Judge Tammy Riggs, Restoring People's Dignity at the Community Court

A Low Stress Court

On an early Wednesday morning, a little over ten people shuffle inside the Downtown Reno Library. They are greeted by an abundance of green plants, trees and bushes. It’s like entering a calm forest. And, they aren’t here to check out books. The Reno Municipal Court Community Court is about to begin.

Community court is for nonviolent crimes such as trespassing, open containers, lying on sidewalks, camping in a public area, littering, jaywalking or urinating in public in the downtown Reno area. A majority of these citations are given to those living on the streets. Instead of being ordered to pay off their tickets, at the community court people can instead get connected with services or given same-day community service for local cleanups.

Instead of on an elevated bench, Judge Tammy Riggs, is at a table sitting across from those who have been cited. 

“I'm not wearing a robe. We don't have a big bench,” Riggs said. “So (it’s a) less formal process to bring the stress down.” Judge Riggs says the welcoming, green library is her favorite building in the world.

Making Appointments Instead of Payments

Riggs says that the library is more of a low stress environment than the courthouse. The downtown Reno library is also accessible by bus.

At  white circular tables, different organization representatives help people make appointments to get connected to services for mental and physical healthcare, substance abuse care, help for veterans, GED preparation, job searches, resume writing, getting back their ID, getting access to affordable housing and welfare services.

“We try to provide people with a dignified experience here,” Riggs says. “Once you become homeless, people are very beaten down at that point. They feel like they’ve become invisible. They feel like people don't care about them. We've had people tell us, ‘This is the very first time somebody has offered to help me,’ or, ‘Thank you for being nice to me,’ because people don't experience that on the street.”

Individuals usually get sentenced to attend another hearing to ensure that they went to the appointments they signed up for to get help. 

Community court begins at 8 am on Wednesdays two hours before the rest of the library.

Trying to Make a Difference in People’s Lives

Riggs says that she doesn’t consider punishment by imprisonment an effective remedy for the citations she is dealing with. 

“All of us want to make a difference in our fields,” she said. “We all want to feel like that what we do has meaning and is helping. Especially people in government, believe it or not, people in government want to feel like what they do means something,” she said.

“We get a lot of the same people over and over again. You get to know them and you don't want to hammer people you know, you want to help them, you want to assist them in whatever it is that is impeding their ability to live their life.”

Reno’s community court (described here in full detail: https://www.reno.gov/Home/Components/News/News/18867/576?seldept=9) is being funded for two years with a $200,000 grant from the Center for Court Innovation in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance. More information on the Center for Court Innovation here: https://www.courtinnovation.org/

Reporting and Photos by Lucia Starbuck for Our Town Reno

Joyce, Vouching for More Public Housing after Moving from a Motel

More Affordable and Relaxing

On a hot summer morning, Joyce is having coffee in her spacious room while she snuggles with Aurora, her rescue and service dog. Her roommate, a veteran, is preparing food in a shared, spotless kitchen of their subsidized apartment within the Hawk View Apartments complex, next to a couple of bus lines, by Hug High.

It’s a far cry from other situations she’s lived in, most recently the cramped, noisy, often drama-filled motels she called home for a while. There is a continuation though, such as the Native American dreamcatcher over her bed, which she found in a dumpster and which then adorned the door to her room at the El Tavern motel on W. 4th street.

Joyce has been here since May, after finding out housing lists were reopening and immediately applying in February. “It didn't take that long,” she said. “But my roommate's a veteran so it kind of bumped us up on the list and they offered us this one.”

They are paying less than $400 for the two bedroom apartment, with an extra $100 or so per month for electricity and cable bills, much less than the rising rent at the motel, which she said was going up to $1,250 for a much smaller space. Because she now pays utilities, her food stamps have gone up.

Gifts such as this one from Reno councilwoman Neoma Jardon are part of Joyce’s new living room decor. She is still trying to get a couch and a table with chairs so she can have guests over. The influential local lobbyist Jessica Sferrazza also helped her out with initial furniture. Joyce made these contacts after actively engaging with others through social media.

Challenges of Adapting to a New Neighborhood and a New Place

”We argued on Facebook with each other,” Joyce says of getting to know Jardon personally, while presenting her views on helping the homeless and easing the affordable housing crisis in Reno. “We had lunch, we talked. We were both really honest with each other and we've just stayed friends.”

Since Joyce doesn’t have a car, she does miss the ease of going to the motel’s convenience store, or living on the first floor, as she used to, to take her dog for walks. Her roommate was robbed while walking Aurora late at night on nearby Tripp Drive, which they now both avoid at night.

She has new neighbor friends, including an artist, and apartment community meetings she attends. She says maintenance is a bit backed up, as she’s still trying to get her shower fixed, but that all in all, it’s been a great move for her. “I like it now. I’m happy and calmer,” she said.

Joyce believes building and budgeting for more subsidized low income housing as well as tiny home villages with community gardens should be the way to go for Reno. She is trying to help get a plot at her apartments turned into a vegetable garden, but says the bureaucracy to get that done seems endless.

The Importance of Networking and Local Solutions

”Network,” Joyce says when asked if she has tips for others trying to rebound from homelessness and addiction as she has. Getting free bus passes also helped.

“Make sure you access what resources you can, if you can,” she said. “It’s difficult. It's really hard to get places. I learned that lesson. If you don't have transportation, you're not going anywhere. If you don't have resources or know where to network, you're not going anywhere. Figuring out what your options are. If you can, don't be afraid to reach out to some groups and at least get an idea. If you're going to apply for housing, apply, you know?”

She said when Lisa Lee, a recovery specialist in Reno, told her the housing lists were reopening, she not only applied for herself and her roommate, but for four other neighbors at her motel as well.

Joyce believes in local and state solutions for affordability over federal ones, but believes Reno still has the wrong mindset.

“You know, they want this to be a university town. They want to have districts, which I hate, you know. It makes it sound exclusive. Hey, if you're not this, you can't be here.”

Now that she has a safe place to stay, Joyce’s cousins have been sending her family mementoes of her late parents and brother she keeps safely in a box under her bed.

Helping the Homeless One by One

Joyce believes there should be a wider array of services for those living on the streets, and a wider range of options to help them out. She often points to Eugene, Oregon, as a city which has tried harder to help.

“Some people don't want to be inside or some people don't know how to interact with others enough to be inside,” she said. “That's why there should be more choices and more diversity for people who do want to come in… It's not just homeless people. There's addiction, there's mental health, there's veterans, there's PTSD, there's whatever. And they're all throwing it into one basket. Like a designate X. Nope. Sorry, I never fit into a basket.”

She says every little bit makes a difference, from the help she’s received from others, to herself helping out.

“The other day I was walking my dog, and there was a guy pushing a baby carriage with stuff in it, and when I came back, he happened to be in the dumpster and he said, ‘oh, thanks for following me’. I said, ‘I wasn't following you.’” 

She went back to meet him to give him a jug of cold water and a bag of toiletries. “You know, it wasn't a big deal. Been there, done that, made eye contact, talked to him. He said the way he lives is what he's chosen. I said, well, everybody's got to decide when it's time to change. If you do fine, but you're going to have to do it on your time and nobody's going to be able to make you.” 

Photos and Interview by Our Town Reno in July 2019

Philip, Honoring a Homeless Friend who was Stabbed to Death

The Homeless Dead Often Get Ignored

“His name was Donny,” Philip tells us. “He was stabbed to death for some shit. It went too far and he got murdered… He was brutally stabbed to death and I've yet to hear anything else about the investigation. But yeah, there's been a lot of shit going on,” he says of the insecurity of living in a tent, which also comes with repeated early morning police sweeps.

Criminalizing the homeless, he says, is wrongheaded.

“Figuring out what the problem is and then dealing with the problem instead of sitting here and taking it out on the homeless because these guys want to be assholes to us and it's not okay. Making homeless criminals, that's never going to work, right? Nope. It's just gonna piss them off more, make it worse and make a lot more problems for the future,” he said.

A memorial for Donny used to be here, painted by his niece but keeps getting painted over. “This is the third time they've painted over it, but she's not going to stop putting the memorial there,” Philip said.

Loyalty to Those Living on the Streets

Philip says more and more people who are cited for camping illegally are now sent to the downtown library’s community court, which he says is an improvement.

“Usually they tell people to go to services when they go to the library court and when you go, they have all types of services. They have people from Hopes, they have people from social services …”

Philip says he’s been living on the streets of Reno since 2006. He’s thought of going back to Las Vegas, but he says his loyalty and protecting others in his predicament keeps him here.  

“I know too many people out here. I have too many people out here I consider family,” he said.

Philip uses a whip he made as protection, especially from himself. “It's a way of taking out frustrations without having to actually hate somebody else.I do this thing to get rid of the anger and frustrations that I have built up inside …”

Surviving by the River

Philip sometimes helps people move or fixes cars to earn some money, as he doesn’t get any fixed income, or even food stamps. He says he finds peace sitting by the Truckee river, and also answers, when he feels lost.

