Caleb, A Collector, Recycler and Teacher On the Streets of Reno

From the Streets at 17 to Low Paying Jobs to the Bush and Trash Cans

Caleb sleeps in the “bush,” he says. What about the main shelter on Record street? “Oh, I love that place. It's great. If you want to get near threatened to death and almost in a fight …. or robbed then yeah, it's awesome. But the meals are fantastic. Top notch and that's not a joke or any sarcasm on that last part.”

He also finds food scavenging through trash cans. “I eat when I'm hungry,” he said when we met him by the Truckee River on a recent balmy fall day. “There's plenty out of the trashcan.”

Caleb recycles cans he finds for money and stores in his grocery cart, but says it pays less and less to be an aluminum collector. He’s worked different jobs in recent years, as a driver for Circus Circus, or for pizza and sandwich places in downtown Reno, but with nearly a quarter century surviving without stable housing, he says he’s getting used to getting by with less and less income.

Caleb says he first started living on the streets full time when he was 17 and that he’s now nearly 40. He’s had long term relationships, and heartbreak, he says, which caused major detours in his life, but that he’s never married. His mom lives on the East Coast but at his age, he says, he doesn’t see himself living with her.

Caleb says he stays away from hard drugs but enjoys his cigarettes. “I've taken nicotine occasionally when I'm stressed mostly. But it's actually a great anti-hunger thing that I learned about. Like if you're starving and you smoke a cigarette and now you feel sick because you just smoked a cigarette, so now you're not as hungry. It also keeps you warm in the winter.” Reporting by Prince Nesta and photo by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno.

Dealing with Mental Health Issues and Violence

“Mental issues run in the family, but I don't deal with them,” Caleb said when asked about rampant undiagnosed or untreated mental health issues among those living on the streets. “They're not my problems,” he added.

“I mean possibly, but have I been diagnosed? I self-diagnosed myself with ADHD, but I don't know if it's a misdiagnosis. I have OCD. I came up with three new forms of obsessive compulsive disorder. I don't deal with it, but just when I'm stressed out. Yeah... Like when people ask me for things that I don't have readily accessible, I take about as long as I can to try to get them to realize that their urgency is not my emergency. That's what's up. I've been in town since 1992. I'm almost 40. I can't live any other way.”

What about violence on the streets?

“I was beat up a few times, but you know, it's neither here nor there. People saw it happen … and just sort of walked on about their business. I'm pretty sure they're around this area at some point. I know there was an older couple. They heard me hoot and holler and somebody was actually on top of me, looking like they were trying to have sex with me … That was some years back. We won't talk about that. Yeah, there was no police report. Don't worry about that.”

“Keep faith it only gets better,” he told us as we finished our interview. Photos by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno of some of Caleb’s many possessions he moves around in his shopping cart.

Is Reno a Friendly Town?

“It's supposed to be like a friendly town, but I don't know. I haven't seen a lot of people get down on like, ‘Hey, How are you? Oh, good to see you!’ But there are a few that will look out for the other people that are in the same situation I am…. especially as far as giving food and sharing food. “

As left to go scavenge in a nearby trash can, another man came up to us to give his views on Caleb.

"He's the most sane, crazy person I've ever met,” the man said. “He's like very practical, insane, very chilled like normal OCD and stuff like stacking rocks. He picks up all the trash, in this whole area. I really appreciate that. And I love you Caleb. I just met this guy Caleb today and he's my brother,” the man said.

Reporting by Prince Nesta and Photography by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Jody, A Millionaire's Daughter Celebrating Her 50th Birthday on the Streets

On Being Evicted Recently from a Weekly

When we caught up with her, Jody and her teenage daughter had been living without housing for three weeks.

“I tried to do the weekly thing. I had a job, but I was two days late on rent. They wouldn't let me stay for two days and here I am … Shelters are currently full. Domestic violence shelters are full and have a waiting list. Section 8 has been down closed for a year….The family shelter is also full and also has a waiting list and they told me to check back once a week. This is the biggest homeless population they've had in history here… I was lucky enough to find this place called the Prayer House. And we're just kind of winging it here you know. But here I am lugging all my stuff around down to two bags for my daughter and I. And this is my life. I don't do drugs and you know I don't gamble and we're just good people, just got put on the street you know.”

Jody has been trying to navigate the different available services since fleeing an abusive partner. What she needs the most though, she says, is to find housing again. “We just need a leg up you know. Somewhere where I can have my daughter every day and she can come home to everyday and then I can get up and go to work and she can get to school. And that's all we need. That's really all we need. And then I can have a life of my own.” Photo by Jordan Blevins with reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

The Exhaustion of Living on the Streets

“My daughter collapsed two nights ago in front of the shelter while waiting for dinner at the shelter. That broke my heart. She's a beautiful girl too. It was just exhaustion you know. And you cannot realize how much you're out. You know they put you out, there's nowhere to stay during the day and my daughter collapsed from exhaustion in a panic attack … So I took her to the hospital. We almost missed getting indoor shelter that night because of that. But, yeah, it's exhaustion. I had actually collapsed about three days before that right over there. Out here, nobody helps you. I'm on Medicaid and I get food stamps…”

Past Abuse and Fears for Her Daughter

“I lost my virginity to a rapist when I was 15. And you know I got over it. But for my daughter who is 15 now it really worries me about her having something like that happen to her. Out here, I've also slept on the river once and you know I had a knife aimed up this way and a pepper spray around my head you know.”

She says other homeless have rescued her from attacks. But she fears she won’t be able to stay at the Prayer House too long, as usually, she’s been told, it’s only for a short time you are allowed to stay. You have to be in before five p.m., and out and about the rest of the day, which she says complicates her logistics with her daughter and finding work hours.

Jody says he phone was doused and damaged by someone else staying at the Prayer House, adding a new complication to her daily struggles. Photo by Jordan Blevins with reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

Dealing with Social Services, Fights and Pimps

Jody was hoping to get back to school, but says she missed registration. She says she plays music, but recently had her guitar stolen. She used to work warehouse jobs for $14 an hour, but with Prayer House required hours and not having a place to store her belongings during the day, she’s had a hard time figuring out her new logistics.

Often she says people who are homeless get blamed for everything bad that happens on the streets.

“A lot of times you get people fighting, yelling. And some want to fight each other. You know it's just hard for the regular people that are homeless to deal with that and we get mixed into that crowd. They want to corner you here into having a problem. If you go into social services they will corner you literally into what they think your problem is so they can get you in somewhere. And if you don't have a problem, they are like aaargh... Because they have tons of resources for drug addicts, tons of resources or places to go for kids with moms or dads that have drug problems. Their kids can get taken care of in a nanosecond. There's are some people that just go to drugs just because they know there's more resources.”

Because of her situation, she says she’s been approached to be a prostitute.

“I've been accosted by people that want to be my pimp. And are chasing me asking me for my name and I'm like I decline to answer and then they follow me for a block or two calling me names because I won't tell them my name. There are people out here that they see a homeless woman who looks semi decent and they wanna take them in and destroy them you know. So I'm trying to stay away from all that stuff. You know because I don't need that and my daughter doesn't need that.”

“It's like day to day you don't know what the end of the day is going to be. Anything could happen. And that's the scary part,” Jody said of being out on the streets. Photo by Jordan Blevins with reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

A Chicken and Egg Situation

Jody says she can’t figure out how to get her life back on track now without a room to get sorted, and be able to get ready to go look for a job again.

”If even somebody had a house with a bedroom…. I would have rent in a week. That's my situation. I've got food stamps coming tomorrow, so I have that, but I just don't have the income…I just need a room for my daughter and I. That's all I need. Just a stable place where I can say she's going to school. Everyday we have a routine, she's safe and going to school, I can go to work and then help myself out of the situation.”

She says she used to look down on the homeless but not anymore.

“When I was in my 20s, I used to mock the homeless people all the time. And that's because you're in your 20s, you don't know any better, right? But I grew and my view changed for the homeless people … Because you start realizing that you know sometimes you are meeting people on the streets and they're shaking your hand and being polite to you and they're homeless … “

She says she used to cook for people in dire situations and that now she is in a situation where she is the one in need of assistance.

She concludes our interview by saying she is dismayed by the affordable housing crisis.

“With the amount of low income people that we have here why they keep jacking up the rent is beyond me. It's just a bunch of greedy people and a lot of these people already have money. People are just greedy, greedy, greedy …. Walk along this river, go back and donate some money. I hate to say it but money is what we need out here.”

Reporting by Prince Nesta and Photography by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Kyle, an Eye on Government Evil and Keeping Friends Safe

When we met Kyle, originally from Fresno, in downtown Reno last week, he said he was on his way to Burning Man.  He's been homeless for most of the last decade. "I’m not going there to party or drink but to find people who are actually making a difference in this world," he said of why he wanted to go to Burning Man. Photo by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno. Reporting by Prince Nesta.

Choosing to Live Outside and Battling Alcoholism

Kyle says he first went to live in the forest with pot growers after breaking up with a girlfriend, who he had tried to save from alcohol addiction. He avoids homeless shelters, and prefers camping outside despite the many challenges such as cold weather, or the lack of security when living in a precarious state. 

"I even got stabbed in the face, one night, while walking down the streets in an alley. I was trying to save a girl from a known drug dealer who was on top of her. I'm an alcoholic. I tried to manage it through self-control but I’ve come a long way but it used to have control over me. I have tried other drugs such as LSD, mushrooms, DMT (Dimethyltryptamine, also a hallucinogenic drug.)  They actually helped me overcome my alcoholic issues. I actually think that weed, LSD and mushrooms helps you to expand your mind just like Steve Jobs said you should take LSD and I agree with that."

Kyle is against what he views as a war-driven tax system: "90% of our tax dollars, what they get spent on is decided by rich, evil men who love war and pollution and slavery and they use taxes as the foundation to pay for all their evil .... bombing and killing children in Syria, ...billions for nukes. Our Government is evil.  We have a tax slavery system, which they use the taxes to pay for killing and to get their profits from killing in Afghanistan and Iraq and then get oil and opium," he said. Photo by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno. Reporting by Prince Nesta.

Harsh Words Against the Government and the Mistreatment of Homeless

Whatever is said in speeches and political promises, Kyle says he looks at what is actually going on and doesn't believe government in general cares about people like him living on the streets.

"The government doesn't care about the homeless, they want to freaking genocide us," he said. "They only care about the rich. " 

He also doesn't like when people look down on those without stable housing.

"I think it's social hierarchical bullshit when people treat the homeless badly. It's just like the system in India where they have the caste system.... Some of the greatest minds come from the ghettos. It’s just shallow to determine people’s personal values by the money system and that’s just shallow."

Kyle who loves playing music by the river says he feels free around other homeless, and tries to help them out.  "I like to help them get over their addictions because that's the only thing that is really hampering them from their freedom," he said. He was hoping to take his Didgeridoo Tribal wind instrument to Burning Man when we met him. Photo by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno. Reporting by Prince Nesta.

A Last Message, In His Own Words

Kyle says he's seen homeless such as a doctor in Los Angeles who lost everything in a divorce but now helps other homeless deal with their ailments, and according to him that's a good street lesson.

"My last message to the people ... is average people walking down on the streets should not look down on homeless persons because they don't know their story. If they were to put themselves in their shoes, which no one ever does anymore, they will realize that they have very good reasons. Don't perceive your own personal values based on this .... system that evil men have created for their own benefits to profit from money and banking. Do you care about making money or getting out there to show some love?" he asked as we concluded our interview.

Photos by Jordan Blevins and reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

 

Another Night on Record Street

As the shabby dressed people shamble pass me at 5:00 a.m. to face another day on the streets at the coldest time of the day, almost to a person they thank me.  “Thank you, God bless you” they say to me as they leave the building where they have been sleeping on the bare floors or trying to sleep sitting in chairs.

This is a Sunday morning and the outside temperature is just below freezing.  I have been watching over these human beings since 1:00 a.m. in a building that is part of the Reno Homeless Shelter complex.  The building called the Resource Center seems to be mainly composed of classrooms some with computer stations for training. This area is being used as a last resort to try to get people out of the cold drizzling rain.  Why am I here? Because the Homeless Shelter is yet again unstaffed probably because of sick call-ins.

