Lisa Lee, Pushing Back Against the Tsunami of Opioid Addiction

Despite recent improvements in combating the epidemic, more than one Nevadan a day still dies from an opioid-related overdose. On the third floor of the Northern Nevada HOPES building on 5th street, members of the Reno community recently gathered together to address this very serious issue. A panel of experts in different fields including a judge, police officers, and community leaders gave their viewpoints on how to help addicts.

The event was officially titled The Northern Nevada Opioid Awareness Summit, and according to organizer Lisa Lee of the Life Change Center, a recovering addict herself, the goal of the event was to “bring the community together and to get us talking about these things.”

Talking to Addicts Directly

If we want to help an addict, we asked Lee, how should we start? 

"I would like you to tell them that someone gives a shit about you, that even when you feel like no one cares about you there's somebody out there that still thinks you're worthwhile and that there's a way out of this. You know there is a way out of this and there's people that will gladly help you. All you have to do is say, 'hey you know I I don't want to do this anymore'. I think everyday ordinary citizens should stop judging other people and start connecting with other people. And the thing that I think we tend to do as human beings, if we see somebody struggling, we push away. We're like 'oh man, you're messed up ...' You know we push away and that further isolates somebody and can really spiral that behavior by pushing away. And I think what we need to do more of is lean in and be like 'I see you struggling. How can I best support you and let that person answer for his or herself? Not with all of your ideas and judgments about how you can fix them and your solutions to how to fix them. But hear from them like how can I best support you? What do you need from me?"

Picking up a pamphlet can be the beginning of seeking out help, and getting on the road to recovery. Photo by Jordan Gearey for Our Town Reno. 

Compassion over Judgment or Not Talking About It

"Sometimes it's a hug," Lee said of what an addict might need to start helping themselves.  "Sometimes it's just to have somebody notice you. You noticed me right. You see me. You didn't judge me. Lean in. That's what I think we can do. We need to talk about Grandma taking her opiates. We need to talk about your son, your daughter. Like stop hiding that stuff from other people ...  talk about it. It can't get better if we don't talk about it. And that's where the judgment comes in. And you know, it's like nobody wants to talk about their uncle that just overdosed last week. You know nobody wants to talk about Grandma who fell in the living room because she forgot she took her oxi and then she forgot and she took another oxi. Oh my gosh, like we don't want anybody to know this. We need to talk about this."

The conference room was filled. Microphones were passed among the crowd where people could voice their concerns about substance abuse, or asked questions about what is being done. 

Requests for More Funding

Sgt. Wade Clark of the Reno Police Department stated that “we cannot enforce our way out of this.” 

John Firestone, the Executive Director of the Life Change Center, asked for the city's help in terms of additional funding.

The Northern Nevada Awareness Summit plans to have two more similar community meetings in the near few future in both Carson City and Fallon. For those wishing to attend a future meeting they can visit http://www.tlccreno.org/ for more information.

Story by Jordan Gearey and Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Jordan Hughes, Worried about Reno's Growing Divide Between Rich and Poor

"It's also about the divide between the rich and the poor that is increasing that also brings me here. There is a crisis on our hands and people are losing their homes and we are not seeing wages increasing. The fact of the matter is it will bring more homeless people to the streets," Hughes who is a student at the School of Social Work at UNR, said of Reno's current development.

"A lot of times, we see people building all these nice gates and nice big homes keeping themselves away from impoverished areas and the distancing drives the separation. People should remember that the people on the streets are still people and no matter how they appear or the actions that they make, it could happen to a lot of people, so they should just remember to have a human heart inside of them."

Photo and Interview by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

A View from City Council and David Bobzien: "We're Going to Have Growing Pains"

In this Q and A with Our Town Reno reporter Robyn Feinberg, Bobzien weighs in on the council's challenges with economic change, making downtown more attractive to local residents, more inspections in motels, losing local history amid development, impacts on affordable housing and the rise in homelessness among other hot button growth related topics.

Robyn Feinberg: Why did you decide to run for City Council and what does the job entail?

David Bobzien: Before I served on the council, I represented pretty much the urban core of Reno in Assembly District 24. The last issue that I was involved with in the legislature was the Tesla Special Session; so following that session and securing the Gigafactory, it was very apparent to me that our community was going to face some tremendous opportunity as a result of that, but also some tremendous challenges when it comes to growth in particular. And what it would mean for our quality of life, and what it would mean for our community, our community character going forward. So, as it happened, a couple of months later, the 2014 election happened and Hillary Schieve was elected mayor, thus creating a vacancy on the council in the at-large position, and I was encouraged to run, and it lined up really well for me because I sort of realized ...'You know what, I feel a certain responsibility to be there, to help with the situation, having played a part in the Tesla Special Session.' The opportunity to work on these very local issues was something that was very appealing to me, so that’s why I applied and was selected by the council to serve out the rest of her [Schieve’s] term, and then I stood for election in 2016, and to this day, all of the concerns I had about what is this going to mean for our growth, what’s it going to mean for our population, and what’s it going to mean for all these pressures of this rebounding economy - a lot of that is coming true and so I feel grateful and lucky that I am able to be there to work on this stuff and try to make things a little bit better.

"We get tons of emails, tons of phone calls, we get tons of public comment all the time, but that’s our job and it is our job to get stopped in the community, and stopped in the grocery store, and hear people's perspectives and opinions on different issues," Bobzien said of the City Council's role. Photo by Robyn Feinberg

Robyn Feinberg: Going off of that, how do you see the future of Reno, especially in light of all of the development with companies such as Tesla coming in, and the effects it’s having on the city’s economy?

David Bobzien: I am cautiously optimistic. I don’t want to say that everything is going to be great, and everyone is going to have jobs and all of these problems are going to sort themselves out. We have real challenges, we have real issues that we have to deal with. But I still would rather have this reality than the reality I had of my constituents during the downturn/great recession, where I’ll never forget, knocking on doors during campaign season in say 2010, and where every fourth house was foreclosed, and every third or fourth conversation I would have at the door was somebody with a spouse who had been out of work for eight months. It was bad. This new energy and economic resurgence, I would much rather have this than those previous conditions. Now that said, I think we have a lot of challenges in making sure that those opportunities are available for everyone, and that as we go through this period of growth and resurgence, we’re creating long-lasting prosperity for everybody, and in such a way that we don’t lose what it means to live in a really cool city. Things are going to change, things are going to be different, we’re going to have growing pains and not everyone is going to be happy with some of the things they see, but I want this to be a community that twenty years from now, I can feel like we didn’t get everything right, but we got a lot of it right, and my children are now starting families here and they’re proud to call Reno their hometown and they’re still here.

"There was a variety of things that were done, clean-ups, graffiti abatement, and one of the bigger picture items was a loan to knock down one of the boarded up hotels that had been vacant and that got turned into the Playa Art Project that we have on Virginia street," Bobzien said of the so-called fight on blight, criticized by some as further reducing affordable housing options.

Robyn Feinberg: I read that $1 million dollars has been spent fighting blight in Reno and cleaning it up, can you talk about that and who or what were the targets with the money spent?

David Bobzien: Yeah, it’s not complete. The theory was that we needed to allocate some money to make blight a priority and deal with vacant properties, and to deal with some of the problem properties that we had. There was a variety of things that were done, clean-ups, graffiti abatement, and one of the bigger picture items was a loan to knock down one of the boarded up hotels that had been vacant and that got turned into the Playa Art Project that we have on Virginia street. But more so, I think, the council’s activities have been more around how do we, the blight fund was one part of it for downtown, but how do we incentivize, and how do we get business investment and residents to be downtown, thereby creating more vibrancy all around for downtown. And so certainly the business improvement district that we unanimously voted to go forward with at the last council meeting is a big step in that direction. In a lot of ways we are catching up to what many other cities around the country already do, big and small, we’ll [Reno] be the first one in Nevada, which will be good, but the hope there is a new partnership for downtown residents, business owners, certainly gaming and the casinos, for everyone to kind of come together and realize that if they’re not talking to each other and not working together, people will always complain about downtown being a place that they don’t want to be. So, this is the way to get us to a downtown that more people want to be in.

Robyn Feinberg: Would you say that this is the end-goal for the council, getting people to want to be in downtown and live there and Reno in general?

David Bobzien: Absolutely. And to be proud of downtown. I think that for a long time, I’ve lived, it will be 21 years in May, but I’ve been in Reno, and when I got here the joke was 'Oh, nobody goes downtown, that’s for tourists and people who want to gamble, but the rest of us don’t go downtown.' In that period of time there’s been a slow, steady progress of moving our downtown to more of a livable environment for everybody. And we have restaurants and people that have residents, we’ve got markets now, maybe we’ll have a grocery store sometime soon. So, our downtown is a place that people will no longer turn their backs on. I think for the longest time, this community kind of turned its back on downtown.

"We’ll have to see what they do. On the one hand, I think we’re very grateful that there’s investment that’s going to be made .... (but) what the actual vision is for downtown, for their [Jacobs] downtown development, I think the jury is still out to what it is they want to do. I mean, as I understand it, entertainment amenities, not just gaming but entertainment restaurants, more of a place where people are going to want to shop and eat and be in, I think is good, but we’ll have to see what their [Jacobs] true vision is for that whole area just west of downtown," Bobzien said of the Jacobs Entertainment project and ongoing demolition of motels.

Robyn Feinberg: Moving into a very recent conversation, can you talk about the Motel Inspection Program that city council is involved in. What are your thoughts on it, and motels in Reno in general?

David Bobzien: Well it’s been a very robust and hopefully very productive conversation between our city staff and code enforcement, and the motel owners themselves. I have met with motel owners and heard their concerns about the program, and they make a very important argument that you may not like them, but the fact of the matter is, these are living options for people, and I have some sympathy for that perspective. They [the motel owners] realize that they have been under the microscope, so they understand they have to engage in this conversation and try to find some ways to make their rooms and their offerings better. They’re nervous about being mandated to make major investments in cleaning up their offerings, just because they would argue that they would then have to pass that on to their tenants who may not be able to afford them. So, it’s a tricky balance, but I think it’s a good conversation and hopefully we’ll see a good sort of middle-ground there so that we can have a better sense that the conditions by which some of these motels offer their residents. It’s seniors, it’s veterans, it’s children, I mean the number of kids enrolled at say, Mt. Rose Elementary School, that live in weekly motels would probably shock most people. These are transient living conditions for a lot of families, hopefully we can find ways to improve those situations without automatically pricing people out and getting them out on the streets. Now, aside from that, there are other development efforts underway, different people looking for different strategies, about repurposing, for instance, previously used temporary camps from say industrial projects, bringing like almost dorm quality living options and placing them someplace downtown so that there are alternatives to those weekly motels. (Note: There were developments on this front after our interview took place .... https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2018/04/25/reno-council-approves-community-land-trust-create-affordable-housing-complex-reno/548224002/)

"I think also more and more people are realizing that this is a way of life for people, they have no other options. So, there may be business opportunities for others to say 'We’re going to try to find ways to provide these other housing products as a viable business option and take care of some of these housing issues that people have,'” Bobzien said of the need to provide housing for those now relying on motels.

Robyn Feinberg: So would you say that this [the housing crisis] is a difficult question for the council to answer?

David Bobzien: Well it’s a difficult one, but it’s an important one. I think that across the council, and the mayor included, we may all have our different opinions when it comes down to what it is we are actually going to do with this program, but the fact that everybody on the council understands that this is a super important conversation to have I think is good. I mean housing affordability across the spectrum, whether we’re talking about workforce housing, whether we’re talking about truly low income affordability, it’s the number one thing that we’re focused on. We know we don’t have all the answers, we know it’s a complex set of issues to work through, but everybody knows that you can’t just throw your hands up and say 'oh it’s too complex we’re not going to touch it.' We’re all trying to find ways to address this.

Robyn Feinberg: What’s the effort like on the council’s part in re-locating motel tenants whose homes were demolished, or in general for those looking for affordable housing or shelter?