He believes camping along the river should be legal, and that there should be public showers and more trash cans. He says people who look down on those like him should have more compassion.

“There's a good community amongst us. There's spots all along this river, where everything goes on. Just like everyday life goes on inside of houses. The only thing is we do it in a tent, but it’s still all the same. It's just we're in a tent. The winters are tough, but summers are tough too.”

For those who are just starting out on the river, finding a hidden shady spot and drinking clean water is the key, he says.

“Stay hydrated, that's all I can say. Stay hydrated. If not, you're going to die of a heat stroke.”

Photos and Interview by Our Town Reno in July 2019

Josella, Holding on to the Family's Motel Torch and Feeling like a 'Black Sheep' in Reno

From a Lineage of Sicilian-Americans Who Built and Bought Motels in Reno

Josella Starbuck’s family history is complicated and involves several of Reno’s downtown and Midtown motels. It also intertwines with much of Reno’s history, from quicky divorces, to racism against black musicians, to casinos lowering their room prices all the way to current rebranding efforts and gentrification.

At the root of it for her were her grandfather and great uncle, Sicilian-Americans who first came to Reno from Buffalo, for their own divorces in the 1940s. Her grandfather started a bar and then built the Swiss Motel. With that early success, he built the Virginia Motel, and then the family also bought the Vacation Motor Lodge and the former Ranch Motel.

Part of Josella’s childhood was spent in a house attached to the Virginia Motel and its office, and she remembers her brother, as young as 13, in charge of the front desk. “He would run the office because my parents stayed open all the time. We hardly ever went anywhere as a family … we had no family vacations,“ she told us during a recent interview in Midtown, with construction all around us, forcing her “to grit her teeth.”

In first grade, she said she realized for the first time the stigma attached not only to those who live in motels but also to those who run them. As part of an introductory assignment, she boasted about how proud she was to live and work with her family in the same place, but she says this confused her classmates.

Josella points to the former pool of the Vacation Motor Lodge, which has now been replaced by a small community garden and communal barbecue patio area.

From Working with Casinos to Competing Against Them

Initially, Josella says patrons were a “mix of people staying a few nights, traveling salesmen, musicians, and people in transition waiting for an apartment or a house.”

Casino employees would come by the motels with gambling coupons, as well as Christmas gifts, to attract more patrons.

During the 1960s, when Reno was a destination for big concerts, black musicians were prevented from staying at casinos where they played, so they would sleep at the motels. Josella’s mom once met Tina Turner, who she shared a birthday with, looking for musicians she knew.

But by the 1980s, when Circus Circus had started slashing its nightly room prices, Josella says motels became more of “a housing type situation for folks.”

“We don't do any nightlies now because there's too much risks with people trashing the room, leaving or not leaving when it's 11 o'clock,” she said of how it has remained that way since.

Motels seem frozen in time but many Reno residents still rely on them amid an affordable housing crisis. “We have a vets,” Josella said of her current tenants. “We even have an author who self publishes on Amazon. At the Virginia Motel, we have a retired judge.”

Surviving the Recession and A Changing Clientele, but Still Shunned by Midtown

Josella says her customers now are mostly elderly people on fixed income. Some she says have been at the motel for eight years.

During the Great Recession, she says, she was down to six tenants out of 35 rooms. She decided to lower prices to survive. While some say motel life isn’t affordable, Josella says at the Vacation Motor Lodge several tenants are paying just $450 a month, bills included.

“You don't have to pay a power bill. You don't have to pay for linens, you don't have to pay for basic cable and your heat. Every room has a mini fridge and a microwave and you do have that comfort of knowing if something breaks, it gets replaced. We have some people here who are surviving on maybe $700 or $800 in Social Security,” she said. “And one thing that we haven't done here is raise the rates extraordinarily high. And those people who have been here a long time, a lot of them are only paying $50 more than when they came in on that special rate that we were running nine years ago.”

While motels cater to a less affluent clientele, many new stores in Midtown now have extremely pricey items or menus, but Josella isn’t impressed. “I just feel like we've been here before Midtown. A lot of things that I've observed in ‘Midtown’ are a lot of empty storefronts. People who open and then are gone. We are kind of the black sheep of Midtown. We've never been asked to join a Midtown association…. I think we'll probably still be here when Midtown is another lost memory … We do tend to get ahead of ourselves in this town.”

Josella says Bette Midler once did a long scene in front of the Vacation Motor Lodge for the 1982 Hollywood film Jinxed. “People drive by and take pictures of the signs,” Josella said. “I will say it is sad when things get torn down,” she says of other motels and their signs being torn down. “It is sad when things change, when people don't appreciate the past. That's probably something they do do better in Europe.”

Helping the Community?

Josella thinks motels have value for the community, even now. “If anything, it's just a safe, clean place for people who simply can't afford high rents,” she said. “A lot of times people can't get the money together for a deposit to live in an apartment, or they don't have the credit.”

She says when people complain motel rooms are dirty, sometimes they don’t understand there are limits to what motel owners can do to force tenants to clean them up. “The man in his castle law applies to motels, so we can't just go in there and clean it. We can't go in there and tell them what to do. If they want to sleep on the floor, we can't tell them you have to sleep in a bed.” The man in his castle is a legal doctrine designating a person's legally occupied place in which that person has protections and immunities.

Josella says previous suggestions to force motels to have kitchenettes in all rooms would put most motels out of business because of associated plumbing costs, but she says she hasn’t seen any movement in that direction in Reno lately.

Overall, she says, she resents politicians and media reports depicting motels as blight and unlivable. “It makes me angry because they're not speaking to the residents,” she said. “I mean, nobody here is forced to stay. It's a month to month lease, sometimes a week, or two week lease.”

“I would really like them to come and talk to the people who actually live here and choose to stay here,” she said of media and politicians. “I think we're providing a service for the community. There's not enough housing now as it is. There's not enough housing for families. Over at the Virginia Motel, we have working families who live there and that's all they can afford. And they're hardworking people. They're taxpayers. Everybody's gone crazy with the rents here in town and it's not sustainable.”

Josella says she lets tenants plant flowers and also tries to quickly respond to all complaints. She says she has no problems with police, or the fire and health departments, who occasionally drop by. With lots of speculation on Reno’s continued growth, Josella says there has been pressure to sell. “There's a lot of people who do come out of the woodwork,” she said. “I try to resist but I am getting older myself. There’s people who figure they could run the place better, make more money, which is fine, but I don't know what the future will hold….”

Defending the Wild Orchid and Motels

Across the street from the Vacation Motor Lodge is the Wild Orchid, and its ongoing drama with Reno’s City Council and certain residents over its central location and digital signs.

“I think the City singled out the Wild Orchid to say … this is what's wrong with downtown, but all you have to do is walk through downtown to see what's wrong with downtown. There are closed storefronts on the main strip, boarded up. There's garbage. You can't pick out one thing and say this is what's wrong with the whole area. And honestly we use it as a landmark on the phone when we tell people how to get here. So, I was on the side of the owners of the Wild Orchid the whole time. “

She says Reno has always had an identity crisis.  Lumping motels with a certain view of Reno, she finds that offensive.

“I think it's because of a perception that people have, that we're part of that seedy underbelly of society, which isn't true. I think that's a perception that people have, but we contribute to the local economy. We use local tradespeople for help. I think people wish we weren't here, but they don't know what to do with the people that are here. So it's kind of like a guilty relationship. It's not right. Honestly, I think that the word slumlord gets tossed around a lot. And I find that personally offensive because it's so derogatory. I wish they would just come and see and spend maybe 30, 45 minutes, just seeing what's going on here.”

Where would current tenants go if motel rooms were no longer available?

“You know, people say, everybody who lives there, is on drugs. They're all crack heads. And that's just not true. I mean a lot of people get beat up by society. Not everyone can make it. And you end up with $700, $800 a month on Social Security. I mean, what are you supposed to do? And a lot of people here have had rich full lives.”

 Reporting and Photos by Our Town Reno in July 2019

Phoenix, Leading a Trans Recovery Group to Save Local Lives

Making Support Groups More Inclusive

Phoenix, who has lived in several different parts of the U.S. as a service child, says Reno and Nevada in general don’t feel inclusive, which is why this trans group is so needed here.

“Las Vegas was probably the worst I’ve seen along with Oklahoma for transgendered youth being basically kicked out of their house for trying to live their true life,” she said. “For the most part, (in Reno), sometimes we're still kind of backwards. You know, the old country mentality.”

Phoenix points to alarmingly high suicide and substance abuse rates for trans youths, as another vital reason for this endeavor.

“It's very important for the group to be inclusive, instead of exclusive, because people need to know it's open, you know, versus just having the same old people sitting around a table,” she said. “You know, if we don't bring new people in, new blood into groups, then guess what, the groups die off … it’s the same thing with any other type of group in Reno, AA, NA, people forget that nowadays. You know, if you’ve been in the same group with the same people, everyone knows each other. There's no new lifeblood and the new person in the group is the best thing in the world, because you get to help that person. You get to show them what you have and you get to show them how you live your true life.”