Temple Sinai was scheduled to provide the volunteers to man the emergency overflow tent setup in the back-parking lot of the Complex.  We usually have three volunteers, at the tent, from 8:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. and three volunteers taking over at 1:00 a.m. to after the final cleanup at approximately at 6:00 a.m.  Actually, four volunteers had arrived before 8:30 p.m. but two were asked to help with the fourth overflow for the third overflow for the second overflow shelter at the Record Street facility.  

The area identified as the Men’s Shelter, which serves as a coordinating center, was being manned by an untrained new person who had no idea what to do and was overwhelmed. One of our volunteers, who is a pre-med student at the University of Nevada, and has helped the Shelter often was trying to assist this person.

Our other volunteer started to man the overflow that was being housed in the Resource Center. As far as I could tell the complete complex was being manned by one security guard, a person at the Family Shelter that I assume were employees and our four volunteers. At 1:00 a.m. two more of our volunteers arrived. They took over responsibility for the overflow tent, one of the tent volunteers went home and I moved to the Resource Center and the two volunteers there went home.  They both had important commitments just in a few hours.

Was this situation unique?  I seriously doubt it, probably more the norm.  

Before I started volunteering to man the Overflow Homeless Shelter I would have thought that my emotional response would be a feeling of good service, a feeling of contributing.  But I find my emotional feeling is anger, anger of how this can happen here. But I also look around and see some of the young volunteers, the young pre-med student who is spreading the word about free medical clinics, the young lady, mother of three children, taking 24 credit hours a semester so she can become a social worker and try to make a difference.

How did we get here as a nation?  This situation isn’t new. It’s been going on for hundreds of years.  Is this just a part of life, a part of evolution, survival of the fittest, survival of the most cunning, or survival of the unscrupulous? What we are left with are the results of neglect, indifference, shame, and our self-inflicted ignorance!

I often hear “But for the Grace of God go I” as people encounter the Homeless, the families sleeping out on the streets and I think do they give that anymore thought than “God bless” after someone sneezes?  I don’t think I did.

We are in a rapidly evolving world except for the Homeless. Some now have smart phones but they are dressed in unwashed, unclean clothing, ragged coats, hats, and gloves if they are lucky.  Many have day jobs but can’t afford to find even minimal shelter, a flea-bag motel, a shared room, some try to stay in small camps along the river or out in the desert.

Often the police will raid these encampments and burn or destroy their few precious belongings.  Do the authorities who order these raids actually go on these encounters and watch? What can be going through their minds, do they feel that is their duty? Under other circumstances would these raids be criminal?

Early in this same evening, manning the overflow tent my friend and I watched an older man probably in his sixties or seventies (hard to tell under these circumstances) try to walk across the pavement (tent floor) with his son trying to help.  The tent was already at overcapacity but we still had two thin mats and one clean blanket.

The son helped the older man over to one of the mats and tried to help him sit. The man’s legs were so stiff and in so much pain that it took the son about ten or fifteen minutes to get his father into a sitting position on that mat.  The son then started to gather two other blankets that were already thrown in the “to be cleaned” bins.

I approached him and told he was not to use those blankets because they needed to be cleaned first. He mumbled a few words to me that I couldn’t understand but he was polite and determined so I stood back and let him gather the two blankets he felt he needed.  He then spent the next almost half hour arranging the two remaining mats on top of each other and padding and stacking the blankets to give his father a more comfortable sleeping space. The son then pulled a deserted patio chair close to his father, wrapped himself in a discarded blanket and went to sleep.

“Thank you, God Bless You”

Photos, Audio and Text by Steven Weidman shared with Our Town Reno

Daniel Fred, an Addiction Treatment Instructor with First Hand Knowledge

How long have you worked at the university?

I have taught since 2010, and then I have been here as full-time faculty since 2011. I took a six-month hiatus where I didn’t work at the university in 2016. When I left for six months I did recovery advocacy work. I left because I got offered a lot more money and I thought money would make me happier. It was good for me because I missed teaching and realized money isn’t good if you aren’t happy. Coming back to campus refocused me on my teaching and not necessarily on the extra stuff I was doing within recovery.

What classes do you teach?

I mainly teach the intro to the Addiction Treatment Services minor (From the UNR website: The minor, available to all students, is particularly designed for those who are majoring in a health or social service field and are interested in the addiction treatment field as a supplement to their major.) It’s the intro to Substance Abuse Disorders and then every now and then I will teach another class if it pops up but nothing consistent.

A screengrab from the UNR website and its Addiction Treatment center.

What are some of the things you talk about in your classes?

Well, they are about addiction. Some of the cool things I get to do is going to fraternities and sororities and talk about alcohol and drugs. My number one goal is to teach students to question themselves. If you never question yourself then that is how you end up in places that you don’t want to end up in. For me, as someone who is in recovery and as someone who went through my active addiction on campus, I just dismissed it because I just thought it was sort of college. I dismissed it and everyone else did too because it was just part of the college experience.

I think for me it is teaching students to question why they are using and how would you know if the drugs or the use was taken more of you than you are willing to give it. It is such a gradual thing and it almost is too late once you realize and you are going to have to put in work. I see students all the tie who are struggling with stuff. I have students right now that can’t go more than a couple of days without using oxy and who are actively trying to give it up but not necessarily willing to do what it takes to get there because of the stigma. The most important thing is knowing you have a problem and then finding out what you need to do to get help. The stigma prevents a lot of people from getting the help they need.

The legalization of recreational marijuana in Reno has led to more types and more potent weed to be more widely available.  Some students start smoking too much and lose some of their focus for classes. Photo by Kody Kitchener shared with Reynolds Sandbox

What led you to seek a career in teaching about substance abuse?

Nothing led me, actually it just happened. I was a graduate student in my first addiction class, and a professor here asked if I ever thought about teaching, and I was like 'nope.' I don’t like talking to people in public or public speaking or any of that stuff. She told me I should try it and I did a TA position, and then I taught my own class and fell in love with it. None of what I’m doing did I ever plan or go after. It kind of just happened. My focus then narrows as I try other stuff.

What kind of campaigns do you run at the University of Nevada, Reno?

Not really campaigns. Our theme is consent-positive and to be a good bystander. We do a different presentation theme every year. This year we did Mindful AF, which is talking about being mindful and fabulous. Talking about how consent is like mindfulness and being present when drinking, being mindful about your drinking and being a mindful bystander.

"My perspective is that I am not an anti-drug person, I am definitely a decriminalization person and I am also a pro questioning why you are using not just doing it because all of your friends are doing it. I think the reason we have problems isn’t that we have no education, but we have the wrong education in college. Students are never taught to question why they are doing it and what they are doing it for," Fred said when asked about his perception of drugs in general.

What do you think about the drug culture with students at UNR?

It is interesting because I found that every college is about the same, (even though) every university thinks they are the party university. All the drugs are the same and they are mostly all experimental, so tons of alcohol use and tons of marijuana use. Even in Colorado, the issues are the same issues that are happening in other schools. I think all the trends are all the same between schools. If you look at the binge drinking average we are right in line with the national average. There are differences between community colleges and the more rural areas.

What are the new trends that you’ve noticed?

I think we are shifting more back to Adderall, coke, and Molly which are more like stimulants. I would also say hallucinogens are popping back up. Cocktail parties are also a thing that is more and more popular, especially in high school. It went away for a while because people were more cautious about taking things they weren’t sure what they were, but now these parties are back on the rise.

I think for me, I don’t think there are many new drugs, I think there are new variations of drugs, like fentanyl which is fairly new, but it is just a more potent form of an opioid. There has been a shift of uppers and downers between every decade, like in the 80’s it was coke and then in the 90s, it was crack and so on. Recently it has been Adderall and coke that are on the rise again.

The drugs nowadays are also so much potent than it used to be. The fact that weed is now legal for recreational use it is almost the same as the Adderall problem because students see no negative with it, which is what sucks about addiction because you don’t realize you have a problem until you’ve lost too much. Most students don’t even think of weed as a drug anymore even though it has the same potential as some of these other drugs to lead to negative consequences. It also has the addictive potential the only real difference is that you can’t overdose on it. I think that trend has been made ever more safe so I think that more people are going to start using it and they are going to start using it at a higher dose than what average people were doing before it was legalized. I think the trend is not to talk about the education but talk about the negative consequences, which does not work.

"Anytime the word legal is put on something it is automatically assumed that it is safe. The reason that we have such massive problems with alcohol and tobacco is not because of how terrible they are but because we think they are safe. This leads to more people using them. There is a direct correlation between the first time you do drugs and if someone is addicted. People get confused when we talk about if drugs are good or bad, but drugs aren’t necessarily the problem .... it is our view and our use on them. I think the view of weed being safe is what makes it dangerous still because more people are using it at a younger age. We just can’t see overdose because it does not affect that part of your brain. People assume that it is safer than alcohol and cigarettes, but I think within 10 years we will start seeing the negative consequences that go with weed," Fred said. Photo by Kody Kitchener shared with Our Town Reno

What are some of the other thing you can touch on relating to students and drugs and in particular students at UNR and drugs?

There are a couple of things. We always want to advise on how to fix the problem, but that depends on the individual and their support and what they need. Would treatment work? Would programming work? Would AA work? I think there are so many different options. I think the most important thing is really learning to believe to separate yourself from your addiction and that your addiction is not you and to separate from the shame that comes with it. Telling yourself, you can do it or be instilling hope that life gets better because it does. I have met, I don’t how many people who are sober and people who have given up fantastic careers to get sober. I have never met anyone who has gotten sober that says 'I wish I never got sober.' It’s a scary thing, but everyone I have met has made their lives infinitely better.

How can you tell if a student needs help?

I tell students I am always open and I am not gonna judge you when it comes to drugs and alcohol and stuff. I just tell them I am always free and they can always reach out to me. I get a lot of students who reach out who are like 'hey man I might have an issue with this' or 'I am worried about a friend.' I think its hard because the classes I teach have a ton of students so it’s hard for me to know who is there and who isn’t. I can barely know all my students names. It is hard because when you are busy with school, sports, or even Greek Life it is normal to pass out in class. I have to rely on reaching out and for my classes, you have to give up something for nine weeks and a lot of the students choose a substance so it comes out then.

"One of the problems I have noticed is that students don’t want to say anything because they aren’t sure if it is a problem or if they are making it up and I try to tell them it is okay to be wrong. It doesn’t have to be a problem but if you don’t say anything then who is going to let you know. All you gotta do is say something. If you are concerned about someone I think the students need to empower students so they can be like 'hey I am worried about you' and try to help their peers. I think we need to train students to be active bystanders," Fred said of if you think a roommate might have a problem with drugs.

Finally, do you have any tips on how to help students who might be addicted?

I think it is always just reaching out and encourage other students to use the services that are provided to them. We have an LADC (Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor) on campus that people don’t know about because she is in student conduct,  but you don’t have to go through student conduct to talk to her. She is a part of the counseling services, but students don’t know she exists. She can do free assessments, which usually cost a lot of money and students usually have to have insurance for. We have really good groups between like counselors and nutritionists that you have to pay a lot of money for and students have them for free. It is (also) important to remain the compassionate friend who is like 'I am saying this because I care about you and I am here if you need me.' If students know their friends care they will eventually be able to hear it.

Interview by Kody Kitchener and Madison Cleveland shared with Our Town Reno

Manuel, A Simple Man, Broken Down by Divorce and Drinking

Missing his Wife and Son

I was working a lot, and not paying attention to my family and my wife decided to move on.  She divorced me. One of my worst moments in my life was when my wife left me. It still hurts. She moved on, but I didn’t.  If I could speak to her, I would tell her, 'I miss you and I'm sorry.' 

I’ve got to go to court because I got sued for child support . My son is 12. The last time I saw him was about a month ago.

I know he loves me and I love him. I just don't know what's going to happen. He's upset with me. We used to go to Disneyland and Six Flags, and we don't do that anymore. I regret not being there for my family before, being more interested in my job than in my family.