David Bobzien: The efforts are somewhat ad-hoc, which is not a bad thing. I mean people are out there looking for different solutions and investigating different ideas and possibilities, but as for the council, we just had a meeting about community development block grants. I’m on the subcommittee for how we allocate those federal funds, as a for instance, right off the top, $500,00 of our allocation every year goes right to the community assistance center, so we’re up to [about] $800,000 that is the city’s portion on the community assistance center. But then we have other money, there’s almost $400,000 out there right now for trying to find some housing assistance program solutions. So, you know, there’s assistance options for people, whether it’s rent assistance, whether it’s placement, whether it’s assistance to seniors, it’s out there, it’s just difficult to scale it really, to meet the need, and we [the council] would acknowledge that. There’s a whole variety of things we’re trying to do, but there’s never enough money to deal with all of the problems.

"I think, generally, it’s becoming more acute, there’s no doubt about that... It is a west-wide problem for sure, we are not unique in the region. And I think what is different this time, in this period of our history, is that we, homelessness has always been an issue, and the city of Reno has taken a number of great steps over the years, even before I was on the council, the city took the lead to build the Community Assistance Center, before that we didn’t have anything. But now where we’re at, clearly there’s people just kind of on the knife-edge of slipping into homelessness because of one rent increase or say an injury on the job, or some other life circumstance that happens, then boom, they plunge into homelessness. That’s probably the most heartbreaking thing about this right now, feeling like we’re [the council] trying to do as much as we can, and we are doing more, but knowing that those tragedies, those problems, are going to keep coming," Bobzien said when asked about homelessness in Reno.

Robyn Feinberg: Is there this worry on the council that homelessness in Reno is correlated to development and prices going up, with companies coming in and wanting to “revamp” downtown?

David Bobzien: Yes, absolutely. There’s no doubt about it that the numbers and the statistics, the data is pretty stark, that housing affordability, generally across the spectrum, is an issue for our region. Rents are going up, housing prices are going up, it just stands to reason that those pressures are real and will result in more and more people having to make difficult choices about their budget and what they’re going to do, and how their day-to-day lives are going to go.

"Certainly the motels are a big part of our twentieth-century history and a number of them are going to be purchased and are not going to be there anymore, but hopefully there’s a few developers out there that have the wherewithal and the capital and the interest to reuse some of those and repurpose those," Bobzien said of disappearing motels.  These motel structures and signs still standing earlier this year are now gone.

Robyn Feinberg: Are you worried that Reno will be losing some of its history with all of this development, such as the vintage motel signs and old buildings that are now gone? I know that this particular topic is important for historians in the area.

David Bobzien: No, I mean we are clearly shifting into a new chapter of Reno and I think that’s certainly a worry, that, you know, the past is, if we’re not careful, will slip away pretty quickly. But, I’m confident, based on how I’ve watched other cities over the years go through these sorts of changes. Boise, Idaho, is a good one that comes to mind, you know there are plenty of models out there of cities that have transitioned into new economic chapters that have done a good job of rehabilitating historic properties and not losing all vestiges of what came before...  I had some friends come in from out-of-town (recently), and so we went out to dinner to The Depot, and that was a perfect example of a building that sat vacant and empty with no sort of economic use for so long, and thankfully somebody had a vision, came in, made the investment, and they have a thriving business downtown with a historic building. Again, can you scale that to what degree is that going to apply to your entire cityscape, it’s as of yet unknown, but there’s certainly hope off of that happening that’s encouraging.

Robyn Feinberg: A particular focus of mine for this project is that Reno is facing a “moral dilemma.” On one hand you have the revitalization of beautiful, old buildings for casual dining such as The Depot, but does that come at the price of people who are already living here and are now being priced out through these gentrification efforts. Do you feel that dilemma, is there that moral dilemma?

David Bobzien: Absolutely, and I, again, for me it returns to ... I would rather have these problems than the problems we had during the Great Recession with high unemployment rates, across all the neighborhoods, people were in difficult times. With this economic resurgence, people are generally doing better, there’s more prosperity in our community, but that is not a reason to turn and look away, and understand that it’s putting a really acute pressure on a select segment of our community that are definitely feeling the pinch. You’re right, there’s people that have been living in some of these situations for a long, long time under the previous chapter of Reno and now that’s changing, and where does that go. I think that weighs on everybody on the council, the mayor as well.

Bobzien welcomes new development and more businesses coming in, but does not deny these changes come with pressure points which need to be worked on, such as higher rents in new places and an affordable housing crisis for residents on fixed or lower incomes.

Robyn Feinberg: To wrap things up, from your perspective, what can you say about the council’s efforts and the part you are playing in this overall conversation? I know there’s a lot of conversation going on with different points of view on where Reno is headed and the council’s part in it.

David Bobzien: I think in this political time in particular, it’s disappointing that where we are as a society is that folks are super quick to label and judge, assign roles and simple perspectives and opinions on someone they may have a disagreement with. That ultimately doesn’t help the real conversation that we need to have as a community about what the future looks like. I’ve always said this, that in Nevada, compared to many other places, California being a perfect example, our elected officials are amazingly accessible. Sometimes it takes a little bit to get on their calendars, but for the most part, you can stop your city council member, or your state legislator, in the grocery store. Last night I was out, my two nine year-old sons were at a Cub Scout event at a trampoline place, and I had a mom come sit down next to me because her kid was also jumping around, and we had this 30 minutes conversation about housing options for people on fixed income. Those opportunities abound and so I always encourage people to not go into anything with a preconceived perception of what someone else believes or feels or values. And if you just have those conversations with people, you’ll be amazed at how much ground you can cover and the impact you can have. We get tons of emails, tons of phone calls, we get tons of public comment all the time, but that’s our job and it is our job to get stopped in the community, and stopped in the grocery store, and hear people's perspectives and opinions on different issues.

Note: Parts of the interview were trimmed and some questions and comments were edited for clarity with no change to the original content or meaning.

Reporting by Robyn Feinberg for Our Town Reno

Why not Repurpose rather than Demolish? A Local Historian and a Realtor Speak Up

Too Late to Save?

Taking a walk along fourth street in downtown Reno can be a quiet journey these days. Where many motels once stood, there are now vacant lots with chain-link fences around them. Other, soon-to-be demolished motels are also fenced off, while those that are still standing are being offered money to shut down as well. The famed Chapel of the Bells, which closed its doors in February and sold to Jacobs Entertainment, is also set for demolition later this year.  The two buildings that used to surround it have already been taken down. The flow of foot traffic around these areas has steadily declined, as many people now stick to the more crowded, less vacant areas of the Biggest Little City.

Alicia Barber, a writer, historian and consultant worries about old significant structures being caught up in the sudden sell off.

“A lot of historic properties seem to be threatened in a way that they weren’t before due to all sorts of different types of development...from local developers, out-of-state developers, like Jacobs Entertainment, who’s been demolishing the motels lately, but then also the growth of the university, which was in a kind of pause mode for a while with the recession,” she said.

With so many recent demolitions in Reno, bulldozing away mid-century architecture with a distinct aesthetic form, social media activists and volunteers have begun to appeal to the city in favor of saving the structures that have yet to meet the same fate.

A recent screengrab from the Facebook group Mid-Century Modern Reno which has been looking closely at some of the historic properties caught up in the Jacobs Entertainment buy off along 4th street.

Erasing History?

“What makes cities different, what attracts people to different cities, are the unique qualities that city has. If you erase your history you just become like any [American] town, where there aren’t any really defining characteristics,” said Barrie Lynn, a realtor and chair of the advocacy council for the Historic Reno Preservation Society. “And so I think that a lot of people really don’t understand the connection between sense of place and historic preservation, the stories that make the city unique...just from my perspective as a realtor, people really do care about that.”

Both Barber and Lynn are advocating for what is called adaptive reuse of older structures in Reno when they aren't at the point of what they call necessary demolition. The two actively voice their concern about the rapid demolitions taking place, as they feel there is a worrisome lack of public discussion or input, both from historical and social perspectives.

The building of the Eldorado and parts of I80 in the early 1970s had a huge impact on Reno's core. Photo from http://www.onlinenevada.org/about-4th-street-prater-way-history-project 

Nothing New? 

Barber said that she feels Reno has been losing its historic and communal character since 1973, when the Eldorado casino was built, wiping out an entire city block. Adding to that, in 1974, the completion of Interstate 80 through Reno and Sparks significantly impacted residential portions of both cities, including nineteenth-century Victorian houses that Barber is petitioning to save from university construction and relocation.

“Reno didn’t really retain a vision of how to keep a sense of its own historic character and identity and continuity as it moved forward, and there’s always been this strong influence of business and economics in determining what the physical landscape would look like,” Barber said. “And the big transformations that happened with the hotel casinos in the 1970s just fundamentally changed downtown forever, I mean not just in its appearance, but in its whole function.”

With the long-time, continuous development of Reno, as well as massive structures of hotel casinos, such as the Eldorado and Silver Legacy taking up numerous blocks, downtown has become varied in its uses, including for lower-income housing in the numerous motels dotted around town.

The motels that make up the unique signage of Reno played an important role during the past century, and still do, housing weekly tenants during the lows of tourism, and the highs of more expensive hotels and housing in a growing economy.

“These motels have been a part of this gradual, decades long process where a lot of the different components of downtown have become places for lower-income residents to live, and there really aren’t a lot of options for them,” Barber said.

The Displacement that Ensues

“These motels have been a part of this gradual, decades long process where a lot of the different components of downtown have become places for lower-income residents to live, and there really aren’t a lot of options for them,” Barber said.

Barber said that one of the most discouraging aspects of demolitions, especially of motels, is the displacement that follows.

“It’s terrible, I think one of the most difficult aspects, and one of the most frustrating aspects of seeing this recent wave of demolitions of motels is that there’s no plan even for what will replace them, there doesn’t seem to be a plan to replace them with anything anytime soon,” Barber said.

“So, you can’t even evaluate the loss of that structure and the housing that it represents, and the loss to the people, not only current residents, but potential future residents, I mean these are very fluid populations who live in these motels and the remaining motels downtown.”

While it has been reported that Jacobs Entertainment helped some of those who were displaced by motel demolitions, Barber said she was worried about the loss of those motels  for others going forward, especially since the landscape they once sat on is not being used for anything at the moment.

“You can’t just like re-house the residents who happen to be in a motel at any given moment and then say 'Well, you solved the problem,' because those people now have a place to live, other future people who might have needed that place now don’t have that as an option,” Barber said. “So, to see these structures that at the very least are shelter for people who need a roof over their heads, to see them being demolished without anything in their place that benefits anyone, is really, I think, a huge slap in the face.”

While Reno has changed in recent decades, casinos, even if not as profitable as they once were, remain a major force downtown.

Reinventing Reno and Reuse

“It’s hard to understand, but I think what you see there, that is part of this great desire to reinvent Reno and reinvent its image, is that those motels, despite the fact that they’ve been important residences for disadvantaged populations, are seen as a problem,” Barber said. “They’ve been defined as blight, and they’ve basically been defined as something ugly and makes Reno look bad...that’s just an obsession with image instead of a recognition of what’s really needed at this time.”

Barber and Lynn both agreed on the idea of adaptive reuse of structures in Reno, meaning that the city would instead maintain the original structures of buildings set for demolition and redevelop what is already there.

“People think, 'Oh, it’s out of code let’s just tear it down, it’s unsafe,' but there’s a difference between a building that needs code upgrades and a building that is structurally unsound, and one that is in danger of falling down,” Lynn said. “Buildings that need code upgrades you can do seismic retrofitting to protect it from earthquakes, you could enlarge window openings...there’s things that you can do to make a building safer. If a building is not in imminent danger of falling down, there’s not really a good reason to demolish it unless you have plans to redevelop that exact parcel.”

Lynn is worried that not only is misinformation being spread regarding these demolitions, but that it also hinders investment and future development.

“A vacant lot really sends a message of desertion and disinvestment, and it can deter other investment. And so once you demolish a building, you take away any future potential for that building to be reused, you take all of those options off the table, so, if there’s not an immediate need to redevelop a lot, and as long as a building isn’t in danger of falling down, I think that there are a number of reasons to not demolish that building,” Lynn said. “It’s far more expensive to build from the ground up then it is to renovate an existing building, and I just think there’s a lot of misinformation about blighted buildings, the cost of bringing buildings up to code, and when is a building actually structurally unsound, I think there’s just a lot of misinformation about that.”

