The Gateway District, What's Being Built, What's Disappearing

Bibo Coffee Co. on Record Street, a homey hangout for students, faculty and local artists, as well as the COED Lodge and Sundance motels have already closed. Students are now saying goodbye to other places between UNR and Interstate 80 such as Jimmy John’s, the Union bar, Textbook Brokers and old Reno houses on Center and Lake Street.

The southern part of the University of Nevada, Reno campus just past Manzanita Lake is getting a makeover, but with new advancements come the loss of the businesses and buildings with distinct character and history.

The eye-catching bright orange Sundance Motel is already permanently closed, with vacant and “No Trespassing” signs on every door inside. (Artwork: Jillian Briare)

The whole area is being replaced as part of UNR’s Gateway Precinct, which according the university’s website language “will be a vibrant retail- and academic-oriented neighborhood center developed primarily by the University. It will extend campus life south of the current campus, in the area between Ninth Street and I-80.”

The school and Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) plan to build a new bus station, parking garage, as well as business school and life sciences building in the blocks between Eighth Street, Ninth Street, Lake Street and Virginia.

The parking garage is the first structure to be constructed starting in early 2021, and will cost an estimated $29.5 million, according to current plans. UNR officials have said that as Reno expands north, the university is expanding south to meet in the middle, creating structures and vendors that benefit the student population and the city as a whole.

A house previously on the corner of Center Street was recently set on planks to be relocated. It is one of a dozen houses built in the area between the 1890s and 1970s. (Artwork: Jillian Briare)

The Jimmy John’s at 58 E Ninth St is scheduled to move across the freeway to a location on 7th Street, near the current Walgreens.

Other construction projects have affected other businesses as well. Bibo Coffee Co.’s Record Street location closed in October to make way for a new student living complex as a part of a project run by the Capstone Development company.

Above a video by another student reporter Robert Quaintance on the bar know as the U closing down.

Reporting and Illustrations by Jillian Briare shared with Our Town Reno

A Grieving Reno Resident Sleeps in His 2001 Honda Accord and Helps Others

Staying Warm and Missing a Lost Love

When Our Town Reno met the man in photo above, he was acting as a watchdog for his houseless friends at Barbara Bennett Park. He’s been traveling for most of his life and says he moved about four months ago to Reno, where he’s lived before, from California. He’s currently sleeping in his car, a 2001 Honda Accord.

“I'm able to get people out of the cold,” he said in regards to how helpful having a car can be while living on the streets, “I brought some women that were on the river, they were alone, they were afraid because people were looking at them and watching them all night when they're sleeping and I brought them in my car and they slept in my passenger seat.” 

The man said all he wants is for people to feel safe with him.

“I had a woman that I loved and she died on me, some throat cancer,” he told us. “It took a big chunk from me, you know? She was the one that I wanted to be with for the rest of my life, but it's like all these women around here, they think I'm trying to go after them, I just want to take care of people. If you need the help, I'm here. Need a place to stay warm? My car is there. I'm not going to touch you. I'm not that way.” 

The man is concerned about his car though, which has become his moving shelter. When Our Town Reno interviewed him he was out of gas and said that his transmission was faltering.

“Stop looking down at people,” he wanted to tell others in Reno. “If you feel that we're doing something wrong, why don't you live in our shoes and see what we have to do to survive? Maybe you'll understand what's going on.”

Wants to See Churches Doing More and Safe Park Options

The man said he has been homeless for around nine years. He was homeless previously in California. 

"Out in California, they're a little bit more lenient. The people out there are willing to give a helping hand if somebody's hungry, they'll feed them. There's a lot more churches out there that deal with the homeless," he said.

The man said he was involved in a homeless ministry back in California and would like to see more similar initiatives in Reno. A homeless ministry is a faith-based organization that provides help to those in need, such as the existing Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission.

"People need unity,” he said. “People need to be able to know they're still loved and cared for, not just shoved underneath the carpet or thrown somewhere. The cops come out here and they harass us, 'Oh, you can't stay here,' Well, where the heck are we supposed to stay? We need something.”

The man pointed to LA’s Green Streets initiative, which provides safe parking options for people to sleep in their cars at night. The ordinance maps streets where individuals who live in their vehicles can park from 9PM to 6 AM, a program not available in Reno.

Reporting and Photos by Lucia Starbuck for Our Town Reno

Reno Clashes Over Helping the Unsheltered

As winter becomes fierce in northern Nevada, and amid an affordable housing crisis, the local population without shelter is growing and struggling.  Several groups are trying to help these people in different ways, some of them causing controversy, and others receiving criticism they are perpetuating the problem.  Michelle Baker reports in the audio report above. 

It’s grey and cold as hundreds of people line up for a recent holiday meal inside tents across from the downtown Reno baseball park. The ROW, which combines several downtown casinos, offered hundreds of plates piled with food.

Casinos Help during the Holidays

“Look at the food! You have a seven course salad … Let alone the entrees. And you’ve got everything you can dream of to drink! Coffee, tea..  ”  Bill Fisher, who says he used to be a drug addict,  is the main organizer of the casino-organized holiday meal.

“They can take as much time as they want, and when they leave here, they can go get food, but they get the food after they leave here because  it would be too crowded with piles of food everywhere,” Fisher said.

 The two day event also offered flu shots and food to take home.

Most people in Reno appreciate this kind of help, even if they would like to see it done differently and more consistently. Other groups, however, have created more controversy in their own initiatives to help those in need.

“The chief of police and the mayor and City Council have been very stubborn and very reluctant to try anything that works, beyond acting like the only thing keeping the guys on the street is the lack of affordable housing or something,” Paul White told Our Town Reno earlier this year. White heads a group called Quality of Life Reno, which has organized provocative events to highlight the persistent presence of those without shelter in parks and along the river.

A New Controversial Presence in Reno Weighs In

White became active locally with media and events during the 2018 Reno elections and is now very present once again in the community and on social media.  He also is behind the Reno-based Stronghold Institute non-profit, which has as its tag line “Bible-Based Learning and Healing”.

“When you think of the homeless, think of what you hear, ’ I’m hungry’ – no, not with 25 food pantries, you’re not - any one of which gives you more than you can eat. ‘[I’m]looking for work’ no, not with 20 employment agencies,” White said.

White says that due to the abundance of resources and access to these resources the city of Reno offers, the idea of homelessness is, according to him, a  “misdiagnosis” and is worsening due to government’s lack of forceful action. “The city’s approach is one that’s being tried everywhere in the United States and is failing everywhere in the United States,” he said.  

“We realize that the biggest problem is trying to get them to accept services, or want them,” White said of people chronically on the streets or living along the Truckee River.

Criminalizing as a Way Forward?

White told Our Town Reno he believes that by removing people from public places and putting them through the judicial system, they will eventually, even if reluctantly, seek outside help.

He spoke to us in the days leading up to his planned October citizen’s arrest action at Pickett Park, where local police moved in before the vigilante threat, and forced out those who had been living there.

As a result of the park clean up, some people who were staying at Pickett Park said they lost most of their possessions, which according to police, were taken mostly to the downtown shelter.

“A lot of people, when the cops came and threw their stuff away, they lost all the things they had,” a couple told us. “I had a friend, who lost all the things his father gave him. How do you replace that? We’re humans like everyone else, a lot of people dislike us I guess, but we’re not bad people, we have hearts just like everybody else.”

A counter protest to show support for those without shelter took place at the park several days later, but by then, those previously camping there had scrambled elsewhere and were desperately trying to get their possessions back.

What Happens when you Lose Your Possessions?

In years past, disputes regarding the seizure of property has brought on legal action. Terri Keyser-Cooper, a lawyer advocating for homeless rights, once won a case that set precedent in Washoe County. County officials must now post a notice giving ample time of their intentions when they are cleaning up parks or other property. 

“I think a lot of us take advantage of having a place to go … a lot of our friends out there don’t have those luxuries, losing your backpack with your social security card.. all your stuff.. it sets people back,” said Ben Castro, from the Reno Initiative for Shelter and Equality. The group he heads has lately been trying to counter the effect White has been having, in addition to advocating for a safe campground infrastructure. “I don’t think the community understands or can even comprehend what it’s like to live … without infrastructure.”

RISE is a non-profit which has as its own tag line a goal of providing equal access to shelter, knowledge, and opportunity in Reno. When he was interviewed, Castro was helping organize a regular Saturday night potluck and donation drive.

“Yeah, so what we are doing right now is sorting out donations to hand out , we’ve been doing this for eight years, it started in my apartment and now we operate out of my home, through the years we’ve picked up warriors [along] the way,” he said of the many volunteers who also help out. 

Back at the casino organized holiday meal tent, Fisher, who goes by Brother Bill, sees an old friend and gives a wide smile. 

“I’ve known these people for 20 years, 30,000 people have been to these events,” he said, which we couldn’t independently confirm.  

Whatever the current numbers, on the streets without shelter, along the Truckee River and in parks inside tents, and whatever reasons for our neighbors currently living in precarious conditions, diverging groups agree their numbers are growing, as inequalities in our communities continue to sharpen.

Reporting by Michelle Baker shared with Our Town Reno

Melissa and Michael, Finding Strength in Family Despite Sleeping in Separate Shelters

Homeless While a Mother

"I became homeless and I couldn't work anymore because it was the summertime," Melissa said during a recent Share Your Story Our Town Reno event at the downtown Reno library. "The kids were out of school and I didn't have anyone to watch them and I just want to put my story out there, just because I'm homeless doesn't mean I'm any different from anybody else."

The biggest challenge for Melissa in finding a new job, she told us, is finding one that has working hours that will cater to her family needs. A mother of four, Melissa and her kids have been staying at a local homeless shelter for the past month. Every morning, Melissa has to get her children on the school bus and to pick them up in the afternoons because they can't go into the shelter by themselves. 

"It's hard finding a job here in Reno that meets the demands I need to take care of my children," Melissa said. "So it's hard meeting those demands and every job that I apply for always wants nights. [I understand] you always start at the bottom of the totem pole but I just can't do that."

Separated at the Shelter

Melissa says she is desperately seeking new housing for her family, but is stressed by the lack of availability of affordable housing in Reno. She says she just doesn't want her children to have to grow up in the homeless-shelter environment. 

"I'm by myself with my kids inside the shelter," Melissa said.  "There's a lot of people, there's a lot of fighting, swearing, and other stuff going on around the shelter I would really rather my kids not be around."

Consequently, Melissa does everything she can to keep her family together through this difficult time. However, it's been difficult due to her husband Michael not being allowed in the same shelter as her and their children. Currently, he's been staying at an overflow shelter, but early on they didn't know where he was staying and it caused them to worry for his safety. 

"At first, we didn't [know where he was staying] because he was sleeping on the streets," Melissa said. "My three girls are 'Daddy's girls,' and so not having him around they worry about where he's at and if he's okay. I think we all worry about him until we see him the next day and know he's okay."

Melissa has her children see their dad every chance they get, even if it means taking them to his shelter to simply say 'Good night.' She says people have harassed her for bringing her children around the shelter to see him, but she just wants her family to be together.

"I just don't want anyone trying to force us to be apart from each other," Melissa said. "It hurts him more than anything when somebody confronts us and tells us we can't have the kids over here. [But the children] just want to see their dad. We'd all rather live on the streets in the gutter, together, then separated."

Feeling Judged

Melissa finds strength in keeping her family together, but sometimes she says she feels that people judge her for having her children with her on the street and in the shelter.

"I think people look at us and say 'How can these people be homeless with these kids and put these kids through the mud.' But it's not like that at all, no one knows that the situation was out of our control. It's just unfortunate," she said.