I tell him things are going to be ok. I’m going to get better. I tell him to stay in school and do your best. 

"I used to be a contractor, a tile setter and stone mason. I was making up to sixty dollars an hour but now I’m taking a break. I'm trying to get back on my feet. I got to get my head together. I want to go back to work and see my son again. I've been drinking just to forget about those good times I used to have. It's hard. Life has many turns. I don't think it's unfair but it has plenty of turns," Manuel said.  Photo and Reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Empathy for the Homeless and for Himself

When I’m out here I see a lot of homeless, and I don’t feel good about that because it seems like people here want to get rid of the homeless, they want to push them out of Reno.  They seem to want the homeless out of here, gone. But they need more help. They need more mental health services. Because some aren't right in the head and they're not being helped.

I was sober for 15 years. When I got divorced, I started drinking again, moved out of my house, and started living at my mom's house again. My mom is sad, very sad. My dad is very mad. But what can you do when stuff falls on you and you can't do anything? I went back to drinking, lost this, lost that. What do you want me to do? What can you do?

As told to Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Lola Mana Yarrow, An Artist Entrepreneur With a Giant Heart for Reno

A New Phase in Reno

Yarrow, 24, is just starting to establish herself at Reno Art Works, and she is full of questions, energy, enthusiasm and wonder, traits she puts to both cosmic and worldly uses in her art and advocacy for a better Reno.

"Reno, you know, there's a lot of heat here. People are pretty fiery, but also there's this element of actually getting things done," she said. "When I'm here, I'm here and people are like, well it's so weird that you moved back and like, yeah, I moved back, like I came home, I came back to myself, I came back to my work with fresh eyes."

She used to base herself at the Generator and went to Burning Man twice, but that was before her three-year detour in Seattle, making her ready for new beginnings in her hometown.

"I'm fourth generation here ... and so sometimes it's a little bit unnerving to not have my own identity.  So Seattle was my way of creating my own identity but I was also having a little bit of trouble just really establishing myself in Seattle. It was really fun, but the gentrification there is even worse.  My house got sold from right underneath me. I had a month to move out."

A screengrab from the Electric Moon Boutique Instagram Yarrow runs. "I haven't even started my Etsy," she said. "My friend is doing all of my product photography, so I'm in the midst of really establishing myself as a business and mostly I've just been selling stuff through pop up events."

The Electric Moon Boutique Adventure

Having cycled through a few other names for this current venture, she has no problems though explaining her deep rooted vision.

"I've been doing this my entire life which is refurbishing old clothing and making it new and fresh and this ability to just be authentic and creative, just to be ourselves in the world," she said. 

Both her boutique though and her work as a nanny could be preludes to otherworldly artistic pursuits. "What I'm really hoping to do by establishing my business is also to be able to support and facilitate some of my other pretty, wacky creative art, because I kind of have some crazy stuff and sometimes I just display it," she said.

She says she is going for "non-gendered, playful, sweet, poppy, light and colorful pink, blue and yellow" aesthetics to balance her deeply intense darker sides.  She has been working with friends, but wants to involve more people in her project.

"The way we express ourselves is like an artistic expression and I definitely have people that I have on my radar for that. But really bringing it together is going to take some time because I still need to let myself establish myself." 

"This is something that I found, a seventies little headpiece that I found for $5 and I put these pieces on it and this chain. This is what I do. I take things that people kind of throw aside and they're like, 'oh, that's whatever.' And then I turn it into something that's like wearable art. I think someone could probably wear this to Burning Man. I'm not really a burner brand, but I do make some eccentric stuff. I feel like it would be really good for Burning Man," she said of a recent piece she was going to display at Reno Art Works.

Apprehension for Reno

"I don't think people in Reno are prepared for what we're about to go through," she says of the affordable housing crisis, gentrification and the current boom which is putting a strain on services and public spaces.

She would like to see more of a communal response to pressing issues such as creating better public transportation, as well as improving education and helping those with mental health issues.

"I'd love to see some creative projects with the university and really utilizing that young creative talent because a lot of these older people are pretty set in their ways. I don't think it just comes down to building homeless shelters," she said. 

"I love all of the people that I've met here and feel super supported here," Yarrow says of Reno Art Works.  "I want to do my art, but I also don't want to be like this lone wolf. I want to have my space, but I also just really, really believe in community.  It feels like a safe haven in Reno when there's so much upheaval and stuff."

Ideas from Seattle

Better pay is one idea she believes Reno could try to follow other cities such as Seattle, where officials voted to incrementally boost the minimum wage up to $15 an hour.

"I can't even believe that people are still paying $10 an hour. No one can afford to live off of $10 an hour in this city. It's crazy to me. I'm not saying that there's one solution, but it's insulting to be paid $10 an hour in this day and age. $10 doesn't even get you a meal anymore," she said.

She also believes there should be more corporate accountability for companies establishing themselves in Reno.  "It's really important to establish boundaries and Reno is not good at that," she said.  

"People, businesses want to move here. They could move elsewhere but they want to move here. I think that the city and our government really needs to take a step back and ask how these companies are actually contributing. Like Tesla has a ton of money. I would love to see them create public transportation in some way for their employees. In Seattle there were van pools. And Amazon bought all these vans to pick people up in different parts of the city. Things like that make a huge difference. So I'd love to see companies really take accountability for what they're doing to our city," she said.

"I think that everything comes with kind of a shadow and a light," Yarrow says of recent changes in Reno. "And so there's always gonna be some benefits and there's always gonna be some setbacks."

Being an Authentic Leader on the Homefront

Yarrow comes from a long line of Reno entrepreneurs, and she says she is now ready to pick up the mantle in her own way. 

"I think being really authentic is my value," she said.  "And by being authentic, it's sharing what's not okay with me and what I'm really excited about and that these can coexist," she says of her role in Reno's current upheaval.

She often interacts with others through social media, and engages in constructive discussions to find solutions, to understand all sides, such as with the current destruction of motels.

"My mother is an architect and so I told her, 'I think that it would be really great to turn these motels and to protect them.' She said, 'well, you know, those places are run down and they're not worth saving and they just need to be torn down.' And so she, she has a point, right? There's never a one sided issue. But really understanding the other person and seeing their perspective and saying, 'okay, but this is an issue for everybody and how do we address it? Yes, maybe people can't afford to live in these places that are like $1,600, $2,000 in Midtown, but these cheap places that are being built are not sustainable either. You're being ripped off, everyone's being ripped off because it's just happening so quickly."

Original Our Town Reno Interview and Photography, Summer of 2018

Cheryl and Terry, a Resilient Love and Life by the Truckee River

A Riverside Community

Terry, 45, remembers well when he recently "graduated" from the local Ridge House recovery program for those struggling with addiction.  He quickly found himself sleeping in a stairwell in downtown Reno.  It was people living in informal encampments along the Truckee River he says who gave him what he needed in terms of communal support and living arrangements.

"They helped me set up a tent and helped get me going again. Nobody goes hungry there," he said at a recent meeting set up by a friend who has been checking in on them regularly since the police operation.  "If we see someone's hungry, we'll share food or make sure we find food they can have."

After recently being uprooted from his most recent riverside sleeping spot in a cleanup operation led by Sparks PD, his possessions either thrown in a big dumpster or inventoried and taken away, it's others along the river who once again stepped up and gave him and Cheryl a new tent and tarps to set up their new sleeping spot. 

He says the police said he should go to the shelter, but he couldn't envision being separated from Cheryl and their dog Bubba. Still it was traumatic. "We had all our blankets, our ice chest, full of food and dog food ... my tools I had saved up for to be able to do mechanic work .... We had been there a year," he said.  

A baby bird Terry says was caught up and died as part of the police cleanup. Photo provided by Terry and Cheryl. 

Protecting Animals along the River

Terry says he tries to be a force for good along the river, including saving animals during and after the cleanup.

"There was a skunk, he had his head stuck in a yogurt cup and he was on the main part of the drag. They also uprooted a lot of animals. We called the Humane Society and they were taking too long where I thought it was going to die, so I grabbed it and removed the cup from it so it would survive. You know the skunk sprayed me, but that's ok." 

He says a cat and a hawk died as areas were bulldozed. "It wasn't just the homes of the homeless they destroyed, there were bluejays too." 

"I can understand it from both sides," Terry said of the recent cleanup.  "I see what they are trying to do. We're a mess, but if we're there and these people are stuck in these kinds of situations why not say 'you need to be out of sight for other people,' but you got people living in the community who also leave their mess and trash along the river and stuff, and it's not all from us. We try to pick up after each other and encourage each other to do the right thing and say 'hey, you can't do that.' The police they need to be fighting the real crime that's happening." Photo shared with Our Town Reno by Cheryl and Terry.

Uprooted but Not Gone

Cheryl suffers from recurring seizures and first ended up sleeping under a bridge after being kicked out of an apartment with an ex-boyfriend for making too much noise. 

She says despite the warnings and the clean up operation, and talk of anti-camping ordinances, those living along the river are still there.

"None of them really left the river. They just relocated to a different area of the river. It's just a matter of where. A lot of them just went back to the Reno side. I'm not going to lie about that either. So now it's Reno's problem. They're talking about anti-camping ordinances but a lot say it's ridiculous. You guys can consider it camping, but it's not camping for us, it's living. That's how we survive. Most of us aren't making a mess or causing trouble. We're just trying to get by and live our lives."

Cheryl and Terry say they've noticed more and more people actually coming to live along the river, not fewer, despite the occasional police operations.  They say it's often new people adjusting to a new situation of homelessness who are angry and depressed who make everyone along the river look bad.

"There's messy people and we try to regulate that stuff we really do," Cheryl said. "I've walked down the river path many times and picked up garbage. I've yelled at people who do drugs along the river, or who drop a bag or a needle or something, and I'll scream and holler at them because it's disgusting. You just don't do that. But it's also people who just come to the river on the weekends who also leave trash everywhere," she said. 

Cheryl is trying to get Bubba certified as a service dog.  She says she couldn't fathom sleeping without her dog and Terry as would be required if she went to a shelter.  "They keep me more focussed. They keep me grounded," she said.  

Looking out for Each Other

Both say they were derailed in their lives previously by bad relationships and also "bad choices." Now that they've found each other, they don't want go to shelters and be separated.

They barely get by, with Terry sometimes finding jobs helping people move or clean out lots for businesses. A former musician and certified mechanic with a bachelor's in engineering, he's also worked helping with events at the GSR, and says he's available for any honest job. Cheryl uses pot to deal with her seizures, but the recent stress and heat are worrying her. She says he helped her deal with not "totally losing it" during the police cleanup, and making it worse.

"He's kind of my good angel on my shoulder...." she said. "He's the only person I listen to in the world. I don't know why but I do. With him around, I also can't do something stupid, because he needs me too."

Reporting by Our Town Reno in July 2018

Kenneth Dalton, Preserving the History of Minorities in Northern Nevada

A Mission to Share History

Dalton's mission with Our Story, Inc., is to seek out, collect, preserve and exhibit the contributions, heritage, culture, and accomplishments of people who have not been well represented in Northern Nevada’s public image. Artifacts and memorabilia in his possession include those of boxing legend, Jack Johnson, and activist Bertha S. Woodard, who petitioned the Reno City Council in 1959 to lift a ban on minorities in local casinos.

A Tacoma, Washington native and former firefighter in Reno, Dalton has been living in the Biggest Little City since the mid 1980s, where he's also coached football and track.  He sat down with Our Town Reno reporter Prince Nesta and Emily Hodge for a recent interview.

A map created by Our Story, Inc., outlines some of the black experience in Northern Nevada history. 

Q: When did you start preserving the history of minorities in Northern Nevada?

Dalton: When I came to Reno in 1985, I was one of the six first African-American firefighters in all of Northern Nevada. I was like, 'that’s ridiculous.' In my quest to find out more about that history, I started seeing some other things that happened in Reno like, the fight of the century. I could ask ten people if they had heard about the fight of the century, when Jack Johnson came to fight in town and helped put Reno on the map and they all said they had never heard about that. Most of them only knew about Harriet Tubman or Martin Luther King. So, I thought it was important to remind people that we have people right here that have made a difference not only in our lives but in other people’s lives in the country. Like my good friend and board member, Andre Berry, one of the first black generals or the first black general for the state of Nevada. He lives right here and most people don’t even know that, but are always quick to question where I heard that from. I’m like, you can go down to the library and find out.