Phoenix spoke at the opening of the Foundation for Recovery. “People don't realize that if you find a good support system, you can conquer the world,” she said in our interview afterwards. “We can be more inclusive. Don't judge a book by its cover. I'm 6’5. I have purple hair, but you know, I have the biggest heart in the world. I will help anyone that's in need.”

From Crystal Meth Addiction to Becoming a Leader for Positive Change

Phoenix, who now manages a Supercuts hair salon, has a life of struggles and turnaround to share as inspiration. “I started living my true life, in October three years ago,” she said. “That was after I finally had, I was finally done with crystal meth. I was on and off meth from the age of 18 to 32. I’ve been clean as of, August 28th of this year, I'll be clean three years. And my journey … I did everything I could to survive. I was homeless. I was living in a car.  I stole from, you know, family members. It wasn't a true life I needed to live… People forget that, you know, being happy in your own life, becoming your true self, doing what you need to do is the best thing you can do to survive.”

Phoenix also points to the dangerous levels of violence against the transgender community, especially trans women of color.

“If you have some type of addiction that lands you on the streets, it can kill you, especially with everything that's going on in the world today. One thing that makes me really nervous is how many trans women of color have been killed, just this year alone, it's been a lot. Nobody's doing anything, you know? And that scares the living bejesus out of me because I was there. I was doing what I had to do to survive. “

For Phoenix, getting arrested in Reno at one point when she was hitting bottom was a wakeup call. “If I was to stay on the streets, I know that I would've died,” she told us. “The turning point for me was that, so basically the thing is, look at yourself. Do you see yourself there in 10 years or do you see yourself dead in 10 years? Get yourself a good support system.”

“If you're afraid to come to the group, talk to me,” she said. “I'll do what I can to help. If I need to facilitate, you know, where you might need to go for counseling or something like that, I'll try and put you in the same direct path I was … People might be scared to come to the group because they are afraid that they might be outed or they are still living behind a veil. Come out from wherever you are. Life is too short. Live your life. Nobody else will for you. Carpe Diem.”

Advice for Parents and the Community

Phoenix says love and acceptance, including self-acceptance, is generally what’s needed the most.

“My advice for the parents would be they're your kid, love them. One day you're going to need the love. You know, it's just not about what's in between our legs, it's what's in our mind, what's in our heart. People forget that love is just not, it's not a gender. It's your heart. It's your soul. I was born this way and you know what? A lot of younger, the younger generation doesn't realize that… love yourself first. You know, people come and go in your life. There's one person that you wake up everyday with and look at in the mirror, that's yourself. Love yourself before you love anybody else.”

Phoenix would also like to see a local homeless shelter specifically for trans kids as well more pressure on organizations which still practice discrimination.  

Reporting by Our Town Reno in July 2019

Lisa Lee, Opening a Peer Recovery Community Center in Sparks

A Christmas in July with Peers

With community activists, recovery specialists, academics and local residents in recovery on hand, Lisa Lee, herself combining all those attributes, recently opened a new large, multi room, sunny Sparks office for peer community recovery.

After an opening speech introducing staff and the center’s guiding principles, attendants were invited to fill out recovery reminder cards which would be sent out to them on the anniversaries of their sobriety.

The event was billed as a Christmas in July, Grand Opening of the Northern Nevada Recovery Community Organization, with Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve also in attendance. Prior to the gathering, Lee explained the importance of having a staff of so-called Peer Recovery Support Specialists, who have lived experience.

“Not a lot of providers know [...] what it's like to be on the bus for two and a half hours to get from point A to point B. If you're in recovery, chances are you've experienced homelessness, you've lived in abject poverty, you've accessed things like food stamps and food banks, you've ridden the bus, you've ridden your bike, you've walked places, like all of these things. So it's really helpful to have people that are in the know walking with people,” Lee said.

Lee said the local branch of the Foundation for Recovery will be open and free for anyone, at any point of their recovery. She said no one’s journey is the same and people need different help, and that their problems can be worsened especially if they are facing homelessness, food insecurity or poverty. That’s why she said she will also have food stocked and an inviting place for someone to be heard.

A Kind, Open and Mobile Approach to Help

Lee says traditional methods of quickly directing someone to available resources isn’t always the best approach.

“I say things like, ‘How can I best support you? What are your goals? What do you need to do today to be alright?,’ because it might not be like, ‘Oh well you need to work on your resume and look for a job,’ when they're freaking hungry or their lights just got shut off or whatever it may be,” she said. “Like checking in with environmental conditions and how they're coping with those right now is super important rather than like, ‘You need to go to a meeting.’”

The new center will have mobile, outreach programs, like helping incarcerated women, and also meeting with people living without stable shelter on the streets or along the Truckee River. Other organizations, such as a local Crystal Meth Anonymous group, are also using the space to hold meetings.

Yoga classes are also being offered at the space. Lee said anyone with a special talent and passion is also invited to offer community classes. Photo by Lucia Starbuck

Drawing on Her Own Experiences

Lee says inclusivity was a huge determining factor in choosing a location. She originally wanted to be in downtown Reno, but never found a place that was wheelchair accessible such as the Sparks location, which already had a ramp. Lee said Reno’s rents were too high anyway.

She said she will draw on her own experiences getting help, and then helping others with other local organizations in recent years, to guide her work.

“Recovery is an interesting experience because it's a lot like being reborn or something and you're like this little raw, squishy egg in the world trying to figure it all out. I think having other people who've been there, like those have been the most impactful people for me. [...] Not somebody who read it in a book, but somebody who like walked through the fire and came out of it. I just think that's really important. I think it's almost like an obligation that you at least help one other person,” Lee said.

Lee (left) gave the floor to those who are helping with the center during the opening ceremony.

Survivor’s Guilt

Lee, who was known as Turtle while living on the streets during her early adult years, lost many of her close friends due to the hardship of their lives.

“I wake up in the morning everyday at four and I go for a run and I listen to an audio book and I watch the sunrise and I hear the birds chirp and I'm just like, ‘This is something that so many of my friends don't get to do because they’re dead.’ I think about that and I'm like, ‘God why am I here?,’ There's a lot of like survivor’s guilt. [...] But then it’s like, well I am here so I’m obligated to make sure that someone else's kid doesn't die, to make sure that they get a chance.”

Lee says her goal is to one day close her doors because that would mean the problem is solved. However, until then, Lee plans on helping people even if it’s as small, she says, as planting the seed in someone’s mind to consider or at least become educated about recovery.

Reporting and Photography by Lucia Starbuck for Our Town Reno

Cindy, A Former Casino Employee in a Tent Displaced by Police Sweeps and Cleanups

Living in a Tent while Working in a Casino

“When [the police] come, they'll shake, rattle and pick up the whole tent and just trash it if nobody's there and if somebody’s there and they don't get a response, they will come in,” Cindy says of repeated police actions against those living in tents along the Truckee River.

“I've had an officer invade my privacy or invade my home, if you will, (who) just came right in and grabbed my leg and start throwing my covers around and getting mad because I'm upset because he's in my space. Well, this is my home. Whether or not it's a physical home or not, it's still my home, regardless (if) it's a tent. So what makes it any different from him walking through my tent door as opposed to walking through my home door. It's not okay in my home. In a house, it's not okay for anybody to enter your residence without permission so I don't see why it should be any different for a tent.”

Cindy stays in her tent with her boyfriend and their dog, so for them, it’s not an option to stay in the shelter which doesn’t allow pets. Cindy used to have a job at Cal Neva as a keno runner but lost it last year because she says it was difficult to maintain while living on the streets.

She says she was excited be working at a casino, but on her wages she still couldn’t afford a place to stay, or dress properly for the job. “They wanted me to dress up and I love to dress up, but I didn't have the attire to do that. So I was stuck. Like, now what do I do? I don't have the clothes. They wanted a nice solid color pants, like dark colored pants and then a dress shirt. I didn't have the attire at the time. I had no dress clothing. So with the lack of clothing and the lack of being able to shower on a daily basis, which is big to me, it really made it hard to keep the job.”

Cindy says she wishes there were more services available for people living on the streets like accessible housing, and showers.

An Underpass in Limbo with a Controversial Cleanup

Parcels near the underpass area of Wells Ave. have been linked to a possible expansion of the Generator art maker space. The parcels, currently still owned by the city of Reno and its Redevelopment Agency were envisioned as possible spaces for art performances and markets.

According to its About section, the Redevelopment Agency serves as the economic development arm of the City of Reno, with the power to buy private property for resale; reallocate property and sales tax increment in order to finance the redevelopment program of the community; and use other incentives to foster redevelopment of blighted properties. Its piece of land reported for a possible Generator purchase is about 3.2 acres next to a smaller .6 acres, also linked to the maker space, which is owned by the city itself.

This Spring, several activists and community volunteers say they were approached by the Generator to do a cleanup of the area, which they refused saying the space was being used by people living in tents. Sought out for comment, Jerry Snyder, a board member of the Generator, wrote back on Messenger: “We respectfully decline this request for an interview.”