In the meantime, Melissa says she would like to see more resources available to the homeless population in Reno. Particularly, she said she'd like to see the soup kitchen open more often and to feed dinner, even on Sundays.

"I have food stamps but I have a microwave to cook with," Melissa said. "We're not getting enough protein that we should be getting. Protein puts a lot of strength in us and we don't get a lot of that because of what I can and cannot cook. So I think they should open the soup kitchen every day. There's a lot of hungry people out there."

Wanting More and Better Services

Melissa doesn't believe the city council or other government officials are doing enough to address homelessness. She acknowledges that building new bridges, making wider roads, and expanding the bus system is good for the city, but she believes it comes at the expense of the people truly suffering.

"They can put that money [for bridges and roads] towards a big shelter for people so they don't have to be out in the cold. The weather is about to change and start snowing and all these people have nowhere to go out in the snow."

Melissa doesn't believe programs like the Downtown Reno Ambassadors are helping much. She says she’s been told by Ambassadors that she can't even lay down when she takes her kids to a park. She isn't trying to sleep, she says, she just wants to relieve her back from sitting up and standing all day. Melissa thinks that if government officials really cared and wanted to help, they should come out and experience homelessness for themselves.

"I don't think anyone would really understand unless they came down and experienced themselves. If they just come down and talk to people and other people who are experiencing it worse than I am, or even those who don't have families or lost their families and are by themselves. I can't speak for other people but I think that if people knew what was going on they would help a lot more."

Wanting to Give Back

If she is able to find a home and get back on her feet, Melissa says she intends to give back to the community.

“We've even told ourselves that when we get our own place and back on our feet we're going to come back and help the homeless," she saud said. "[Whether that's by] making sandwiches or serving dinner because so many people have put their hearts out there serving dinner for us.”

Although she regrets her children having to go through this homeless experience, Melissa believes her children have learned a lot during this time. 

"They want to help [give back] because they see the people that have helped us," Melissa said. "So I just try to keep their spirits up. I hate myself for doing this to them but I know they love me, they love their dad, and we all love each other and that's what makes us go on every day and keep doing what we're doing. All we ever want is to be together."

New Hope for a ReStart

Recently, Melissa says she was selected as a candidate for a ReStart Reno housing program. Meanwhile, she and Michael are continuing their search for jobs, saying they are willing to work two or three jobs just to make things work for their family and put a roof over their heads. 

"My kids are my motivation always and after what we've gone through, they know that Mom and Dad will always make it right," Melissa said. "It might take a little longer, but we're always going to do everything we can."

Reporting and Photography by Scott King for Our Town Reno

Gordon Gossage, Trying to Uplift and Regenerate Reno

From Start Ups in Boston to Wanting to Establish Co-Housing in Reno

Gordon Gossage says he was once in the start up realm which made him three million dollars, but that he has left that life to help people. His LinkedIn lists recent work experiences in Boston with companies such as Siren Solutions and Willibehappy.

“[I] discovered that there was more to life than money and came back and then wanted to combine my business skills with my spiritual pursuits,” he said.

Now based in Reno, he wants to help create conditions for better housing, art and places for people to uplift each other. He founded Regenesis Reno earlier this year as part of that mission.

One of the projects he is working on is with The Generator to turn land under the Wells Avenue bridge into a sculpture park, along with 200 units of housing, to be jointly called Regenesis Commons. The area is currently used as a sleeping place by dozens of people without shelter as it’s mostly hidden from public view. There are occasional police sweeps, but usually people come back to the area with their tents.

“One of the things that we're looking at is to have what's called a co-housing component,” Gossage said. “We are looking at tiny houses in some cases built from shipping containers. That makes things less expensive. The way co-housing works, it really needs to be distinguished from communal housing. With communal housing, everybody owns everything. With co-housing you own your own unit, with your own kitchen and bath, but then you'll co-own common buildings that can include a big, beautiful, commercial-style kitchen where you can have friends over or eat there together. For the real foodies and chefs, you can cook there. You can co-own workspaces.”

Gossage said that people who formerly lived on the streets, people working in the tech industry and people working minimum wage jobs can co-exist in this space, to assist and support one another.

According to the website, “Regenerative describes processes that restore, renew or revitalize their own sources of energy and materials. Regenerative design uses whole systems thinking to create resilient and equitable systems that integrate the needs of society with the integrity of nature.”

Helping People Stay Off the Streets

Gossage says his background in market research can help make Regenesis Reno successful. His plans are very detailed to help those on the streets who want to get off the streets.

He says he wants to create “permanent support housing,” which includes placing people into transitional homes for four to six months, then getting individuals into a place where they sign a 12-month lease that has a variety of resources on site, including for behavioral health and substance abuse addictions.

His own experience can help, he says.

“I first started doing drugs when I was 15 and I've been clean and sober for 32 years and it's hard to get off it and if you're living on the street, it's even harder,” Gossage said. “So with housing, first what you want to do is take folks who are living under the Wells Avenue bridge or tenting along the river and get them into some kind of housing. In the case of Regenesis Commons, they're going to be working next to people who were never homeless and working at Tesla but they now are in a community where people work and help each other.”

Gossage holds his necklace with the Burning Man camping ground on it, which is what attracted him to nearby Reno in the first place.

Other Projects from YIMBY to Safe Haven to Tree of Life

Regenesis Reno is also involved in Northern Nevada YIMBY movement, Yes In My Backyard, as a counter-protest to NIMBY, Not In My Backyard, which is rooted in opposition to having something that’s considered undesirable in one’s own neighborhood.

Gossage would also like to see more gifting taking place in Reno, which is the act of offering services for free and receiving joy from that, similar to what people do at Burning Man. 

Other tabs on his website point to wanting to duplicate the Safe Haven model in Reno, which is the name of an organization first established in Chicago, to “serve over 5,000 people a year with dozens of related supportive housing and affordable housing facilities located throughout the Chicagoland area and several social enterprises including staffing, catering and landscaping.” The tag line on Chicago’s Safe Haven endeavor is “Aspire. Transform. Sustain.”

His website also says it wants to eventually move a 110-foot tall art piece called Tree of Life to Reno, which is scheduled to be showcased at Burning Man in 2020.

Reporting by Lucia Starbuck for Our Town Reno

What's Up with the Downtown McDonald's and its 30-minute Time Limit?

In Favor or Opposition to the Sign?

Didi Didiser moved to Reno in 2011 from Colorado. She’s drinking a coffee from McDonald’s and supports the sign inside the restaurant.

“I think that's perfect,” she said. “I think that's absolutely fantastic because of the area. In this area, the [Record St.] homeless shelter is approximately two blocks away,” Didiser said, citing concerns of people hanging out inside McDonald’s without buying anything.

Others have expressed concern about the sign, saying it might be discriminatory, but Didiser disagrees.

“The 30-minute stay here is good because you come over, you eat your food, that's literally what it takes: about 30 minutes, 15 minutes you're finished,” she said.

She says she stayed in the downtown shelter herself when she moved to Reno. She’s currently staying with friends and didn’t want a picture of her face taken, saying she is very private.

“I think it's good because the people that actually want to come over and purchase their food, if there's a lot of people sitting inside over here, they can't because there is an occupancy number,” Didiser said of the 30-minute sign. “Like, max capacity is let's say 60 people and 25 of them are just from the homeless shelter buying absolutely nothing, that makes it difficult.”

Bathrooms More Open to Public?

Concerning bathrooms though, Didiser said places like McDonald’s should have more lenient bathroom policies.

“The only thing I do not like for many of these places is the bathroom policies. If a person needs to use the restroom, they should have a policy to where the person can actually go in and use the restroom, you know, because you just don't want people doing their business outside and stinking out the city. I mean I think you get the picture of that,” she said.

Policies vary by establishment, with some places having a strict customer-only bathroom policy. A quick web search did not seem to indicate McDonald’s has a clear bathroom policy.

Reporting and Photos by Lucia Starbuck

Reno Man Fights Addiction, Time, and Waiting Lists to Regain Custody of His Daughter

Under Competing Time Crunches and a Need for Immediate Treatment

“I've got a CPS [Child Protective Services] case open and I'm required to get in a treatment program,” the man said on a recent Monday during the Our Town Reno Share Your Story forum. “But unfortunately in Reno, there's only two inpatient programs that take state Medicaid. So that's really putting a damper on my ability to get treatment right now,” he said.

The long waiting list adds another mental hurdle to the challenges of people seeking treatment for addiction. 

“That's why most of these individuals quit [waiting lists] because those who want to get sober, can't wait,” he said. “They get discouraged and then they go use, because meth really messes with your brain. When your brain tells you it's time to get high, it's time to get high. That's why people who want treatment should be allowed to get it when they need it right away.”

Consequently, he believes that if Reno were to provide more drug treatment programs that accept state Medicaid, waiting lists wouldn’t be so long for those who really want the treatment.

Scfreengrab of a website saying it offers information about treatment centers accepting Medicaid.

Facing Hurdles, But Trying to Stay Sober for his Daughter

Another hurdle he has to overcome, however, he said is the conditions landlords require of their tenants. 

“[Landlords have] all these red tapes in getting affordable housing, they got too many conditions for housing for people who want to do right,” he said. I mean, my last [felony] was probably over 10 years ago and that's stopping me from good housing and getting to a proper place.”

His personal struggle has been with a meth addiction, which he had beaten once already before a recent relapse. 

“Meth [has been] my downfall,” he said. “And meth is a really big issue in this part of the town and Reno should have a lot more programs for that kind of stuff around here,” he said.

His motivation to go clean is the same as it was before: his daughter, now 12. When he first gained custody of her when she was five, he says he was able to go sober for six years.

“I've had meth problems back in the past, but ever since she was in my life and when my custody, I was sober for over six years. So now time's ready enough for me to get my kid back and I got show completion of programs and, or at least enroll in their program. But in this month, so that's, I'm really trying to hit the pavement and try to get something done. So we'll see what happens.

“She's always been my backbone,” he said. “I just thank God that with her presence in my life and having her being there right in front of me, I left [the meth] alone for six years.”

His relapse and subsequent loss of custody stemmed from a recent attempt to help a family member who was also struggling with a meth addiction. 

“Unfortunately, I thought I was strong enough to help another family member out who was in trouble,” he said. “But I wasn't able to because he brought [meth] into the house and I ended up losing [my daughter] and that's how this whole case started.”

Currently, his daughter is staying in a foster home. As long as he is able to stay sober, he can see her twice a week during supervised visits at the family visiting center in Sparks. Additionally, he said, he gets three phone calls during the week. Besides spending time together cooking and talking during those visits, they often discuss their future together. 

“She's worried because time is running out as all these programs are [being] cut and there’s all this red tape in front of us right now,” he said. “So she's frustrated and I'm frustrated too, but we try to hang in there.”

His priorities remain focused on enrolling in a drug treatment program and regaining custody of his daughter, despite recently becoming homeless.  “[I’ve been in Reno] since 2015 and this year is the only time I’ve been homeless,” he said. 

Above is a photo illustration of a photo by Thomas Quine, with Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0).

Giving Back for Being Allowed in a Stairwell

The man told us he’s been staying in a stairwell of a local business to keep out of the cold. 

“[The building manager has] been very lenient about me staying there cause I don't bug nobody,” he said. “I just go in there, sleep, and take off in the morning to do what I gotta do.”

He has even taken it upon himself to take out the garbage on all the floors in the building, as a token of gratitude for the building manager’s generosity. He wishes her compassion toward him was more common throughout the city of Reno, as more compassion could open up more opportunities for access to the resources he needs to get back on his feet.