Lynn’s biggest concern is that Jacobs Entertainment will take years to complete their proposed Fountain District, and in that time, could decide to pull out, leaving vacant, undeveloped lots behind.

“I think that not having any assurance that this project is going to come to completion is troubling, and I think that it sets us up to be in a position where basically we’ve allowed someone to become too big to fail, where we would have to subsidize them if things went downhill," Lynn said on fears Jacobs Entertainment might leave empty lots for years.

A Closer Look at What Blight Means

Lynn and Barber also agreed that there needs to be a community-wide discussion about blight, as they see it as completely fixable.

“I think it’s [blight] being totally misused in Reno...I think it’s being used to mean unattractive, ugly, deteriorating. But, when I think of blight in terms of how its defined in urban studies in planning, a blighted area is one that’s been basically abandoned. We look at a blighted area as a place where property ownership is probably so fragmented or unknown that there really isn’t even a sense that someone has a responsibility to this area, and that person could actually improve it if they wanted to,” Barber said. “So, that word is being used today for structures and areas where we know who owns the area, we know who owns that structure, we know that they’re actually a affluent person, or they’re a group of people, or property investors, who are just allowing structures to become dilapidated or unused, or deteriorating because they’re holding onto that property because they want to sell it at a later date, and they want to make some money.”

Barber said that using the term blight so loosely lets a lot of property owners off the hook who should assume responsibility of the property.

“We’re hearing a lot of high ranking officials just kind of citing their friends who say 'Oh, it’s beyond repair, it’s beyond hope.' Well, there are experts who can say whether things are beyond repair or hope,” Barber said of how blight is discussed in Reno.

Renovating Rather than Demolishing

Lynn held similar sentiments, giving examples of adaptive reuse that have happened in Reno.

“Far too many times I’ve seen something demolished and we’re still looking at the vacant lot. I can give you dozens of examples, and sometimes what you’ve got is a structure that sits there that everyone thinks is so ugly, and it should be demolished, then all of a sudden someone comes along and they beautify it and then you’re like, wow,” Lynn said. “Thankfully, they had that to work with, to start with, the Kings Inn is a prime example, which is now the Third Street Flats. That sat vacant for 40 years, and it was considered a nuisance, it was considered blighted, but I tell you what, if that had been demolished, I don’t think we would be looking at anything on that site right now, we’d still be looking at a vacant lot. I don’t think it would have happened.”

“I think that, yes, blight is an actual thing, but a vacant lot can be blight, and I think that we need to be looking at a lot more ways to actually cure blight that involve building up a property rather than breaking it down. Renovating rather than demolishing.”

Reporting by Robyn Feinberg for Our Town Reno

Abbi Whitaker, Leading a PR Agency Amid Reno’s “Revolution”

Working for the Mayor and Jacobs Entertainment

On her bio for the abbi agency, co-founder and president, Abbi Whitaker, says she thinks “Reno is the most underestimated place in the United States” and that she’s “proud to be part of the revolution.”

The Stratford-upon-Avon native, from England’s West Midlands, who moved to Fallon when she was 12, and graduated from the Journalism Department at UNR in 2003, opened the downtown pr agency with her sister in 2008.   Right now, she is in the middle of development and politics, working both for Mayor Hillary Schieve's re-election campaign and for the Jacobs Entertainment group, which has been buying up property, and bulldozing away motels, leaving empty lots behind and plenty of concerns as to exact plans.

In the interview, Whitaker referred to Jeffrey Jacobs, the CEO of Colorado-based Jacobs Entertainment as Jeff, and admitted she was also in the dark for what the future holds.

“I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know what all of Jeff’s plans are right now. He is a person that is not going to come out with a big splash and talk about ‘I’m going to do all of this, this, this, and this.’ He’s going to make sure that he has his plans in place and that that he knows what he’s doing, and then he’s going to talk about it," she said.

"So, I know a lot of people are like ‘We want to know what’s happening with Jeff Jacobs.’ I can tell you that Jeff Jacobs is doing all of his due diligence, and doing all of his homework so that he’s not going to over promise and under deliver. I can tell you he is a super compassionate man that came into this town and the first thing he asked is, ‘how can I help? What can I give to? How can we make sure that these people are not put on the streets?’ I wouldn’t work for someone that wasn’t like that. I’m a very progressive person in my political beliefs, and in who I am, but I’m also very pragmatic, and I believe that you need to bring all different sides together to solve a problem. And I look at the people I work with as being like that. So, I can’t tell you what Jeff is going to do because I don’t know yet,” she said when asked about why new plans for the downtown area haven’t been unveiled yet.

The Keno and El Ray motels are now long gone, replaced by an empty lot as part of Jacobs Entertainment plans. Photo by Robyn Feinberg for Our Town Reno.

A Lost Reno?

We also asked her if she was worried that the Reno we know would now be lost amid what some people might call the “glitziness” of Jacobs Entertainment, primarily a gaming casino company, which has also purchased horse tracks and aquariums in other states.

“I don’t think Reno would let that happen,” Whitaker said. “I think Reno has a really loud voice, and I think that Reno is a small community where every voice is heard. And I think that every person that comes in to invest in our neighborhoods knows that, and they pay a lot of attention and a lot of time to make sure they’re listening and hearing that. I think …. Fourth Street needs to be cleaned up. I drive down there every single day and it breaks my heart sometimes, some of the stuff I see, some of the women that I know are being trafficked, some of the people I know need transitional housing, or have mental health issues, we have to clean up those areas of our city, we can’t just pretend that it’s fine the way it is. So, we have someone that’s willing to come in and help us do that and I think that’s a great thing,” she said. 

Unlike others, she says she is not a defender of motels.

“Have you ever been inside of them? So, I have to, and the conditions were deplorable, there was no kitchen, there’s asbestos. I mean they were just falling apart. And that’s not the kind of place where we need people living. So, I know that people were like ‘Save the motels, we need to reconstruct them. If you’ve come inside and looked at them, that’s not viable, that’s not going to happen. I work for Jeff Jacobs, who is doing a lot of the development on Fourth Street, and when I look at Jeff and see someone that is giving a million dollars to the Reno Housing Authority, that is building senior housing, that is focused on coming in and putting a lot of money into redeveloping an area, but also really hyper-focused on making sure that those people that were living there are okay, every person, they did not kick any people out of motels, they gave people bridge money to go in to other living situations, they helped helped them transition, that’s how it should be. " (Note: This information was not independently verified by Our Town Reno)

"Is everybody going to be happy? Are people going to be upset about x, y, and z? Of course, but Reno’s evolving, Reno is gentrifying, Reno is cleaning up areas where there (is) a lot of crime, and a lot of poverty, and a lot of drugs, and a lot of sex trafficking. The sex trafficking that goes on in those motels is absolutely disgusting. We need to clean it all out,” she said.

"I employ thirty people, I want these thirty people to be able to buy homes, that is super important to me. I own a company where the brain trust is the value that is here, like I don’t have equipment, I have really smart people. I want those really smart people to be able to live here and be able to afford to live here. So, I think as soon as we get more inventory online, we have a real lack of inventory, it’s a supply and demand issue right now, as soon as we get more inventory online then we’re going to see the housing prices and the rents equal out," Whitaker said of concerns for her own staff amid a local affordable housing crisis. Photo by Robyn Feinberg for Our Town Reno.

Developers Have a Bad Rap

Whitaker says she feels people often give developers a bad rap. 

“They think of developers and think, 'Oh,' and I’m like, well, you should sit down and have a conversation with some of them sometime, and you should see what they give back to this community, and where their hearts are at and everything. It’s interesting how people get painted sometimes without taking the time to get to know them.” 

Our Town Reno once spent time with the so-called relocation manager for Jacobs Entertainment, but he spoke to us off the record.

Whitaker acknowledges that there is pressure in what she does, as Reno is currently a “hot ticket” of development, due to its proximity to California and its extremely different tax structure.

“I think it is a big, big job. With growth comes a lot of responsibility - infrastructure, education, and healthcare...a lot of responsibility,” she said.

Reporting by Robyn Feinberg for Our Town Reno

Emily Montan, A Retiree Doing the Good She Believes In

Coordinating the Shelter's Overflow Tent this Past Winter

Emily Montan, 60, a former school teacher, East Coast native, Oakland retired transplant and volunteer with the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Nevada, coordinated the recent parking lot overflow heated tent outside the downtown Record Street homeless shelter, a volunteer through the night service which began in January and ended at the end of March. She was happy the program was allowed to proceed, but still feels the city isn’t doing nearly enough to address homelessness, rampant mental illness in the Biggest Little City and the lack of affordable housing. 

“I mean putting up the tent was just a band aid onto a huge deep wound,” she said. “And so, the city needs to do a lot more to provide affordable housing to people, provide better services, mental health services, affordable mental health services. And there are so many people that came through (the tent) like there were pregnant women… People that didn't have teeth. You know we also help feed our neighbors and some of them have to eat soft food because they can't chew.”

The above Our Town Reno video includes footage from inside the overflow tent.

A Volunteer Operation

Montan says she had mixed feelings about the tent being volunteer driven but felt it was a necessary endeavor.

“Our taxes should be paying for that. But they aren't. So, we stand up… That's one thing about my church. We are all part of each other and we all help to help each other. And so, when I was asked to help, I said ‘absolutely’.”

Sadly, she says the extra tent was very much needed. “Some nights, they were so full they had double bunked them. So they had mats on this floor. They were horrible mats and then they got better mattresses and then they got bunk beds so they double bunked them. And then they had to open up the resource center (at the homeless shelter) which is really not a sleeping place … it's a place that people go who don't have homes can get mail, they can get resources to help them you know find jobs or get sober and give them training and stuff so they ended up even opening up the resource center and using the classrooms for the people who did not have homes to sleep in because everything was full.”

Two to three volunteers helped each night at the tent. Reno also uses a warehouse as another emergency overflow area on 265 Washington Street, but that is manned by employees from Volunteers of America, which also runs the main shelter on Record Street. 

Montana says she’s very proud of the other volunteers who also stepped up.

“We should help each other because we're all human and we all deserve respect,” she said.  

A screengrab of the church Montan belongs to, which does community work with ACTIONN, a faith-based advocacy group.

Challenges and Hopes for More Affordable Housing

There were many challenges including safety, rainy nights with leaks, inadequate mattresses, dealing with interactions inside the tent, and being required to keep a light on inside at all times. 

“We had to keep one light on which really disturbed me, because these people need to sleep just like everybody else. And I know some people don't like to sleep in the light. It also disturbed me that initially the mattresses they provided were like a quarter inch thick before they got the thicker mattresses and come on you know if we're going to provide sleeping shelter and beds to sleep then we should provide halfway decent ones. So of course, they were on the floor and the floor of the tent was the parking lot. So, it was kind of gross and of course a lot of these people don't have access to showers and things like that. “ 

They were also forced to get everyone out of the tent by 5:30 every morning. Montan is hoping the tent won’t be needed next winter, but she’s afraid the need might be even greater. 

She wants Nevada to imitate other states, such as California, by requiring municipalities to have a certain number of affordable units.  The California Supreme Court has also ruled for cities and counties to require developers to sell some housing at below-market rates.

“It needs to happen in Reno and in Las Vegas,” she said. “I think that we need to insist that housing a certain percentage should be affordable and that we need to help each other because we are on this planet together. And I don't just don't mean locally. But I come from a background where you act locally and you affect things globally.”

Montan's mother used to work on affordable housing in New Jersey, and she says she has it in her blood to fight the fight. “The cost of housing is increasing exponentially. But the wages have not and neither has Social Security or any other benefits. So, there's an alarming amount of homeless people in Reno,” she said.

More Home Ownership and Getting Developers to Help

Montan believes developers have a duty to help, including with tiny homes and other solutions.  She thinks having more help and more pipelines for more home ownership would also be crucial. 