Members from Food Not Bombs, who host weekly potlucks at nearby Fisherman's Park, usually also bring food to people living along the river when there are leftovers. They said at any given time, there were about 50 people scattered in tents under the overpass. One day, around the time of the suggested cleanup, when they went to bring the food, they said all of the people were gone.  They suspected communications between the Generator and police, which we weren’t able to confirm.

Cindy says the unpredictability of the current situation and always having to move is getting to her. “We get continually pushed and pushed and pushed by the cops. They keep harassing us, keep moving us and they keep telling us we got to relocate, we can't be here, go toward Sparks. I mean they specifically gave us a location, behind GSR on the Sparks side. So we went over there and then all the Sparks police and the reservation police got all pissed off. They're like, ‘Wait, why are you guys over here?’ [...] I mean it's a ridiculous, brutal circle, from trying to find a place where we won't get harassed. If we don't move it, then the next time they come through with the cleaning crew, they will literally throw everything away and I've had them do that to me before,” she said.

Reporting and Photos by Lucia Starbuck for Our Town Reno

Teme, Around the World to Reno with a Pot of Treasure Scraps

Difficult to Verify

As with many street stories, it’s not always easy to verify details. What we like to focus on is the present and how people are surviving, how they help each other, and what ideas they might have to make our community a better, more caring place.

Teme says he’s a veteran, who has been around the world, studied at various universities, met important figures and was present for important historical moments. This might all be true, we just couldn’t verify it. What is true is that when we met him he had set up his possessions, including his scrap treasures, on a picnic table along the Truckee river.

“I learned the craft from my Dad who also taught me how to make a gold watch. I mostly make men's but I do make women's. I have mostly rings, necklaces and bracelets. I've made anklets and some jewelry in the Egyptian style,” he said of turning scrap to jewelry.

Reno’s Changing Identity

What he did share with us is that he wants to leave Reno, because he says, in his estimation, the Biggest Little City is more about money than it has ever been.

“They're trying to remodel,” he said of recent changes. “Gambling's being downsized. I was here before they built all these new places. You never really saw anybody and nobody really had any money. They built all these (new) places to get money.”

But he says they are still trying to get people’s money the way they’ve always tried.

“My last message to the people in Reno is if you don't gamble, you don't smoke, you don't drink then you don't really belong here. That's just what it is. They don't want you up there. “

We left Teme without understanding his many secrets and hidden worlds but took a few pictures and thanked him for his time and insights.

Reporting by Prince Nesta and Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Elizabeth Lenz, Among Music Therapists Helping Heal at Note-Able

A Powerful Therapy

Music is a reminder, a safe place, and an insight into how one can feel. It’s also an understanding, a collection of the most beautiful sounds, and is a powerful form of therapy.

Note-Able Music Therapy Services which has two locations in Reno invites people of all ages to walk through their doors, attend a class and be transformed by the rhythm, beat, and aura of music.

Patients ranging in age from young children to the elderly attend classes weekly due to anything from neurological traumas to mental health issues and even physical disabilities.

“This is a fun environment where serious things happen,” said Sarah Toney, the Note-Able Director of Development.

“People who attend sessions at Note-Able are brought into a community where they are celebrated and appreciated,” Toney said. “It isn’t about getting fixed it’s about the journey in healing.”

At its Riverside Dr. location, at the McKinley Arts & Culture Center, Note-Able’s board certified music therapists lead weekly sessions.

A Varied and Inclusive Community

At the McKinley Arts & Culture Center, there are two, very generous in size, rooms where patients are able to explore a number of instruments, sounds, lights and art which personalizes the room and makes it feel like an inclusive community.

Note-ables also host two dance classes weekly, where people with developmental disabilities are able to gain their fair share of specialized attention in a physical dance class.

Note-ables is involved in the community with projects at the youth drop in center the Eddy House, Northern Nevada Medical Center, Renown, Northern Nevada Mental Health Services, The Life Change Center, and Quest Counseling and Consulting.

“A young girl from Eddy House sang in front of an audience at one of our performances,” Toney said. “She wasn’t the best, but she sang with intention and it brought her and the crowd to tears.”

Music therapists from Note-Able also go to the Renown Pediatric unit to help relieve some of the most stressful experiences the children there and their parents go through. Their services aren’t insurance based so their help comes both as paid services or in some instances free volunteerism, and their focus is on accompanying those suffering, rather than focusing on final results.

“Note-Able is here to create a sense of stability, at this time this is what we are doing, this is where we are present” Toney said.

In class, the experience provided is extremely personalized to each attendee. There is a wall of guitars, multiple drum sets and microphones to get everyone involved in the day’s activities.

Photos and Reporting by Josie Steehler shared with Our Town Reno

Jefferson George, A Struggling Artist Fighting for America's "Lower Class"

Dealing with Homeless Task Forces and Police

While previously on the streets as a struggling tattoo artist in California, Jefferson George says he was constantly hassled by so-called homeless task forces, and cited for infractions of just trying to survive without shelter. He says authorities often sweep through encampments with bulldozers, and crush everything in sight including pets who might be sleeping.

“We're definitely second class citizens,” he said. “You try to grab whatever you can and just move along. You know, it's a PG rated genocide of the lower class. So generally speaking, if you are, if you get to a certain level when you're down, they kick you down, they keep you down. I've literally been starving in the gutter and have people walk over me. When you get to that point, you realize that, you know, it's more than just closed. Mouths don't get fed. People just generally don't care. They don't give a crap. You know, you are a blight on society. They don't want to see your homelessness anymore. They want to just sweep you away.”

He says he also went to jail for taking metals from unused buildings. “It's not exactly the most honorable trade, he said, “but you know, I'm sorry, but you know, I had to eat.”

The last time he was arrested, he says, police went through his bag throwing his stuff out, and just left his bicycle next to a dumpster unlocked. “So that's gone,” he said. “It’s just one step forward, three steps back constantly. You know, you try and be a functioning member of society and you get reminded that you are at a certain level …”

“I'll just go through unwanted refuse, you know, that people throw away. I collect and I will fix it and I will clean it and I will, you know, try to do a resale. I mean, for instance, this Google nextbook. I unlocked it. I erased everything that the previous user had, all their information. I don't care about that. I need to go online and try and order a new glass for it, which only costs a few dollars which I can buy with a prepaid card and have it sent to, you know, any address I can find,” he explained of one of his current projects.

Passing Food Around, Doing Odd Jobs, Trying to Sell Art and Refurbishing Found Objects

Jefferson says he likes going to restaurants, and finding food and passing it around to others on the streets.

“I go to like Little Caesar's and Domino's and at the end of the night, all the pizza and all the food that they're throwing away, I gather it up and I pass it around to everybody else on the streets,” he explained.

He looks for clothes around laundry mats which he says people sometimes leave behind. He had bolt cutters he had found he was trying to sell. He tries to find buyers for his art.

Jefferson says he’s also always ready to work odd jobs. “If I see someone painting a house or mowing, I always see if they need an extra set of hands, you know,” he said. “I can make 10, five bucks here and there, doing what I can.”

But he says with so little money, he feels like a nothing in today’s American society.

“It's all about that all-mighty dollar,” he said. “Without income, no one really has the time for you. You're not a functioning member of society, you know, and as far as Section 8, government housing assistance, that all requires identification, which I am unable to obtain.”

Jefferson says he refuses to panhandle or beg for money. “I try to barter stuff,” he said. “I can’t beg. That’s how my grandparents raised me. You know I go out and try and get an honest dollar.”

“There is no bad art,” Jefferson told us. “I don't care if it's stick figures or if it's paintings, whatever form of expression and artwork that you want to put out into the world. It gives somebody else looking at it a different perspective, a different idea, you know, they see that and then they can take that and then, you know, pass it along somewhere else. So no matter what you draw, as long as you put something creative and original out there, that no one has ever done before. You can have a trickle effect that can inspire something great.”

“Most of the time when I'm talking to people, I draw and I say it's not a sign of disrespect. I just always have to have my hands going. Drawing helps me keep track of time.”

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

Hector, Undocumented and without a Job or Shelter

My name is Hector. I'm from El Salvador. I'm 52. I came to the United States in 1991.

I'm here by the river because I lost my job and then, I lost my family.

I've been staying here for only like a couple of days. I'll try to get back to the motel I was living in when I find a job. It's quite expensive. I pay $1300 a month and that's for a single room.

I lost my restaurant job ... as a supervisor at a Red Robin and now I'm waiting to get my job back. I also worked as a supervisor in a carwash .

I had my own property for 20 years but now my wife and my son live there.

In the streets it just depends on who you surround yourself with. If you decide to be with bad people that's it, if you stay away from bad people, you'll be safe.

To be honest with you, Central American people, we don't like that, to get food stamps or Medicare … We don't like using the government to get something, you know, we El Salvadorans and Guatemalans we don't do that.

My son is just getting out of TMCC and then he's supposed to go to UNR … He doesn't know that I'm out here but he knows that I’ve been in the motel.

