We thought about touting a politician here, but when you get down to it, it’s the guys like Leonard Shoemaker who make a city good.  It doesn’t take much to get kudos if you’re a politician; you just schedule yourself a press conference and take credit for something. But Shoemaker, who has worked as an equipment operator at the City of Las Vegas parks since 2005, has managed to draw unsolicited compliments to the city from everyday citizens because of his work caring for our parks.

If you’re the sort who rates teacher effectiveness by the syllable, Bill Madlock is not the man to teach you—or your kid—the art of hitting a baseball. It turns out that if a coach watches closely, he doesn’t have to say so much.

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. Wait: Don’t stop us, because we all need to hear it again. Andre Agassi—a tennis player once known for showboating, emotional impetuousness and an unseemly emphasis on image (blame Canon’s admen for that last bit)—is our city’s best role model.

This team recruits future professionals, contends for national championships and brings the Mack to its feet with every performance.

It’s not the 13 years of active-duty service in the Marines Corps that makes Larry Rinetti deserving of recognition, nor is it the five-plus years (and counting) of Reservist service … or the nearly three years he spent working for someone named George W.

Tick Segerblom is a fourth-generation state legislator, and he showed that political maneuvering is in his genes. The state senator pushed through legislation for votes on two vital constitutional amendments: to repeal the tax cap the mining industry uses to escape responsibility, and to repeal the state’s ban on gay marriage.

“To create the most enjoyable downtown experience worldwide,” goes the vision statement of the Downtown Rangers. While that’s kind of an uphill battle—as a friend recently said, it’s fairly likely you’ll have a more enjoyable experience in downtown Paris, on account of the fact that it’s Paris—there’s no denying that the Rangers have made Fremont East more enjoyable.

Dwight Jones came to Las Vegas in October 2010 with a four-year contract, an annual salary of $270,000 and $100,000-plus in benefits to be Clark County School District superintendent.

“A good story should take men, a lot of them at once. Sailors upended. Frenzy in a sinking boat.” With that dark, mischievous promise, Portland, Oregon-based Dena Rash Guzman begins Life Cycle—her first collection of poems.

Although he was dumped in the third episode in the latest round of The Bachelorette, Las Vegas’ own Dan Cox made quite an impression.

On paper, Yocheved Mintz has got it all: rabbi of Congregation P’nai Tikvah; first female president of the Las Vegas Board of Rabbis; board member of the local Interfaith Council. On top of that, Mintz was a Jewish educator for more than 55 years, overcame breast cancer, had four kids and 14 grandkids, commuted to Los Angeles regularly to study at the Academy for Jewish Religion, and was finally ordained in 2004. In 2005, she took over P’nai Tikvah, where she welcomes all walks of life.

Joe Tasso might be the only cowboy you’ll meet with a Brooklyn accent, but as the supervisor at Bonnie Springs Ranch, he is quite knowledgeable about the former Western town and tourist attraction near Blue Diamond.

Hedy Lamarr was the most beautiful woman on screen when she was a major movie star in the ’30s and ’40s. She’d go on to invent the technology that made Bluetooth possible—in 1941. Even she hasn’t had a career as unpredictable as Mike Tyson.

If mad political scientists wanted to create an army of community-activist Terminators to eradicate injustice, they could use Howard Watts as a template. The 25-year-old Las Vegas native passed on opportunities to leave town for college, because he decided he could make an impact on his hometown if he studied at UNLV. He’s followed the textbook trajectory: club leader at the Las Vegas Academy to political science major to outreach coordinator for the Volunteer Center of Southern Nevada to fellow at a national training center for community organizers.

A Las Vegas cab driver for nearly a decade, Andrew Gnatovich is the voice behind LV Cabbie Chronicles on Twitter, where he provides commentary on his most interesting encounters and observations working the night shift.