“[I want to see] more compassion for the homeless because some people want to do more; I know I do,” he said. “I know if I had more resources [available to me] I would do it. I would get into [treatment] today if I could.”

So while he continues applying for treatment programs and works his way up the waiting lists, he wanted to take a moment to share a message directly to his daughter.

“Honey, I'm sorry,” he said. “I've got a problem that I'm trying to get fixed. But there isn’t a moment that I don't think about you. I love you and I will be back one day, hopefully soon.”

Reporting and Photo by Scott King for Our Town Reno

Reno's Mayor, Hillary Schieve, On Going after "Bad Actors" and "Effective Help"

Q: What’s behind getting rid of motels across Reno?

Mayor Schieve: Many of the motels weren't built for longterm housing, right. And they really had a shelf life of about 40 to 50 years. So many of them were incredibly dilapidated. We saw a ton of mold, you know, roofs caving in, water not running, many broken pipes. We've found a lot of rooms that had bedding that hadn't been changed in 20 years. You know that really was a huge concern because we started to get a lot of complaints from people that were living in these motels and, you know, saying that, the conditions were really horrendous. So, you know, I went out there with code enforcement and we started to look at them and also noticed a lot of broken windows.

Most of these people didn't even have heat. And then looking into it even further, we found out that many of those rooms were about $300 a week. And if you do the math, that's $1,200 a month for a motel room. And remember, a motel room is not even an apartment. It's one room that's about 200 square feet. And if you do the math on that, the cost is outrageous. That is not affordable housing, that is not adequate housing and no one should be able to or should be subjected to those types of conditions….

One of the things is I just am a strong believer that people should not be subjected to those types of living conditions. And remember in the motel rooms, they don't have kitchenettes. So it's very difficult for people living in them to live healthy, right? Like, think about it. You can cook daily meals and, you know, nutrition and things like that, you know, having to seek outside food services, which can become costly and expensive, or eating fast food, right, which we know isn't always the healthiest.

So, kind of looking at some of those things, motels versus regular housing, right. And just because someone can't afford certain types of housing doesn't mean that they should be subjected to living in deplorable conditions without running water, without heat, without proper bedding, those kinds of things. And that's what was really, really disturbing. Many of those were motels that you couldn't save because they were so dilapidated.

But we found that there was a lot of predatory landlords, what we call them, sort of taking advantage of people that couldn't afford certain living conditions. And that's where I got really strict on saying, ‘Hey, these motels have to come down.’ And also looking at the people that live in them, how do we get them better housing options, working with the Reno Housing Authority and being able to place them, getting them vouchers, things of that nature.

And so we really learned a lot through the process. But you know, I, I'm a big believer that that is not affordable housing whatsoever.

“We also found that many of the people living in them, you know, obviously had certain reasons, like for one, this one woman, her credit wasn't very good,” Mayor Schieve said of people living in motels such as the Sundance. “And so by not having great credit, she couldn't get into an apartment. And we also found that some of the [residents] had prior evictions, which made it incredibly challenging for people to find adequate housing. So really kind of paying attention to why people were going to motels, you know, for what reasons. And how could we help with that.”

Q: So what is the plan to help people being displaced by the torn down motels?

Mayor Schieve: If someone is going to take down a motel, they have to be relocated before we even start demolition. So that's really been a priority for the Council. So when they started to come down, you know, we weren't aware of the drastic conditions. Right. And so then we got extremely active and we're working very closely with the new developers before any of those motels come down. And I think that's what's really key. And it has to be better housing… It needs to be better options…

We were also finding practices like renting rooms for the hour. And that was really unfortunate. Now I'm not saying everyone is a bad actor, so we’ve got to make sure that everyone knows that, right? Not all of the motels are bad and not all of them have conditions to that magnitude, right? There are some really good owners and operators and we really want to commend them, right? But we also looked at our calls for service to some of them that had very high crime rates.

And we were finding that they were renting rooms by the hour. Right now we don't know exactly what they're doing in those rooms, but I think we can sort of speculate that if you're renting by the hour, that's probably not good. They weren't requiring them to have ID and knowing who you are …

So with Jeff Jacobs (development along 4th street, now called Reno Neon Line) he has saved the (motels) that he could and has renovated them and either put some of those tenants back into the renovated properties or moved them into other properties that were much better. And we had him document all those people to make sure they were accounted for and that they also received money, like, first and last month’s deposit. Many of them, he didn't make pay rent for six months …. (Note: this information could not be independently verified by Our Town Reno). He's really been a true champion of working with the city. And I think that's what makes a huge difference is working with the developers, to make sure that these people have places to go and are treated like human beings.

Some people we’ve interviewed in recent months and who now live on the streets said they became homeless after the motel they were living was demolished amid news expansion.

Q: Do the people displaced from the motels now have enough money to afford places elsewhere in Reno?

Mayor Schieve: Well, a lot of them ended up getting vouchers through the Reno Housing Authority. And what that means is it's basically subsidized right through the government, through HUD programs. And they pay for a big portion of that housing. So a lot of times, you get a voucher for seven, $800 a month. Now you also do have to qualify. There are certain things like, you can't be a sex offender … There's certain things to be able to qualify for that and they also look at your income. That's one of the things, when we talk about subsidies through the government, the government makes it really challenging, that if you make too much money, then you also don't qualify… Let's say you make, $1,200, $1,300 a month, I'm just putting a number out there that's not a lot of money.

And then the government says, ‘Hey, you make too much.’ So there is that, that can be very, very challenging, you know, for people to continue to find housing. But we really work very hard with the developers to make sure that that [new] housing is better housing and we know for a fact that it is what Jeff Jacobs is doing. [Mayor Schieve referred to how as part of the new development Crest Inn was changed to the Renova Flats and suggested we check it out. This story includes our attempts to do so: http://www.ourtownreno.com/our-stories-1/2018/12/14/jacobs-entertainment-and-its-local-globe-of-influence].

You want a developer that comes into your city and is going to put in better conditions than what you already have. And again, that's why it's important to work with developers and say, ‘Hey, these are the things that matter to us. These are the standards that matter to us. These are the conditions that matter to us, right?’ So they understand if they want to build in our city, that that's the things that we're going to expect.

And now again, we can't make them, it's PR, you know, they own this land, right? So they could essentially do whatever they want, but you make it very clear that, if you want to be in Reno and building your business and, you know, building a lifestyle here, it needs to be a much better quality than what they were used to [here.]

This motel is also on the cutting block as UNR and bus services expand in areas between the current university campus and downtown areas. “We're playing on the aspects of the university, which I love, like March to the Arch and things like that and bringing in that vibrant university feel into our downtown. Unfortunately, I think, our past governments have really looked over is how important the university and the [university] energy are and really trying to foster that type of environment for our students. So they want to go to school here and stay here when they're done and sort of avoid the brain drain. And I think that's really key to revitalizing downtown.”

Q: You’ve launched an initiative called Blight Buster but what you consider blight others might consider Reno’s history, including the old motel signs. How do you react to comments like that?

Mayor Schieve: I think there are certain things that are history. So it depends on what you're referring to.
I think that's subjective. It would depend on what property or location or structure you're referring to. In terms of the motel signs, we keep them and we preserve them. There's an artist who I absolutely love and he's amazing and his name is Will Durham and you should check him out. And he buys a lot of those signs, before they're torn down. I love history. I was born and raised in Reno and so I love to preserve, any of the old Reno history that we can. And I love neon, and it's very collectible, so he collects them…

I'm a big believer in, if you can first renovate and preserve, I think that that's really important. But a lot of times what people don't understand is the cost to preserve a lot of that is so much more expensive for the developer. And remember they own that property. They have rights to that property. So you can't make them preserve an existing structure….

You know, that's becoming very popular in cities, is to take these 1960 properties that might not look great now and then sort of restore them kind of back to the original condition, but with a little bit of modern technology, right? I'd love to see more developers really sort of take on, you know, the mentality of preserving our history. But again, sometimes the cost is really challenging and also they own that property.

Of being called a “bulldozer queen” by a political opponent in the last mayoral contest, Mayor Schieve said: “This job certainly comes with a lot of criticisms, a lot. It’s a tough job. It’s not easy, but I was born and raised here. I love this city. And we did definitely bulldoze several motels downtown that were unsafe. Again, like I told you, they were deplorable and I just won't tolerate, landlords being slumlords. And I have to take a hard line approach because I want them to know that those conditions are not okay for people to live in.” Photo above is of the Carriage Inn as it was bulldozed away as part of the Jacobs development project on 4th street.

Q: Do you see any drawbacks to this push toward gentrification we see in Reno?

Mayor Schieve: It’s really challenging because of all this success. I always say because of the success, we absolutely have challenges, right? And a lot of times that happens because of supply and demand, right? Because people, what happens is you see these landlords that say, ‘Hey, you know, I know I can get more for rents.’ So they end up moving people out of these places that have lived there for years.

We certainly worry about our most vulnerable populations. And that is our senior citizens, right? So through the Housing Authority, we just bought some land and built an affordable housing complex for seniors and then we are also looking at very creative ways… So let's say it's a two story building [part of a pilot project she explained is in the works]. The seniors will live on the bottom right, because it doesn't make sense for them to live upstairs because there's stairs, right?

And millennials like students and young people like yourself that can't afford a lot would live on the top. Right. And there's this very symbiotic relationship between seniors and millennials. Like as a millennial, you might be able to help, you know, that senior with maybe getting to appointments, right? And then that senior might be an incredible cook, where you're not. Do you see what I'm saying?

So those are some of kind of the innovative ways we're looking at housing differently, right? And these are two populations that typically wouldn't live together, but actually symbiotically can live extremely well together. Not to mention, think about, sort of the knowledge and experience a senior has. Right? And you, and they become kind of like mentors. So that's one of the projects that we're piloting.

We also have a couple of developers who specialize in affordable housing and really have focused on the senior population. And that's really critical to work with those developers to say, ‘Hey, how can we help you?’ And part of that goes along with private and public partnerships… because the city doesn't have a lot of money. But one thing that we do have is land, right? So what we do is we look at the land that we have, we reach out to those developers and say, ‘Hey, we have this land. Would you like to partner with us and build on that land?’ So now you build this private and public partnership and it really does help the community as a whole. Right?

As we grow … public safety becomes so critical, right? We want to have more police and more fire to keep everyone protected because we all want a great quality of life. But as we grow, our tax base doesn't grow and we are the only state that does that, that we have what they call depreciation. And you definitely should look into it because that's what makes it really challenging to expand on the general fund and services like infrastructure, like public safety, like parks. And it really sort of ties the hands of local governments to expand on those services. So we have to figure out other ways that we can pay, you know, for those, those absolute critical services, right? So you need to look it up.

It's property depreciation and it's a property tax cap at 3%. And also what happens, so let's say, on California Avenue, for a two million dollar home, they end up paying the same property tax of 1950s, which doesn't make any sense, right? And now new construction actually pays a much higher tax. We see young people, they can't afford a one million dollar home on California Avenue. So they look at newer options because they're more affordable, right? Well, they end up paying more property tax than that person that's living in a million dollar mansion. That doesn't make sense. Do you see what I'm saying? So there's all these sort of facets that play into the quality of life and the difficulties of expanding these critical services.

And that trickles down. Remember, all of that has a trickle down effect right down to the motels. See what I'm saying? All of that has an impact on our city. So there's all these different facets of why it is challenging, but that one is one of the biggest. Remember where the only state that does that. And if I were you, I would definitely research more about that. I think especially someone like yourself might not be aware of that. Like a lot of students might not really understand our property tax cap and the structure and it's called depreciation. And that's what doesn't allow us to generate the revenue to keep critical services that we need. Does that make sense?

