‘Not waiting for opportunity’: NLV Mayor Goynes-Brown gives her final State of the City address

In her final State of the City address, North Las Vegas Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown reflected on the municipality’s past tribulations and celebrated the municipality’s vision for the future.

Thursday’s speech at Aliante Casino & Hotel served as a ceremonial sendoff for Nevada’s first Black mayor. It arrived as the city prepares to celebrate its 80th anniversary and while voters ponder who to elect as the city’s next mayor.

Goynes-Brown touted a growing and evolving city, public safety and healthy investments, finances and job prospects.

“After everything this city has been through, after everything we have overcome together,” she said, “I could not be prouder to say North Las Vegas is not waiting for opportunity, we are planning for it and building it.”

Term limited after four years as mayor

The mayor was first elected to the City Council in 2011 and helped steer the city out recession-related financial crisis threatened bankruptcy and a state takeover. Goynes-Brown won the mayoral seat in 2022 and had to bow out after four years because of term limits.

“Our streets are safer; our population is growing as families choose our city to put down roots. Our job market is diversifying and growing as business invest billions of dollars into new development,” she said in front of a packed ballroom. “We are financially sound and making historic investments in infrastructure and redevelopment throughout the city with unprecedented community engagement, we are thoughtfully planning and growing and revitalization with intention.”

The mayor thanked her fellow council members and the city’s government workforce and her family while reflecting on her own legacy.

NLV projects

Goynes-Brown spoke about the city’s master plan for the next 30 years that in part addresses public safety, housing and conservation.

North Las Vegas has had more than $1 billion in private investments each of the past eight years, she said.

The speech highlighted three of the city’s biggest projects: the 30 million-square-foot Apex Industrial Park, the 70-acre, $380 million mixed-use Hylo Park and the upcoming Nevada State University campus being built in the city’s downtown.

Craig Ranch National Park will see new sporting fields and a partnership with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to organize sports tournaments, Goynes-Brown noted. The large park also will have improvements to its amphitheater.

She mentioned public safety investments, including the 2025 North Las Vegas police class that trained 81 new officers. More than 50 police prospects enrolled in this year’s academy, she added.

Additionally, the Fire Department was timely in its response to more than 40,000 emergency calls in 2025, she said. A new training facility is expected to be completed later this year.

A lifelong pianist, Goynes-Brown weaved in the story of Steinway & Sons to describe North Las Vegas’ resiliency.

During World War II, the piano company developed a smaller, stronger Victory Verticals model to airdrop to soldiers.

We took what little we had, built something durable, and brought the music back,” she said about the city. “When I think about North Las Vegas over these past years, I think about those Victory Verticals. Struggles have refined us and successes have propelled us as we found our meaning through improving and lifting the lives of our residents.”