Q: What are some of the important artifacts that you have preserved in your organization?

Dalton: Some of the artifacts that we’ve preserved is how we stay true to people like Paula Williams, an African American architect, who largely based his practice in Los Angeles, but designed structures in Northern Nevada including; the Lear Theater, the Garvey House, the Rafael Hermon House, the Loomis Apartments and El Reno Housing Project. Bertha Woodard, one of the founding civil rights activist in this community and also known to have petitioned the Reno City Council in 1959 to lift a ban on minorities in local casinos, personally left me her memorabilia to preserve. We’ve also kept the personal history of Jim Beckwourth, an African American who was very important to this community by playing a major role in the early exploration and settlement of the American West. We went up there and took pictures of the trading post that he built. It’s about 40 miles north from here, out through Hallelujah Junction. We have also preserved the history of Ben Palmer. He was one of the first black ranchers in the Carson Valley. In fact, one of the first ranchers, period. Let’s take the black off of it. If you go to Carson City and pull up all the people that were paying contribution and taxes at that time you’ll confirm what I’m telling you.

Dalton holds the framed certificate issued in May 16, 1981 by the University of Nevada, Reno and approved by the Board of Regents recognizing civil rights activist Bertha S. Woodard as a distinguished Nevadan. This is just one of her plaques and awards that is in Dalton's possession. 

Q: Who finances the organization?

Dalton: I finance this project. I also have friends who donate money. That’s it. We don’t get grants. Nothing. It gets a little expensive but I think it’s important. When we get some funding, we also have to be careful because when you get a certain amount of funding people expect certain things, you know.

Q: Apart from funding, what are some of the other challenges that you face as an organization?

Dalton: Some community members don’t value history. They say 'That’s old stuff, that don’t mean nothing.' I also don’t have enough people on board and it takes a lot of work to research, and money. Also, I’m not a historian as such. I don’t have a degree in history. So a lot of times, better historians say, 'Well you know, you don’t have the qualifications.' Yes, I don’t have a degree but I do have a historian on my board who has a PhD in research work. So I’m attached to people that do research. What I’m doing right now is just to tell you and then maybe that will inspire you and then maybe you’ll go find out a little bit more of what you heard.

“I’m also looking for somebody else to get the passion that I have because this is important and we need to keep this organization going. Hopefully you’re interviewing me and you get inspired enough to get involved and maybe you’ll be the one to take it over and take it to the next level. If I stop doing it who’s going to do it? Who do we have out there? I don’t know." Dalton asked for help during his interview with Prince Nesta.

Q: So, if I have a historical artifact or information, what process do I need to follow?

Dalton: Well, send us an e-mail or contact us. Hopefully you’ll have some kind of references or something that we can check and then we follow up on whatever the information is. We’re not going to put it out there in the world of fake news until we follow up and counter-check its authenticity by going through records in the library, public records, newspapers and whatever we have access to.

Q: What if you still can’t find the information?

Dalton: We always wait until we come up with a more substantiated piece of information. If somebody else has more information they can always feel free to send it to us so that we can follow it up. I mean that’s about the only thing we can do.

Q: What are some of the most exciting moments that you’ve shared as an organization?

Dalton: Two years ago, we celebrated our 20-year anniversary. It was a big moment considering where we’ve come from. When we also find and hear about new stories, that’s always a big moment for us. I’m like, 'oh man isn’t that cool when people talk about what we’ve been talking about?' For instance, when people talk about Jim Beckwourth’s trail going through Reno into California, Ben Palmer’s bar, which is still standing, and we always go down there just to make sure it’s still standing and repaint it, same with this church, Bethel AME Church, which is the oldest black church in the state of Nevada and is still standing. I’m always like, 'that’s so exciting.'

A screengrab from the front page of the Our Story, Inc. website.

Q: Where do you see your organization 10 years from now?

Dalton: That’s probably one of your best questions that you’ve asked all day. I hope to see it still functioning. I hope to see it expanded and keeping up with the times. Particularly how we disseminate information. We want to be at the forefront in the African-American experience in Northern Nevada. A dependable site for the history of minorities. Since 1996, we haven’t also had a physical location. We keep most of our artifacts at home and some at the Nevada Historical Society. It would be nice to find someone to finance or donate a physical building where we can keep all the artifacts and memorabilia. I mean, you know, it’s pretty expensive right now to get to a place or to be able to pay somebody to be a curator and all of that. I wish that we could have that in 10 years.

Q: How can people find your organization?

Dalton: Through our website, ourstoryinc.com. You can go through our site and if you see some information on the website and you think that you know something, send it to us so that we can adjust what our information is. People should also feel free to write and send us any new information as long as we can verify its legitimacy. We can also give them their own area on the site to talk about history. I mean that’s what it’s about, the history of the Northern Nevada community.

Q: How would you like to be remembered?

Dalton: I’d like to be remembered as a person that was passionate, fair and treated people the way he wanted to be treated. That’s pretty much me.

Interview, Photos and Reporting by Prince Nesta and Emily Hodge

Greg, Out of the Workforce and on the Streets with Multiple Health Problems

Feeling Bad about Being Homeless

"I'm not feeling too good my knees are bad and my ankles are bad and I constantly have to go and get them checked because I don't know what’s wrong with them. They are swelling up and I can't stand too long and that really hurts," Greg said when we met him.

He tries to help others who need help on the streets and gets some help for food from local aid programs and relatives, including two younger brothers and cousins, but he says he's just in a deep hole right now.  He has a secret spot in downtown Reno where he usually tries to sleep, as best he can.

He says he doesn't like staying at shelters. "I don't like it there," he said. "Not the way they have it right now. I'd rather stay out on the streets so that I could have a better way of protecting myself."

But he says being out on the streets is also very challenging. "I don't like when you go to sleep, you know, you're looking at a place and then when you finally go to sleep and you wake up and sometimes you don't realize where you are. You are homeless. You just pack up and it's another homeless day," he said.

Greg says he has a lot of ankle problems. "I'm trying to get a date for them to do I think it's an MRI on my ankles to see what's wrong with them," he said. "That's what I'm trying to fix because it's making me overwork my knees and grinding, and it's just giving me incredible pain and I'm trying not to go to the opioids." Photo by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

Ideas for a More Caring, Accessible Reno

Greg says he doesn't like the direction things are going in Reno for people suffering. 

"They've knocked down most of the motels that we could afford," he said. "So, you’re starting to see more and more homeless people and that's bad.  It's just, you know, they're knocking those down to make money and those guys (at City Council) are saying 'hey you know we got a homeless problem now.' But you're making it kind of like a little worse than it is. Reno's got to step up and either help or quit knocking them down."

He would like to see more affordable housing options, and also more jobs accessible to those with disabilities. 

"I just have my phone that doesn't work, a blanket and a jacket," he said. Photo by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Dreams and Regrets

"I'm hoping to get better so I can go back to work and do what I'm supposed to be doing you know supporting myself for retirement and you know get everything ready," he said. 

He regrets not going further in school. "When I was younger, I regret not graduating from school, you know I sort of went back and tried harder. I got my GED. But you know that was one of my regrets, not getting a high school education or college. The other ones were just like little regrets where you know you make the wrong decision this way and then you have to go that way."

He also has a son who he thinks lives in Las Vegas who he misses terribly and hasn't seen in 20 years. 

"I hope that he's making it. I'm hoping he found a wife, had a family and had a good job you know supporting them. If he can come back and contact me that would be nice. I want to make sure that you know he's doing okay."

Reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Tyrone, Making Sure His Wife is OK on the Streets

In Between Housing

Tyrone said he had recently lost his apartment in a fire, but that he was trying to get transitional housing through a Northern Nevada Hopes program.

"We had to move out and I lost everything except my wife," he said of the fire. "That's all I care about though, everything else can be replaced."

He used to get job in warehouses with temp agencies, he said, but now he has feet and ankle problems and also doesn't feel he would get hired because he can't shower much.

"I'm not afraid to work though. I don't scrounge, I don't go through trashes.  I try to work for my money.  I do some yard work, I fly my sign," he said.

"She fell in my lap by the arch," Tyrone said of Courtney in the background. "I like her sense of humor. I like how she helps people. She is like me. If someone needs help, she'll give her last bite to somebody else, to feed them, that's what I love about her.  She'll give her jacket if someone needs it. When I wasn't homeless, I would give people dollars to help out.  Or I would get them something to eat."

Running Away from an Ex-Wife

Tyrone is from Texas, where he did time in jail, and where says he was also harassed by his ex-wife. 

"I did some time in jail in Huntsville, north of Houston, got released, but my ex wife ... kept hassling me, so I decided to move away to Nevada," he said.

Tyrone flies this sign, but also does paid yard work if he can find some. 

Full Shelters and Tickets for Camping

Tyrone said it's not easy navigating Reno homeless when the shelters are full. 

"Over here, all they do is give you tickets for camping. The churches help out and then there is the shelter, but the shelter can only hold so many people. There's more homeless people than there are spots. Every time we go down there, it's full. But when we get tickets from police for camping they call down there and they say they have openings. If you put us in jail though, all you are doing is filling up the jails with homeless people," he said.

He feels homeless aren't wanted in downtown Reno. 

"They're pushing us out, trying to kick us out, run us out of town, but for us to eat we have to come back into town.  Now I see homeless people everywhere, because the motels that they were living in are being torn down," he said. 

He has so common sense ideas, but doesn't think the homeless would be trusted by local authorities.

"They have so many empty warehouses they could use and put beds in, put a kitchen in there.  Let the homeless run the warehouse.  We'd have our own security if they let us have it that way. It would be fine," he said.

Reporting and Photos by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Arianne, Isolated from Her Family with Addictions

Drug Addictions and Bad Karma

"I made bad choices and you know karma. I've had to be out here now from choices I made so that's what it is. It's no one's fault but my own. I had an addiction to pills and I started stealing them from my mother and lying and you know just all that kind of stuff so I had to leave my parents' dwelling, and my children were there. So, it was the best thing for me. This was about five years ago."

"Once that happened I started drinking and then I started doing other drugs so I didn't have to feel the hurt and the pain you know. So, you really can't get anywhere if you do stuff like you know what I'm saying. So, you know these are the consequences of my actions right now. I've been on the streets of Reno for around five years. It's off and on. You know I get things stolen from me or I'm too nice or too kind to people. And when I have a place I let them stay so they're not homeless like I was and they just mess it up, you know, because they don't care. So that's why you know usually I'm out on the streets because I'm giving to people you know."

She doesn't like the shelters, where she says she also gets her things stolen, and doesn't like the overall vibe. 

"Nobody there really wants to help themselves," she said.  You know so if you're around people that aren't positive and they're not willing to help themselves It's kind of hard for you to want to do it yourself too.

Seeking Help in the Wrong Places

She says she's tried craigslist seeking help for her and her boyfriend, but that usually it ends up being men who want to have sex with her. 

"I find these gentlemen and they take us both. But if I'm not with them sexually then, they just kick us away and toss us out, you know, basically they're not here to help. I get taken advantage of because they want to sleep with me and I don't want that. I'm good."

She says she's reached out to church organizations and hope they will help, as she says she feels like she is reaching the end of her rope, missing her family and feeling so much pain. 

"Hopefully will help us get a place because I have blisters on top of my blisters. That's why you see me like this because I can't walk really anymore right now. It's like this big you know on the bottom of my foot. I wish people would be more understanding and understand that you know this could be you one day. I'm a human and I'm a mother, I’m a daughter, I'm just like everybody else. I just made the wrong decisions. You know. Yeah, I got two kids. I got a 14-year-old boy and a 9-year-old daughter you know. They're with my mom and dad, my mom and dad take care of them," she said.  "I don't feel like I'm good enough to be with my children. So that's why they're there."