Mayor Schieve touted the former dilapidated King’s Inn turned into the 3rd Street Flats as one of the major accomplishments she helped make happen as part of being on City Council since 2014.
”It was about 30 years that, that sat there,” she said, very proud of its renovation. “I also committed to cleaning up downtown whenever I ran for office and I want our downtown to be the crown jewel of our city, so that our residents and tourists feel safe to come downtown.” According to Wikipedia, she is eligible to run for re-election in 2022 for a third and final term as Mayor.

Q: Our Town Reno has as one of its tag lines, ‘as Reno rebrands what happens to our most vulnerable?’ What are your thoughts on that?

Mayor Schieve: You have to have compassion with action, right? Because it has to be balanced. I think that has some very valid points and I love that, you know, they really pay attention to our most vulnerable, but if we're going to really help those people, we have got to stop being last in the country on mental health and start funding mental health and start funding addiction.

And that is one of my big initiatives. I just created the mayor's board on mental health and addiction. And you know, I know this from, you know, personal reasons, right? I think that's really where we could use the biggest voices is at the legislature to change the structure of how we fund mental health. And there's different ideas whether it's, you know, marijuana licenses.

Everyone I know either struggles with mental health in some capacity or addiction in some capacity.
And if it's not you, it's a family member. And I don't think, you know, that mental health and addiction does not discriminate, right? Like it can happen to anyone. And I think, we have to talk about it more and we have to, we can't brush it under the rug, but it's gotta be about services.

And the fact that we are dead last in the nation on mental health is so unacceptable. And I think that's what, you know, we really have got to start focusing on. We focused on the revitalization, we focused on bringing in jobs and that's all great. But with more people can also become more challenges. And I see so much of it because of being a mayor on the ground level.

Now this is something every city is dealing with. Don't think that this is just Reno. I worked with a lot of mayors and if you go to other big cities, have you been to any big city lately at all? Like San Francisco. This is all across the nation. We absolutely have an issue. And I work with so many other mayors and there's not a magic wand unfortunately, right when it comes to affordable housing and mental health and addiction and things like that, that can make it really challenging for people that need it the most. But we, I think more than ever, we have to be a state that really changes againthe property tax depreciation to look at ways to fund this.

We have to be very compassionate. And then again, a lot of people, they need stabilization and medication and services. Right. And, so we're working on that. But again, like I said, a lot of those activists that you're coming across, you know, have really big hearts and they have a lot of compassion, right? But let's focus on what's going to help them the most. And that's getting them services, that's changing the tax structure that's being at the legislature and saying, we need to stop being last in the nation. Right?

Interview by Gracie Gordon from the Reynolds School of Journalism shared with Our Town Reno. Some of the questions and answers were trimmed for clarity.

Healing From War With Art, In the Spirit of a Fallen Soldier

Giving Back after Losing Her Son

Art, performances, literature and more---that’s what one foundation brings to veterans in hopes of helping them with their reintegration into the community. The David J. Drakulich Foundation For Freedom of Expression (DJD Foundation) got its nonprofit status in 2011 and has different programs like open art studios, writing workshops, performances, and community discussions for veterans and their families. Tina Drakulich founded the DJD Foundation after losing her son David Drakulich. 

"My husband and I, and my family, my two surviving children had experienced loss from war. My son, their brother, David J. Drakulich, was killed in Afghanistan in 2008 and he had been an artist,” she said.

“He had really believed that the thing that he had to give to his country, was his military service after being attacked on 9-11. After we experienced that loss, my first instinct as a mom is, well, he's not here to build the legacy that I would experience as a mother living with a living son, so, it became my job to do that. That was a removal from my grief so that I could work constructively towards a positive outcome for others," she said.

Drakulich said processing trauma through art can be healthy for veterans and their families. When Our Town Reno visited the DJD Foundation, Drakulich was partaking in Combat Paper Nevada, a process in which old uniforms are turned into paper, an art form Drakulich said can be therapeutic.

“I just found that although it was a very scary thing to try to do, once I had completed my first set of paper made out of David's uniforms, I really started to feel like it was empowering and healing and I wanted to share that with everyone else,” Drakulich said about her first creation for Combat Paper Nevada.

Folding Papers into Art to Heal

After losing David, Drakulich found herself folding old papers that belonged to him into paper cranes, which she considered to be a part of her healing process. She also said art can help veterans share their own stories and experiences.

"It's helping veterans who are wishing to reintegrate. I know that a lot of our veterans have got disabilities of both mental and physical, and they seem to get the most immediate benefit from all of these activities,” Drakulich said.

She also wants people who aren’t in the military to get a better understanding of veterans’ experiences through a program called Dialogues on the Experience of War, which supports study and discussion on issues raised by war and military service.

“We aim to really bring the civilian community into the conversation because we have learned that, number one, a lot of civilians don't really have any idea as to what it was that these current serving soldiers face,” she said. “We figure that, that's the citizenry that votes and that's the citizenry that's going to be accepting reintegrating soldiers. So, that's the community that needs to be knowledgeable about what is going on in our world today,” she said.

"I believe in the arts. I believe that our community needs the arts. I believe that an artful community is a healthy community. I also believe that a world without art just might not be worth fighting for in the first place," Drakulich said.

Teaching and Doing

Drakulich said that the practice of humanities is often removed from people in order for them to perform their tasks in the military, and that humanities must be returned to them upon coming back.

Gene Hughes served as a missile repairman during the Vietnam era. He’s now the art director for a majority of the programs the DJD Foundation offers. He’s heavily involved in the Veterans Art Project, an open studio. 

"[Art] gives veterans a way to express themselves and to share with the world the things they've learned while becoming a veteran,” Hughes said. “Speaking as a vet, we need to share with our communities and our communities need to share with us. I've always felt that the best liaison between groups is art," he said.

Hughes has a distinct style of teaching. Instead of having the class follow his art style, which is graphite portraiture, he allows people to explore any medium they desire, so they can tell their stories the way they want to. Hughes strongly supports veterans’ freedom of expression.

"It's really important because that's the foundation on which this country was founded, freedom of expression. When I fought for this country, I wanted to come back and be able to express myself freely. I think artists appreciate that right more than just everyday people," Hughes said.

"What I've learned about myself is that I have a lot more to give. I thought that I was through being an artist and I was wrong. Working in this community and extolling the virtues of art, made me realize that I am still an artist and I think I will continue to be an artist," Hughes said.

Reporting by Lucia Starbuck for Our Town Reno

Annette, Holding On to an Ailing Dog and Finding a Supportive Community

Not Giving Up on Her Companion on the Streets

Annette finds company amongst friends, her old dog and her newly found community at Barbara Bennett Park, which she says reminds her of where she came from. Annette moved to Reno in 1988 from Richmond, California, a town of about 100-thousand people in the East Bay area. She’s been houseless on and off for the past three years. 

When Our Town Reno interviewed Annette earlier this year, she was with her boyfriend Doug, who worked at Tesla, but she says she’s no longer with him. She was also celebrating her one year anniversary of being sober, which has continued as she’s 19 months sober now. However, her dog’s health is deteriorating.

“Even though times get rough, don't give up. A lot of people said, ‘She’s just dog.’ No, I could have had a place or job or anything like that. But she's old, she’s got cancer and stuff like that and I'm not going to give up on her.”

“She's very protective over me and I try to be as much protective over her, maybe a little too much,” Annette said of her relationship with her aging dog. “One thing I'm afraid of is; I'm going to lose her.” Annette has had nearly 15-year-old Keika since 2010.

A Supportive Park Community

Annette has been sleeping in a secret spot nearby the downtown courthouse but spends the daytime at Barbara Bennett Park. Annette said community members often hand out food at the park. She said when other people living on the streets gather it makes life less stressful for her.

“Once everybody comes in [to Barbara Bennett Park], we all get in a circle and we all talk and everything. It just feels more comfortable when you're in a group than single,” she said.

Annette also gets food stamps. For Keika, Annette goes to a nearby church that hands out little bags of dog food. Annette mixes sausages in it. Annette also recently got a Coleman propane stove. She takes turns cooking with her friends, but the most important item they prepare, she says, is hot coffee. 

Annette travels by foot and was recently told by police she can’t have a shopping cart to carry her items. She emphasizes the importance of having people she can trust to watch her stuff or Keika if she has to go somewhere.

Annette’s message to the world is: “Pay it forward please. You see somebody out there, even just a sandwich, you know, help them out. If you see somebody who needs a pair of shoes, help, donate.”

Photography and Reporting by Lucia Starbuck for Our Town Reno

Chris Davis, Pursuing Dreams of the Screenwriter's Life

Crafting a Screenplay About Vampires

From singing and acting to screenwriting, Charles Davis currently incorporates his own life experiences while writing a trilogy about vampires. Charles Davis is 35 years old and is from Reno. He’s had a range of different jobs throughout the years including, Walmart, Round Table Pizza, Hollywood Video, Blockbuster Video, Burger King and Goodwill. He used to study singing and acting.

“I used to be in singing for a semester and then I had two throat surgeries and while on voice rest, my grades were declining from an A to a C. I had to do something to bring it up obviously. So I started writing and sure enough, it took up and it went from sentences into a story.

His current trilogy includes a musical called, ‘Drake a Vampire’s Journey.’ Davis doesn’t want to publish his work online due to fears of his ideas being stolen. His favorite movie is, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’ directed by Gore Verbinski in 2003. He enjoys doing voice impressions of characters.

The questionnaire we are passing out at the downtown library as part of Share Your Story Mondays from 10 to noon. If you’d like to share your story, don’t hesitate. You can also bring favorite pictures and mementoes of yourself and Reno.

Surviving Depression and Sexual Assault in Reno

Davis says that he’s a loving and caring person. He enjoys helping people and volunteering. He said that people in Reno can be standoffish and he wishes people made more efforts to get to know each other. Davis says that he puts his life experiences into his writing. He said that he’s lost people in his life due to depression and is also a survivor of sexual assault.

“In 35 years, people just think it's just a normal life, but I've had a lot of past bad experiences with exes, life and family. I was born four months premature,” Davis said. “Biological mom left me, adoptive family wasn't so great. They just wanted me as a paycheck versus the love and family I should've gotten. But you can't always get what you want, so you just gotta roll the dice and go with it.”

Davis said that he enjoys sharing his story with others. His advice to writers is, “Be true yourself and just go with what you know.”

Photography and Reporting for Our Town Reno by Lucia Starbuck

RISE, Reviving the Push for a SafeGround for Neighbors Without Shelter

Countering Vigilante Threats

The Reno Initiative for Equality and Shelter non-profit is currently reviving the push to establish a SafeGround, which by definition is “a legally recognized land area for use by people experiencing homelessness.”

“Essentially instead of continually running down camps, we would provide the needed infrastructure to make them more functional. So, porta-potties, waste management, and then security,” Benjamin Castro from RISE explained to us. Find the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/board-of-county-commissioners-washoe-county-dedicate-land-to-a-safeground-in-washoe-county-07d9c205-d625-4908-923d-3e493de0558c and read a Q and A with Castro below on this and other projects to help those without shelter.

Q: Why the need for a so-called SafeGround and how would it help our neighbors without stable shelter?

A: “Our philosophy is, look, these people are already managing to survive on their own. All they need is just a little bit of support and a little bit of, permission essentially. If there's complaints about waste management, if there's complaints about, you know, no bathrooms, well then let's provide that with minimal infrastructure and let's get them the protection they need from other community members. “

Q: What are the immediate needs now for the homeless population as winter approaches, and what about other much talked about ongoing projects to help with the affordable housing crisis?

