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Current Events New Letter To residents from course owner
Video Response To the above letter
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Email Us Please send us your thoughts and current updates.
Petition Updated Jan 7, 2008. Please sign the petition online, and send the link to your neighbors and friends to help us grow in our fight to save the gold course, or at least keep it as open land. Click HERE to sign the online petition Key points to be
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 August 31, 2008 Letter to Residents from Course Owner Dear Neighbor, As you know, CV Golf, LLC and KH Capital II, LLC have owned the Las Vegas National golf course for approximately one year. I would like to take this opportunity to update you on the
progress that we have been making and some of the challenges we will be facing in the near
future. April 20, 2008 LAS VEGAS' GREEN 18: PLAY BEST OF THE BEST HOLE NO. 1 AT LAS VEGAS NATIONAL GOLF CLUB 520 YARDS, PAR 5 By
By STEVE CARP
Imagine if you could pick and choose 18 holes of golf to play anywhere in Las Vegas. Public or private. Fancy or simple. Hard or easy. The Review-Journal asked you to come up with a fantasy golf course. Whether it's a treacherous par 3 surrounded by water, a par 4 with tight fairways and undulating greens or a lengthy, monstrous par 5 winding through the desert, the R-J's fantasy course has something that challenges golfers of all abilities. More than 60 courses are in Clark County catering to thousands of players, both local and from out of town. If you want a challenge, you're sure to find one. If you want to get around without tossing your clubs in frustration, there are courses to provide a leisurely round. But if you had the opportunity to play the best of the best courses and not have to worry about going broke in doing so, then our fantasy course might be for you. Remember, this is your course. You designed it. So enjoy, good luck and don't forget to replace your divots.
HOLE NO. 1 AT LAS VEGAS NATIONAL GOLF CLUB 520 YARDS, PAR 5 Why it's challenging: The longer you go along the hole, the less room you have to work. According to Tim Carrigan, the head golf professional at National, the second shot is critical: "If you hit it short, there's a huge bunker in the front; hit it too long and you go over the green into the lake behind the green." Why it's fun: If you've seen the movie "Casino," the first house on the left as you tee off should look familiar as it was used in the movie. Also, the fairway served as a landing strip for the airplane that touched down. "It's kinda cool for people who've seen the movie to play the hole where the plane landed," Carrigan said. R-J reader Gary Black: ''It has a beautiful fairway to start your golfing. Waiting at the end is a refreshing pond!'' March 19, 2008 Neighborhood dream: A place to putt and ponder art Video pitches marriage of Las Vegas Art Museum, golf course By Kristen Peterson When two people living along the potentially endangered Las Vegas National Golf Course learned that the Las Vegas Art Museum was seeking a permanent home, they came up with an idea: Build the museum and a sculpture park on the golf course. Their theory is that it could eliminate the threat of several hundred new homes replacing the links on the storied course at Desert Inn Road and Eastern Avenue. But their neighbors weren’t quite getting the concept, so David Caldwell and Mike Wille made a little Internet video to float the idea. Not just any video, however. Set to a choral rendition of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday,” the 3 1/2 minute choreographed slide show is a little precious, a little over the top and, much like Sondheim’s song, a little dreamy. Call it a love letter to the art museum. Caldwell and Wille spent 12 hours crafting the video that weaves together images by Georges-Pierre Seurat and Roy Lichtenstein with stills of the golf course and newspaper quotes from Libby Lumpkin, the museum’s executive director. It includes a video collage of noted public art landing on a still image of the golf course. On Monday night they e-mailed it to their neighbors and other locals interested in preserving the integrity of the Midcentury Modern neighborhood. By Tuesday morning it was floating all over town. “As an owner, I would love the idea of a sculpture park in a golf course,” says Mary Margaret Stratton, resident of Paradise Palms, near the course, and founder of the Atomic Age Alliance. “It would be like a miniature golf course for adults. The problem is, if you slice it, you’ll ding the Rodin.” More seriously, Stratton says, “It’s my feeling that the entire neighborhood would be behind a project like that.” Residents fear that the course, purchased last year by John Knott and partners, will be turned into a housing development or even include gaming. Several have signed a petition stating they want the 130-acre course to remain open to the public. Caldwell, who has lived on the golf course for seven years and works as general manager for “Chippendales, The Show,” says he hasn’t contacted the museum. But he points to the blending of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor and the Lincoln Park Golf Club in San Francisco as a good example of what could happen here. The Las Vegas Art Museum had planned to lease the All-American SportPark, but recently board members decided to pursue a permanent home for the museum. It’s unlikely, however, that this will involve the Las Vegas National Golf Course. Lumpkin says the museum has been looking at several options and there is a chance the museum will move downtown. Caldwell and Wille aren’t the only ones with an eye on drawing the museum, she says. “This is kind of what’s happened since we announced the change in plans. A lot of people have come forward to offer locations. “It’s nice to feel wanted.” September 26, 2007 For those who live by golf course, a new worry One Las Vegas National buyer pleaded guilty to a mob-linked charge By Tony Cook Homeowners around Las Vegas National Golf Course have feared for months that the sale of the course might mean they will lose their views and, thus, thousands of dollars in property values. Now, as details of the deal emerge, they have a new concern. It turns out that one of the buyers pleaded guilty in 2002 to a federal tax charge stemming from a New Jersey mob indictment. Jason Halpern, 38, is a New York real estate developer who late last month teamed up with John Knott, a local broker with CB Richard Ellis, and Gary Tharaldson, a Fargo, N.D.