Assemblyman Miller prepared to bring ‘real, significant’ change to Ward 5

It was there that Miller was raised, worked his first job and honed his acting chops at the West Las Vegas Library.

Miller and Legislature colleague, Assemblywoman Shondra Summers-Armstrong, are vying to succeed Councilman Cedric Crear in November’s general election.

Crear passed up on a re-election bid for an unsuccessful run for Las Vegas mayor.

“I want to have a seat at the City Council because that is where I can make a real, significant, localized impact for the community that shaped me into the person that I am today,” he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The legislators were the top two candidates in an eight-person race during June’s primary. Summers-Armstrong received about 1,000 more votes than Miller.

Miller had a lengthy career in the beauty industry and at one point opened his own salon. He has experience in acting and film production, and served as assistant majority leader in the Assembly.

The issues

The winner will inherit the ward that includes the Historic Westside, which is undergoing a redevelopment transformation under the Hundred Plan Crear spearheaded.

“I think we just need to continue building on that,” Miller said. “We also need to realize that this plan was also created when we were a different community.”

He added: “We just need to make sure that the plan still aligns with what the community wants, but also where our city is going.”

Southern Nevada is in the middle of an affordable housing crisis, with increasing homelessness.

Miller said the city needs to continue working with “all levels of our government” and private entities to address the affordable housing issue.

“We need to really prioritize bringing as many (new) units as we can as quickly as possible,” he said.

He said he would push developers to build mixed-income communities so that new, low-income prospective homeowners have ownership opportunities.

Like Summers-Armstrong, Miller would advocate for regional “multi-faceted” solutions to homelessness so that social services are not so concentrated in their ward.

“Other parts of the community send their homeless folks to Ward 5 to get services,” he said.

The 2023 Legislature appropriated $100 million to combat homelessness in Southern Nevada with a pledged match by the private sector.

“I want to be intentional about making sure that that money is being used in a way that is going to bring real impact to our homeless community,” Miller said.

The city runs its own fire and public safety departments, and funds a significant part of the Metropolitan Police Department budget.

If elected, he would look at public safety as an insider.

“I want to evaluate from the inside and then say, ‘OK, this is how we improve this,’” he said. “I’m pretty good at evaluating systems and finding out how to make them more efficient, and that’s what I would look to do.”

Miller is of the common idea that Las Vegas needs to diversify its economy.

He said the city is primed to bring the film industry, which he said can create local well-paying, “recession-resistant” jobs.

Miller said he would also advocate to “advance our foothold” in the medical industry, as well as technology.

“We’re young, we’re vibrant, we’re exciting,” he said about the city. “So, we should be at the forefront of emerging industries.”

The city is embroiled in litigation with the would-be developer of the defunct Badlands golf course, that the city said can cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

“I want to get it settled and handled as quickly and painless as possible,” Miller said.

Miller anticipates difficult decisions as to how the city would operate under such debt if it has to be paid at once.

“We have to do a real good job of making sure that the people who have always gotten the short end of the stick don’t continue to get the short end of the stick,” he said.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.