A: “We're calling for the overflow tents again. At Sage Street (Village on Sage Street dormitories), we’ve heard dorms are only at 50% occupancy. And I'd say that's probably because of their high qualifiers . The Tiny Homes (HopeSprings Tiny Homes Village) project is still in its fundraising phase, so that hasn't kicked off. And then in response to the recent vigilante actions by QOL, honestly, we think it's time to, to start endorsing some of these camps and make them functional and give them the same protection that every other citizen in this community deserves.”

Castro on the right of the photo hopes the new community volunteer meal location could be combined with the SafeGround, all the while empowering those being helped. “Maybe they can help clean up, maybe they can be the security, so that we don't have to kick them out at 7:00 AM. They can also set the tone for how these dinners are gonna go. If you give them ownership of the project as opposed to just being a recipient, then it'll grow. It'll give them them more incentive to get involved. So we’ve pitched that. The new dinner location should go in tandem with either an overflow tent or some sort of sanctioned camp ground, or the SafeGround we are pushing for.”

Uncertainties over Shelter Location for Women and Children, Community Meals and Overflow Winter Tent

Q: What about the idea for a new, separate campus for women and children in the Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services campus? 

A: “We do have an update that that's not happening this year. So again, another year where things get delayed and I'm not trying to give grief to the organizations that are pushing for those projects. I absolutely understand that delays happen. Money is everybody's problem. But this is our third year now to where we've talked about hosting people at NNAMHS. We've talked about putting people at the Tiny Homes and then none of those have happened yet and it's winter 2019 and we need to start worrying about, besides just the elements, now we have to start worrying about vigilantes who maybe next time they won't make a Facebook event about going around and breaking up camps. Maybe they'll just do it without telling anybody. So that's what we're afraid of. Besides just trying to survive the harsh winters of this area, we're also afraid that people might start being harassed by community members.”

Q: What about the new proposed location for community meals across from Hooten Tire company on 4th street?

A: “I really appreciate the Truckee Meadows Water Authority for offering up that space. My issue with it is that by my understanding it's a very short term lease agreement. It's only two years, and it has to be renewed every year. One of the biggest reasons why we were on board with relocating the dinner services, was that we really enjoyed the idea of having a park or a parcel that was being underutilized. And then once all the meal providers get together and start serving there, start setting a tone that over time it would be a public park where this is where service providers go. So it seemed like a great legacy to leave behind, you know, 20, 30 years from now, after we're all done serving and other people have come in and they started serving again that we have a nice park with nice benches, maybe some fruit trees that was once just a dirt lot. But only having a two year lease on that lot is kind of discouraging because anything we build there is just gonna end up getting wiped away anyways.

I'm hopeful that if we do this right and we get a lot of community engagement and we engage the people that we're serving that yeah, we can beautify that area. We can make it nice. We can make it somewhere where you want to go and you want to reach out and you want to perform outreach, as opposed to we'll just put you over here for now and then hopefully in a couple of years we'll figure something else out.

I'm hearing the move will happen as early as November 1st. I know that other meal providers have some issues with the location as far as transportation. We still haven't seen benches, for people to sit down and enjoy their meal. There needs to be better coordination.”

In October, RISE meals were still taking place Saturday nights on Record street. There are ongoing discussions going on as to where a new overflow shelter tent will also be placed. “It made much more sense for us to have the overflow tent and the dinner site for the dinner services performed at the same site,” Castro said. “If we don't like the new site, and we've told them this before too, at of the first preliminary meetings that if we don't have the infrastructure that we need to be successful, which is again, porta-potties, waste management, parking, lighting, if you make us fight for our own, then we will choose a park of our own accord that's convenient for us, that's convenient for the people we serve. Don't be surprised if a tent city just pops up there. So we either do this together and we do it right. Or we do it on our own because I'm not going to be set up for failure.”

Q: We are seeing a court case from Boise and efforts in Las Vegas to make camping illegal. Is poverty being criminalized?

A: “Absolutely. You know that we do have a lot of friends in the county and there are some friends in the city who genuinely want to help, who are in my opinion, actual problem solvers who are compassionate. And they have the connections to kind of connect all the dots, but it's also an image problem too. I think for the city, I think it's obvious that they don't want to deal with this issue or that they spend a lot of money on the Community Assistance Center on Record street. And they think that that should be enough. It's hard to say, but honestly I would say that, yeah, it definitely feels like there's a lot of community resources out there that we're not taking advantage of as a city, as a community really. And it's making it harder for people to get involved.”

Q: What about the recent #BringSomeLove movement at Pickett Park to counter the vigilante threats?

A: “I definitely see it as a catalyst and that's part of the reason why we've revived this petition. It’s definitely a catalyst for people who didn't know where to start or didn't know how to get involved. And one of the biggest things for our organization is just giving people permission to get involved. And I think that's what a lot of organizations lack. You can join us, you can see what we're doing. But honestly, if you see a problem out there, and nobody's addressing it or nobody's fixing it, then that makes you in charge. You don't need anybody's permission to get involved, to help your neighbor. So hopefully we're trying to garner some of that support. The petition is an easy one. Hey, there are people out here surviving anyways. Instead of spending a bunch of money to stop it or to try to hide it from the public eye, why don't we just endorse it? It would be half the cost to get to get some dumpsters, and some hand washing stations and some port-a-potties. And they would appreciate the support and wouldn't be so resentful and their neighbors, community members wouldn't be so resentful as well if we facilitated their growth as opposed to always trying to stomp it out. I mean, honestly, if we spent half the time actually facilitating this community's growth as opposed to shuffling them out of public eye, then we'd probably be in a lot better spot.”

“We usually set up around 4:15 to start distributing clothing and hygiene products,” Castro said of the Saturday night setup. “Then we'll share a meal and break some bread and share some smiles. I think really the more important thing besides feeding the body is just letting people feel normal for a moment. Actually recognizing them as a person, letting them understand how much pain they're actually in and then just asking them to keep fighting.”

Photography by Scott King and Interview with Our Town Reno in October 2019

Devon Reese, Concerned About QOL, Winter and Delays with New Housing and Shelter Projects

Q: What are some updates on what the city council has in store to address homelessness or the lack of affordable housing in the area?

A: The city council has a number of different things that it's working through, and it's one of three or four different regional governing bodies that has some role to play in housing or homelessness. As a city we're challenged by our finances. Certainly, we are challenged by the fact that as far as the city's powers … we are fairly limited. So we try to find the areas where we can work within the opportunities that we can create here in the city. I think we've done a good job of taking on a project-by-project analysis of the problem. We haven't done a really good job of looking at the entirety of the situation. We have different boards within the city; for example, the CDBG (Community Development Block Grants) board is tasked with looking at the federal resources that come into this community that can be used to help people who are dealing with housing insecurity or homelessness. At the end of the day, I think our city council believes very strongly that people need a roof over their head. Sometimes that's in immediate shelter needs, sometimes it's in temporary housing, and oftentimes it's in long-term goals and transitional programs that can help people get to that goal. So we're doing a lot with very little, but there's obviously more we can do.

Q: Could you elaborate more on the CDBG (Community Development Block Grants) board and what it does?

A: So this is an area where we have a sub-committee of the council as a whole. It meets with local partners that include Washoe County, Sparks, and I believe the health district has a seat on that board as well. It's just a pool of money from which we as a council make choices about how we're going to prioritize how we spend those funds. Some of that has gone into rapid rehousing dollars, some of it has gone into programs to keep people from having to move from their home as they age, and there's a really great program that's part of it that allows people to have their homes renovated and at times retro-fitted in order that they can stay there. I think this is an important project because it means that people stay where they are. They shelter in place, they have a home where they can age gracefully, and yet it allows them not to become a part of either the homeless community or in a different kind of shelter situation. This last time around we provided funds through that entity to cover some of the landlord-tenant rights and seminars that have been offered by the city. Some of the money in that particular fund has gone to … housing like the Willie Wynn housing project (the Willie J. Wynn Apartments now run by the Reno Housing Authority, which broke ground in May, are named after a local preacher and will specifically be for struggling senior citizens), just off Sutro and Wells and money for that project came out of that fund.

Reese’s view on the city and multiple housing projects being worked on, some slower than hoped for.

Q: What are some updates on the HopeSprings tiny homes project?

A: That's a great project. That is really a good example of a public-private partnership because it has drawn interest from governments, Hopes- which is essentially a health resource in our community-, and then it was some land that was owned by the city. It's been a little slower getting out of the dirt than I had hoped, but it's coming on-line. I think you won't see people living there for about another six to nine months is what I understand. But in concept, gosh, it looks amazing. It looks like something that could really benefit our community and I'm hopeful that it might be a model for other kinds of projects of a similar nature. This is a project that I think hits a particular target audience but could be expanded to include lots of sub-communities, like homeless veterans, for example. I think that this project is being replicated successfully in other communities, as well. If you are paying attention to the national landscape, it appears that villages of this type and sort of the smaller housing units which have a cluster around a central meeting place and a place where people may engage with one another seem to be successful in other communities and I believe it will be successful here.

Q: For those that may be on the streets and interested in taking advantage of this opportunity with the project. How do they go about doing that?

A: Well, as I understand it, there is a waiting list for the project but I don't know what the status of it is. Of course, I’m sure that there are resources online. I know that our own Housing Authority and different entities within the city that connect people with services are excited that it would come online because that'll provide the opportunity to really push it out. The other major project that we had here locally was the village on Sage Street. It was another project where it had a very long waiting list, but then when it came time to actually have people housed there, some of those people had moved. Some were very transient in terms of lifestyle, so their phone numbers had changed or they may have had an opportunity to get into other housing arrangements. So these waiting lists are a good starting point because they're an indicator of need, but they don't necessarily tell the entire story about the depth of that need, if that makes sense.

Previously, according to his City of Reno bio, Reese “served as the Vice President and General Counsel for a large, regional builder-developer. He was also the former managing attorney of the Reno law firm, Curiale Dellaverson Hirshfeld & Kraemer, where he focused on products liability, wrongful death, and professional claims defense litigation.”

Q: There is a project in place for a new campus for women and children without shelter. Some community members are feeling that it's coming out a little slow as well. What is your update on that center moving forward?

A: Yeah, so the movement of the women and children over to the Galletti campus (from the Record street downtown shelter) is going to be awesome and hopefully transformational for people's lives. Everything moves slower than anyone would want, and I am concerned that we're going to have winter bearing down upon us. Obviously, it's getting colder and it might not be up and running by the time that people have a need for it, so that's concerning. I will say that the campus is very large and when you look at the overall services and the comprehensive range of things that can occur on that campus, you can't help but be excited about it because in the end it really does focus on a group of people who have a considerable amount of need for services and I think it's going to be a good one once it gets there.

Q: We’ve heard the Sage Street dorm-style living is at about 50% occupancy. What is being done to try and increase the occupancy rate right there? 

A: Well, I have not spoken to the VOA folks who are on site in a couple of months, so I'm not sure if that occupancy number is true today. If it is, that is somewhat discouraging because I do think it is a good opportunity. But it's just a matter of telling people what's available. It's about connecting people with services where they're needed. Ultimately, I think that they have been making some choices about income levels that perhaps are not reflective of the community that is the target need. I know that there's some thoughts about adjusting those downward so that more people can be eligible for housing there. I think too that some people are very interested in living there, but it's difficult at times to put together that first and last month's rent because when people are living paycheck to paycheck or without a paycheck, that can be very difficult. My understanding is that some funds have been made available through our rapid re-housing fund in the city to help people secure down payment assistance. 