"I have my makeup and I have clothes," she said of her possessions.  "I got shoes and clothes. That's basically what I have. I have a body spray and stuff like that on my jackets but this is what I carry with me. He's got ten times more things than I do. He's worse than I am," she said of her boyfriend. Photo by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

Hoping for Help to Get Her Own Room

She'd like to see the city of Reno convert more abandoned lots and buildings for housing for the homeless, or for teaching people new trades so they can get back in the workforce. She says even one month's free rent in an actual home could maybe get her going back on the right track. 

"I would like to be able to get back on my feet," she said. "I'd like to be able to have a roof over my head. You know stability is key with everybody, everybody needs stability, to feel comfortable and to feel something you know what I'm saying. I would like to have a roof over my head, I'd like it, but that's all the help that I would ask for. Maybe if they could get me a monthly or something, a month paid on rent and then I could go. I have my ID, everything like that. Out here you can’t have a job and be out on the street, it just doesn't work. And then the shelter is no good either. So, I just would like if someone would help, they would help me with a month on a room or a place so I have some stability."

As she continued talking to us, she revealed she had had another child with Brian next to her, but that she decided to give him up for adoption, describing it as one of the worst moments of her life.  "Him and I, he's my husband, I was pregnant and we had a son and because I didn't feel it was appropriate for him to be with us, with the issues that we have. I gave him up for adoption. You know losing our son was the hardest. I know that I can do anything and I know that I have the mind frame and the mindset that I could do whatever I want. It's just you know right now I'm stuck," she said. Photo by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

A Relationship on the Streets

She met Brian four years ago, and they've been together ever since. 

"He was sitting on a bench over there, by the Sands and asked me for a charger to charge his phone and I had a charger to charge his phone. He asked me if I could help him with something ... He just kind of followed me around everywhere. And from then on, we were together I guess. He's really nice. He's really a good dude. He's always polite and does everything for me. I don't know where anything is in my backpack. He's the one who packs everything up and finds it for me. He knows what I want before I want it."

She says she wants him to step up and help more, but that she understands since they're homeless, her expectations are unreasonable.  She says not having a home creates a vicious cycle of unemployment and addiction.

"Because we're homeless, it's harder to get a job. It's harder to get another chance ... The reason why people are out on the streets and they're doing a lot of the crystal is because they have to be up 24/7 because they don't have a place to lay their head and if they go in and lay their head somewhere like right here they're quickly swooped up. So, they have to do stimulants so they can stay up and be out and about all night long. Because if not, they'd be falling out everywhere you know. I mean that's a big thing. They don't have a place to go you know so they don't have a place to lay their head so they're always you know getting high and stuff."

"I want to go to school ... And you know I want to be a nurse and have my family and you know just be I guess what they say normal," she says of her own dreams.

Dreams of a Better, Simple Life

She says she could be a prostitute to make some money but stays away from that lifestyle.

"I don't want to be out there on the street asking a guy to pay for me," she said.  "I want to be able to be a lady like I am, and go and get a regular job and do it that way, every day. I don't ever have a break to where I can just sit and collect my thoughts and think about what I want to do in my life, because I'm constantly going ding ding ding ding. I'm just constantly trying to hustle or try to find money so I can have a roof over my head, and nine times out of 10 because I don't do mean things to people, I don't get money. So, I stay broke because I'm trying to be right about things you know," she said.

"Homeless people are good people too. They're just like everybody else. Like if you saw me on the street you would not know that I was homeless because I do not carry myself that way so you can't judge a book by its cover. And help them out. Do something to help them. You never know, there could be one thing that you did for this person that helped change their life. I mean I've had a heck of money. I've had lots of money. I've had no money. And I know what it's like to be both in both places and if I had one person that came up and helped, I would appreciate. I guess love one another. Stop being so judgmental, judging everybody, I don't think anybody has the right to do that," she concluded. 

Reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

The Reno Housing Authority, Dealing with a Declining Budget and Rising Demands

A Busy Afternoon at the Housing Office

It’s a busy afternoon at the federally funded Reno Housing Authority with a packed parking lot and lobby on East Ninth Street, as local residents patiently wait in chairs to be called by seemingly overworked staff.

“There are many reasons they could be here,” explains Brent Boynton, the community outreach director. “If you are receiving housing assistance from us, it’s based on your income. So if you change jobs, you have to let us know that. If your cousin comes to live with you, we have to approve the cousin. Or it may be someone who wants to move. If you have a housing choice voucher (defined by the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development as its program for assisting very low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market), you may be saying you're going to California and we make it possible for you to make that transition and get your voucher payments there. So people come in for many reasons, as well as the people who are here for the first time to fill out an application.”

Executive Director Amy Jones (right) has been with the local Housing Authority for 13 years. “I love helping our families," she said. Brent Boynton (left), a “former TV news guy", has been the community outreach coordinator since earlier this year. “The Reno Housing Authority has been doing a great job helping people afford to live in northern Nevada for 75 years, but most people don't know about it," he said.  "We help about 4,000 families afford to live in northern Nevada and that's a very important job.”  

Clearing Up Misconceptions About Its Role and Wait Lists

Boynton says there are often misconceptions as to what the Reno Housing Authority does, with some people calling to complain about a neighbor or asking about their yard.  There’s often also gripes among those in need of housing, that the requirements are too stringent (no one accepted with a drug-related crime during the past three years for example) or that the waiting lists are too long or simply closed.

“We have 2,500 vouchers and that's through the housing choice voucher program and then we have 751 public housing units, units that the Housing Authority owns,” says executive director Amy Jones, when asked of a rundown of what the RHA currently handles in terms of local affordable housing.  “And then the remainder of our units are scattered site properties, so condos, single family residences…. We also own a number of apartment complexes that have market rent, so there's no subsidy tied to those units.”

Jones also explains why wait lists are sometimes closed when they get too long.  “When those wait lists start getting very large, they're hard to manage,” she said. “We have preferences on our wait lists. So when our wait lists are open, somebody may apply and be number ten in line, but due to those preferences, if somebody applies that has higher preferences, then they could move ahead of them. We also don't want to give a false hope to somebody that's applying that they're going to receive housing today and we have a limited staff to process those wait lists, to process the families on those wait lists. So we do close them up once they start to get large, so we can then work through them. Then, we reopen them as those numbers get lower. So we do have some of those wait lists currently open for our public housing programs,” she said. 

Jones said there are currently about 3,000 families on their wait lists, including those seeking vouchers and public housing.  

Boynton explained there are also certain priorities for those on the waiting list. "We're going to let a veteran move up in line," he said. "We're going to let a victim of domestic violence move up or someone with disabilities. And if that happens a little bit, you're going to find that your part of the line just doesn't move. So it seems that the best way to be fair to everyone who is standing in line is to allow it to clear a little bit. Plus, we don't want to give anyone false hope. By the time you fill out an application, you should be able to believe that you are going to have a place to live within a reasonable future."

A screengrab from the Affordable Housing Online advocacy website concerning Nevada.  Note, this information was not independently verified by Our Town.  Reno. More complete information can be found at their website: affordablehousingonline.com

A Declining Budget and a Rising Market

Jones did not give specifics but pointed toward a dire and hard to plan financial situation. 

"All of our funding comes federally from HUD," she said, "and so that funding has been continuing to be decreased year over year, and our budget is being cut for both the voucher program and our operating subsidy, which is for our public housing. We also receive moneys to improve our public housing sites, and we're seeing those cut every year as well. So the trend is the monies are being cut and we just have to do more with less."

Another problem is that when working with landlords and amounts for vouchers, HUD works with data which is only renewed every three years and which can quickly become dated in a rapidly changing market. 

"When you think about what has happened to our market in the last three years, you could have lived in an $800 a month apartment three years ago and now you're paying $1,200 a month in rent," Boynton said. "You can see where the problems come from because even if you've had cost of living increases, even if you've gotten a raise or a promotion, chances are your income has not improved enough to make up for that deficit," he said.

"We are basically always playing the role of the advocate for the renter, going back to the federal government and saying you need to raise our ceiling here a little bit because our prices have gone up ...." Boynton explained of the role played by the RHA which serves Reno, Sparks and Washoe County. "The voucher program is basically a three part relationship between the renter and the Housing Authority and the landlord. So if you're the renter, you have an agreement with us and you have an agreement with the landlord. Likewise, we have an agreement with the landlord and with you, and with a voucher you pay a portion of the rent based upon your ability to pay and then the federal subsidy pays the rest." 

A Deal with Jacobs Entertainment

The Housing Authority was recently in the news for an exchange with the Colorado-based Jacobs Entertainment company, which has been buying up lots and tearing down motels in and around 4th street, for a yet to be detailed or built fountain district. 

"Jacobs did purchase a parcel from us on 4th Street," Jones said when asked for an update." It was just vacant land that we had no use for. So he (Jeffrey Jacobs) did purchase that from the Housing Authority, and then he also did make a donation to the Housing Authority. He initially purchased three homes, part of the donation, that we could use to assist more families. And then the remainder of the donation did come to the Housing Authority, that we have earmarked for our development on the Sutro Street site that we own. "

More info on that senior housing project can be found here: https://www.reno.gov/home/showdocument?id=73397. Jones gave no details on the total monetary value of the Jacobs assistance. 

Brochures and application forms on display at the entrance of the RHA offices. 

Seeking "Creative Partnerships" but Frustrated

Amid these current realities, both Jones and Boynton say they are open to new ideas and new ways to help with the deepening affordable housing crisis.

"We are looking for creative ways to find solutions to the problem because again, you know, we're not getting as much money as we wish," Jones said. "So we look for those creative solutions, those private public partnerships. It's also asking the community to come to us with creative solutions because we're open to those ideas and what would work best for the community. We have to do more with less and that's what we continue to do and we look at,  how can we partner with another agency or with the city that we can do more for the families we serve." 

She also points to frustration.

"It's frustrating because we do know that there is a big need out there and if we could, we would help everyone and we are trying to help those families as much as we can by providing them the resources we have or if we don't have those resources immediately guiding them to other resources that may be able to help them in the interim with our partnering agencies or other properties that may have some type of subsidy for them. So we want to help any way we can, even if we can't immediately offer them that assistance." 

After a long period without wait lists, some have finally reopened. This is a screengrab from the RHA website. 

No Sustainable Replacement Solutions Yet

"I think this is a time of great challenge for our community and this housing shortage is a serious challenge," Boynton said.  "Anytime anyone becomes homeless, we all pay the price."

He also says the RHA has traditionally worked with dependable, continuous funding, something which can't be replaced by one off donations or help. 

"Whatever solution we come up with as a community has to be sustainable," he said.  "If we were to get this wonderful donation of millions of dollars to house people this year, but we didn't get the money next year, we can't just put them back on the street."

"This was built in 1958," Boynton said of the Mineral Manor apartments where the RHA offices are located.  "This has been a sustainable housing model for the people of Reno. I hope that where we go from here is a community discussion where we come up with new ways of funding that's not entirely dependent on the federal government and that the Reno Housing Authority is able to help in new ways."

The Pains of Rapid Growth

Boynton said over a third of their clients are seniors or people with disabilities.  He said he's glad to see growth, but as he explained at a recent Ward 5 Neighborhood Advisory Board meeting, more jobs, which is good news for some, also now means a housing crunch for others.  

"I am thrilled that this community's economy is improving," he said.  "I'm glad to see the growth. I'm glad to see that more people are working, but the very improvement in our economy is causing our shortage of housing and when you have a shortage of housing and more people moving in who have the money to pay rent, it puts more pressure on the people who can least afford to pay rent and that's frustrating. It's frustrating to see people getting crowded out and to know if you're already living in the cheapest place in town, where can you go? One of the questions that we got, I thought was rather telling, and that is with wages up or with more people employed, and unemployment down, isn't that counterintuitive that there are more people who need housing assistance?"

"This is a challenging time, but it is giving us the opportunity to think outside the box and you know, we are a partner in this community and we need to play a bigger role in assisting our community. So we are looking at creative solutions on how we can do that. We need long term solutions, viable solutions," Jones concluded.