“The developers who are making plenty of money in Reno and building housing ... They should help pay for it too by providing some affordable units whether it's a tiny house or it's a condo or a small apartment. We ought to have programs that help people who want to own a house, who want to care about their neighborhood but can't get the initial down payment and to provide them loans to do that so they can buy small houses. My mom used to do that in the poor areas of New Jersey and it works very well. People get help, can buy houses for their families and provide decent shelter and then they can pay for it  and they can be homeowners because there's a different sense of ownership, when you do own it. So, you say if you own the house or the unit you're more wanting to take care of that and your neighborhood because you want a safe neighborhood for you and your family. So, I think any kind of ownership helps people to be part of the neighborhood which I think is really important.”

Montana suffers from depression as well and feels special sympathy for others with mental illnesses living in harsh conditions.

“I come from a place where I've always had support. What if you're mentally ill and you come from a very poor family where mental illness has always been pervasive and nobody's been treated properly because of health insurance problems?  It took a long time for me to figure out what medication would work for me. A lot of people don't have that luxury of time and money to do that,” she said.

Montan says when she sees people struggling, it's her duty and her calling to help.

The Importance of Giving Back and Fighting Bad Proposals

Montan has healthy habits to help such as yoga, singing in her church’s choir, and giving back, cooking for the hungry, helping her husband, and volunteering at the Casa Latina, where she assists abused people who are undocumented who feel doubly trapped.

Montana says she feels some of the new anti vagrancy efforts in Reno will especially target those living on the margins and with mental issues, and will be costly to execute with little gain.

“It's so much cheaper in the long run to provide housing and to provide mental health services. And these laws don't do anything to fix the problem, all they do is make people feel like ‘oh I'm safer’. No, you're not safe. Because you're one paycheck away from homelessness. My husband is disabled and we were living in Oakland, we were one paycheck away from being homeless. I thank God, we had families that have money and if we ever ran into a problem we could you know ask for help but most people don't have that. So, you know this is a problem for all of us and we all need to dig deep and think about real solutions and not band aids,” she concluded. 

Reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno, April 2018

Willy Vlautin, Author of The Motel Life Torn on Reno's Disappearing Motels

Missing Motel Signs

“When I was a teenager, I dreamed of running away and the motel seemed like the easiest way to run away if you had the money,” he told Our Town Reno during a phone conversation as he toured with his new band The Delines. “The signs are beautiful. I can never get over how beautiful motel signs are. Some of the looks of those are just unreal and iconic.”

As many motels are being bulldozed away for promised developments, many of those signs are now gone, with an uncertain fate, between developers who might put them back up or a future museum.

Vlautin is proud his book stands as a testament to a certain time in this place.

“I’ve always loved Reno. I left Reno kicking and screaming. I just left because I was kind of a bum and a failure there. I was in love with Reno when I wrote The Motel Life. I counted over 110 motels in a mile radius downtown when I was working on the book.”

Many of the motels listed in The Motel Life have recently been bulldozed away.

Writing about Drifters Rather than Celebrities

Vlautin says it used to be mostly drifters and those on the fringes who lived in the motels.

“I’ve always been drawn to the darker side of things. That side of Reno always made sense to me. I always felt comfortable in it….My favorite stories are always the down and out stories they always have been. In The Motel Life I was interested in that side of life because I was living like that. So it made sense I would write about it. I had a friend who was living hard and I would follow him around all the motels. It’s a different way of living that Reno had. All these motels were generally a safe place for people who often had bad credit and couldn’t get an apartment or didn’t have the money, or legal problems, and they couldn’t get a legitimate place. I was writing about that lost society that lived inside the motels, which is just a reflection of America, and a reflection of a certain underclass which just falls into the cracks.  At least in Reno, in the motels they had a safe place to stay.”

He said when Motel Life got critical acclaim, some Reno residents tried to have him write a different style of book. 

“Some people understand that book, but I’ve had old ladies come up to me and say you know 'It’s not like that in Reno' and I’d say … 'Well, when’s the last time you’ve been on 4th street or downtown?' And they would say ‘Oh I don’t go down there, I would never drive down 4th street.’ So people sometimes don’t like to look at what’s right in their backyard, they don’t want to know. There’s some of that going on in America in general, with homelessness. Why are there so many homeless people in Portland, in Seattle, in San Francisco, Los Angeles, all over the West in big cities. With The Motel Life some of the older people would take me aside and say ‘Why can’t you write about Chris Ault, the [UNR] football coach and athletic director?’ “

The Motel Life was also made into a 2012 movie (trailer above) .  "I begged them to film the movie version of The Motel Life in Reno …. And it was filmed in Reno," Vlautin said.  "They just didn’t shoot in Elko. They made Virginia City Elko. They shot the Cal Neva. They shot the Halfway Club. They shot at the Elbow Room, right before they painted the Elbow Room and kind of screwed it up in my opinion. That was my favorite old man bar. It’s a cool movie as a document of a way that Reno looked."

Mixed Feelings about the End of the Motel Era

Vlautin who left Reno for good in the mid 1990s when he was in his late 20s, lived at times at the Star Dust Loge when he would visit.  He has mixed feeling about the motel lifestyle fading away from Reno.   

“I had a friend who lived in the motels and it wasn’t that pretty, his lifestyle. He was living rough. I spent time trying to find him in all these motels. They’re rough places. I’ve seen both sides of it. The motel signs are probably the only thing I would miss, the iconic 50s, 60s style motel signs and the designs I think are beautiful,” he said.

Vlautin understands preservationists, but also has sympathy for those who would rather forget about the downtown motel district. The answer though he says is even more complicated because destroying the motels can also worsen homelessness.

A Murky Question to Ponder

“For a city like Reno they can be a rough thing too, for people who live in them who are sometimes on the edge of society,” he said. “I can see how regular citizens and the town would be skeptical of them. Homelessness is a problem also, throughout America, and in the West in particular right now.  It’s a hard question. A lot of these people, when you close the motel, they are going to become homeless. There's more families and older people in the motels now. But it’s rough being in those motels and being in that lifestyle too.  It’s a tricky, murky question to ask.”

Vlautin who now lives one hour outside of Portland, and continues to write, tour and play music, warns of the dangers of becoming too hip. “The city Is transforming into something different and the motels might have to go,” he said. “Hipsters are hipsters and all I know is they kill old man bars. If Reno can hang on to any old man bar it has then that would be great.”

Original Interview and Photos by Our Town Reno, April 2018

Grant Denton, a Spartan Helping Recovering Addicts Help Themselves

Recent studies indicate Nevada's death rate from meth and other stimulants is the highest in the country. But Grant Denton, 39, a survivor of childhood abuse who become a deadbeat Dad junkie trapped in homelessness and repeated incarceration, is ensuring the situation isn't even worse.

Through his work, he now leads many other recovering addicts on a path he himself has taken, with discipline, exercise, meditation and a resolve to survive, to make the world a better place, to be ferocious, relentless and optimistic.

"You want to be someone that's remembered for change to help change, on a larger scale. Change as many people as you can. Create that positive way. So, I guess I want to be remembered as someone who changes as many people as possible on a larger scale... This is bigger than drugs," he explained during a recent interview with Our Town Reno.

"I want to create recovery programs for people outside treatment centers. I want recovering addicts to come and do things for the community," Denton said of his overall vision, which he already carries out by getting recovering addicts to help others as part of their own recovery. Photo by Jordan Gearey for Our Town Reno.

Denton's Own Turnaround

He said his own grandmother who always helped him, at one point refused to send him any money as he had asked for.

"She sent me a letter saying that she wouldn't send me any more money. Now she's done with me. When you burn a granny bridge, you fucked up... But she did say she'd send me books. So after about two weeks of being upset with her, I asked for some books and she started sending me some. I asked for a book about the Prison Yoga Project. I learned how to breathe. I learned how to meditate. I learned how to be grounded. I read a book about .... Paramahansa Yogananda, a yogi... And then when I started reading, I started to educate myself and I started exercising. She also sent me a book called You Are Your Own Gym. That's when things started shifting...."

He now wakes up at four a.m., and drinks a lot of coffee. He starts many days with part of an inspirational audio book.  When we interviewed him, he was listening to the Virgin Way by entrepreneur Richard Branson. One of the quotes: 'If only we had the power to see ourselves in the same way that others see us.' is a reality Denton had to wake up to when he was an addict. 

Denton goes to the gym very early, both for himself and then on different days leading free sessions for different groups, including one for women in recovery called "Rise and Grind". To recovering addicts he says: "More people care than you think. Don’t fear stigmatization. People want to help, come out and seek help."

John Firestone, the executive director at The Life Change Center says of Denton: "Grant is very charismatic and has helped us achieve a lot." The center has over 700 self-referred patients, but Firestone says it's very important they are greeted with smiles.  "I’ve had cases where someone tells me that they have been outside in the parking lot afraid to come in for a month," he said.  Those who do self-refer go through assessments and then get counseling and/or medication, as part of their assisted recovery process.

From the Depths of a Troubled Childhood and Adulthood

Born and raised in Las Vegas, Denton grew up in a Mormon family of eight, with an abusive father. He was molested by a man at his church when he was 11. He says the downward spiral soon began.

"When things like that happen to you as a kid, and these people who are supposed to protect you, your teachers, your church should maybe protect you a little bit... your parents should probably protect you. And then, when this doesn't happen, then you stop trusting everybody... And so, when you stop trusting people ... my lack of trust moved me in the direction of going downhill," he remembers.

He got into fights in school and got kicked out as a senior and ended up in juvenile detention. He worked in nightclubs as a performer, while also selling drugs there, and after becoming a young father, tried to "make an honest living,", but he says it didn't work out.

"To go from being paid to party to making an honest living is a very difficult transition. You go from zero consequences. Right. You do whatever you want and then you've got to follow some rules. So it doesn't make any sense. So I ended up doing a lot of pills, doing meth and then I worked my way down to being homeless for three years in Vegas to about eight years of getting high and spiraling down and in the last three years, I was shooting heroin and meth and homeless in Vegas," he remembers.

Denton now has a polished web presence, and inspirational videos via Facebook, one of which can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/riseandgrindreno/videos/1764443406912388/

Being A Loser, at the Lowest, to Now Inspiring Others to Follow His Flight

Denton's candor is astounding as he recounts one of his lowest points in a life now trending very high. 

"With my ex-wife, I had two sons. And one of them was at the time, he was six and my younger one was about four, three, and I went over to the house. She would let me come because they would be like 'I want to see Dad, I want to see Dad....' She let me come over and I was homeless within a seven-mile stretch of a border highway. So, I came there one time and I got sick right. Any time I’d come over she'd have to hide her purse and I sent my son upstairs to take money. He wants to help his dad right? And he brought out 60 bucks. I get to the bus stop and I get a text on my phone that says 'GRANT YOU'RE A LOSER' in all caps. I texted back, 'Who are you whore?' I googled loser and it said .... in the act of losing ... I'm like 'holy shit'.... I'm like 'wow. I am a loser.' That was probably the lowest point. I turned my kid into a conspirator. Right. And I was I was by definition a loser," he said.

After recently moving to Reno, he says, he realized his passion was in developing programs for people in recovery.  "I met John Firestone, our executive director, and he told me to come up with something and so I came up with the volunteer program called the Spartans," he said. 

Denton's Spartans initiative has its own Facebook page and records the good deeds they do in the community.

Spartans of Reno

Denton leads his so-called Spartans to help with other local social assistance and recovery programs, by doing paint jobs and cleaning.  "The purpose ... is to get them out in the community giving back and that’s a good way to integrate them back into the community where they feel like they're a part of something," he said.

Recent mottos on the Facebook page range from: 'Life isn’t about finding yourself, it’s about CREATING yourself. DO THE WORK!!" to "Leaders create leaders." 

"Absolutely nothing," Denton says when asked if he has any regrets. "If you look at it like this. Everything that I did I can't regret it. I needed it." A Spartan is a person of great courage and self-discipline, exactly what Denton now is.

Interview and Reporting for Our Town Reno by Prince Nesta with Photography by Jordan Gearey

Carlton, Dreaming of the Marines and Finding Serenity at the Eddy House

Peace at the Eddy House

Carlton, 23,  who came to Reno from Sacramento last year, trying to escape what he calls a very complicated family dynamic and his native state with just 200 dollars, is hoping to enlist in the Marines. He was hoping to find a job in Reno, but that didn’t happen fast enough, trapping him into homelessness. 