When you think about a place like the village on Sage Street, and the need that people have to get in to that type of housing, it can be very difficult if you are facing an emergency situation or if your resources are very limited and you're choosing between food and shelter, or food and medicine and shelter. Those funds that are available through the city as a resource, while they're limited in some ways, at least they exist. Hopefully we share the positive word about those funds and it will help people see that as a viable option. The other thing is, I think fundamentally people just have to get used to the concept of a different type of living arrangement. Most people don't necessarily think of dormitory style living when they think about their ideal circumstances. But once you visit the campus and see what's going on there, I can't help but think that it's very inviting, very warm, and very friendly. There's a community on-site resource that is essentially a store where they can buy grab-and-go foods and there are classes that are available, too. There's laundry facilities, internet cafes, game rooms, and living areas outside of the dorm. They're small, don't get me wrong, but they're safe. For anybody who is looking for a home, I can't help but believe it would be a good opportunity.

Reese says safety issues and thin resources at the downtown shelter are forcing community meals out from there. Volunteers providing the meals are angry a new location might make the help much more difficult to provide.

Q: There are some activists and community members who are disappointed that the community meals are being moved away from the main shelter on Record Street. Why are those meals being moved and what's your reaction to that response? What would you say to them?

A: Well, I guess the first thing is to acknowledge the concern and frustration of those people who are out there doing the good work of feeding people. Undoubtedly people's hearts are in the right place and any time that one human being wants to help feed another human being, we should be finding out ways for that to happen. Of course, there are things that get in the way of that like health rules and concerns about the safety of people who are seeking that food resource. The Record Street campus is just stretched thin in terms of its physical space and also the provision of services there. When you have people lining up several hours before and staying several hours after, it creates lots of opportunities for unsafe conditions. The city has been working very hard and at least one community partner stepped up as a place where those meals could be served. The city attorney's office drafted as I understand, a release of liability and that really wasn't vetted well with the members of the community who were the ones actually doing the work and serving. So I'm not entirely sure if that has been resolved. I think it can be resolved, but I haven't been involved in it intimately. I just know that feeding people should be a priority for all of us and certainly it's a priority for me. I think that whatever the concerns are for folks who are in that community of providing food, we can work through those issues, whatever they are.

Q: Last weekend, the group Quality of Life-Reno made a motion to conduct citizens arrests on homeless staying in Pickett Park. The city police came in and notified the people that were staying there and now they are no longer there. The community responded by having a donation drive at the park. Are you familiar with what happened and what is your reaction to the whole thing?

A: Yeah, I'm broadly familiar with it. I wasn't able to attend the outpouring of love that was shown on Saturday so I don't know what happened on the ground other than what I read on social media. What I saw was a community coming together in love, strength, and support for our most vulnerable people. The group mentioned is one I'm vaguely familiar with, too. I think they're shady operators. They're not good people. I don't think that they have a heart for the citizens of this community. At times these fringe groups create a lot of commotion and a lot of stir, but with very little desire to really help. The response from the city of Reno was somewhat hands-off because it was not in a position to do much either way. I understand a Reno police officer was involved in trying to defuse the situation, but I don't believe he was there on city time. He was there as a concerned citizen and really just wanted to make sure that everyone was safe and that this fake event did not get out of hand. In the end, the Quality of Life folks wanted to take credit for what happened. Of course, no one believes that that was accurate or fair.

“What I can say is this community came together with an outpouring of compassion and love and stood up for what is right, which is viewing other human beings as deserving of grace, dignity, and respect,” Reese said of the #BringSomeLove counter protest. “There's no place in this community for anyone to hate or think less of another human being because of their economic circumstances or their lack of a home. It's heartbreaking. The truth is we have a problem that we need to address. We're undertaking efforts to address those concerns. But there's not one thing that's going to happen and all of a sudden we're going to have all the ills that we face fixed. We have a fundamental economic inequality in this country and it seems to be widening. Until we are willing to have a serious conversation about that, we're going to be continuing to treat the symptoms rather than the illness itself.”

Q: The US Supreme Court might eventually look at Boise vs. Martin, in which they may review the overall legality of sleeping in public spaces. There was an amicus brief that was written by a Reno attorney at one point in support of the case. What are your thoughts on all of this? ( Boise has formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider its appeal in the case, called by some the “camping lawsuit.” It came about due to a city ordinance banning people who are homeless from sleeping in public places.)

A: Well, no amicus brief was filed on behalf of the city of Reno. I think there was a discussion a few months back about whether or not Reno should support such an amicus brief and our council declined to participate. The reality is the Boise vs. Martin case is an important one. I don't know whether it will ultimately be heard by the Supreme Court. Either way, we have a fundamental problem that we have to fix and the courts aren't going to fix things for us. We have to fix things ourselves. So what we have to do is focus on ways in which we can provide adequate shelter resources. We have to focus on programs that help people to reintegrate into both everyday life and living things like hygiene, health, housing, jobs, and job-retraining at times. At the end of the day, cities, especially our city with limited resources and limited powers, are perhaps not the best problem-solvers. Nonetheless, we find ourselves in the position of trying to promote the health, safety, and well-being of the people who live here. So there are a complicated series of things that one has to ask when we decide whether we are being appropriate, loving, and compassionate towards those who find themselves without a home. At the end of the day, I don't believe that Boise vs. Martin decision is going to be heard by the Supreme Court. If it is, I don't think it will fix what we have going on here. So we ought to get busy with the process of fixing what we can on the ground now on our own.

Q: In relation to affordable housing prices, what are some strategies that the council is implementing to address this issue?

A: Affordable housing is often lumped into the conversations about homelessness. In terms of affordable housing and some of the things that we've done, our mayor has helped us to focus on the “A Thousand Doors in 120 Days” initiative. This is one in which the city of Reno can defer sewer hookups and connection fees to developers who are willing to develop within a particular geographic area called “Opportunity Zones” so that the developers are incentivized to build in an area where we need development. So we're not giving the money to [the developers], we're saying we'll take the money later in the project when you get a certificate of occupancy.

A second example is under the newest legislative cycle they passed, SB 103. There is a way for cities to use their judgment to actually waive those [development] fees if in fact we're getting a more affordable component to a project. This is something that we have to, as a city undertake, and in the coming months figure out how to plug that in. 

There are also ways to use the land that the city of Reno owns. Where we own the underlying land, earlier this year we conditioned the sale of a particular parcel on the agreement that would reduce the fair market value of that [parcel] if the developer builds a certain number of units. In this case, it ended up being 12 to 15 units of affordable or market rate housing in that project. Since we own the land we were able to discount the land in order to get affordable housing as a component. We're using those CDBG funds to incentivize and sometimes bridge the gap between what financiers have in their pocket, what they get from a bank, and what they can get from the city. So we actually place money towards those housing components. 

“These programs are all various tools and at the end of the day, we should be throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the problem,” Reese said of increasing affordability for Reno residents. “Some of them are not necessarily going to be absolute fixes, some of them are going to be seen by some as ‘too little, too late.’ But they're all part of a package of things that we can do. It goes back to that concept that the city is not in the ideal position to solve many of the social ills that we face, but we have a role to play and we're taking a very proactive role. This council is particularly concerned with meeting the needs of people in this community who are un-housed.”

Q: Early on in your term as the Councilman At-Large, you seemed to be pretty active on social media. Do you intend to continue to do that?

A: Yeah, I try to be engaged on social media in some small way all of the time. I have tended to always post about upcoming meetings. I try to give a summary of those meetings and when the meeting is concluded, I try to respond and say what we accomplished in the meeting. I think it is probably a double-edged sword. Some people think social media is the area where you go to complain, bash on people, and attack people's views. In my social and online presence, I have to believe that it's a place for us to communicate directly with citizens and to engage in the deliberative process of a democratic institution, so I'm on social media a lot. I don't know if I'm up and down in terms of usage, but I think if you look at my social media, I have tended to be very open and vocal in support of the projects and communities that I'm working with.

Q: You are currently running for election for this position. What are some new ideas for the homeless and affordable housing issues that you will run on, or are you running on a continuation of things that have been tried before?

Answer: My ideas are informed by necessity. I don't think that we are unique among communities in this country who are grappling with housing, affordable housing, and homelessness issues. I wouldn't say that I am doing anything other than what is necessary. I do think there are things that we have to do better. The truth is, when people are hurting and suffering, we have a moral obligation to act and respond. I go about each day trying to think about how I can improve this community. It's a community that's given me a lot and at the end of the day, if we are to move forward together into the future, we have to do that with all of us benefiting from it. If only the folks on the upper end of the spectrum economically benefit, and the middle-class continues to shrink and the people in that tail end of the spectrum economically, are just frozen out of social life and that's not right. That is not consistent with my values. I prioritize people over things. In the next legislative cycle, I would like to see us taking a more proactive and aggressive stance on taking an opportunity to fix some of these issues. [During] this last legislative cycle, our city's priorities were pretty small and I would like to see them expanded.

I’d like to see us get as aggressive as we can with seeking to find resources and opportunities to expand the program. We're going to continue to support housing across a broad spectrum of housing types. I believe that housing of all types, whether it's dormitory style housing, student housing, tiny villages, or apartments on all sorts of spectrum, and even entry-level housing and upper-level housing frees up housing stock for everybody. It's one of those things where economists and people who really study housing markets are very pointedly and adamantly in favor of developing more housing stock. So wherever that housing stock lies, it benefits people at different ranges in the spectrum. We should be doing that. 

“People have to be able to have a place to sleep,” Reese said of one of his priorities for his campaign. “I'm interested in exploring things like, the idea of a community-based camping ground. [It can be] a space where people can be safe, where they can camp if that's their desire or if that's their circumstance. I think people are camping in parks because that's out of necessity. I'd like to see some way in which we could find opportunities for there to be land that is set aside for the provision of that type of temporary housing. I don't think it should be long-term because I think people need the physical things that come with a roof, a toilet, a shower, and an address in a mailbox. But out of necessity, I'm interested in exploring that.”

Q: In closing, what message would you like to share to the city's homeless and those who are struggling on the streets?

A: Well, I don't want to be emotional in my approach to it, but I want to tell people that there's always hope. Love is the thing that will unite us as a community, as you saw … at Pickett Park. Everyone deserves the dignity and grace that comes with being a human being. People are not illegal by their circumstances in terms of being homeless. I want us to take a compassionate approach to people's wellbeing. At the end of the day, our priorities and our values will dictate our policy choices and that for me has always been people-first. If we come to accept that there are some fundamental inequalities in our society at-large and then we think about how that implicates our positionality here in Reno, I think we can come to a better understanding of the types of solutions that are necessary to make sure that people are safe, well, and have access to resources like food, medicine, and hygiene. All of those things are just part of the inherent dignity that people have. I hope people understand that that is who I am and I hope that's reflected in my policy choices. 

Reporting and Photography by Scott King for Our Town Reno (Note: Some questions and answers were trimmed for clarity)

A Quaint Campus Coffee Shop is Closed as Student Luxury Housing Spreads

Gone, Suddenly

“It came out of nowhere…going from expecting us to get an extension of sorts to the new landlords being like, ‘Oh hey, you guys gotta get all your shit out in a week,’” said 23-year-old now former barista Braulio Claro of the long rumored then abruptly realized closure.

“I feel like it’s … a very special place where I have grown a lot as a person,” Claro said on one of his last shifts. “Any time I didn’t want to be at home, I would find myself here,” he said, expressing a sentiment shared by many students, UNR staff and locals.

