Vegas mayor: City will help insure success
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, April 1, 2003
Las Vegas — Mayor Oscar Goodman was at the World Market Center groundbreaking ceremony shoveling gravel, pledging his support to the project and praising the future furniture market and its impact on his city.
"This wonderful furniture market does so many things for Las Vegas," Goodman said. "It diversifies us overnight."
He has been pushing for Las Vegas to diversify from gaming for some time, and with renewed emphasis since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He called the WMC a "plus, plus, plus" for Las Vegas and said, "The city will be hand-in-hand with you, making sure you're successful."
While he was speaking, he turned toward the WMC advisory board seated behind him and wished Standard Furniture's Don Mecke a happy birthday.
"I know everything ... and I'll be watching you," Goodman said.
Mecke said later he was completely surprised by the gesture. No one had owned up to it, but he said he knows WMC Leasing Manager Babs Blair was involved somehow.
"I told him after the meeting, 'Mayor, you know I'm going to walk a straight line in your town, because you do know everything'."
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