As told to Prince Nesta and Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Audrie Thomas, From Homeless and Trafficked to Now Helping Others

A Harrowing Journey Now Getting Better

When we caught up with Audrie, a Reno native, she was helping out with the Saint Vincent’s lunch for those in need. It’s been a long journey for Audrie who used to be homeless herself and who was also trafficked.

“Every day I feel like I'm accomplishing something,” she told us. “And the people that notice me that I've been there before, they say that, they really appreciate me and how I've changed and it's changed the way I look at Reno and our community and the people here that don't have a lot.”

She says she now has a home but five years ago she hit rock bottom in Denver, where lured by people she knew, she became a victim of sexual trafficking, no longer free of her own movements, trapped by a violent pimp. Audrie is now back with her children in Reno, including a son who is a multi sport athlete at Spanish Springs.

When we left her, she told us she wanted to share her story to show that turning your life around when you don’t think it’s possible can always happen, even if it’s very difficult.

When we met her, Thomas was looking for permanent work, hoping that by volunteering, she could make new contacts.

Reporting by Prince Nesta and Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Josh, Waiting for Jobs at Galletti Way while Battling Alcoholism

“People come to the park, and offer jobs so i'm getting ready to be picked up right now,” Josh, 33, said when we met him. “It's picking up slowly, but it's picking up, you know. It's gonna be busy later but now it's slow and we are just here hanging out. Payment depends on a person. Sometimes I make a hundred, maybe under 100... it depends on the person and the job itself.”

The Wait for Odd Jobs

Josh says the problem is when he doesn’t get picked up for work, he turns to drinking or weed to pass the time.

“That's a bad thing,” he said. “But hey, I still work and still get my job done and I still get paid. I do anything like construction, moving. I can do yard work and, all that stuff.”

The San Jose native has been in Reno about 15 years, but he says when he can, he prefers to find work in the Biggest Little City, but then sleep outside city limits to avoid trouble.

“Right now, I'm drinking energy drinks but I have … a little bit of an alcohol addiction. I don't know when that's gonna stop. I get in trouble when I have a little bit too much liquor. I get pissed off and … they could take me to jail. I mean it ruins me,” he said.

Avoiding Police and Most Other People

Josh says he tries to keep a low profile and avoid police. He says he’s lived in the woods and growing up he was mostly home schooled. He says he often doesn’t have a phone but that it doesn’t matter as he doesn’t keep in contact with many people, mostly just his grandparents and a cousin.

“I haven't been around people that much,” he said. “And then when I first came out here, I started learning how to, slowly but surely. I found myself in the streets as a result of smoking weed, breaking the law, not giving a damn. Pretty much, it's all good. Just living this day by day.”

He stays alert to avoid problems. “It's not safe out here or anywhere,” he said. “It's like you see in the movies, you know, the people.”

“What's next for me? I wan't to go down there. Under the dirt. I want to rest in peace. Yeah, I've given up, I lost my parents and that’s it … That's how I want to be helped,” he told us.

Feelings of Giving Up

He says he’s tried regular jobs, but doesn’t do well with the money he earns, or ends up finding trouble one way or another.

“The thing with being offered a job is when I get to that, that job, where they get me to the payroll thing and I get paid and then I'm doing good for a minute… then one of those days you mess up and then you just lose everything,” he said.

“And then, when you come back, come out of jail, losing everything, you try to get another job and that takes time. And you don't know if they're going to call you. Technology is also challenging when doing applications online. I hate phones. I hate filling out the applications. I have resumes, but I just don't feel like doing all that. It's a headache,” he said.

He dreams of leaving Reno for good, and going back to California, but says he doesn’t have the money to make that happen yet.

Reporting by Jordan Blevins and Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Evolving Drag Culture in Reno, from Rodeos to Social Media and a Library Near You

More and More Acceptance Despite Lingering Opposition

While the Sparks Library is set to host Drag Queen Story Time on July 20th, with two drag queens, Ginger Devine and Aspen Meadows, reading to kids LGBTQ related stories, and mainstream media jumped on the story due to opposition from a Nevada advocacy group called Nevada Family Alliance ( NFA ), it’s just one more chapter in a long and illustrious history.

The first Gay Rodeo was in Reno in 1976, and the LGBTQ+ non-profit charity organization known as the “Silver Dollar Court” began that same year. The evolution of drag has grown recently with the prominence of social media, and growing acceptance of the LGTBQ+ community as a whole, despite some lingering opposition.

Someone who has seen this evolution is Tony Pratt, a drag queen by the name of Felicia Jewel Halston. After moving to Reno from Alabama, Felicia saw her first drag show in 1993. Originally a backup dancer, she eventually moved her way into the drag scene because of the encouragement from her mentor Adrian Klein. After she started, Felicia was hooked.

“Once you start doing it, if you enjoy it, it’s in your blood. Once you’ve done it, you start going into the store and looking at girl things… you’re drawn to them, because it’s another side of you.” Felicia Jewel Halston aka Tony Pratt.

The Importance of the Silver Dollar Court

Felicia eventually progressed into the role of Empress of the Silver Dollar Court in Reno from 2005-2006 and 2012-2013. Performing as a part of the Silver Dollar Court was really the only way to get into the scene in Reno initially. 

The Silver Dollar Court hosts fundraising balls for charities and has 71 chapters all across the country. They are nonprofit partners with numerous organizations helping in causes ranging from AIDS to children’s cancer and animal cruelty.

The Silver Dollar Court was the best- and only way to network, promote your drag, and get your name out there back in the day, Felicia said. But, with the rise of social media, and the prominence of drag culture, this is no longer the case.  Felicia has seen these changes over time, from MySpace to the social media apps of today, from being more unique to getting into the mainstream.

“At that point there wasn’t a lot of drag shows where you got paid, and it was just about charity, and I really like giving back. So instead of writing a check this was my way of giving back, enjoying myself and exploring another side of myself, and giving back to people who need it; which at the end of the day is my main focus.”

A Widening Range of Drag

“Another advantage that young people have now is that you can see different types of drag. Back then, there wasn’t as many types, but now there’s such a wide span of drag,” Felicia said. 

Someone who has taken advantage of the power of social media with promoting their drag is Jorgie Silva, also known as Ariana Dulce. Dulce was born and raised in Reno. She is now based in Buffalo, New York, where she is going to nursing school, but she still comes back to Reno to perform. 

Ariana first started performing because her roommate at the time was a club promoter trying to get different queens to come perform at his club. She also heard about a drag show being hosted by the Queer Student Union at UNR, and made her debut performance there. 

Photo of Ariana Dulce at Splash Bar and Nightclub in Reno for a drag event named “Queens of the World: A Night of Representation,” in which she performed later in the evening.

Building and Growing a Brand on Social Media

Once she got into it, Ariana says she became hooked. She started performing at her roommate’s club on the nights that the events allowed 18-year-olds to come. She began networking with other queens to find where she could perform without being ID’ed at the door. 

Eventually, she found her way into competing for Miss Gay Reno Latina for 2017, and that’s when her use of social media changed from just posting for fun, to specifically targeting audiences and trying to build a brand for her drag. 

“…That was when after I got second place I thought of social media as more of a way to brand myself, once I saw that I had a lot of the Hispanic community exposed more because of who I am, I wanted to merge that with the American part of drag so that I can connect it both and bring more exposure,” she said.

Ariana said that Instagram is the best platform to use for drag queens for a lot of reasons. Specifically, having the capability to personally post photos of your version of drag and interact with others through hashtags and comments makes networking so much easier, she said.

With this social media capability, Dulce has received numerous opportunities to perform in other cities, and even other countries. The first time she performed in Mexico was because she had #DragMexico in one of her posts, and a club promoter found her profile and asked her to perform for Mexican Independence Day. 

Once Dulce moved to Buffalo, she says social media really helped spread her drag through the New York scene as well. 

Instagram post by Ariana Dulce, showing her use of hashtags to reach a larger audience in the hopes of getting more exposure. Photo courtesy of Jorgie Silva, taken form Ariana Dulce’s Instagram @thearianadulce.

Reno, Still a Good Scene to Get Started

Dulce said she’s also made new friends and met a lot of people just through Instagram. 

“I’m really good friends with several queens that are starting / well-known in their drag community. I’ve never met them in person, but we’re always messaging each other through social media to network about wigs or ‘you made this mix, can you make me a mix too?’” she said.

With all of this in mind, Dulce thinks Reno’s drag scene is still up and coming, despite its long history. Compared to the Buffalo scene, she said, her experience of the two communities is vastly different. 

“[Reno] is rich in talent and it’s great, it’s coming up and it’s creating more and more outlets for a lot more queens, that really haven’t gone out into the scene, to develop yourself to be a starting queen. And in Buffalo, there’s not really that, you don’t really see the scene as starting, you see it’s established, it’s very professional like… They’ve been doing this for years,” she said. 