“I ran out of money and ran out of food and options and then I happened to hear about this place,” he said of the Eddy House where we met him during the recent homeless youth count. Carlton says when the drop-in center is open during weekdays, he can work on getting some of his life back on track, rather than feeling constantly chased around.

He’s been homeless previously in Sacramento, where he lived off of top ramen noodles and fountain water, but he says he prefers being homeless in Reno because of the services provided by the Eddy House.

Avoiding Shelters

Carlton says he now avoids regular homeless shelters, so he sleeps outside at a location he prefers to keep secret.  “After the sun comes out that's where like security usually comes around and after that I go and look for food,” he said.

“I can't sleep in a room full of strangers. I can't do it and there have been numerous times when people have their stuff taken and when you are in there people would just scream and scream and no one would stop,” he explained as to why he avoid shelters.  

"This is just some drawing, a picture drawing, semi symmetrical looking like thing and I’m just filling in the color between the lines. This is what I do when I don't have any cigarettes to smoke. It's just a nice way to get my mind off things and relax," he said.  Interview and photo by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Harder when the Eddy House is Closed

When the Eddy House closes every night and on weekends, he says life for him becomes much harder. 

“I walk around and people see my backpack and I just get profiled. The don't make eye contact with me, I’m not asking for anything I just want to be treated like a human being. It's like I’m not even a human being anymore. Also getting food is pretty slow, like sometimes you got to eat questionable food.”

He also says he avoids panhandling, but that without a job right now it’s difficult.  “I like to live life without regrets. After all this it’s just going to be a memory one day, a learning experience …. I might be homeless but I’m not a bum….”

Photos and Reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Bret Stephenson, Advocating for Better Help for Troubled Boys

No Prevention in America

Stephenson started working in California with so-called incorrigible kids in the late 1980s, where he says his eyes were opened wide and clear about some of the inadequacies of the American youth social system, and the subsequent rampant homelessness it creates.

“In America, we don't do much of the prevention and then we end up spending more money, incarcerating and locking people up… I learned that we were never going to solve the homeless problem until we learned what caused it… Prevention has always been better than treatment so most of my life I’ve been trying to convince people to prevent,” he explained during a recent meeting at a local coffee shop.

“I'm not a fan of the system. The government is good at keeping the roads clear but is completely inept when it comes to people and I think you've seen in Reno it’s just ridiculous how bad we are as far as dealing with the homeless. When you go to Europe and see some of the social systems there, they are embarrassed when somebody is homeless because it means that they've failed. There is just a totally different mindset here.”

His first book can be found here on Amazon. "From Boys to Men is about the loss of initiation and rites of passage for modern boys," Stephenson said. "Men are just forms of uninitiated boys and the problem we are having right now such as the increase of deadbeat dads is that none of us has been initiated. America turns you from a boy into an adult with a birthday at 21. And you get all the rights and privileges of a society." 

Focussing on Young Males

Stephenson's own work, research and books have focused specifically on males.

“Statistically boys are in more trouble than girls. Boys play harder and make riskier decisions. The social services field is also filled with women. My most common denominator in 30 years has been fatherless boys with single mothers,” he said. “That’s really my specialty. In my first book (From Boys to Men), it’s all about the loss of initiation in rites of passage. I've worked with teenagers from more than 100 countries. The model we see in America is not the mode of adolescence that we see in various places around the world. We have the most lockups, violence, drugs, gangs, we have a damaged sense of the adolescent which has been my goal to fix.”

Stephenson has worked over a decade with the Minden-based Rite of Passage organization. Their website can be found here.

Heartbreak, Loss and Turnarounds

Stephenson's own interactions have been filled with heartbreak and loss.  

“I've known too many kids that got killed in the streets and I can't keep track of how many kids went to prison and jail. Mostly I tried to keep them from destroying what’s left in their lives. The thing with boys ... they are kind of mythologically driven to be the hero. So mostly it was behavior management to keep them from getting into trouble. Trying to convince anybody to change is tricky and I think I’m pretty tricky and manipulative and that helped me…”

Fatherless boys, he says, they can lack a lot of what he calls ‘guy skills’. “Like how to use a hammer and a tape measure. It’s really common for them to have a skewed view about manhood because when a father is a jerk then the deductive logic sometimes is the boy becomes a jerk too.”

Each situation is different but there are many common traits to the most dangerous journeys for troubled boys and young men. He says success is hard to define, but turnarounds do happen.

“Some had issues with their parents and the rebelliousness and the gang culture took them to the streets. Some kids were on the streets trying to avoid juvenile detention or probation…. Success is hard to tell. I run into children who are like 27 and right now they have a family. (They are) totally changed from who they used to be. So, it’s kind of nice sometimes ... we just have to grow up.”

Above a screengrab from his own website. For a while, Stephenson, a father of one daughter now in her 20s, himself lived out of his truck, which has given him extra empathy for his work. “I was camping at the back of my truck and that was because I was in debt. I had some medical bills that I hadn't paid and so my wife and I decided I was going to put everything in storage and we lived in the back of a truck”

Fatherless Boys

Fatherless boys, he says, can lack a lot of what he calls ‘guy skills’. “Like how to use a hammer and a tape measure. It’s really common for them to have a skewed view about manhood because when a father is a jerk then the deductive logic sometimes is the boy becomes a jerk too.”

Each situation is different but there are many common traits to the most dangerous journeys for troubled boys and young men. He says success is hard to define, but turnarounds do happen.

“Some had issues with their parents and the rebelliousness and the gang culture took them to the streets. Some kids were on the streets trying to avoid juvenile detention or probation…. Success is hard to tell. I run into children who are like 27 and right now they have a family. (They are) totally changed from who they used to be. So, it’s kind of nice sometimes ... we just have to grow up.”

"The second book I wrote is called The Undercurrents of Adolescence and I was trying to figure out how we got so much delinquency. So, I was figuring out how did we go from no teen problems to leading the world in five generations. So, I broke it down by decades societally what’s going on and then to make it fun, every decade I used a movie to explain the changes in society and technology in the U.S."

Advice for Parents and Organizations

He says parents should pay close attention to their child's adolescent years and their behavior during this time.

“Try and understand what these changes mean. Talk straight but don't talk down to the kids and so many parents don't do that. As baby boomers, we were crazy in the 60's and 70's and then you grow up and you are like ‘I don’t want my kid to do anything I ever did’. I don’t want my daughter to date me when I was 19, so they’ve got to keep that open mind, They’ve got to remember what it was like and not just say ‘no don't do that’. For the kids: ‘don’t get all your info from your friends. Look for someone who can give you good advice.’”

As far as organizations working with troubled youths, he also has advice. “I want to beg people to open their minds on how we work with teenagers. Children of any kind should never be a business,” he said. “People and communities have got to demand that we bring a rite of passage especially for our teenagers.”

"The third book I wrote is more of a philosophical one. It looks at modern adolescent discontent and America's shallow approach to teens." It can be found here on Amazon.

Don't Disconnect the Youth from Elders Either

Even though he is dealing with extremely troublesome back issues right now, Stephenson said he will never ‘retire’ from helping troubled youths. “I don't agree with the concept of retirement,” he said.  “It’s really damaging because it takes elders and removes them from the youth.”

He also doesn't mind if people reach out to him, either via his website https://www.adolescentmind.com/ or via email: bret@adolescentmind.com

Reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Jerry, Helping and Healing Without Expecting Anything in Return

On a recent Friday, Jerry Wagner was busy helping coordinating volunteers at the Reno Center of Influence, a multi-faceted operation run out of a large compound on 1095 E Taylor street near Reno's Veterans hospital.

"We did research and found out this building in the heart of Reno and so we started a thrift shop and helped maintain the building and then we started the food pantry next door in the warehouse building. Since then, it has grown and grown and we are feeding close to 4,000 people combined with their families and they can come up to two times a month," Wagner explained.

"It doesn't matter whether we are rich or poor. We all need help. The best blessing anybody can get is helping people out whether it’s your neighbor or someone you've never seen in your life. Try and help people," Wagner said.

Regular Food Donations and Classes

There is a special food donation for homeless veterans on Wednesdays from one to two p.m, and plans for regular and extremely useful classes on leading healthy lives open to all.  

"It may cover how to clean your toenails, what kind of water to drink, what is better food ... classes on diabetes recovery, depression recovery and others," he said.

According to the Center of Influence Facebook page, classes started on Thursday mornings in February, with a class called Bountiful Breakfasts. Other planned classes were called Living Water, Joyful Juicing and Healthy Snacks.

Photos and Reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Jerry Jackson, After a Breakdown, Looking to Climb out of a Hole in Reno

A Burnout Leads to Alcoholism and Being All Alone

Jackson, a native of New Mexico, who also grew up in Wyoming, and has since bounced around from state to state, says it can take very little in our rush, rush, rat race society to lose your footing.

“My breakdown was basically like a domino effect, it took a little bit of time. I split up with my wife, moved, got more responsibilities at work and then just the depression of not being around people that I wanted to be around and then just the normal pressures of life,” he remembers.

He says he doesn’t see his wife anymore or his daughter, but he’s proud of her as she’s in the College of Pharmacy at Oregon State University. He remembers how even though initially they wanted to help, he pushed his family away.

“I wanted to sleep all the time. I didn't want to wake up and do anything,” he said.  “I started pushing my friends and family away and all of a sudden all I wanted to do was drink and not do anything other than numb the pain. My family, they tried to help but I was in such a bad place at the time my head was so mixed up, I couldn't help myself, let alone allow somebody else to help me…. I pretty much pushed everybody away because I didn't want them to see me like that…. I was too proud. I pretty much buried myself in the bottle which made things worse. It took me a long time to get out of the bottle and now I’d just like to get back on the top side.”

"Most of the time during my free time I read novels, or walk around. I actually have got my tablet. I was just reading it right before you walked up here. If I have a good book call I’ll sit and read somewhere. I would say my favorite book is probably the Lord of the Rings series.... It just enthralls. It uses all my imaginations, takes me out of the day to day life type of thing," he said. Photo and Reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

Now Homeless in Reno

A homeless life, he says, can be extremely dull.  He looks for aluminum cans to recycle, or for day labor jobs. He usually gets food from local churches, but avoids the shelter at night.  

“Because of my anxiety and stuff like that, I can't stay around other people. I can't stay in the shelters. It just drives me almost insane. I usually stay wherever the dark places are, out of the way, whether it’s a bush or behind a wall or whatever," he said.

He says the biggest challenges for him are staying away from others on the streets during the day as well, avoiding being robbed, and finding bathrooms where he can clean up.  He says he’s seen lots of despair and drug use.

“I've seen everything from somebody stabbing [someone else] for something as simple as a cigarette. I've seen you know the drugs out here on the street. You know the meth and all that stuff it drives these guys nuts. I mean they stay up for four or five days at a time. And some of the stuff that they do is just I mean you want to help them but you can't get through to them. I mean they'll do everything from go out here and jump in the water in the middle of winter time. I mean it's just crazy the drugs that are out there,” he said.

After he broke his arm recently, he says a woman put him in contact with the Reno Bike Project. "They gave me the bike to try and help me you know get out there, look for work. Oh, it was like Christmas morning. You know opening presents, you know, just like when you're a kid. I mean anything like that, that somebody gives you. It just it makes you feel like you know …. some good people are still out there," he said. Photo and Reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

Stuck in Reno's Underworld

“It's like this paralyzing effect. I don't know how else to explain it," he said. "I mean you can't go in anywhere. You know you can’t keep your hygiene up and all that stuff. You know it's hard to look for work when you're dirty.”

He says he would like to find any job, even cleaning dishes, but he now says he feels like a pariah who will always get rejected.

“I had to constantly move around basically to keep warm," he said of the recent winter. "I mean you also have to carry more stuff around just to stay warm. A lot of the bathrooms are closed up because you know they can't keep them open because of the cold weather. I've got about two -three sets of clothes besides what I'm wearing and then I've got like three blankets, a pair of tennis shoes and my bicycle.” Photo and Reporting by Prince Nesta.

Fears for Reno’s Future

“The biggest message I'd like to send out there is … most people are probably one paycheck away from being where I'm at. I mean anything can happen if you don't want to be in my spot, plan for the future,” he said.

