Mayor Oscar B. Goodman addressed a crowd of more than 400 as he presented the 2007 State of the City Address. The address titled, “Taking Us to a New Level,” focused on the progress that has been made in downtown Las Vegas over the past years and its continued development into a premiere destination to live, work and play. The mayor stressed the growth and excitement that have been seen in downtown Las Vegas including the development of new office buildings and condominiums, investment by downtown businesses into their properties and the development of the 61-acre parcel known as Union Park. The mayor also re-emphasized his efforts to lure a major league professional sports team to Las Vegas.

Also at the address, Mayor Goodman announced the recipients of the first annual Mayor’s Urban Design Awards. The awards recognize projects that cultivate walkways and streets that are shared public spaces, promote safety, conserve resources, seamlessly link to their surroundings and are pedestrian friendly. The 2006 recipients are:

Buildings and Environs Category
World Market Center, Building 1
The Related Companies

Public Places Category
Lewis Street Pedestrian Corridor
SWA Group

Public Art Category
El Jardin
Hank Saxe and Cynthia Patterson

A nine-member volunteer committee was formed to review and rank the nominations for recommendation to Mayor Goodman, who selected the award winners. Qualified projects had to be located within the city and constructed by Dec. 31, 2006, to be considered.

If you missed the State of the City, you can still catch it as it rebroadcasts on KCLV Channel 2 at 7 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 13; at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 14; and at 10 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 15. Video of the address is also posted on the city’s video page.