A blurry view above Reno as it begins 2025 under grey skies.
There was a recent interesting Reno subreddit post asking if Reno is sputtering of late?
There are concerns the Biggest Little City is losing some of its gritty soul, and becoming a place catering to wealthy transplants resting on their laurels rather than the working class trying to rebound, or adventurers finding a new base.
More iconic places are closing down in Midtown, while many residents can't afford anything in some of their replacements.
Many motels have been wiped out and or coded out, leaving many former downtown and 4th street residents trying to get back on their feet, scrambling even more than before.
The Jacobs Entertainment 245 North Arlington, its first housing build in a sweep of commercial kitsch, occasional playground and dusty lots, has two bedroom apartments going for $2,400.
The former Harrah's remains in decaying limbo, despite the signs from the Downtown Reno Partnership promising a better tomorrow. But for who?
UNR has its own signs of representing a booming college town, while student and parking fees go up, near campus luxury housing, but with luxury just in the price.
Many students with several jobs struggle to get any studying or homework done properly.
The recent revival of the long dormant Reno Redevelopment Agency within a more opaque, less citizen involved structure, emphasizes a district based strategy. That has all the codes of gentrification, with the Brewery District for example representing "an area of significant opportunity for increased land value given the number of vacant and underutilized properties and the ubiquitous disrepair of occupied properties," a document indicated.
Opportunity for who, and what kind of value? Those are some of the questions facing all of us in 2025 as Reno hurtles onward toward a new Reno. How would you define it?