Las Vegas Stadium Update: Community Benefits Agreement mired in Deception and Extortion Claims
Nevada Senate Bill SB-1, 2016, passed with a “community benefits agreement” as part of its language. This is the law that authorizes the funding for the Las Vegas Stadium and Las Vegas Convention Center. The issue with that is that the language defining the community benefits agreement is overly vague. Because of that, one local group appears to be taking advantage of this. They have demanded that the Raiders set up a bank account that they can have access to according to sources close to this.
How much money is this coalition, lead by Stan Washington and Freda Jackson, allegedly demanding? First it was 100 million, then when that was rejected, 50 million, and now 2 million according to sources. These demands seem absurd when levied against the Raiders. The Raiders have historically been on the forefront of civil rights. Both Al Davis was, and now his son Mark Davis is, committed to equal opportunity. Their track record speaks for itself.
The Winter Report reached out to Tommy White, the leader of Local 872 Laborers Union in Las Vegas, And he had this to say about the group’s demands,
“Its a Shake down, a Ransom Note. The Raiders are being extorted, and that’s all I got to say about that.”
This is not the first controversial issue that has come up either. Adam Candee of the Las Vegas Sun exposed this community group for misleading and discriminatory fliers they have been putting out in his latest article here. I highly suggest you read this.
In that article Clark County Commissioner Chairman Steve Sisolak is quoted saying,
“I think it’s unfortunate that certain groups are misleading people about the availability of jobs,” Sisolak said. “Folks are preying on people’s needs. It’s very unfortunate.”
The Flier that misled
The Chairman is referring to a flier, shown in Candee’s article, that was circulated before the July 13th Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board meeting. That flier asked for 5000 black men and woman, under the age of 60, to show up to, what amounts to be a, job fair. One that did not exist. It is entirely possible that this was a purely political move. To show solidarity during the public speaking phase of that LVSA meeting.
Per the Candee article another flier has recently been released. The newest one removed the discriminatory print, that was in the first one. It also had a disclaimer that it was not a job fair or hiring event. That event has now been changed from Aug 5th to August 10th per their media release.
Part of a story I am working on today #RansomNote pic.twitter.com/FgpXnete6p
— Scott Winter (@Scott_WinterNFL) August 4, 2017
Nevada Politics
This seems to be an attempt to put some pressure on the current Nevada Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt more than it seems to be about jobs. Now the actual Nevada State Senator who put the “Community Benefits Agreement” in Nevada SB-1 was Senator Aaron Ford, who also just happens to be running for Nevada Attorney General.
Clarification on the language of the “Community Benefits Agreement” might be needed though. Because, at face value, this agreement is supposed to benefit everyone from Nevada, since it is a state law, and should not, just, benefit a single ethnic group from two zip codes.
It sure does look like some people are getting “Bam Boozled”. But it appears those people are the Raiders, the LVSA, and hard working men and women, from Nevada, of all ethnicity and age, who are just looking for a job, that this group allegedly tried to discriminate against originally.
Update
Adam Candee of the Las Vegas Sun, just published this latest article on Senator Ford’s reaction to his previous article. Linked Here.
From that article:
“The flyer was a little misleading, but it was never mentioned that it was a job fair,” Freda Jackson said, referring to it as a recruitment strategy for a job training program. “It was never anything fraudulent.”
Misleading indeed. She even went on to admit that both Ken Evans, LVSA Board Member, and Senator Ford felt that the original flier misled people.
And more from Senator Ford from that article.
“As was agreed to and made law with the passage of SB1, all community groups, from veterans to African-Americans to Hispanics among others, will have access to a variety of jobs in the construction and operation of the stadium,” Ford said. “The details of that agreement are presently being negotiated. When we are in fact ready to host a job fair, rest assured that it will be very well publicized, and access to this job fair will be free of charge. We look forward to announcing those details together when we are ready to begin the hiring process.”
Again special thanks to Adam Candee’s articles written in the Las Vegas Sun.
This story is fluid, and as such there will be more to come from The Winter Report, here at Raider Ramble, regarding it in the coming weeks. Keep your eyes peeled.