He says people should also lose some of their pride, face their reality and seek help when they need it. “I've got lots of regrets. Probably too numerous to count. Probably the biggest one that I regret is not asking for help when I had my nervous breakdown,” he said.

He fears with rising rents though that more people could become homeless like him in the Biggest Little City, especially as it moves more toward a more hi-tech business environment.

“They're driving up the cost of apartments, [you] can't hardly get even in an extended stay motel anymore. There's a couple property owners here in town that are buying up some of the downtown on Fourth street and stuff where a lot of financially challenged people live and a lot of those people are on fixed income. You know they're getting social security checks and stuff like that. And if they raise the rent they don't have a place to go,” he said.

Photos and Reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Food Not Bombs, Finding those in Need Along the River

Monday Nights, Rain or Shine or Stormy

Staying warm and dry during stormy and wintry weather is a top concern. So something as simple as a stomach full of warm, healthy food can go a long way. Fortunately for a number of people making their own shelter near Galletti Way by the Truckee river, warm faces, as is the custom most Monday nights, are arriving with even warmer food.

Food Not Bombs is an activist group made up of independent collectives that organizes pop-up soup kitchens or “potlucks” around the country. Nationally it began in the 1980s and since then has created chapters all over the world. According to local chapter member Griffin Peralta, this Reno chapter of Food Not Bombs has been in existence for around seven years  and began in conjunction with the brief Occupy Reno movement in 2011. It is now made up of several dozen members.

Finding Encampments and Reaching Out

“Occasionally the police department will come down here and bust up a bunch of living situations. We’ll have to scramble around and find new concentrations of people,” Peralta said.

There may be times when the authorities force people to leave the small square of earth that they call home, but on this Monday when reporters from Our Town Reno came to take photos and interview those helping and those being helped, the group is at their customary spot, on the corner of Galletti Way and Glendale Ave. They serve warm food that they brought themselves, to a long line of cold and grateful people.

Peralta who has been with Food Not Bombs for about three years says his chapter began in conjunction with the brief Occupy Reno movement in 2011 and is now made up of around 30-45 members or recruits. Photo and Reporting by Jordan Gearey for Our Town Reno.

Equipped to Serve and Feed

The chapter members come equipped with crock pots and soup ladles. They try and serve primarily vegan and vegetarian dishes but meat is always accepted when provided. They’re all dressed in caps and coats. Some of them give off smells of cannabis and Backwood Cigars. This isn’t your ordinary church crew or charity organization. This is Food Not Bombs, a group of self-identifying anarchists who flash smiles beneath snow-covered hoods, as they feed some of Reno’s houseless.

For over an hour people in need wrapped in coats shuffle through the line to fill their stomachs before they retreat beneath a nearby bridge to try and sleep through the cold night. Photo and Reporting by Jordan Gearey for Our Town Reno.

Direct Action

“It’s direct action, and in this crazy world it’s easy to feel hopeless. It’s just helping people out in a small way and it gives us an opportunity to show people that we care,” said Reena Spansail, a more recent member of Food Not Bombs Reno.

Spansail works as an English teacher at Wooster High School. She says she tries to teach her students to incorporate kindness and inclusion into their lives.

Spansail also applies her values in her classroom. “I tell my students to equalize the playing field and effect change. Get literate and communicate at a level that they can be understood. It’s a way to live my political truth towards a more hopeful and egalitarian version of what we hope the future will look like,” she said.  Photo by Jordan Gearey for Our Town Reno

“The hardest part was the wind last night. It seemed like it would never stop,” a man who wished not to give his name said of sleeping outside. He has with him a beautiful female German Shepherd named Clyde.

Clyde is in luck. Food Not Bombs does not discriminate against furry companions.

Dog food is also provided. Many houseless with pets avoid shelters because their companions are not accepted there. Photo by Jordan Gearey for Our Town Reno.

Shuffling Back to Bridges

Once the majority of the food is gone, the people begin to shuffle back down to the darkness beneath the bridge. The late night Glendale Avenue traffic runs over their heads, and the frigid Truckee River waters threatens nearby.

The Food Not Bombs members pack up. “I hope that people say that I cared and listened, and as far as the organization, I hope that people just say yum. I hope they are satisfied, I hope they’ve got food in their bellies, and I hope they’re warm with a smile on their face,” Spansail said.

For those interested in participating, Food Not Bombs Reno can be found on Facebook. They say those who wish to help can just come at 5:30 on Monday evenings with whatever they can bring, from food to utensils, garbage bags and plastic plates, as well as donations for the houseless.https://www.facebook.com/renofoodnotbombs/

Photos and Reporting by Jordan Gearey with additional interviews by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Motel Owners Get Organized but Fear for their Future in a Changing Reno

Motel Owners Show Up to City Council to Save Motels from Possible Extinction

At 5:30 p.m., on a recent Monday, the Council Chambers at Reno's City Hall began to fill with local business owners. One row in particular, nearest to the front, filled up entirely, as seven men of different ages took their seats next to one another. 

They were motel owners participating in one of the City of Reno-designed sessions referred to as the Motel Inspection Program Community Workshops. Basically, it was a forum to gather public feedback on figuring out how motels can continue to exist in Reno's changing landscape.

“They want to rightfully upgrade and do away with blight in downtown Reno, they don’t have a fight with the motel owners when it comes to things like that,” Walter “Eddie” Floyd said. “The biggest issue is what kind of expense are we going to be looking at because whatever expense there is will be then conveyed to the tenants.”

Floyd, a Reno entrepreneur in media and other ventures, who was one of the men in that filled-up row, is working with motel owners to help them with their public relations at a time their business model might be at the threat of local extinction.

New apartment complexes are springing up across Reno, but with high prices and demanding credit checks and deposits, these are unaccessible to many who now rely on motels for their housing. Photo by Robyn Feinberg for Our Town Reno

What Happens Next?

The City of Reno’s website says the overall aim of the workshops was to preserve affordable housing units while also ensuring they are both safe and properly maintained. Other facets of the workshops included talking about mitigating blight within Reno, and supporting revitalization efforts.  But some motel owners say they fear new regulations and stricter inspections will make their current business model impossible. They also say they feel it’s a power and money grab currently going on for the new Reno where they will quickly find themselves on the losing side.

What happens next or when isn’t entirely clear, but there is talk long term rooms will have to be equipped with costly kitchenettes and there will be more stringent motel inspections which owners will have to pay for on a per room basis. 

One motel owner said he thought it would be $100 per room, and he said, if you have about 100 rooms, that would be an “outrageous” amount of money. He said if motels remained open in those circumstances, tenants would have to foot some of the bill, which would make living in motels less affordable.  Another motel owner said he thought he might have to follow others in selling his motel property as he said his business is quickly becoming unsustainable to turn any kind of profit.

Motels are being emptied out ahead of destruction.  For motels still standing and not bought out yet, the proposed Motel Inspection Program aims to set a distinction for motels with  extended stay options. Those that are advertised as extended stay motels are facing an imposition of fees, such as adding apartment-style details to the rooms, and paying for more inspections themselves. Photo by Robyn Feinberg for Our Town Reno

The Risk of More Homelessness

“One of the biggest issues our city is faced with right now is homelessness, and if you destroy 300 rooms you are putting about 600 to 700 people out on the streets, and these people can’t afford apartments in our town,” Floyd said of more and more motels with long stay options being bought out and bulldozed. “So, they either have to leave, which they can’t afford to do, or they have to go to the homeless shelters."

For several decades, motels in Reno have served as a housing option for thousands of low-income residents, as tenants only have to pay a flat fee per week in order to obtain a room, cable television, laundry service, and other amenities. Tenant fees tend to never reach more than $230 per week and many times require no deposits.  These long stay motel rooms also tend to be more accessible for tenants with limited income, bad credit or criminal records.

Many motel residents pay their rooms month to month, and some for years on end as most cannot afford deposits or rising rents in Reno. The average motel tenancy is estimated at 50 percent of senior citizens according to city documents. 

With more and more of downtown properties being bought out by companies such as Jacobs Entertainment, motels are being demolished with little to no word in the public realm on a large-scale affordable housing replacement solution – which if it does exist could take years of planning before implementation and realization.

“The tenants don’t want this, I have a stack of letters, probably 8, 9, 10 inches, from residents saying ‘Please don’t move me I’m a senior,’ or ‘Please don’t move me I’m trying to improve my life going to college and this all I can afford, I can’t afford anymore,’” Floyd said of tenants living in motels they fear will soon be bulldozed away.

Representing MOST= Motel Owners Support Team

While Floyd does not own a motel in Reno himself, he was informally hired by a group of motel owners to be their public relations manager and lobbying spokesman four months ago.

“I’m the spokesperson for a majority of the downtown motels and the owners of the motels, and it’s called M.O.S.T and that M.O.S.T stands for Motel Owners Support Team,” Floyd said.

Floyd’s job consists of communicating with the community and City Council members on the owners’ behalf.

“He’s basically helping us represent ourselves, getting the motel owners together, and all of the public relations work,” said Nav Bajwa, the owner of several local motels, including the Pony Express Lodge. Bajwa was contacted via phone.

The Jacobs Entertainment group has also purchased the current Sands casino as part of plans to create a new entertainment district in the downtown corridor.

Motel Owners Give Voice to Their Concerns

A self-proclaimed public relations man, Floyd is the founder of World Matters Inc., a company providing programming for radio stations, including a radio show known as America Matters Media. Bajwa sais that several other motel owners had originally begun working with Floyd when they bought spots on his radio show in order to express their concerns over current development issues in Reno.

“We figured that we would buy some radio spots, and he [Floyd] ended up helping us,” Bajwa said.

He said this new platform helps him and other motel owners voice their concerns to the public.

“They [the motel owners] do things that people don’t even know about, like once a month they will take tons of food to the homeless,” Floyd said. “And the weekly motels, some of them are truly bad ... (but) some of them are needed, otherwise we are going to have the most horrendous homeless problem on our hands that you can imagine,” he said.

Floyd said he enjoys working with Reno’s motel owners, and that the majority of them want to improve their properties. When asked if Reno was facing a moral dilemma between development projects and the growing homeless population, Floyd’s answer was simple: “There is no question about that.”

Floyd's radio programming with America Matters Media served as an initial soapbox for motel owners, and then led to an even closer partnership. 

Hopes to Open a Lodge for the Homeless on a Ranch

Floyd says he also wants to help the growing local homeless population.

“I’m going to open a lodge," he said. "The reason I’m going to open a lodge doesn’t just have to do with the homeless, but it has to do with military veterans suffering from PTSD and also people who have been suffering from addiction and they’re trying to get over it—those are the two main thrusts. I’d be helping the homeless, you have to understand how many of our veterans are homeless, it’s disgusting. [And] So many addicts are homeless.”

The lodge Floyd is talking about is still in the planning and design stages which he said would take at least a year to be constructed and then be useable.

Floyd plans to build a new lodge to house homeless people on his property, the Wynema Ranch, located 29 miles from Reno on the California/Nevada border.  The ranch already serves as a wild horse sanctuary which he runs with his wife, Shari Floyd.

A Checkered Past Not Impeding His Drive to Help

Floyd says he has struggled himself with addiction and will be sober 11 years this June.

“I’m one person, and I can’t take care of everybody so I had to pick my battles and my battles are for our military veterans and for our people recovering from addictions,” he said.

Floyd plans to set up donations for the planned lodge, as well as apply for federal and state business grants. To be able to run the lodge, and get the necessary regulatory approvals, he says he will start his own PR campaign for the project.

Floyd, who was convicted of drug money laundering in 2007 and sentenced to four years in prison by a federal judge, said that that conviction will not affect the business he plans to open or any grants he plans on applying for.

When asked if helping others was a mission in his life, Floyd responded that he only wanted to help the people who were willing to help themselves first.

“If I can help the homeless, especially by taking care of veterans and people recovering from addiction, that’s my goal, because without that help, they would be homeless and I don’t want to add to the homeless problem, I want to subtract from the homeless problem.” 

For now, he is also helping motel owners who he says are keeping people off the streets with the affordable rooms they provide, a business model now at risk in the changing Reno landscape.