-based hotel developer, to purchase the golf course for $33.2 million. Residents who live around the golf course are worried that the new owners might want to develop the property, near Desert Inn Road and Eastern Avenue. The land's zoning would allow more than 600 homes . Halpern has projects across the country, from residential developments in New York City to a luxury hotel in Miami Beach, Fla. He also has a criminal history. Halpern struck a deal with federal prosecutors after he was named in a 2001 racketeering indictment involving members of the DeCavalcante crime organization in New Jersey, court records show. The indictment targeted Girolamo "Jimmy" Palermo, who prosecutors said was one of three ruling members of the crime family, and several members of his crew. In 1999, Halpern's company, JMHNJ LLC, was developing a residential complex called The Landing in Berkeley Township, N.J. The indictment alleges that Halpern conspired with members of Palermo's crew to bribe a building inspector. Halpern became associated with the DeCavalcante family through an unnamed New York associate, the indictment said. In 2002, the racketeering charges against Halpern were dropped as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. Halpern pleaded guilty to not filing an IRS form documenting a $500 payment to an alleged DeCavalcante associate to bribe the building inspector. His company also pleaded guilty to crossing state lines to bribe a public servant. Halpern was sentenced to one year of probation and fined $2,500. His company was fined $17,500. Halpern's background is disconcerting to many who live in the roughly 180 homes that surround the golf course, especially considering that four Clark County commissioners have admitted to or been convicted of accepting bribes in recent years. "We not only are worried about our lifestyle going away and our property values dropping, but we'd also like the golf course to be in the hands of reputable developers," said Kate Bennett, whose home backs up to the fifth hole. "Everybody is concerned about who is behind this," added Skip Cummins, another homeowner. But Knott, the local partner in the purchase, said talk about Halpern's background in not relevant to the future of the golf course. He described Halpern and Tharaldson as passive partners in the deal. Halpern did not return calls from the Sun. But his New York attorney, Andrew Levander, said Halpern and his company were the victims in the New Jersey case. The building inspector had continually threatened to shut down the project, he said, and the plea deal acknowledged that employees of Halpern's company were "repeatedly pressured" to provide money to the alleged mob associate to pay off the inspector. In fact, Levander said, Halpern twice told his employees not to pay the bribe. Although the facts to which Halpern pleaded guilty say otherwise, Levander said the only payment was of $500 , made by one of Halpern's employees without Halpern's approval. Levander said the judge in the case stated that Halpern "certainly seems to have been the victim of some sort of plot" and "was a respectable, hardworking businessman, was successful, and going along doing what he thought was appropriate." Facing a potentially long legal battle, Halpern decided to plead guilty to the misdemeanor charge instead of trying to clear his name, Levander said. "You can put your life on hold for three years while you fight those charges and at the end of day you will probably be vindicated, but there is no guarantee," Levander said. "Meanwhile, no one wants to do business with you. Or you can acknowledge that a 1099 form has not been issued to the building inspector." As for the concerns about houses going up at the golf course, Knott said there are no development plans now. Instead, the new owners want to see whether they can make the golf course's operations more profitable, he said. They expected to reach an agreement with Harrah's this week under which the gaming company would manage the golf course, Knott said. That would help drive tourists to the course, he said. However, he won't rule out future development of the site. "As a leader of the ownership structure, I have a responsibility to investors to maximize the return on the investment," he said. Tony Cook can be reached at 259-2320 or at tony.cook@lasvegassun.com. July 24, 2007 LOOKING IN ON: CLARK COUNTYGolf course neighbors find hope in keeping growth at bay By Tony Cook It was standing room only at a community meeting of residents who live around the Las Vegas National Golf Course. A Sun story last week detailed their concerns about the possibility of homes going up on the site, erasing their golf course views. The golf course is zoned for residential homes, leaving residents with a big question: What can we do about the 500 homes that might go up in our back yards?
September 26, 2007
CAB Bennett, left, and David Caldwell stand on the Las Vegas National Golf Course, which borders the back of their homes, while Bennett's 2-year-old, Tess, plays with Caldwell's dogs. A banner that reads "Save the Golf Course" hangs on the back of Caldwell's house, at right.
Friday, August 31, 2001 Hotel builder in bitter contract dispute Sacramento Business Journal - by Mark Anderson Staff Writer http://triangle.bizjournals.com
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