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Vegas Rated Nation's 'Meanest City' for Homeless

``A report issued Tuesday by the Washington-based National Coalition for the Homeless ranked the city at the top of its list of "Meanest Cities" based largely on "dozens of downtown `sweeps' in which jaywalking, pedestrian obstruction, and other quality-of-life ordinances were used as an excuse to stop people and 'clean up' the area."

``But city officials discounted the report, saying it includes factual errors and relies too heavily on media reports instead of law enforcement statistics.

``…`(Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman) has been cited on a number of occasions as mean-spirited and the source of the mischaracterization of homeless people that leads to the sweeps,’said Donald Whitehead, the coalition's executive director.

``The report points to Goodman's remarks in his 2002 State of the City address, when he said the homeless were"robbing people, raping people and killing their own."

``…Goodman said the report failed to mention the city's programs to help the homeless, which have cost more than $7 million in the five years he has been in office.

``Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, said the city's top ranking was not a surprise…”

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