Reporting by Savannah Chappell shared with Our Town Reno

No Days Off, Ildiko Erdesz a 70-year-old House Cleaner Saves Her Family

From Eastern Europe to New York to the West Coast

Ildiko Erdesz, 70, is all too familiar with today’s America, of growing wealth disparity, jobs which pay too little, not being able to pay skyrocketing rent on time, and health costs which can derail an entire family. Her long and varied life story all point to these unfortunate all too common realities.

She grew up in Hungary studying music and art. She initially made a living as a singer alongside her sister. She met her husband while on tour in Finland, and the two of them married and moved to New York City in 1971. In the Big Apple, Erdesz worked in textile design while her husband made his career as a freelance artist; designing catalogs and book covers. They had a daughter, Julianna, in 1984, and moved upstate.

The family stayed on the east coast until the early 90s, when relatives in Quincy, California, asked if they were willing to help run the hotel that they owned.

Unfortunately, after moving to California, Erdesz’ husband fell seriously ill. As his sickness worsened, the family was forced to move once again.  

“We had to move to Sacramento for the UC Davis hospital. I started cleaning over there, because that was the only thing I could do to take care of him and go to the appointments,” Ildiko said of when her husband became gravely ill and her life situation changed. “He was not able to work, so I was doing some side jobs to try and make some extra money. I homeschooled my daughter so she could take care of her dad while I was working. That’s how I really started the cleaning business.”

Turning to Cleaning to Pay Medical Bills and Her Daughter’s College

Ildiko then started working for a cleaning company, but she saw little money herself. Unable to pay the growing number of medical bills, she decided to start working independently. Throughout all of these challenges, she still had her family, and had hope.

“My daughter was amazing, and always helped take care of [her dad]. It was a hard time, and we didn’t qualify for any state help because I was working and able to continue working. It was a difficult time, but we managed it and we were okay.”

The Erdesz family loved visiting the Reno area, and eventually moved for more work opportunities. Juliana graduated from a performing arts high school in Reno in 2003, but her father, Ildiko’s husband, ended up passing away at the end of that same year. After his passing, Ildiko continued cleaning to help support her daughter through college and pay off remaining medical bills.

“I had so many doctor bills and everything, so I had to clear those out, and try to clear the credit cards out. It was a very very hard time. And I couldn’t pay my rent, it was very stressful. I was not the type of person to ask for help, but I did ask my very best friend to help me with rent one time. And I of course paid them back later, but that was a savior at that time.”

Erdesz had some life insurance money from her husband, but it was nowhere near enough to pay all of the existing and upcoming expenses.

“I had $25,000 in life insurance on him that we got when my daughter was born. So I tried not to touch that money because it was emergency money. We got the life insurance around 1985, which was enough money back then, but not anymore,” she said.

Working Seven Days a Week and Facing Her Own Health Battles

These days, Ildiko cleans seven days a week, for four regular clients. She often also works odd jobs such as house sitting, nannying, or dog walking to supplement her income.

“I could take a day off myself, but if something comes up I always take it because I never know. This job is not very secure… In 2008 and 2014-15 the first thing that people cut back was housekeeping. The recession hurt me, I wasn’t working too much,” she said when asked why she works so often, and regularly late into the night.

Three years ago, she slipped on ice and broke her leg, and was out of work for five weeks before she was back vacuuming with a cast. She was also diagnosed with cancer, which she says was cured by living in an intensive all-natural rehabilitation facility in Florida for several weeks. Since then she has been eating healthier.

“I need to do this as long as I can, and as long as my health will let me because I’m not ready to live on my Social Security yet. I plan on working until at least 77 or 78. At least… But of course maybe later on I can just cut back and only clean a couple offices a week. It’s hard to cut back now because I don’t really have a lot of luxury in my life. My most enjoyable (time) is taking a walk or going to the gym.”

Throughout it all, Ildiko maintains an incredibly positive attitude. She cleans for hours on end, and does it again the next day. Her artistic talent and attention to detail show through in her work.

“It’s a rewarding job. Every time when I finish cleaning a house, and walk through and make sure I didn’t miss anything, I stand back and enjoy what I did,” she said.

Photos and Reporting by Savannah Chappell shared with Our Town Reno

Richard, Living In a Van Along the Truckee River

Without Tools and Losing Contact with Family

Richard, 54, an Oklahoma native, who moved to the Reno/Sparks area as a child, has been living in his van for the past two years, picking hidden spots, mostly along the Truckee River.

“My plan was just stay in it until I could get a place, but at $10 an hour, for work I can find, you can't get a place,” he said.

He says he’s worked on building maintenance projects, but since he lost all his tools, it’s been harder for him to get the odd jobs he used to get.

He has two daughters, in their 20s, but difficulties with their mother, has cut him off. He says he misses not seeing them. He says he lost a lot in the divorce, but that at least his daughters are doing well.

”One's actually in college, so they're doing better than me,” he said.

“If you look, there are still places that's $500 a month. but right at this minute I don't have that $500 a month,” Richard said of not being able to afford an apartment.

Not Blaming Anyone, But Hoping for Higher Wages

“I'm not going to blame Tesla or anything like that for the rising costs, there's rising costs of living but you know, people got to make money, but also they're going to raise rent. They should raise pay,” Richard said, when asked about the affordable housing crisis sweeping the region. He says the problem has been getting worse and worse, but that he’s seen tent cities since the 1970s.

Fisherman’s Park is a place where day laborers are often picked up, so Richard says it’s a good place for him to hang out during the day, in case someone needs someone with his skill set. “It’s always been a place to get hired,” he said.

He says if you stay parked for a long time though, it’s important though, not to appear as if you are dealing drugs, or having people go in and out of your van.

“Being here, you would have to be here for like a week to see. I mean, they'll drive through,” Richard said of police. “If they see something, they'll stop. If they don't, they don't stop. They don't really bother us until they know there's  illegal activities going on like drugs. Because I mean like somebody parked and there's a lot of people going to that vehicle and you know what I'm saying? They're not stupid. …”

“I smoke weed. I'll admit it. Yeah. I enjoy my weed, but I don't see a problem in it because I don't smoke it when I go to work. I mean it's like, you don't want to be altered when you go to work,” Richard said.

Insecurities Along the River and Dreams of an Apartment

He says at night, conditions along the Truckee River are much different than during the day. He says there’s gamblers who have access to money who live along the river, but he says some lose everything to gambling.

“Sometimes bodies have turned up in the river,” he said. “If that happens then that person has to be passing through here. But you don't know who it is. So I mean, yeah, you're always at risk at here. You would have to be here at night to see some of the different things that go on. “

His message to those with shelter who don’t understand the hardships of living in a van?

“I would like to tell people out there that we're basically the same as them,” he said. “It's just we're having rougher times. We made different decisions.  When I was young, I was told that experience will take me where I wanted , to be or needed to be and that wasn't true. So anytime I work with younger people, I tell them to stay in school.  Something in that education can take you further than anything I'm ever going to get, because I'm 54 now.

He’s thought of going back to Oklahoma where his mother lives, but he feels Reno is home.

“I love Reno,” he said.  “It pisses me off when people talk bad about Reno. If you don't like Reno, it isn't the city. It's the people and the environment that you're putting yourself in. You know, Reno is, I think it's a great place myself. If you hate something that much, then you should leave. “

What he wants more than anything is to have his own place here.

“I was married 27 years. I'm not going to be married again because it wasn't for me. My life isn't going to be any different than this. What I want is my own apartment, a place to live, you know, a door to close, and somewhere to be. If I'm lucky I want to buy a trailer,” he said.

Reporting by Prince Nesta and Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Lisa, A Local Business Owner Working Against the Clock of Rising Rents

A Homey Feel Getting Displaced by Uncertainties

The Mandala Massage Supply & Apothecary, among the best smelling shops in Reno, has a sign thanking patrons for keeping it local, asking for Facebook, Google and Yelp reviews. For owner Lisa, an expert in herbal science, it’s a battle full of uncertainties and rising rents. When we met her, she told us her lease would be up in July.

“This building I am in right now was sold twice while I was renting it, without me even knowing it, without the previous owner even asking if I wanted to purchase it. So, so far this place has had three owners and so I recently called the current owner, which I've only met once. I’ve never see him…. I doubt he knows what I actually do here. I don't even think he knows of the improvements I've done here. We fixed this place up. It was just a white dirty box and we've put thousands of dollars into it. And when I signed a lease from the first owners, I signed a lease that had two more three year options to renew my lease and it would not go over a 5% increase. And so I thought I was safe,” she said.

She says she thinks the current owner will instead do a total do over on her lease.

“It bewilders me, because I've been a good tenant. I've improved this place and there are many things wrong with the building that have not been fixed and he does not seem to be interested in fixing them. And, so I'm just a little scared right now because I don't know what's going to happen because he wants to renew the whole lease and not follow the lease that I actually signed,” Lisa said.

“We are an aroma apothecary, which means we make therapeutic remedies with oils. We sell all kinds of aroma therapy, products and tools. And we also sell massage supplies. I was inspired to do this when I found herbalism when I was about 20, and herbs changed my life,” Lisa said when introducing her store. “We can customize blends. We're very green. People can come in and refill their bottles and just anyone who's interested in aroma therapy, massage, alternative healing, making their own natural remedies… We are a supply store for all of that.. And that's what we like to do here. We're safe. We're professional. We know what we're doing here.”