Interviews by Our Town Reno in May 2018 at the RHA offices

The Community Foundation of Western Nevada and Its Push for Affordable Dorms

Still in Need of Final Votes and Money

The money or promised in-kind help isn't all there yet, and the final vote hasn't taken place at City Council, but Pfrommer is confident the Foundation's 200-unit dormitory plan, praised in local media and on national blogs, will go from prefabricated dorms typically used by miners in Wyoming where they would be bought, to the Sage Street site, cornered by salvage junkyards, train tracks and the highway.

"Our timeline is really probably four to five months to really tackle most of this monetarily," Pfrommer said at the Community Foundation's downtown office this morning.  "I think through our connections with the various philanthropic work that the Community Foundation is involved in, unrelated to this project, it will bode well and provide a lot of goodwill and assuredness to the community to step up and participate, given our track record."

Pfrommer says the Foundation still needs to raise an estimated $3.2 million, "but that's before taking into account the current campaign to have essentially donated services and products from various subcontractors on the project. So it's a moving target. We hope it's a lot lower as more and more developers step up to the plate to help out the community," he said. 

He's also looking for big individual donors. "While we certainly would love to have, you know, thousand-dollar donations, most of these are going to be pretty good sized and so we're hoping to engage more and more people in philanthropy," he said.

There have been concerns over environmental issues from past use at the Sage Street site, to which Pfrommer responded:  "There's been a phase one that's been done in our understanding from the engineer who's contributing his services, that it's just the typical underground storage tank, but with no leakage or any of those issues. So it's going to be remediated with very little issues," he said. 

Minimum Income Needed and Other Requirements

The rent for the single bunk bed units is being planned at $390 a month, for those with an income of at least $1,300 a month, who must also pass other requirements.

"There is going to be a criminal background check, and drug testing, that type of thing. So I think that will set the criteria for the type of person that comes in," Pfrommer said. "So it's not somebody who is not working who will qualify for this honestly. And that's a different population. This is a niche, I suppose it's one rung up from the shelter ... but it's not going to be for somebody who's not working at all. This is really meant for the working poor to give them a hand up so they can get stabilized," he said. 

A few small family units are being planned, but Pfrommer said it would be mostly for one person occupancies. He also wanted to make clear this would be different than a tiny home village. 

"Tiny homes, even though they're tiny, they are self contained in the sense they have a bathroom and some limited kitchen facilities. So the dorm really does distinguish itself from the tiny home in the sense that it's like a dorm where the bathrooms are down the hall. It's a communal kitchen across a walkway. So it is different from the tiny homes. And honestly that's what makes this housing affordable is to have something like this set up where it's not like a tiny home. It's not like typical low income housing. But then again, the rent's only $390."

The detailed drawings for the planned dorm can be found here:  https://nevadafund.org/dorms-sage-street-envision-realty/ "The feedback we've received is overwhelmingly positive," Tscheekar said. "People know that this isn't going to solve our housing crisis, but it is going to supply a big inventory of units. We're anticipating 200 units that would truly be affordable. So this is really the only project right now that is developing that if you are making minimum wage, you would be able to afford a safe and dry home."

Volunteers of America in Charge and Support from Other Organizations

Pfrommer said Volunteers of America, which runs the main shelter in downtown Reno and the overflow shelter just a few blocks away from the Community Foundation's headquarters, will be in charge of many operational components, including wraparound services.

"Volunteers of America will be responsible for operating everything above ground, including vetting the potential tenants, taking care of the property, providing the security and also coordinating social services for those people that do need a hand up."

While other organizations are working on their own 24/7 housing solutions for those they help, such as the Eddy House for at-risk youths, Tscheekar said they would be welcome to live at the dorms. 

"Other organizations are supportive of the project," Tscheekar said, "so we do know that for many of the youths at the Eddy House, they may get a job or start pursuing education, but they simply can't afford a place to live. So we do anticipate that as some of the youths stabilize from receiving services at the Eddy House, that then they could move to the dorms on Sage street."

Following Other Models and Bringing Down Prices

A community land trust according to Wikipedia, "is a nonprofit corporation that develops and stewards affordable housing, community gardens, civic buildings, commercial spaces and other community assets on behalf of a community."  For this purpose, the City of Reno is selling the 250 Sage street property to the non-profit philanthropic group for $1.

"We have seen other communities who have done a community land trust and this is actually the first one, at least in northern Nevada," Tscheekar said. "A few months ago, we went to the Bay Area to research some of the work that was being done there, to address gentrification and the housing crisis in San Francisco... And so we started to share this information with the City of Reno and they got very interested in the idea ultimately leading up to the recommendation that they donate the Sage Street property for this. So it's a new concept for our area, but it has been done.... If you can eliminate the cost of land automatically, that reduces the cost of housing," he said.

"We know with affordability that's a relative term,"  Tscheekar added, "but, what the people involved in housing consider affordable is 30 percent of your income. So if you are making $8.25 minimum wage in Nevada, that's about 26 percent of your income. So as long as you're working full-time, it is truly an affordable place to live."

Pfrommer made clear the dorms will also be available for long term rentals not just transitioning. "It's not necessarily transitional," he said. "If somebody wants to stay there for three to five years, 10 years, that's fine. It's not by definition going to be six months and you're on your own," Pfrommer said.

"I think it's fair to say too that for some of the clients at least, that they may live here temporarily until they can save up money to put a deposit or start having their own apartment for example. But then others may stay long term," Tscheekar added.   

A Hoped For Thanksgiving Timeline

According to the Community Foundation's website, the first $1 million is needed no later than July 4. The money will be used to transport the modular structures from (the Afognak Native Corporation making these units typically for mining workers out of Big Piney) Wyoming to Reno, for disassembly then reassembly, utilities and hook-ups, site preparation and improvements.

"The trucking costs will be about half a million, but the disassembly in Wyoming and then the reassembly here and everything is about a million.... I mean our goal is to have these on trucks ... in July and having them set up in August, early September and then we would be up and running to start getting applications in September, October and then fill it up by Thanksgiving," Pfrommer said.  

"Well we do feel confident that we can make it work," Tscheekar added.  "I would say one challenge is that it is moving very rapidly and that there are so many different partners with the project, with various construction companies and other real estate developers as well. So there are a lot of caring people, but it can also be difficult to keep track of all the work that's moving so rapidly," he said. 

"It's obviously great for the 200 or so people that will have (access) to the dorm village," Pfrommer concluded before getting back to work. "What I'm also excited about is the fact that it's encouraging or forcing people to think differently about how to address this (affordable housing crisis). We have always had low-income, Section 8 housing, which the groups that do that do fantastic work, but this is another way to help increase the inventory and make housing affordable for that many more people. So I'm glad it's forcing people to think outside the box."

Interview by Our Town Reno on May 30, 2018

William Mantle, A "People-Focussed, Free-Thinker" Running for Mayor and a More Affordable Reno

Outspent but Undettered

"I really just wanted to take the advocacy that I've always had, and practiced, and bring it to the city," Mantle says explaining his motivation to run, even if he knows he might be a long shot to make it to a second round general election finish when results are counted after June 12th.  "Think people first and absolutely be a voice of reason and scientific, evidence-based rationalization for our development projects and our future here."

Mantle says he feels he's up against the odds in terms of fundraising and name recognition, but that his campaign is still worth a shot.

"This is my first go into local politics ... It's not that I haven't been in the community doing things, I mean being an advocate is certainly, important work, but it's not very visible work because I do it at like 3 AM sometimes or 5 AM or 11 PM, you know, when there's a need for service and that doesn't get you the visibility, nor do I seek it. That's not why you do that stuff. The sheer amount of money that is in contention with some of these candidates .... I looked at all of the filing reports and it's already been $126,000 spent collectively between the candidates. (Three candidates) have spent over $40,000 each. So that's a lot. That's a lot. And I don't have that kind of funding or backing, but there's no reason to not try and put yourself out there because I still believe that we can do better. And I don't think that the other candidates are as people-focused as I think they should be."

"I am a free thinker. I believe that there should always be fiscal responsibility. I believe that we do need programs in place that elevate those most in need to a higher status and well being in life. I believe in redistribution of wealth as appropriate, but not in such a way that it would economically disincentive people's desire to earn in our capitalist economy.  I would consider myself in general a moderate towards all things. Like, I take an issue, I look at whatever evidence and best practices we have and I go with what makes sense. I don't hardcore swing one way or the other. I'm not devoted to any one path.... I can change my mind based off of what's presented to me. You should always take the data that you have available to you and work with that and never off of just impulse or any knee jerk reactions because that's not good policy making, that's just good agendizing and I don't believe in that," Mantle said

A Q and A on Affordable Housing, Anti-Vagrancy Laws, Strip Clubs, Homeless Services and Grading the Current City Council on These Issues

Question: The City Council we have keeps saying affordable housing is the most urgent issue facing Reno. Given this awareness, what kind of grade would you give them on what's actually been accomplished over the last term?

William Mantle: "I would grade them a D. I would grade them a D because when I first started my campaign I went online to all of our various news organizations in the area and I looked for every article I could find on the Fountain district, the tearing down of the weeklies, anything from the City Council saying publicly what we're going to do and what we're planning to do. And what I've found is since an awesome article came out in The Atlantic (in early 2016), that was really like, 'hey, northern Nevada has this amazing issue that it's going to have to deal with.'  And that was affordable housing and people spoke to that. And I don't think anything has happened. I've heard things, I've seen quotes, but from everything I can see, there hasn't been an ordinance put in place to prevent the tearing down of structures that are still usable... There hasn't been an ordinance put in place for a percentage of affordable housing as part of a development project, meaning that either you have to commit a certain number of units to being affordable housing for say individuals or families making under 40,000 or have special statuses like senior citizens or veterans or they have to pay monies into a pot that then, the city would use that money to do its own public housing, maybe in coordination with the Reno Housing Authority, which is federally mandated."

Above a screengrab from Mantle's Facebook campaign page. "I've been mostly pinning my campaign on digital advertising through Facebook. Other than that, I work eight to five, so I go door to door after that when I can and just try to make it work," he says of his campaign style.

Question: What about the idea of rent control or a version of that? Should the City Council be pushing for that? Can we learn from recent initiatives in other cities?

William Mantle: "I haven't seen any ordinance be put in place for any kind of semblance of rent control and I know that's a very complicated issue because rent control has been shown to not work in certain ways in Chicago, in New York, but I think that we could easily put an ordinance in place or ordinances that give a little bit more rights and security to the renters and limit to some degree the landlord's ability to just bump up the rents. When I hear stories of individuals getting up a 25 percent rent increase month to month, that's not a thing most people can just adapt to."

"What I've seen in other cities is absolutely the emphasis on percent affordable housing. What I've seen is that, okay, you want to develop here, great, we love, we love your investment and your desire to be a part of this community and building in this community, but we need you to ensure that if you're going to build this project, you're going to build either another project that can be dedicated to (affordable housing). Or you'll have a part of that project be put towards it, or you can collaborate with other developers who are also building the area to do something together."

"This isn't a Reno-only crisis. The whole nation is facing a rental crisis... Wages are a major part of this. A lot of cities have confronted this by also raising wages because if the rental prices go up, okay, that means the inventory is still the same in the area and that's an ongoing crisis for Reno especially. But if people can afford more, maybe they can live farther out, they can commute more easily... "

"I think every debate is important. I think any opportunity where you can get people to sit down and answer a question, any question truthfully is important," Mantle said of the upcoming debate. 

Question: What do you think of the anti-vagrancy proposals which are slowing making progress towards implementation despite opposition from many quarters?

William Mantle: "Telling somebody that they can't sleep where, where they don't want to sleep anyways. It's not that somebody is like, I would really love to just cut up some cement and lay down on that. That's not where somebody wants to go to bed, but if you're that tired or just that out of sorts, you may need to rest. And if you would be thrown into jail at cost to the public for that just doesn't make sense in terms of an economical impact that we want to be putting our money towards. That's just more costs to jail and to the Washoe County sheriff's office or RPD that we don't need. So I'm not a fan of those vagrancy laws. I think they're very misguided."