Note: Interviews with Eddie Floyd were conducted in-person and via email. Comments from Nav Bajwa were collected via phone call. Some interview answers were edited/adjusted for clarity with no change to the original content or meaning.

Reporting and Photos by Robyn Feinberg for Our Town Reno

Mary, an 'Angel' Leading Local Volunteers to Distribute Food for Those in Need

A Former Nurse Leading a Ministry of Help

Mary McKnight, a 69 year-old retired nurse, did not want to be photographed, but she shared her story and how she has come to help so many people in our region, including at the Reno Center of Influence food pantry by the Veteran's hospital for the past two years.  Other volunteers she leads testified to her leadership, the value of helping her in her endeavors, helping others and working as a group. The distributions are open to any volunteers, and all are welcome. 

"We distribute food to the needy, whether they are homeless or veterans or whoever needs food. We do this on the second and fourth Fridays of each month for the general public and on the fourth Wednesday of each month we do an exclusive for veterans," McKnight explained as to the specifics.

The pantry relies on outdated goods provided by local groceries.  "In the last two years, we have tripled the numbers of the people that we help. Our plan is to spread the word and allow everyone the right to benefit from our help," McKnight said.

A Long but Worthwhile Process

People in line show their ID or their SNAP card (the federal USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program offers nutrition assistance to millions of eligible, low-income individuals and families).

"We hand them a bag and they take what they need within reason and usually they leave with a few bags full of anything and everything," she said of the specifics.

The distribution though is just the end of a long process. "I start around eight o’clock in the morning and go to different stores to get [food] donations. I put [these in] my truck and I transport it to the receiving area. Together with other volunteers, we sort everything whether it's produce or bakery or dairy or dried goods and canned goods. It usually just depends on the amount of donations. We then sort and refrigerate ... We try and help as many people... None of the food goes to waste."

"I have been doing it on my own through the non-profit organization I started 21 years ago and that was up in Truckee," McKnight said of feeding those in need. "I was working at Safeway when I was still in a nursing profession and I realized how much food was being put into the dumpster and I had gone to the manager and asked if we could distribute some of this food to our senior center in Truckee. So, I started getting bakery outdated foods from Safeway and started taking it out to our seniors and distributing it out there in Truckee and as time grew so did the need and the need increased and word was out and people I knew referred me to the Safeway in Reno and I started picking up there. Through those donations, I met another couple who were doing some of the other grocery stores in town and they asked me to join them. As time progressed the stores kept giving us an abundance of food and we kept giving it away," she said.

From a Farm to Helping to Inspiring Volunteers

McKnight said growing up with a large family on a farm guided her helping ethos.

"Working on our farm has helped me to learn the value and respect of others.  We would all work together for the common goal--to help each other and share. After graduating from nursing school, I realized from within I had always wanted to help others. When it comes from within --your heart follows!  There isn't a better day than when you see the face on one----- that is saying 'Thank You for all you do, and the help you give to all of us.'"

She says those who are helped often find it in themselves to help others, leading to a chain of love and care.

"I truly feel if I can help one person, that one person can help more," McKnight said. "So, it’s about touching that one person to touch and help two more families....  I do it because it's not a job or responsibility, it’s the love. The homeless and needy are our other family," McKnight said.

Testimony from Other Volunteers

Saline Navarrete

" I have a personal job but this is my volunteering job. It's God's work. I met Mary the first time we ever opened this establishment, that was like 2 years ago. Ever since then we've become very good friends and she's a member of our family. She has a very big heart. Very awesome person, very nice, very humble. She helps out a lot of people. People that don't even see her. You know I have a lot of coworkers that when they need help or food, I can text Mary and Mary offers to help. When I’m around her, I feel lots of love and appreciation. God blessed us with that angel. "

Dori Umlauf

"I met Mary at the food bank because she brought in food to help the needy in the neighborhood. She's a great friend. She's very loving, very kind, gentle and compassionate. She shows love to everyone that comes in. We need people like Mary who have a compassion for those who have less in society. We need people who are younger to come and volunteer and not just seniors who are retired. You can't depend on us all the time. Purpose and love inspires me to volunteer."

James O' Connor- Volunteer

"I have known Mary for about two years now. I help in the food pantry, in the thrift store, every day, five days a week because God's been good to me. It's time I give back. It's his grace that makes me want to do this. Mary is great, without her, we wouldn't have what we have here for the food pantry and we do help about 4,000 people a month from all over Reno. "

Photos and Reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Anthony, 'Trying to Get it Together' but Stuck on Drugs

Anthony, who we recently met at the Eddy House a downtown Reno drop-in center for local youths on the streets, says he can’t stop using drugs even though he knows they are ruining his life.  He says since he’s been homeless over the past year, his drug addiction has gotten worse and he wouldn’t wish his predicament on anyone else.  

“I can't stop.... They have controlled me. I can't stop them. All of the drugs. Every drug you could think of. I do it. Not to say that drugs are cool, drugs are most definitely bad stay away from drugs don't do them at all. They mess up your life. Don't do it. Don't do it… It only gets worse and worse.”

Missing School and His Parents

Anthony says he misses school.  He says he loved science and would one day like to study chemistry if he could.  He says he loves his parents, but that they separated, his mom got remarried, and his family situation just stressed him out, leading to his drug addiction.

"As soon as I found out that there were drugs to do, I started doing them,” he said.  “I have tried to seek help to overcome the addiction but I guess it's just more on me than the help I get because even the help I get is like a slap in the face type shit. And honestly, it's for the birds. I rather just die …. That's just me….”

Anthony says left his home and says he started doing ‘stupid things’ with his friends and wound up homeless. Photo and Interview by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Harrowing Experiences at the Shelter and on the Streets

He has been spending some nights at the shelter, but describes it in harrowing terms.

“It’s a hell of a place. We've got a lot going on there ... Veterans, people pooping, pissing everywhere. We got a lot of crazy people. So yeah. That's interesting and very sad.”

Out on the streets, he says a lot of other homeless pretend they are crazy even if he doesn’t think they really are. “There's just this gut instinct feeling that lets me know they're not crazy but they act like they're crazy. But they're not crazy. They just make like weird voices and they act like they're not talking to me…”

One of the drawings recently posted inside the Eddy House.

Respect for Everyone and Respite at the Eddy House

“You should treat everybody with respect no matter how they look. You know you never know what they carry, what knowledge they have …. And it's just you know what comes around goes back around. It's better to be a better person,” Anthony said.

Some of his only refuge is listening to music, including reggae, dubstep and hip hop.

He tries to spend weekdays at the Eddy House, where it feels safer. “I wake up, I come to the Eddy House, I shower, go to sleep for a little bit. Then I go back to the shelter and I repeat that. But I'm trying to get it together….I don't want to be a problem back home. I don't want to cause any more problems. My only regret is just being alive. I'm one of those people that feel like I'm not supposed to be here at all. It just it is what it is.”

Reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Mackenzie and Gregory, Homeless and in Love

Challenges of Love and Homelessness

“It’s fun to be with him. We like each other,” Mackenzie said.

“Sometimes we talk and we look at the clouds or we just make jokes about things,” Gregory said. “Sometimes I’m like 'Hey, can I have your autograph?'" “A lot of people say I look like Whoopi Goldberg,” Mackenzie explained.  

But they say it’s also a lot of work to make love work while homeless.

Gregory, 59, who used to work in security and in other jobs, but lost his way due to drug addiction, met Mackenzie on the streets of Oakland.  

They recently moved to Reno, where they’ve also found it difficult dealing with police.  They avoid the main shelter because it separates couples.

“We have already been told by the police that we can go live in the shelter but we don't like the shelter because there is a lot of bad personality. It's crowded and full. We are a couple and we don't want to be split up. The [police] even refused us to lay or camp in a park which is strange.”

They say in Oakland they didn’t have that problem. “In Oakland, you can go to a park and sleep peacefully, you do not get harassed. Here they hassle you even if you close your eyes and lay down,” Gregory said.

Keeping Each Other Safe and Dumpster Diving

They look out for each other, him at night and her during the day. “I promised her that I would never let anything happen to her and I never let anything happen to her and we worry each night we go to sleep because we have seen stuff happen at three or four o’clock in the morning. We have been threatened, we have been called all names. Sometimes it’s scary, most of the time I’m awake. Night time she sleeps, I stay awake so that I can protect her,” Gregory said.

“When he sleeps, I stay awake,” Mackenzie said.

They also help each other with their health problems.  Gregory has back aches and has survived several heart attacks, while Mackenzie has problems with her feet.  “I’m always in pain everyday,” she said. “I can’t get up sometimes, he has to help me out sometimes. I can’t take my meds because it will make me go to sleep.”

They were tired and hungry during the interview.  They says they sometimes go dumpster diving.

“Sometimes we’ll be so hungry that I’ll go to a restaurant and look at  garbage just to get us something to eat. That's something that I’m ashamed of but we have to eat,” Gregory said.

"That's all we own right here... two blankets and some clothes," Mackenzie said. Photo by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Missing their Children and Struggling to Get Back on Track

Both have had three children and miss them immensely.

“My daughters are 32, 31 and 17 years old. They don’t know we live in the streets at all. That's what we don’t tell them. I don’t want them to worry about me at all. I don’t want them to feel that they are obligated. They are not obligated at all,” Mackenzie said.

Gregory also has three children and misses them, but understands he hasn’t been in their life.

“My firstborn should be 38 years now, my second child who has the same name as me lives somewhere in ... Florida. I ran into my son on the streets and it didn’t go well because I wasn’t in his life and I think my kids they don’t look at me as a dad because I never supported or took care of them at all. I hate myself for not being in my kids life and it's really hard because I think about it and I beat myself about it.”

What would he tell his children if he could talk to them?

“I’m sorry that I wasn’t in your life. At the time, I was going through a hard life, it wasn’t you guys. Dad had a drug problem back then and I had nothing to offer but my love. There was no way I could have taken care of you guys and whoever raised you, they would have done a better job than I would have been able to and just don’t worry about me, just go on with your life. Don’t worry..."

Like some older homeless, they say they feel it’s impossible for them to get their life back on track.

“I had a job and I lost it and everything else went downhill,” Gregory said. “The company went out of business and it has been hard finding another one because we have no address … no phone, no clothes. It’s hard.”

He said once you lose your footing it’s hard to get it back.

“People look at you and say you need a job. I put in applications. They don't want me because I don't have experience and they don't want to train me so that I could get the experience and it’s hard because sometimes I would be so hungry and people would tell me to go find a job. My mother used to tell me if you’re hungry go knock on people's doors or go to the store and tell them you’re hungry. I used to do custodian work and I did security. As I got older, I had high hopes of being in law enforcement but it didn't work out. I was out of the streets. I had no steady place to go. Living with a friend became too expensive and I found myself on the streets by myself,” Gregory said.

Gregory says meeting Mackenzie changed his life for the better, and he feels good that he is helping her. “She feels safer …  if she was by herself, she would get maybe raped because there's a lot of guys here who would try to hurt her. She would try to find somewhere safe to sleep but nowadays there is no safe place to sleep,” he said. Photo and interview by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Defining their Love

Gregory said they are like any couple trying to keep the relationship they value so much going.

“We discuss things and we talk things out. I don't think we are better than anybody, we just live together and we hang in there,” he said.

“He’s fun to be with,” Mackenzie said of Gregory. “I like him a lot. He keeps me going a lot. He’s special to me. Very special.”

Photos and Reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Victor, Caught in the Cycle of Incarceration and Homelessness

Since the 1980s, there’s been a steep overall rise in both incarceration and homelessness across the United States. Studies show that those who leave jails and prison face an increased risk for homelessness, while those experiencing homelessness are more vulnerable to incarceration.

"I love leather," Victor said when we caught up with him at the main downtown shelter.  He says he used to spend his money on drugs and alcohol, but now that he's sober he prefers to use extra money on stylish clothing. Photo and reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

A Revolving Clanging Door

Every year, more than 600,000 people exit the criminal justice system.

Some return to their communities, but many are thrown into homelessness.  The significant proportion of those who were homeless before they were incarcerated often return to shelters, abandoned building and illegal campgrounds.