Rebecka Bethel and Grant Uba will miss their relaxing times inside and right outside Bibo’s, which felt to many like a grittier, more expressive and freer enclave than most other areas in and around the university.

“Character Destroying” Gentrification

22-year-old Rebecka Bethel explained that while she is sad, she is also frustrated with the deeper issues connected to the closing. “Over the past few years it’s been really apparent that Reno is getting gentrified,” she said. “All the houses on 4th street and Ralston are being torn down to build a ‘Neon district’…those are peoples’ homes.”

“It seems like there’s a lot of land elsewhere without having to destroy a lot of the character that is Reno,” said Bibo co-owner Paul Martin.

Old homes on nearby blocks, some with deep historical significance, are also being moved or destroyed to give way to new luxury student housing and UNR’s expansion. Bibo Coffee Company has other locations around town and is trying to reopen one near campus, but some former patrons say they feel it will be difficult to recreate the unique atmosphere it had in its Record street location, across from railroad tracks, with plenty of trees providing shade, and a view of Reno’s downtown skyline.

Listen to an audio feature on one of the last days of the coffee shop here: https://soundcloud.com/user-677215943

Reporting and Photography by Karina Dominguez shared with Our Town Reno

Olivia Piccirilli, Hoping the Momentum for Help Keeps Going after Resisting Vigilantes

Outreach to Join Forces

Piccirilli went out to Pickett Park this past Saturday, reaching out to other volunteers, inviting them to join Washoe Food not Bombs, which serves healthy vegetarian and vegan community meals at Wingfield Park on Saturdays from ten to noon.

Sadly, she wasn’t surprised others in Reno are seeking to force people out of parks. “I think that it's definitely reflective of a larger attitude in the Reno area where people don't understand the root causes of homelessness and housing insecurity and think that the simple solution is to displace them even further,” she said.

While some in Reno believe there’s always room at the main downtown shelter, that’s not always the case. Piccirilli also knows many without the means to afford stable shelter try to avoid the shelter like the plague, due to a myriad of reasons, most notably insecurity.

“Like it's terrifying. And I would rather sleep on the streets and stay there,” she said. “So like it's really clearly by people who don't understand what's happening.”

This original threat sparked outrage from many online, and led to the #BringSomeLove counter action. The Reno Initiative for Shelter and Equality, meanwhile, is recirculating a petition to establish an officially sanctioned Safe Ground for those without shelter.

Humans Helping Other Humans

Piccirilli stresses the need for more affordable housing, and more variety and quantity in terms of shelter space. More people should see people struggling as humans, as well, she says. She used to work at the Eddy House, helping youth living on the streets, and gaining perspective on the need for compassion.

“As a community, people need to think of homeless people as human beings. If there is somebody panhandling … give them two dollars. Like, that's a really good way to help somebody … Like just see people as human beings I think is the biggest first step,” she said.

She said the Saturday at Pickett Park was like a big rally, with “everybody all fired up”, but she hoped the momentum would continue.

“[It shows] there’s people out there who care and want an outlet to help. And this was a very good way for them to get this outlet, which is really cool and I'm very excited about it,” she said. “But what are you going to do tomorrow? And what are you going to do the day after that? I think that it's important for organizations like us to come here and be like, here's an outlet for this feeling that you're having. You're feeling things are wrong and you're feeling you want to do something to help. Like here's an outlet for that so that tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that, you're still continuing to do this work.”

Reporting and Photography by Lucia Starbuck for Our Town Reno

Bram Buckley, Helping with Local Affordable Housing, One Meaningful Project at a Time

A Commercial Real Estate Broker Gives Back Through Affordable Housing

“I had just gotten into real estate and my degree was in geological engineering and I was attracted to it because I got to build stuff and commercial real estate was starting to slow down in 2005 and or 2006,” Bram Buckley, a commercial real estate broker with Avison Young, says about why he got into affordable housing. “I was approached by some friends of mine to join the board of Northern Nevada Community Housing, and contribute a little bit. As soon as I got on the board, I really sort of fell in love with the work and being able to give back. I was on a couple of other boards but nothing really sort of tickled me like this one. In that time we've built, I want to say about five or 600 units of affordable housing in the Northern Nevada area, most of it in the Reno-Sparks area.”

As part of our interview, Buckley also wanted to define the words “affordable housing”. “There's two definitions for affordable housing,” he explained. “There is housing that people can afford and there's housing that the government has stipulated, that's a certain percentage of the Area Median Income and has a legal definition as affordable. And people mix these two things up all the time, but they have two separate meanings. So when I'm building affordable housing, I'm talking about building by the government standard for people who are 60% of Area Median Income or less, but in Reno, in the newspapers and you know, people sitting around a coffee shop, they will talk about affordable housing, and say ‘what can I afford to actually live in? You know, I make $70,000 a year and I can't afford to live here.’ And so those are two separate things,” he said.

“We do at least one project a year,” Buckley explained of the oncoming project to save and upgrade Joseph’s Inn, where 26 previously chronically homeless people are reported to be currently housed, with one tenant having lived there since its opening in 1993. “Sometimes it's a rehab, sometimes it's new construction. Joseph’s Inn is just an older building and it is one of the only projects in the area that is for people who are literally homeless the night before. You literally had to be homeless the night before to qualify and Reno doesn't have anything else like that,” Buckley said of the importance of this project.

A 12-Month Race to Remake the Joseph’s Inn into a Better El Centro

The current project Buckley is helping with concerns saving and rehabilitating Joseph’s Inn, which provides permanent housing for individuals without any shelter. Units are subsidized by the Reno Housing Authority with rent set at 30% of their gross annual income.

It’s proving to be a big challenge. “The problem is the building, the bones of it are from the 50s,” he said of the old building which will get back its original El Centro name. “And even with the rehab we did in the 1990s, it's still starting to really struggle and fall behind.”

New regulations often mean more expensive construction which is part of the overall problem. “All our buildings are constantly reviewed every year to make sure they're meeting energy efficiency standards and basic living standards. And Joseph's Inn is really slipping behind the times.”

Northern Nevada Community Housing says it is going to rent housing for current tenants, and then add kitchenettes, redo the entire interior and exterior, and then bring everyone who wants to come back in, back in.

“The system will pretty much be the same as it was before,” Buckley said. “Once it's rehabbed, it'll be the same system, same people, same vouchers. If we can do it within 12 months, we won't lose anything. So we're under the gun a little bit on that one.”

But he says it’s gratifying to see the community understand the importance of this particular project.
”A lot of people were excited that we weren't going to lose it because we were getting a little close to losing it,” he said. “The government was not going to recertify it because it wasn't meeting the standards and we would have lost all that and those people would have been back on the streets.”

Buckley unsuccessfully tried to get the at-large Reno City Council seat which was up for grabs through an application process earlier this year when the previous councilman in that seat started another job. Buckley said he won’t try again. “I wanted the open council seat because I didn't have to run, because I wouldn't owe anyone anything and I could tell them exactly what I thought,” he said

Views on City Council Fees and Nevada’s Misguided Tax Structures

Buckley says he believes a newly released plan by Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve to incentivize 1,000 new homes in 120 days by pushing back city fees such as sewer fees, road infrastructure, impact fees, to the end of the process instead of the beginning is “an okay step.”

“I'm not sure it's going to drive more projects, but it sure won't hurt any projects,” he said. “Some of the things that slow developers down, especially in a booming market like this, would be blighted properties that have been owned by say a family for a long time and they have no incentive to fix it up because our tax structure is a little backwards. Our tax structure taxes you based on the age of the property, not based on the value of the property. So if you've got a building in downtown Reno that's paid off and it's an old warehouse or something like that, and it's been there for 70, 80 years, your tax bill is so low that there's no incentive to go out and fix it up and try and find a tenant and get good rent for it or sell it off … So that's one of the downsides of our kind of backwards tax system in Nevada.”

He says the sewer fees and impact fees also should be lowered for projects offering lower rents. “That would be a little bit of a seesaw. You give something, you get something,” he said.

“This map is where all of our current projects are,” Buckley said of a large mural inside a Northern Nevada Community Housing meeting room. “It is updatable. So as we add projects, we will be updating our map here. Our project that's currently under construction, is in Valley Springs in Carson city where we're adding 70 units. We have land under contract in Fernley, Carson City and Sparks right now. As the real estate guy, my job is land. By the time we build it, I'm usually kind of out of the project. So I'm thinking three or four projects ahead,” Buckley said of his specific role.

Liking Ideas of Upzoning, but Criticizing Granny Pods

Buckley thinks Reno and other cities looking at denser zoning possibilities is a trend in the right direction. He says local authorities have been open to going beyond current zoning.

“As long as you can prove that the infrastructure can handle it,” he said, building can happen. “So if you're building an area where the schools can take it and the sewer system can take it and there's water, you can go denser, you'll most likely get that upzoned.”

The proposal for allowing granny pods that came and failed, though, he views as an “absolute joke” and waste of time. “How many units do you think they would have produced? 500. I mean, what do we have? 17,000 people moving here a month. I mean it's absolutely just the wrong scale and it's a total waste of time. I'll continue on that granny pod thing because it drove me nuts with the amount of people we have moving here and the number of single family homes they're building. Single family homes is the answer and … new apartments and density. “

Buckley says he’s also doubtful about rent control. “I know that there's obviously upsides and downsides and they haven't worked super well in a lot of the places they've been in,” he said. “I'm a pretty liberal guy, but I feel like that kind of thumb on the scale can have pretty serious consequences.”

“The federal dollars are not going to solve our housing crisis. There's just not enough. It's not even close,” Buckley said of using federal money to start more affordable housing projects such as Joseph’s Inn. “We need to encourage a regular developer to build more affordable housing projects.”

Getting a Dwindling Amount of Federal Money

Buckley says there just isn’t enough federal money to solve the affordable housing crisis. He says the funding that does make it to Nevada is attributed by population size, giving the Las Vegas area the biggest share.

“Washoe County gets the next largest bucket and the rurals get the rest,” Buckley explained. “And all of that money that Washoe County gets, that we usually win, translates to a 44-unit complex that we build every year or purchase something. Last year we built a 50-unit complex and added 22 more units to it on 4th street. But that's all of the dollars that come into the state. Right?”

Buckley explains federally-funded projects are also more expensive. “We have to be absolute top of the market energy efficiency. Every single one of my units has to be Americans with Disabilities Act adaptable or accessible in a normal apartment complex … There's a million little rules like that, that make my projects 20 to 30% more expensive than a normal developer, in my opinion.”

Has there been a Tesla effect to our affordable housing crisis? “Obviously there's a correlation to the companies that are coming in,” Buckley said. “And for every Tesla engineer, we need two bartenders and a dry cleaner, right? I mean, there's primary jobs, then there are secondary jobs that come along with them and then people move here and they bring their families. And there's a reason why so many people are moving here, because there's jobs to do. There's lots of work. I mean, our unemployment is basically nil.”

Understanding the Anger

While low income residents see motels getting torn down, apartment buildings raising their rents, and other new developments catering to a more affluent clientele, Buckley says he understands the anger around affordability.

“If an apartment complex gets purchased and the rents were $600 and the new developer wants to,
they come in and rehab everything and then the new rents are going to be $1,400. And the little lady who lived there doesn't have a home anymore. She literally can't afford the new rents anymore. That is a problem. Reno has an affordable housing crisis …The only solution is more units that people can actually afford. If someone comes in and buys an apartment complex and puts millions of dollars into it, they're doing it for one reason, and that's to have more money fall out of the bottom of it at the end of the day.”