Advocating Some Rent Control

Lisa said it’s very sad to see so many small, locally owned, unique businesses like her own having to shut down because of high rent.

“There should definitely be some kind of rent increase control,” she said. “I was in Midtown, and they raised my rent 70% there all at once and there was no way I was going to pay for that with no improvements on their part. And I left Midtown and came to Wells Avenue. Reno needs those small little mom and pop shops for it to be fun for people to walk the streets. And for some reason Reno fails in that department and has for a while in my opinion,” she said.

Her base monthly payment which is for rent, sewage and water is a little over $800. “If you add energy which costs $75 to $120 and of course phone and internet another $110, I pay roughly $1130 a month,” she said. “The building is also falling apart and the last two owners have done no improvements.” Her husband has been her handyman.

”It seems to be about money and the people that have the money don't seem to care about the actual people putting in hours, putting in money and doing the improvements,” Lisa said of the lack of support for local businesses.

Tired of Being Bullied by Property Owners

Lisa says she hopes her new property owner will have a change of heart but if not she says she may have to close down her business.

“He’s left me hanging, so I have no idea what's going to happen here. If the rent is increased too much, I will be very frustrated and angry and will think about closing down because I am tired of … being bullied by property owners,” she said.

Lisa is thinking of going more and more online now at her existing website templeoflifeoils.com. “If rent is raised too much we will just focus on online,” she said.

Affecting Her Housing As Well

Lisa says she doesn’t like current trends in Reno, including the demolition of motels, which she says she believes is causing more homelessness. She says her own house rent was recently raised a staggering 75%.

“Luckily my husband and I were able to move, but this property owner of the house I was renting for 12 years, doesn't even live in the country. And he saw Zillow's estimates and thought his house was worth 75% more.”

If her business can no longer be a storefront, she said it would also be Reno’s loss.

“They will be losing something that was created by a Reno native, someone that grew up here. They will be losing out on, definitely a different kind of business because there's no other shop like this… All these people buying their essential oils and aroma therapy needs here are going to be shopping online and that's going to take them away and the money from Reno of course, and just something homegrown. They're going to be taking that away. Something that you know was made by hand from the very last drop from our neon sign to our wooden signs to our products. They're going to be taking all that away …”

She wishes property owners would listen to their renters.

“I really hope that you are a part of the community… Get involved with the smaller business owners that you're renting to. You are a part of it. You're the very umbrella of it and you need to see what's going on. You need to see what people are building in your places of rent and hear them out and be nice to them. “

Reporting by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Oli, On the Streets in Reno but Saved by the Eddy House

“If you have the opportunity to take a shower, you’re going to take a shower. You’re going to take a two hour long shower if you can.” ⎯Oli

“It’s wild when I hear people talk about mental illness like it’s some kind of cute, romanticized thing. You don’t understand. You don’t understand how hard disabilities actually are.” ⎯Oli

“Most of our kids have severe trauma… They’re in a constant state of fight or flight … It actually causes brain damage, long term significant trauma.”⎯ Michele Gehr, Eddy House Executive Director

“[Eddy House] has helped me out a lot. I’ll have no food, I’ll be fresh out of food and they’ll be like, “Hey. Come eat some food …” - Oli

“I hate asking people for help. I’m like, ‘Look, you don’t understand… I’ve been thinking about this for two weeks and now I’m asking because I’m about to die.”” ⎯Oli

“People who are homeless⎯I don’t look homeless⎯you wouldn’t think I was homeless if you saw me walking down the street. I keep myself up; I find ways to shower; I have nice pieces of clothes, people donate. You go to Eddy House, you see those kids; they’re in Adidas, they’re in Nikes. The people who work there often look less privileged than a lot of the kids do.”⎯Oli

“In 2015, when we opened, we had fewer than 100 kids. Last year, in 2018, we had 682. Nevada has the fastest growing homeless youth population in the country.” ⎯Gehr

Reporting and Photos by Elliejean Nestaval shared with Our Town Reno

The Downtown Library, a Refuge for Those without Shelter

From Winter Mornings to Wifi Access to a Community Courtroom

As cities around the country grapple with diminishing public spaces, budgets and services, many libraries are becoming an essential place to help those without permanent shelter. Our Town Reno wanted to find out if this was the case in Reno. We interviewed Jeff Scott, the Director of the Washoe County Library System and Brenda Owens, the downtown Reno branch manager. The answer is a resounding yes.

From long lines in the morning to recently adding a community court, from providing a warm space or cool space depending on the weather, from reference services to the Internet, from access to books to clean rest rooms, the downtown Reno library is essential in helping our neighbors without shelter. Often times, we set up interviews ourselves at the library because it’s a welcoming non judgmental space which seems to also make people calm and reasoned.

A new service being offered is a weekly community court session held Wednesdays in the library’s auditorium so that those cited for minor infractions can be oriented toward available city services rather than jail time and fines. Started this March, a recent Wednesday had over 50 people scheduled for docket.

Here below is a Q and A with Scott and Owens on the new court, the importance of libraries in today’s society and challenges.

Scott (right) previously worked in Library Services in California, where he also helped the homeless. He has been the Washoe County Library Director for over three years. Owens (left), the downtown branch manager, has been at her location for about a dozen years. She previously worked in other local libraries. “Just being able to help folks,” she asked when asked what inspires her. “Making sure everybody is treated equally. Everybody’s treated fairly.”

Q: Do you think public libraries play an important role in today's society?

Scott: I mean, that's the only free public space… The problem with the shelter is that overnight, you have that shelter, but some people may not feel safe in the shelter. So where do they go? And (when) the shelter kicks them out at six o'clock in the morning, so then where do they go?

We've tried to change the hours to help accommodate that, to open at 10 o'clock here. It gives them a few hours before they can actually get inside. And that's always a concern, during the winter, when it's snowing and that sort of thing. And sometimes even when we've had power outages or services we can't provide, you know, there's still a desire to stay open just because you have a lot of people coming in, just sheltering here or just hanging out here, so they're not in the cold all day.

That’s a community benefit that gets under reported about just having that kind of space, just for everybody to have that space. If you're not homeless, maybe your HVAC is broken at home. You need to have a place to cool off. We’re working on a project too with emergency management with the county about people who are evacuated. So if they are evacuated from their homes, fire or flooding, you know, what kind of services can you provide beyond the basics?

At opening time, there are often dozens of people without work or shelter waiting in line to get in. The downtown library, which was built in 1966, now opens on the weekends as well. “I invite you to come from quarter to 10,” Scott said. “Every day, every single day, they'll start lining up, very orderly… The folks out here, they get in the line. They know the rules, they know the drill.” Owens said on a slow morning it could be 20 people waiting, but on an extreme weather day it could be 50 to 60 people waiting to come in when the library opens.

Q: What does this tell us about our society and our community that public libraries are becoming safe havens for our neighbors without permanent shelter?

Scott: I think that (there’s this) general trend where (people) want to move the problem around and they don't want to help solve it. I know one of the things I worked on when I was in Berkeley previously, it was we had a homeless commission that we worked with and we developed that with a number of nonprofits in the area.

And one of the things when you have these homeless commissions that you have in many communities, they don't actually include homeless people on those commissions.

Q: Can you tell about this new community courtroom?

Scott: So the City of Reno used to have a court where you would get a minor citation, and you'd have to show up to court. And a lot of times because that's an intimidating process, (people) wouldn’t show up. Then they get a warrant for a no show and then it escalates, their jail time, it escalates the punishment.

So, now we have the community court coming (here) on Wednesday mornings instead.... So if you have citation, you come to the library and instead of going to jail, they get referred to services.

So there's a whole host of services that we provide that the city provides and partnerships and then they can get assistance and get help as opposed to going to jail. Sometimes you may have, you know, an off mental health day or just having an issue. And all of a sudden it can escalate into something where it's jail time and instead of that, getting them help is always a thing that's preferred.

“So we have a process for disruptions and we basically monitor the behavior,” Scott said of their own security system. “If something escalates to something that's physical, it ends up with having a ban from all libraries for certain duration of time … most extreme is banned for a year. Most of the time it's either (for a ) day, week or a month.”

Q: What are some of the challenges you face when doing so much in helping those without shelter?

Owens: Sometimes …. hygiene issues. That's usually a pretty uncomfortable situation. Asking somebody to not be in the building until they get cleaned up, get their possessions cleaned up… The other thing is mental illness, just being able to handle (it), knowing what to say, what not to say, what to do, and how to treat people fairly and with respect… knowing that they are going through something that I have no experience with.

Q: It must be difficult to turn someone away because of their hygiene, no?

Owens: It is. I think that's my least favorite conversation. Usually before you try to tell them, you try to make sure that nobody else is in the area. I certainly don't want to embarrass anybody… and just say, you know, we've noticed and we've had some complaints that we've got some odors and then at least give resources that we can send folks to, to do laundry, take a shower... I know the Record street campus offers all of those services, so we try to send folks over there to take care of that.

