell, Marcia L. Washington, and none other than Ricki Barlow who is the City Communication Liaison to Councilman Weekly since 1999. Let me give you a brief description of Ricki Barlow and the telephonic interview that was done on February 3, 2007.
Ricki moved around a bit he lived in Washington, DC in 1996 and moved to back to Las Vegas in 1998, he lived in Clark County District D in 1999, he lived in Las Vegas Ward 5 in 2000, and moved out of Ward 5 purchased a home and lived in North Las Vegas Ward 2 for two years in 2004, now he currently lives in Las Vegas City Ward 5 since September 2006.
Ricki Barlow was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. He graduated from the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) with a degree in Political Science. Ricki Barlow moved to Washington, DC in 1996 to work for US Senator Richard Bryan. Senator Bryan decided not to run for reelection and Ricki return back to Las Vegas in 1998. In 1999 Ricki interviewed for the job, City Communication Liaison for Ward 5 and was hired. In 2005 Ricki ran for State Assembly, because he felt strongly about the educational issues. When asked what type of educational issues that made him decide to run for Assemblyman Ricki answered it was the teacher's salaries.
Ricki is very active in a community-based fraternity called Alpha Phi Alpha. Through his commitment and dedication to the fraternity and community, Ricki started a youth mentoring program called Alpha Men & Diva's of Tomorrow. This program mentors local high school students teaching them the importance of fund raising, the giving back to their community as well as the importance of obtaining an education. They offer tutoring, test preparation and seeking higher education opportunities for all students involved. Ricki started this program with only four students and today the fraternity mentors over 103.
Ricki also chaired the Dr. Martin Luther King Parade in 2005 and as a youth he remembers receiving the Junior Grand Marshal Award for the parade. Now as an adult, he feels it was a dream comes true to be a part of the parade back then and now.
Another of Ricki's success stories comes from the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District. He was appointed chairman of the Library District and during that time the district received Library of the Year from the Library Journal. Ricki will continue his passion for his community for many years to come. He inspirers the youth he mentors by sharing his life stories and being a positive role model in their young lives.
Ricki strongly feels that he is qualified for the position of City Council based on his working knowledge with the community for the past eight years. Ricki stated that he is a very good listener and he will respond to his constituency.
Ricki feels that there is a lot of unfinished business in Ward 5 and he would like to pick up the ball were Councilman Weekly will leave off. Ricki feels that Ward 5 would go UN-served if he is not elected because he understands the needs of the issues and projects that are currently on table.
One of the unfinished projects discussed is the need for a grocery store in his Ward. Ricki feels that he has an excellent rapport with the developers stating he is looking forward to continuing bridging the gap between developers and the constituents.
Another project that Ricki feels he understands and would help to move forward is an athletic arena proposed to be built in the Downtown area.
Ricki strongly believes in affordable housing in Ward 5 and City Wide. Ricki would like the development of vacant land for affordable housing. Affordable housing would help with the homelessness and it would help those individuals that are one step from living on the streets.
Ricki stated that as Councilman he would work diligently to speed up the removal of the graffiti on property. He would work with law enforcement to be more proactive in preventing Taggers from defacing properties.
When I asked Ricki what he felt about Judge George Assad ruling against the City Ordinance as Unconstitutional when it came to feeding the homeless, Ricki had No Comment.
When discussing contributions for his campaign, Ricki was not sure how much money he has raised yet he has his mind set on raising $500,000 in contributions for his campaign.
Ricki was not shy when he said that he has a strong grass root campaign to get out the vote, something that he has been doing as City Community Liaison to Councilman Weekly. Ricki stated that his relationships with the other Councilmen/women and the Mayor is very professional.
It sound like Ricki Barlow knows the City of Las Vegas, working hand and hand with Councilman Weekly as his City Community Liaison since in 1999, but politics is very funny in Las Vegas, at anytime hands change votes change and it is anybody's race to win.
E-mail: SteveWsanson@cs.com 702 283 8088
Website: www.VeteransInPolitics.com
Listen to Steve Sanson weekly every Saturday 10AM Pacific time on "Face the Tribune" at www.AllTalkRadio.net
|
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 February 2007 )
|