"My belief is that no one would prefer to be homeless first and foremost. I know there's a lot of rhetoric out there.... such as, 'Well, these people are choosing this (life) ....' There are some people who I believe aren't in a state of health to know what choice is best for them or what choice could be best for them. So I don't believe anyone goes out there and says, 'I can't wait to have a lack of security, no protection from the environment and no security of food or comfort.' It doesn't make sense to me. So I don't like that rhetoric. What I think we need to do is really take a broad-handed approach," Mantle says of dealing with homelessness.  Our Town Reno photo from this early Spring.

Question: The strip clubs also seem to be taking a lot of the City Council's attention. What do you think about that?

 William Mantle: "I've been a supporter for the strip clubs' rights, to stay where they are. I think that it's actually incredibly silly that this is a discussion that needs to be had.... The city is risking a rather hefty lawsuit of 50 million dollars that's probably going to be brought up again. It got dropped when the city council started making some overtures saying, 'hey, you know, maybe we can work this out, find a compromise.'  Then they reversed direction .... saying, 'no, we're going forward with seeking not only your relocation, but also further enforcement'.... I don't think that's a good idea. I don't think think it's appropriate. I think that we're talking about individuals who are autonomous, have their own agency, they have their own money and they're deciding to go to that establishment and enjoy those services, whatever those are. What I'm more concerned about are the rights of the contractors, aka the dancers. They're being appropriate and proper .... I'm very concerned why we're making it more difficult for people to get jobs that they're seeking. And these clubs pay a lot in taxes, tens of thousands of dollars per month to the city coffers...."

"There just isn't any hard evidence to support that move.... It sounds like this is mostly focused on the Wild Orchid and I don't think that building is in any way beautiful. I don't think it's, you know, some Victorian architecture that we should all love and adore, but I think there's things that can be done. You could put trees in front of that building," Mantle says of other options rather than relocating the Wild Orchid from the Midtown district. "You could ask for the facade to be redone or something with the lights. Definitely remove the digital sign. I don't like it, but I also don't like the Nugget's digital sign or the GSR's digital sign. I don't like those digital signs, period. One thing that I thought was funny was that Harrah's was advertising a rather burlesque show with a huge sign of a woman who was showing all of her midriff and her panty line .... and a very tiny digital sign that says Girls, Girls, Girls is more offensive than an actual full frontage of a woman's bare body.... " 

Question: What about helping the homeless community? What should the City Council be doing better?

William Mantle: "We need better mental health services... We need to make sure we have adequate resources for mental health. We don't... We need to make sure that people get off their substances and can transition off of those without being afraid of being thrown in prison or jail for their addiction. And that's a disease, that's not a choice. People aren't like, 'oh yeah, I chose to be addicted.'If they don't have a place to live, maybe they're going to use substances or maybe you get them a place to live, but they're hooked on a substance. They're not going to be able to control their finances. Oh wait, what if they don't have a job, they can't afford where they're supposed to live and they still have an addiction. So all their money they would have is going to that. It's a hydra of a problem. It has so many heads and I feel like for some reason we're always trying just one approach, one approach, one approach. It takes a collectivist approach to solve these issues and talking with people. I'm for far more social workers and case managers to get out there."

"If they need police escorts to go to those camps, I'm totally fine with that," Mantle says of having more social workers doing outreach in homeless encampments. "Police are there for security and safety and code enforcement. That's what they're there for. They should be used like that. They shouldn't be used as our social workers .... Well, we'll just put you in jail for now until we can figure out how to get you better off. That's not the way I want things to develop. I think we can do better. It does take community investment. It takes empathy. It takes time and it takes money.... I don't have the answers right now. Nobody does. But that's something that I would absolutely look into to find out because we can do it.  Other places are doing it better and .... are trying new things. We can learn from other cities. We can adapt and make it right for us."

Question: There are also concerns about more and more of what's being built is luxury high priced housing, including for students.  What are your thoughts on that front?

William Mantle: "It is worrisome. Last I checked the majority of students aren't affluent....
They may have affluent parents but ... if we don't start creating affordable housing options, there will not be people who will support the economic livelihood of this city and you're just going to not have people who can afford to live here, (to be a student,) to be a grocer, to be a shelf stocker, to be a librarian, to be even an EMT personnel."

"We're going to lose our services because people are like, 'I'm just going to move somewhere I can afford or I can make better wages because Reno is not doing anything to increase that either. And we have extremely high taxes in comparison to the rest of the state. We have super high gas taxes, high property taxes. But we still don't have enough, unfortunately, for all that we need... The solution isn't easy." 

Note: Some of the questions and answers were trimmed for clarity and conciseness.

Interview by Our Town Reno in May 2018 at the downtown library

Joyce Kay Cowdin, Speaking on Behalf of Endangered Motel Residents

An Eviction Taking Place and Misconceptions

It's a sunny, breezy day in the angular, repaved parking lot of the El Tavern motel in late May 2018, and an eviction is slowly taking place. A taxi pulls up, waiting.  Beat up mattresses are strewn on the ground.  Neighbors walk back and forth to each other’s rooms, some of them tripping over and speaking incoherently.  As Joyce Kay Cowdin walks around the complex, though, her dog, Aurora, a two-year-old Shih Tzu, Maltese, Cockapoo and Chihuahua mix, brings many smiles.

“People have misconceptions about people who live in these motels. We're not all drug dealers and drug addicts, we're not all prostitutes. We're not all... whatever. Some of us are just in the position where this is all we can afford and we're good people,” Cowdin, 59, says. 

Cowdin used to work doing phone surveys, in casinos and for the city’s ice rink, but her poor health now keeps her mostly in her room.  She’s been at the El Tavern Motel on W 4th street, scrunched between storage facilities for two years now. She’s angry at some of the comments she sees on social media when she reads stories about the local homeless, motels and the affordable housing crisis. 

“We used to work, and we've been in the workforce,” Cowdin says of residents at the El Tavern and other motels. “Some of us have been working for years. Some work every day and they have to live here. ... Don't make assumptions. You don't know us. You don't know me. They make all these assumptions about the kind of people who live there, and yes there are places that are like that. But not all of them. That really bothers me. Don't assume you know my story. Don't assume I'm a certain way because of where I live. Some of the new people moving to Reno are bringing prejudices with them,” she says of comments she hears and sees on social media.

Sharing What She Can Afford

Cowdin shares a two-bedroom unit of the motel with a friend.  They both collect disability and food stamps, which allows them to get by but just barely, as the room cost is about to go up to $800. They have no car so they use buses to go grocery shopping, and spend wisely, with coupons and special deals.

“We still struggle every month. We still struggle to pay bills. We have phone bills, medication to pay for. We don't have enough to actually get into an apartment, because it's too much,” she says. “You can pay background check, credit check, and the application and still not get in and you never see that money again. Sometimes it's a lot. And then, they want first and last. Even the Courtyard Centre apartments where my friend used to live at, which was really low income housing, really reasonable, they're raising their rents too.” 

There’s problems living here, even if she says it’s better than nothing. “We have had bed bug infestations. We have mice. We have the power that goes off a lot, because there are people who are using too many devices. Electrical circuits need to be upgraded And they're raising our rent again in June. It's been not even six months since they raised it last time.”

A back view of the El Tavern. Cowdin says neighbors also do cause problems, and cops and ambulances to come over at all hours, for fights, drugs, domestic violence issues, overdoses.

Worried about Reno's Direction

Cowdin closely follows what’s going on in Reno, but feels frustrated so far at the worsening situation in terms of affordable housing.

“I am on social media and I worry about things like this. I read and I try and find the information. I call people in government. I love to research and get answers. I will bug the crap out of people to get the answer I want. Hopefully, it's not a lost cause. Hopefully someone is going to step up who actually can see what's going on, who actually listens.”

She’s been homeless before, and fears she could be homeless again.  She’s also lived at the Carriage Inn, which was recently torn down, as part of the still mysterious but ongoing destruction of motels and other properties on 4th street by the Jacobs Entertainment group.

“Some people say ‘oh just another blighted hotel gone’.  But we don't know what Jacobs is planning on doing. I don't think the city knows. It's like well, ‘you are showing us a lot of money and you're going to buy up all these properties we won't have to worry.’ It's going to bring tax revenues so here you go. But this isn't a high priced area. I don't see who they are planning on attracting.”

She's also not impressed with the local Homeless Advisory Board. "They need more people there who have experience with homelessness, who understand how many different layers there are to being homeless, and all these different issues.  Try living on the streets for 24 hours and see how you survive," she says. 

The door to Cowdin's room. "I found that in a dumpster, I fixed it and tied all the feathers to it and hung it to my door. I have to make this home, because this is home," she says.

Losing Charm and Attracting Outsiders

Cowdin is also worried about the destructions of motels and low income housing taking place for plans for high end student housing.

“All the apartments they are building for students seem to be for students who aren't from here, but for students from other places with parents who will pay their way.  Reno has lost its charm. It used to be a really cool, quirky little town. They are trying to turn it into another what Silicon Valley? Or some top tier college town? Sorry it's never going to be that,” she says.

Instead, she would want to see more charities and organizations who build their own complexes or take over other apartments, with a simple application process, and short waiting lists, for low or fixed income residents, as she's seen in Oregon, where she's also lived. 

"In Oregon, they have city and county-sanctioned tiny home villages and tent cities and places for vets and that's how they are handling it. It's housing, it's not transitional, they are there ....  A lot of places will require them to do some work around the place, or grow vegetables and contribute to the community. I wish we had more of that here, because I'm worried, for myself and for others."

Reporting by Our Town Reno in May 2018

Joey Thyne, A Student Documenting Reno's Stripped Down Gentrification

Bursting the Student Bubble

Thyne, 22, a transplant from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and new graduate from the University of Nevada, Reno, says many students live in their own bubble, unaware of some of the rapid transformations their host city is going through, including its traumatic lack of affordable housing.

"Like people who live in the Highlands (luxury student housing) will say 'oh my rent's going up for next year so I have to find somewhere else,' but it's not as dire as 'oh, I'm going to go live in the streets.' I think it really sucks a lot of these lower-income motels are being torn down to build more student housing. I mean I didn't even really understand it was such a big issue until we started talking to people about this," he said, looking back on the past semester during which he produced A Gentleman's Disagreement (watch below) with a team of classmates in a documentary class at the Reynolds School of Journalism.

A Story of Rapid Gentrification

Thyne himself has lived with several roommates as a student, meaning his rent has only been about $500 a month. He says he believes the Ponderosa hotel which goes for over $700 per month is overpriced. He sees no good sides in the ongoing battle between strip clubs and City Council, with vulnerable residents as "pawns."

"I think people always talk abstractly about gentrification, and I think that this is one of the most concrete storylines I've seen of that actually happening. It's sort of happens gradually over time and like suddenly Brooklyn is full of hipsters, but I feel like this City Council is trying to fast track Reno's gentrification," he said. 

The Wild Orchid / Ponderosa Hotel Keshmiri-owned combo sit on prime real estate at the entrance to Reno's much promoted eclectic Midtown district.

Changed Perceptions

Working on the film changed Thyne's own perceptions of Midtown Reno, the entrance of which is now occupied by the threatened Wild Orchid and the many residents clinging onto sheltered life at the Ponderosa Hotel.

"I used to think that the Midtown district was so cool," Thyne said. "I mean it is like hip, and they have all the nice shops and they have Junkee's (Clothing Exchange), and Sup and the place where you can get ice cream sandwiches (Simple Ice Cream Sandwiches). But I think through all this I've learned that there's something sinister underlying it, where a lot of stuff's getting torn down. A lot of people are being displaced in order to ... I think the City Council wants Reno to be like hip, like a Californian town, but it's at the expense of a lot of people and their well-being."

Thyne's film played with other films from a class taught by documentary filmmaker Kari Barber. "People are really excited about the issue and a girl came up to us after the film festival and said she wanted to take the documentary class next semester and said she wanted to do a follow up or something similar," he said of some of the reaction he received. 

What Does the Future Hold?

While the film itself goes into detail of the see-saw multi-front battle between Reno's strip clubs and members of the City Council, with the future of the Wild Orchid's location hanging in the balance, and residents of the Ponderosa Hotel seemingly caught in the gentrification winds, Thyne believes the outcome is inevitable.