“We do have people that come in here intoxicated and certainly there’s a point where we ask them to leave if they have trouble staying awake, if they're having trouble walking,” Owens (right) said. “We're not as punitive as some of the other branches just because we know this environment. If somebody can still handle themselves, we're okay with them being somewhat intoxicated, but there's a certain point that we ask them to leave.”

Q: Any security or drug issues which you face?

Owens: Every once in a while, we do…. I mean there are certain security issues where we do call law enforcement . And then there's other times where somebody in a uniform is going to escalate the situation. … Usually it revolves around either mental illness or somebody being in somebody else's space. I know homeless people, they have space issues. I don't blame them.

In terms of drugs, we do have sharp containers in our bathrooms. We used to have to pick up, (and also) paraphernalia outside of the building, on a fairly regular basis. That seems to have gotten better. We installed lighting outside the building, which has helped deter certain activities outside, but it is something that happens.

We've got people in the building that may have medical conditions that we don't know about. And we don't know how to respond. If they're sleeping, even if their head's down, we just say, you know, we need to see your eyes open. You need to be awake. It's just in case something happens.

Q: Some libraries like the Seattle Public Library have units devoted to mental health counseling, job training, legal assistance, domestic violence support, medical health, food aid and securing housing. Are there any plans like that in Nevada?

Scott: I think the closest we get is just having the community court and having those resources available. But of course that's always after an incident has occurred. Right now, we don't have the funding to get a social welfare officer here. There's not really enough tax support in Nevada to deal with a lot of those kinds of services or provide that kind of service. So we try to work with different agencies to come in to provide that support.

Q: Any final thoughts for this interview?

Owens: It just comes down to helping, just helping people, making sure that, you know nobody feels left out. That to me is a really rewarding thing. I know some people that walk in this building, I've said it a couple of times… they don't have anybody in their life that's nice to them.

Sometimes they don't have a verbal communication with anybody in any one day. So knowing that we can be that for someone… that's a pretty rewarding feeling, but sometimes it can be exhausting. It kind of makes you sad sometimes, but knowing that you can provide that to somebody, that's a pretty rewarding feeling.

Scott: One of the things we did recently was to open seven days. And the theory behind that, beyond providing good service, was that, you know, the homeless need services every day…

I think that people underestimate the power of a library services. you get free reading materials. If you want to educate yourself, you can do it for free at the library and you can kind of learn about anything that you need to…. So it's an amazing kind of service that you can provide to people. It was kind of joke that the library is there for when your curiosity exceeds your budget. So if you're interested in something and you don’t want to pay for it, we have the resources. You have small kids, they want to read books and we have free books that they can read… We’re here for every aspect in every phase of life for people.

Reporting by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Brooke Noble: Becoming a Much Needed Spokesperson for the Fight Against Rising Rents

Forced to Move After Latest Rent Price Spike

Brooke Noble lived in her neighborly quadplex near Wells Avenue for four years. When she first moved in she says her rent was $525 per month on a one year lease. Since then, rent was increased about $100 every year and hit an all time high this year. Noble recently received an email indicating her rent was going from $725 to $1,050 per month. She is not alone facing this kind of a predicament.

“I feel like it's pushing a lot of people, including myself, out further and further away from like the heart of Reno and out of Nevada as a whole. I think that's changing our community. [...] It's pushing out people who have been here for a long time,” Noble said. Her LinkedIn profile indicates her main job is as a System Support Analyst at Barnes and Noble. She also describes herself as “a computer programmer, entrepreneur, writer, political organizer, and Internet hacktivist.”

Noble thought Reno used to be affordable, accessible, friendly and she enjoyed the 24 hour vibe which convinced her to move here 10 years ago. She loves the Midtown area and tried negotiating with her landlord to pay $900 a month but she says her offer was rejected. The new rent offer was then pulled away and she was asked to vacate.

At the end of May she said she is planning to move to a studio near Verdi which is less expensive but smaller. The new place also doesn’t have high speed internet which Noble needs for her work. She also expects she will have to pay to keep her belongings in storage.

Noble shows the location of the studio she’s moving into as her current lease ends on May 30th. Her house hunt hasn’t stopped there though as Noble is searching for a new place to live with a friend. Living with a roommate is common for renters in Reno to lessen costs. Photo by Lucia Starbuck for Our Town Reno.

Saying Goodbye to Close Neighbors and Getting Media Attention

After hearing of her rent increase, Noble began talking with her neighbors about it. After initial feelings that City Council was ignoring her issue, Noble hosted a “Rent Protest and BBQ” with others in her complex, friends and other renters facing increased rent prices.

The goal was to raise awareness and give other renters a chance to share their stories. Noble said at the same time she’s also enjoying some of her last days spent with her neighbors.

“I’m going to miss my neighbors,” she said. “Everybody in this building, we're (a) pretty tight knit. You know, we hang out on Saturdays, we spend time together, we go out to eat together and now we're not going to get to see each other as much anymore.”

Noble isn’t the only being forced to leave. All other tenants were given a 30 day notice to vacate the property. This was especially shocking to Noble’s upstairs neighbor Craig who was previously offered a year long lease renewal for $950 a month. Shortly after Noble shared her story with KTVN, their landlord took back the lease offer from Craig.

“Don't go from $800 to $1,100 just because you can, when the person that you're renting to may not have the means to cover that and then what are they going to do? You know? They're doing good just to keep a roof over their head. They're paying their bills and then they still get kicked out,” Craig said in disbelief.

The battle may not be over though as an inquiry by Noble with Reno Direct indicated the landlord didn’t have a business license which is a requirement for landlords who own a property with three or more units per parcel. They also wrote back indicating an application is being processed.

A neighborhood BBQ event against increased rent also garnered media attention. Photo by Lucia Starbuck for Our Town Reno.

Bringing Ideas to City Council and Reddit

Noble recently attended a County Commissioners meeting at City Hall but said she didn’t get a word in and must submit an agenda item to be heard. Noble says she is now waiting to submit until after Senate Bill 398 is passed, feeling this would be more impactful. The bill would reinforce the right of cities and counties to address the affordable housing crisis, including instituting some forms of rent control.

Noble has been in contact with Sparks Democrat Julia Ratti, the bill’s writer, as well, but it’s no guarantee it will become law, with opposition from lawmakers who fear it would stifle development. More about SB 398 can be found here. Noble hopes the bill will pass but she knows City Council might still be resistant to change.

“I think they need to implement some temporary rent controls and [...] our City Council can, you know, adjust those rent controls or turn them off completely as needed. So maybe we turn them on right now cause we're going through a bit of a period where there's very short supply. You got people moving here, but you got people who live here being pushed on the streets. So maybe we turn it on to protect people now and as supply comes up, we turn those down or, you know, as supply is built, you know, perhaps new supply doesn't have rent control supplied to it. Maybe it only applies to existing things. And that can be adjusted because it's going to be managed at the city level, you know, where they know exactly what Reno needs. They have the access to the data to what Reno needs and they, most importantly, they're accessible to the people of Reno for us to be able to provide our feedback on it.”

Noble also took her concerns to the subreddit r/Reno on Reddit. She shared how much her rent is increasing and wrote about possible solutions like rent stabilization which limits what percentage rent can rise per year. Another idea she suggested on Reddit were tax incentives for landlords to keep prices low.

“Rent stabilization says you're not going to be able to raise the rent on this property more than this percentage per year,” Noble said. “ And what that does is that allows rents to go up closer in conjunction with property taxes along with wages [...] so trying to create a balance there that allows the people who have been living here and making Reno wages to stay in Reno.”

Noble has had debates with realtors, landlords and other renters in Reno on the subreddit r/Reno on Reddit. She said she likes to discuss and understand opposing arguments.

Media Attention and Advocacy

Since opening up about her rent increase, local media have been covering Noble’s journey, which has possibly complicated her situation. She was featured on KTVN and soon after received a cease and desist letter from her landlord’s attorney. Although Noble considers this an intimidation tactic she has been talking to a lawyer about her rights. It hasn’t stopped her from talking to other media though, and becoming one of the most public figureheads in the local fight against rising rents.

“I can't really give [Reno renters] advice. I could tell you I sympathize with you and I'm sorry you're going through that and if you want to get involved: go to your city council meetings, vote, talk to your elected officials, be part of the democratic process,” she said.

Noble says time is the biggest roadblock right now as she waits for City Council to enact change. She says in the meantime she hopes others will rally behind her and let it be known how rent spikes are affecting their lives and hurting local businesses in the area.

The outside of Noble’s quadplex is getting a newly renovated fence which separates the units. The fence now takes up space where the Rent Protest and BBQ took place. “Sometimes gentrification can have positive impacts on communities,” Noble said. “Sometimes there's rundown areas where a developer comes in and improves the area and it brings life back. But in the case of Reno, I think you're not coming into a dilapidated area and bringing life back to it. You're pushing the life that was living in it out.”

Photos and Reporting by Lucia Starbuck for Our Town Reno