Victor says he's healthy and strong and can work. He says he doesn't have any mental health problems.  He says his hair is natural and not "hippy" or "druggy". Photo and reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

Proud of his Kids

Victor says his kids were born in the United States and have their own kids now, making him a proud grandfather and father.  

“They are big kids, some are working and some are going to school. I see them everyday. Six of my kids live in this area, in Reno. They are like friends. They know that I was a drug addict and alcoholic and they support me.”

Victor says he lost all his belongings and apartment the last time he was incarcerated so now he carries his possessions in a small backpack. Photo and reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

A Growing Homeless Population

Victor says he believes the homeless population in Reno has grown over the years.

“Twenty years ago, there was like 20 homeless people. Now the number (just gets) bigger, (there are) more crimes, more drugs, more (of) everything.

He says he's available to work, with good boots and gloves, and that he often does odd jobs.  He says he's also thinking of returning to Mexico, but that for now he lives moment by moment on the streets of Reno, trying to avoid being incarcerated yet again.

Julia, Helping Local Opioid Addicts in Her Daughter's Name

Losing Her Daughter but Not Her Will to Help Others

“When she walked into a room she owned it. She had a really big personality. While she was in school, she was gifted and talented. She was a dancer for many years with a local company here in town and she had done the Nutcracker several years in a row. She had a beautiful voice. She was very artistic and very smart. So, she was just, all around, a very cool girl. She was …. she was my baby. ”

Picetti tried as best she could to save her own daughter.

“For five years I worked with her to try to save her life,” she remembers. “But there was also another component, and that was mental illness. So, she was, very high functioning and her mental illness was borderline personality disorder …. And so even though she was high functioning, you would never tell that she had a personality disorder. But what happens is when people have a mental illness no matter how small or how large they tend to self-medicate. So, Jane started self-medicating at a young age...For five years, I tried saving her life and it was a journey you know, in and out of treatment centers and just lots of therapy and trying different medications…”

She said Jane had been clean for a while before her death, going back to school and taking part in family Sunday night dinners. On the last family dinner she attended, she remembers talking with her about hamburgers and food and her classes at TMCC.

“If you become clean and you stop doing the drugs for an extended amount of time, and then you try them again….  a huge danger is overdose. And that's what happened.”

A screengrab of the local Ridge House which helps people kick away addictions.

From Devastation to the Jane Aubrey House

Picetti says the loss brought her family closer together, but that initially her daughter’s death was devastating.

“I mean I couldn't get out of bed for the first couple of months. I mean losing a child is the most painful thing I think a human being could ever go through ... but it's been three years. And I just had a hand in opening up three recovery homes. The first recovery home was named after my daughter. It's called the Jane Aubrey House and it serves six women between the ages of 18 and 25ish who struggle with opioid addiction.”

She says typical recovery programs of 30 days just don’t seem to work.

“It was really important for me to build a program that was longer than 30 days. I wanted something that was going to be as long as it could take in conjunction with therapy and back to work opportunities and peer support. So, something that's complete, a complete program for these individuals. So, they have a better chance at recovery and sustaining that recovery and being successful in life. The type of people I work with are the younger generation. So, between 18 and 25 ish because you know they still have a chance … “

A screengrab for a 2016 event for the Jane Aubrey House. Picetti says showing love to those in recovery and putting them in a home family environment with like-minded people increases their chance of getting rid of their addiction.  

Success and Heartbreak at the Ridge House

The Ridge House also caters to young men facing opioid addictions, and she says there’s both satisfaction of huge success and total heartbreak in the work she does.

“We have another home that is for boys, the same age group 18 to 25 ish. And I just love them so much and they know that I love them and it's really fun to see them grow. The biggest challenge is relapse but it's also super common. Matter of fact …. they say it can take five to seven times, someone relapsing five to seven times, before it sticks, before recovery can really stick. That doesn't happen all the time but that is kind of the norm number. So, the biggest challenge is to see these young individuals slip and fall. We have lost a few which is heartbreaking for me because they're like my children. I mean, I really do care and love, love, them and I get to know their families and such. But then, to see them succeed is just so incredible … with smiles on their face and when we sit around and tell each other what we're so thankful for and you know they tell me that they're thankful that they're not on the streets anymore and they're thankful that they're not going through withdrawals anymore, because it's super painful coming off opioids.”

The Ridge House also deals with gambling addiction and alcoholism. She would like to see more beds for the program and more longer term recovery options.

A TEDx Talk at UNR

Watch Julia Picetti above speak publicly about her journey. She says speaking out has opened minds and doors. "I was fortunate enough to do a TEDx talk and because of that talk I've actually had people in other communities across the United States reach out to me and asked me to come to their communities and help them and teach them how to bring their community together.... My church got involved, Grace Church, and they actually started a recovery program called HopeFirst and it's a six-million dollar program with three million dollars of it going back into our community here in Reno for additional homes to house these people who are going through a recovery …. "

Follow the Money

Picetti says people should also look into what caused some of the opioid epidemic, and how excessive manufacturing, prescription and use of pain medication and painkillers such OxyContin, Percocet, Palladone, Vicodin, Percodan, Tylox and Demerol, among others, left many people being addicted and then also sometimes moving on to heroin.

“I think that people need to follow the money I think that a lot of people have gotten very wealthy off of this crisis and you know …. you look at the pharmaceutical companies and pain management so you know back in the 80s it was always a doctor who didn’t want you to be in pain you know …. and that's what they were taught. They were taught that… It just escalated in a lot of prescriptions being prescribed when they probably didn't need to be…. And here we are like 30 years later and this crisis.”

Picetti says localized efforts are crucial, such as the one run by Grace Church in Reno. Above a screengrab of their initiative you can find here.  “We can't wait for the government. We have to pull our own britches up as a community so you know your churches and you know your local entities and the leaders in your community need to come together and do these campaigns such as HopeFirst and so on and so forth.  If you have land that you're just sitting on … donate it so we can build affordable housing so we can help people, so we can give them a really good foundation, so they'll be more successful," she said.

Battling the Lack of Affordable Housing in Reno

Picetti is also getting involved in efforts to help with the lack of affordable housing in Reno as she sees the issues of addiction, homelessness, and mental illness as being all intertwined.  She sees this as a crisis on the entire West Coast.

“Our town is growing and it's prospering and so therefore a lot of people are moving in. And I'm happy about that. I'm happy about all of that. I think it's really great because we just went through a horrible recession and you know we're coming out of it and we're coming out of it stronger. So, I am happy about that but …. you know we have over three-thousand homeless children in Washoe County …. and  because of the influx and because we are becoming super popular for lack of a better word, it's raising the rents … and it's making it difficult for people who have a lower income to afford a place to live. Even the motels are getting expensive. So that creates a lot more homelessness. So, it really is unfortunate and it needs to be addressed and I know our cities are addressing it. But things don't happen quickly all the time …”

Once Homeless Herself, Now Fighting for Underdogs

Picetti was homeless herself in her teen years, after she ran away from her dysfunctional childhood home when she was 15.  “I did not graduate high school. I lived out in the streets for two years. My home life wasn't as good as it should have been. I just had a rough childhood without getting into details and it was just best that I left. It was scary. I slept in alleyways. It was cold. I went several days without eating and then everything that comes along with homelessness and also begging for money. I was an only child and I decided that I didn't want to continue being homeless. My faith helped me and I had an epiphany that I really wanted to have a good life.”

For those addicted, she says they should realize that what they have is a disease, which they shouldn’t be ashamed of. She recommends seeking help as soon as they can from those they trust.

“It could be a family member or it could be a friend or it could be a doctor. Whoever. But just have that conversation. If you're truly down and you're in your addiction you just need to have that conversation with someone that cares for you and get help because having a disease isn't something that you should be ashamed of.  You need help and you need love and you need tools for the rest of your life to be successful.”

Love and Reaching Out

If you feel a loved one or a friend is addicted, only love is the answer she says.   

“You really need to love them where they're at. And sometimes that can be very difficult … It's a disease and you need to get them help and never give up on them. Now I'm not saying not to have boundaries and such but never give up on them. If they want to get help, do whatever you need to do to get help there. There's a lot of help out there. I mean we don't have enough but there is a lot of help out there and you just you need to love those individuals.”

As she fights for her daughter’s legacy through her work and convictions, Picetti also fights for her own.

“I would like to be remembered as a person who cares deeply for the underdog,” she said. “Maybe not so much the underdog but I really care deeply about people who have maybe made mistakes but want to stand up and walk in the right direction and really try. I care deeply about those people and if I can help them have a better life because they want to have a better life and they want to do the work I will certainly be there for them. So that's how I want to be remembered.”

Photo and Reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Araceli and Jaime, Volunteering as a Family at the Eddy House

Finishing up a Volunteer Shift Together

Clipboards in hand, Araceli and her father Jaime Zamorana are finishing up their four-hour shift at the entrance of the Eddy House in downtown Reno, greeting other volunteers and youth living on the streets who today are ready to be counted for the 2018 Homeless Youth Point in Time Count.

Inside, the front rooms of the drop-in resource center are filled with art, generosity and a joyous mood.  Employees from Great Clips hair salons are giving away free but still very stylish haircuts.  Some youth who spent the night on cots in the Eddy House’s chill room are still warm inside, giggling and full of energy after eating Burritos.

“They looked so happy to wake up comfortable somewhere, and be able to immediately grab breakfast. They were saying ‘oh my gosh burritos …’  They were so excited, so that was really nice to see,” Araceli says.

Homeless youths were encouraged to create therapeutic art as part of the day's activities. After being counted and surveyed about their current conditions, they were given access to donations, food and other services. 

Looking to Become a Seven Day a Week, 24-Hour Center

The Eddy House also wishes it could be like this every day of the year, where it wouldn’t just be a Monday to Friday business hours drop-in operation, but a fully-funded seven days a week around the clock program.

A posting on their website indicates the center is in need of a $1.5 million annual budget to accomplish this goal, which they say is equivalent to the money northern Nevada casinos raked in just last night.  

Araceli, 21 and currently in the Human Development and Family Studies program at UNR, agrees: “There’s a lot of bad influences out on the streets, so if they had a place where they always felt safe and comfortable, it would be much better for them.” Jaime, who works for a property management company, says without a 24-hour center, it’s very difficult for kids to get a job or to stay in school.  

During her shift, Araceli was also given the task of conducting surveys with the homeless youth ready to be counted.  “We hear where they are staying, and what assistance they’re not receiving and how hard it is for them to get jobs because they don’t have a safe and secure place,” she said. 

No Home to Turn Back To at Night or When Rents Go Up

Araceli says when her own rent went up recently, she moved back in with her parents, a luxury youths on the streets don’t have. 

“A lot of the youths say they can’t go back home, even if they had the opportunity they wouldn’t, because it’s not a safe place for them.  They don’t consider it a safe place,” she said.

The survey task is given to the young adults among the volunteers. “There is kind of that connection there so they aren’t afraid to open up and talk about certain things,” Araceli explains.  

Many businesses and individual made very useful donations, which homeless youths could choose from.

All Around Volunteers

Jaime says it’s his wife, a social worker, who inspired him, Araceli and his other daughter to volunteer.  They also help at food banks, the Nevada Humane Society,  the Give Kids a Smile program, and with Habitat for Humanity. 

“We are grateful for how fortunate we are,” Araceli says. “My Mom had a rough upbringing so they like to let us know how hard it is for people out there who are less fortunate than we are. We like to do what we can.”

Employees from Great Clips also gave free haircuts. 

Inspiring Others

Araceli also tries to inspire her friends to also volunteer. 

“It just feels good, to know that you are helping somebody,” she says. “Even if it’s just putting a smile on someone’s face, they like the company. I do have friends who tell me it’s so amazing that I do this, but then they never try to until I tell them exactly what we do, and then some come out and volunteer with me, after I let them know how awesome it is.”

Today she felt inspired herself by how busy and productive the Eddy House felt.  

“Some of the kids, they’re leaving and grabbing more people to come back here.  The word is going out.  I’ve seen it all over the local social media.  New people are getting introduced to the Eddy House. This is a place that’s so great. It deserves help from all of us.”

Photos and Reporting by Our Town Reno on January 25, 2018