"I think that a lot of people want downtown Reno to just turn into one big UNR campus and I think it's sort of heading that way," he said. "I mean as it stands now, I guess they are still seemingly going to kick the strip clubs out.  I guess the Ponderosa residents will probably all have to leave because they can't afford their rent and I'm sure the Ponderosa will get torn down and turned into like Whole Foods or something," he concluded.

 Interview with Our Town Reno in May 2018

Legendary Baby Bleu, A Homeless Prostitute Striving for Better Days

Legendary Baby Bleu, 24, has an active Go Fund Me page, Instagram, Twitter, and a couple of polished websites offering her services. She is trying to rebrand herself as "Reno's Little Princess". She also has a backpack full of drawings and books with life plans.  What she doesn't have is a home.

"So I'm homeless right now," she said during a recent interview on the UNR campus, where she spends hours inside quietly working on her websites and journals.  "But I'm dressed well. I do my best to shower and still do my makeup so I can walk around and smile. But it's hot outside, and my legs hurt. I've been walking from north to south Reno, maybe just because I'm killing time."

Growing Up into Prostitution and Brothels

She spent part of her teenage years in shelters with her mom in California, a time she became a cutter. (Listen to her poem above).  Her aunts gave her tips on how to be a prostitute, as they were, and when she came to Reno, she followed in their footsteps while still a young teenager going to Hug High.

"I started working when I was 16," she says. "I just basically walked from school to downtown. A couple of guys would pick me up here and there and then eventually I was making like $1,200 a week.  With this one guy, we would do these crazy threesomes."

After going back to California and being arrested a dozen times there and doing community service, she was advised by a judge and social worker to work legally in a brothel, which she did for a couple of years in Elko. She was making about $50,000 a year, she says, but eventually she was back to being a prostitute for herself, finding the brothel work stifling. 

"It's hard, because it's like an institution," she says. "You work when you work, and then when you're off of work, you can do whatever you want, but it's still locked down. You're not going to your friend's house around the corner, and I'll be right back.... You're at work and you're not allowed to leave the brothel even if you're not working."

Her journal is full of sketches and detailed to do lists for all her entrepreneurial ideas.

Sober but Struggling

She says she was living in an apartment with a boyfriend last year, but that when things got nasty between them in the fall, she says she had no choice but to be homeless again.

When we met her, she said she had been off alcohol and cocaine for six weeks, drinking lots of Red Bull and doing arts and crafts to stay sober. She now avoids shelters, where she doesn't get along with other homeless, so she hops around between motel rooms, whether she is working or not as a prostitute, and a few secret spots, "on the concrete or in somebody's grass", where she tries to avoid police.

"The birds chirping will wake me up and that's right when the sun is coming up. I try and go somewhere with a public restroom and that way I can wash my face up real quick, and do a little makeup or something with my hair," she says of her early morning routine. "And then I wait until I can get into the Eddy House. Luckily I can still go to the Eddy House (a drop-in center on 6th street for street adult youths), as I'm still under 25.  They have a shower there and they also have food and groups."

She said she had recently gotten her ID stolen, so she was trying to figure how to get that back.  She also said she had applied for several regular jobs, but repeatedly got turned down, and was giving up on that. Now, she spends a lot of time in libraries across town, working on her own ideas and web presence. 

Legendary Baby Bleu (right) has been seeking help from different organizations as well as reaching out to help with their own programs, such as with Alejandra Hernandez Chavez (left) who works with ACTIONN, a faith-based organization working on social justice issues including affordable housing.

'No Sex Trafficking' or Pimps in Reno

Despite what others say, including activists, politicians and organizations, Legendary Baby Bleu doesn't believe there is sex trafficking going on in Reno.

She says there is widespread "guerrilla pimping" in southern Nevada and California but not in the Reno area. She says she believes some who make these claims have something to gain by saying there is lots of sex trafficking. She says 4th street is now mostly "trannies" working on their own trying to get some money.

"Guerrilla pimps are people who forcibly take women. In SoCal and southern Nevada, they just sell girls back and forth.... There's a ton of girls like me who started prostituting at 16 and then you meet the girls from Oakland who started prostituting at like 12 because they're guerilla pimped and then that's kind of the only skills that they know.... But there's no sex trafficking going on in this area. It's all the girls' choice here. You don't even need a pimp anymore.... I mean, usually when you meet guys in this industry, they're your age and they're trying to figure it out, the same stuff you are. So it's not like working for, it's more like working with. But I've never had a pimp. I've always had boyfriends. They would like to be pimps, but they're like emotional."

She has the marks to prove she was a cutter, but she says she is resilient, and will also survive her current ordeals. 

Trying to Reverse a Downward Slope

"Just because I present myself a certain way, doesn't mean it's not horrible," she says.  She tried going back to live with some of her family in California, but that didn't work out either.

"By the time you get to the end of the day, you're just exhausted. My legs hurt, my feet are constantly swollen. My makeup has become more raggedy," she says.

She didn't show up for a third meeting for a planned interview.  A recent Instagram post from a few days ago partly said: "I did everything on my own until October 2017 when I fell off ..... I hate that they hate me and ruined me for no reason. But I will get everything back by myself like I always do." 

Interviews by Our Town Reno in Spring 2017

Amy, Kicked out of the Ponderosa

Amy, a struggling sketchbook portrait artist who moves back and forth between Arizona and Reno, is sitting outside the Ponderosa, hoping a previous acquaintance will invite her in for the night, but the receptionist keeps pushing her away.  "This isn't a flophouse," the receptionist says.  "I'm tired of this place," she adds. "The music is too loud everywhere ... and people don't have their IDs like they're supposed to." 

Amy used to live here and says it's better now, with more rules and fewer drugs, but that when she lived at the Ponderosa she wasn't "a good person." She says she got in trouble and that now for some reason she's banned. She doesn't give too many specifics.

"It's a good place to be short term," she says, "but long term, it's best to make other plans." Still for one night here and there, she says "it's good enough, if I was welcome."

Some amenities have been cut down at the Ponderosa, as indicated by the above sign. 

Life at the Ponderosa

The lobby entrance is filled with fifty and sixty somethings, many of them in wheelchairs, many of them with tiny dogs.

If they can afford it and aren't kicked out, Amy says, "it's ok. They just need a place where they can lock their door and try to be happy and well inside." Amy says ambulances often come by for people who are sick or also for those who overdose or have bad reactions.  "There's drugs," she says, "heroin and meth.  But people are pretty discrete about it."

She said when she lived here, she was in a bad relationship and also had a drinking and gambling problem.

"I messed it up for myself by gambling," she says of her life. "Gambling is not a good thing. I have also been conned, scammed, railroaded for money …..  I borrowed money to gamble more," she said. "You make mistakes and there are repercussions. There is balance in the universe."

She says she now gets a monthly Social Security Disability Insurance benefit of $740, and tries to make money by salvaging, and reselling what she finds for people who hold regular yard sales. 

Despite what she says are frequent cockroaches, she sometimes misses sleeping inside. "I got pneumonia from too much freezing and thawing outside.  But other motels, where I don't know all the seedy people, I don't want that," she says.  Monthly rent at the Ponderosa can still be had for below $800 and Amy says she'd be happy to come back.

A few minutes after our interview, Amy had left into the night, looking for a camping spot. 

Back on the Streets

Amy says she usually finds spots to camp in alleys in Sparks or Reno. She doesn't like the main shelter or where homeless like her congregate.

"Oh yeah I want to listen to old guys bickering, whining and screaming and bugs," she says. "No! I’m a camper. "

She says she's also been kicked out of a local RV camp, but stays despite all the challenges because she has two kids who live here.

But she says she does want to go back to Arizona where she also has family and used to help people she knows there with furniture refurnishing. She also used to make and sell walking sticks.  

"Maybe one day, I could write a book about homelessness in Reno," she says. "It’s a sad place. It needs a lot of help. Lots of people are sad here," she says before packing her bags, and thanking us for a cigarette.

 

Stevi Goletto, Finding the Time and the Courage to be Kind

Food Not Bombs Reno and Hairstylists Along the River

As she helped organize hairdressers parking alongside the river and another Monday evening food distribution, Goletto said "not good", when asked about the number of tents currently propped up along the very high Truckee River.

"Gentrification is happening," she said. "We are dealing with that and we have 25-40 over in this area, and 15-20 over there, just in this tiny part. It says a lot about how rent these days is theft essentially and how we're falling into that trap and we're just excluding people."

She said the idea of adding free haircuts was important in combating some of that exclusion.

"Our friends by the river can't always get a haircut so we just asked people if they would like to help and we got a really good response," she said of hairdressers from Maxwell's Barbershop and Tabu who showed up. "People did want to help. Good haircuts, they make us feel so much better and cleaner, and it makes us feel included. A big part of the lives of our friends by the river is exclusion and feeling lesser of a person, and so we are all about solidarity and we are here to show them that we are all equal. Having a haircut, feeling like you're just like everyone else is important," she said.

"I do believe camping should be legal. I don't understand why there's a problem with that," Golleto said. "We have a lot of old motels and housing that we can really make into affordable housing or even free housing for our homeless. Other cities have done this. We need to give and not be greedy." 

Relying on Help Previously and Now Helping Others

Goletto works as a photographer, photo editor, artist and as an assistant gallery manager in Carson City at Western Nevada College. She says it's important even with her busy schedule to find time to help others, as she once was helped.

"I think it's important to show people how much we need solidarity, how much we need equality," she said. "This is the way that I can show it. This is the way I can be a part of it. Being busy is not an excuse."

She also knows first hand the difference these types of events can make in a person's life.

"When I was in high school, I actually couch hopped a lot, so I didn't really have a stable home life," she said. "I grew up very poor in the Bay Area and in central California. It was actually through programs like Food Not Bombs and the Salvation Army that some days I wouldn't have eaten without these people. I've come through a few precarious situations but things like this, and the love of strangers, who had faith in me and they didn't even know who I was, was the most beautiful thing I've probably ever experienced."

"Food Not Bombs Reno ... we are an anarchist collective. We are all about that food is not a privilege it's a right. We believe in solidarity for everyone and we are all about hands on action. We're not a charity at all," Golleto said. "We are just friends helping friends as equals and that's our purpose and that's what we do. We see a problem and we do our best to fight it." 

Joining In

Dozens of people lined up for the food and many of them also walked away with new haircuts. Volunteers for Food Not Bombs includes teenagers, college students, young professionals and retirees. Goletto says anyone tempted to join on a Monday around 5:30 pm is more than welcome. Businesses can also reach out she said if they want to offer food.

"Come on by. We would love to have you," she said. "We all make food from our own kitchens. We also have local places donate. Every single one of us it comes from pure love and from our heart. We don't ask for anything. We just want to be here. A lot of us know what it's like to need someone. It's every Monday without fail at 5:30 pm. You can bring something that you make. We usually feed between 30 and 50 people. When it's a nice beautiful warm day, we've gotten 50 plus. If you feel like you can't bring anything, or you're not sure, just bring yourself and you're always welcome. Just say 'hey I'm here and I want to help'. That's all you need to do."

Other Food Not Bombs volunteers prepared the food.  Goletto said she would like our culture to be less judgmental of those in need. "We say 'oh I worked hard, I deserve this. And they didn't just work hard, they did drugs and that's why they are there, so they don't deserve my help. I'm going to just do nothing,'" she said. "But I don't think any person has the right to judge another person. Or what they need, or what help they deserve.  And if we can just have empathy and have the courage to be kind, that is important. Just open your heart. Just maybe look outside money and look outside greed."

"We all Need Somebody"

"Time I personally don't really have it, but I do it anyways, because I'm no better than these people and I've been in tough places in my life, and we all need somebody to be there for us and sometimes strangers are the best people with the kindest hearts, and so to see people, it feels good to know there are others out there who have love for you, who are helping you, so that is what inspires me," Goletto concluded before getting back to coordinating the event, as those helped ate their meals and went back along the river. "My inspiration comes from I feel good. It makes me feel good knowing that I am doing more for others and not just for myself. "

Interviews and Reporting by Our Town Reno on a recent Monday Evening along the Truckee River