”I think that there are solutions,” Buckley said, wanting to finish our interview on a positive note. “I think there are little local solutions that will help. I liked [the mayor’s recent] idea. It's a step in the right direction. I think there are things we could do to make this better, but when we get tied down with the granny pods thing, which is just ridiculous, I mean it just doesn't meet the scale of the problem. There has to be some incentive to build more affordable housing because otherwise, with all the risks the developer takes, all the problems you have to go through, no one's going to not get top of the market rents unless there's some incentive. It's just not going to happen.”

Interview with Our Town Reno at the Avison Young Offices

Laika Press, Keeping Printmaking Alive for All in Reno

Creating Access to Printmaking

“Once I graduated, there wasn’t any access to the tools and equipment that are required to do [printmaking],” Nathaniel Benjamin recalls of what spurred him to start Laika Press. “So we got together to start a community press and make all of those resources publicly available to everybody so that not only can we practice ourselves, but also get other people involved in this thing that we love so much.”

Laika Press offers services in screen-printing, an art form commonly associated with t-shirts but also used to create print products themselves. Laika Press has two traditional-style printing presses that can produce work using a wide range of techniques from copper-plate illustrations, etchings, woodcut, relief printing, and lithographs to name a few. The presses provide members of the community an opportunity for a hands-on experience in the work that they create. 

“It’s been really fun to get people into the space, we do workshops to teach people how to do these techniques from beginning to end and we have all the supplies to be able to do that,” Benjamin said, showing examples of produced work.

From the Community and for the Community

Much of Laika Press’s equipment has come as community donations. Consequently, Benjamin feels that Laika Press already has a strong connection with the Reno community that enables him to give back through its services.   

“The intention all along was to have [Laika Press] be a resource center for people to do this specific type of art practice which isn’t accessible to everybody,” Benjamin said. “We wanted to make [printmaking] available because not everyone can afford to go to UNR or purchase this kind of equipment. We were in that subset of people that were able to get educated in this and we wanted to disseminate that information to the community.”

Benjamin values the role art plays in a community. But in Reno, he says, it’s a role that is becoming more complex.

“We’re in a really unique place because there is a lot of emphasis put on the arts in Reno,” Benjamin said. “But we also have a lot of tech companies coming in and changing the social dynamics of the city. There’s this interaction between these tech companies with big money and the art community which doesn’t have a lot of funding. The presence of those companies kind of changes the landscape here.” 

Benjamin remains confident in keeping printmaking relevant, as he says it’s an art form unlike any of the others. “[Printmaking] is an interesting thing because it’s in between having an original item that you produce and having multiples,” Benjamin said. “You’re in it with your hands from beginning to end creating a multiple that is still unique because your hand was still involved in it. So it plays to a lot of our expectations in our culture where multiples are expected, but is also still grounded in that aspect of originality that I think is so important to art.”

Reporting and Photography by Scott King for Our Town Reno

David Layfield, On Creating a Database for Affordable Housing, Upzoning, Government Action and Higher Wages

Q: Why is there a need for the vast affordable housing information your website makes available?

David Layfield: (Because the system we have) is unnecessarily complex. The way the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher system has been constructed, it's created this complex system where every single housing authority that manages the Section 8 Voucher Program has its own timetable, its own process, its own set of software. So you have, I don't know, approximately, I think there's 2,300 housing authorities in the country … 2,300 different waiting lists and 2,300 different times those waiting lists open or close. And if I'm working 50 hours a week trying to make ends meet, I don't always have the time to pick up the newspaper every day and check for public notices or check every community bulletin board or go online and search for my local Housing Authority waiting list opening up… We have about 400,000 Americans who get an email from us a couple of times a week with a rundown on all of lists that are open right now. We're the only one that's doing it other than copycat website that just uses our data and republishes it.

A popular term and idea currently being tried as a solution is called upzoning, to allow more density in residential areas.

Q: What about upzoning as a possible structural solution?

David Layfield: In New England, in Silicon Valley, where there is an extreme shortage of affordable housing, and there are very expensive land costs, it becomes nearly impossible to build affordable housing just because of the land costs alone. And so if when a developer decides to buy these lots and build housing, if there isn't [anything] that requires that developer to include affordable housing, they're not going to go to affordable housing. They're going to build whatever development model generates the most profit. If you have a density bonus awarded to that developer where they can build more units if they include affordable housing, that's a viable way to get housing resources in some markets that wouldn't have otherwise had it. There's other parts of the country where those metrics don't apply, where land costs aren’t exorbitant.

There have been repeated protests in Reno over rising rents, blaming both landlords and also politicians for not doing enough.

Q: Are there any particularities to the affordable housing crisis in West Coast cities, such as Reno, where tech companies are expanding and long term renters are being priced out?

David Layfield: I think the biggest player in all of this is the local economy. When it comes to housing opportunities, it's you know, how hot is the local economy? Let’s take Seattle for example. There is a serious affordable housing crisis in Seattle and it was almost, most of the locals will tell you that it was almost, totally created by Amazon. Some would say it's a good problem for a city to have, but if you create so many jobs, so many high paying jobs, then all of the housing resources that are currently there get absorbed by high paying individuals. And that's where gentrification comes in… If it's a place where you see high tech industry relocating or other high paying jobs coming into town, if you're not keeping pace with building your affordable housing stock, you're eventually going to have some of the same problems.

Q: Our local politicians here in Reno will often say their hands are tied in terms of their potential impact and there is only so much they can do to help with rising rents? Is that a cop out?

David Layfield: I guess I'd have to understand what they mean when they say they can't do anything. Do they mean they don't have the money? ... It would seem that there's always something that someone can do at a local level to manage the prices. If in Reno, one of the problems with creating affordable housing is the cost of land, then upzoning might actually help a little bit. I hate the idea that any municipality or any local official would just say, ‘we have no control over what's happening in our backyard… We need Big Brother to solve the problem for us.’ I hate to think that we've come to that.

Some residents find subsidized housing such as here at the Hawk View Apartments, but others say they are being pushed out of Reno.

Q: In Reno, the affordable housing crisis seems like a very difficult spiral, or a mountain to climb that seems to be getting harder and harder. Is there any room for optimism?

David Layfield: [Know that] it takes years to address some of these issues, once the problems present themselves. I'm a positive person that would never encourage someone to give up on their town or give up on progress. But you know patience will be required. Action will be required on the part of the local officials and others involved.

Our country has been in the midst of an affordable housing crisis for 25 years. And we have as a people, we've never really given enough attention to it. We have not invested enough in it. There are lots and lots of programs out there, but all of the programs are underfunded, underfunded every single year, whether it be at the state or at the national level.

It’s nice to see [current] presidential candidates talking about it more. Those conversations need to be happening… They also need to be happening in city halls to bring more attention to the lack of affordable housing that we have. The other part of that too is just something to think about is, if we had a living wage where a worker wouldn't need to be subsidized to afford an apartment, the problems that we're facing would be significantly less than what we are facing now. There are very few places in this country where a minimum wage worker can come close to affording a decent apartment. If we saw a higher national number, a higher minimum wage, we'd start to see some of the softening of this crisis.

Interview in September 2019 with Our Town Reno

Meghan Simons, Individualizing Help for Substance Users at The Life Change Center

Really Listening to Help Those Seeking Help Make Progress

A simple black sign hangs on a white office door, stating: “Meet people where they are.”  The message is the personal mantra of Meghan Simons, a substance use disorder counselor at the Life Change Center in Sparks.  It’s a message that also embodies the organization’s mission in helping those struggling with substance abuse to take their life back. 

People come to LCC, which specializes in opiate use, for a variety of reasons. Some arrive for external reasons, such as encouragement from a family member, friend, or a place of employment; while others come for internal reasons out of their own initiative.  

“First and foremost, what we do is set individualized treatment plans [for our clients],” Simons said of her work . “A counselor sits down with the patient and sets a collaborative treatment plan.”  This collaborative plan serves to find out what the client’s goals and expectations are going forward, what they want to get out of treatment, and what’s been tried before and didn’t work. 

The ultimate goal, Simons explained, is to find a long-term solution for recovery.

A Variety of Strategies including Medication and Harm Reduction

The Life Change Center offers a variety of strategies to aid in recovery, including medication assisted treatment using Methadone, Subutex, and Suboxone.  

“Our goal, especially with the medication assisted treatment, is to treat the actual physical symptoms of withdrawal and addiction while we build those relapse prevention and coping skills on a collaborative level with the patients,” Simons said. 

A large focus in their treatment strategies is building their client’s internal motivations to stay clean while they begin the recovery process. There can be a misconception in the public, however, behind the role medications like Methadone play in the recovery process.  

“We titrate them off [Methadone] safely and when they’re ready,” Simons explained. “After they’ve had the opportunity to build those relapse prevention skills, those coping skills, [they] get treatment for the chronic underlying condition that might be causing them pain.” 

The primary goal LCC has for its clients, of course, is abstinence from opioid and other substance use. But The Center is also realistic about the struggle of overcoming addiction. 

“We do employ the principles of harm reduction here,” Simons said. “If people are going to engage in risky behavior and if we cannot get them to abstain or they are not ready to abstain, the least we can do is give them the tools to reduce the harm.” 

These strategies are in place to ensure clients understand what they’re getting and where they’re getting it from, as well as always keeping Narcan on them.  

Lots of help is given once you walk through the doors of this modest building in Sparks at 1755 Sullivan Lane.

Narcan Kits for Free and Showing You Care

The importance of harm reduction strategies and understanding the inherent risk of opiates has played a prominent role in the recent news cycle, as the mixing of opiates and alcohol is what was determined to have killed Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs in July. Skaggs had been an integral part of the Reno Aces’ 2012 championship team.

The Center says it wants the public to understand not only the dangers of opiate use, but also the role a bystander can play in saving a life. It gives out Narcan kits for free, no questions asked. It’s a measure taken to fight the stigma against substance use. 

“I think the most overarching, challenging part of our jobs is combating the stigma associated with drug use, specifically with opioid use and getting people to understand that bystanders can save a life,” Simons said. 

Opioids provide a challenge for users that non-users often struggle to understand, because it changes your brain chemistry. Many who have used long-term are no longer using to get high, but use to take the withdrawal away and feel normal. 

More people are affected by opioid use than people realize, too. Many don’t realize the role they can play in getting those struggling the help they need. 

“I can just about guarantee that anybody reading this knows somebody who is in treatment or somebody who is using and they have no idea,” Simons said. “But you can’t force them to come [to us], the least you can do is encourage them.” 

Even if the response is hostile or dismissive, the important thing is that the person struggling with opioid use would know that somebody cares.

Every day is a busy day at work, and crucial to helping someone turn their life around. “You’re going to at least validate them that, ‘Hey, I care about you.’ Because a lot of folks come in here and they feel like nobody gives a damn about them,” Simons said of when she gets new clients.

A Holistic Approach

There is also a holistic approach LCC takes toward caring for their clients, including providing transportation, housing referrals, and even finding childcare. 

Simons believes this approach in connecting with patients personally is what makes the organization so effective in its mission. It’s a mission she has a personal stake in, given that she has been in recovery herself for nearly 13 years. 

“It’s very gratifying to me to be able to save people from that same struggle I went through, because it’s not just being off the drugs, it’s about recovering your life and who you are without the drugs.”

It all starts, like the sign on the door says, by simply meeting people where they are. 

Reporting and Photography by Scott King for Our Town Reno

Jaren Hutchings, Leading Reno's Youth Climate Strikers

A Youth Organized Fight

Youth around the world are coordinating a strike action today to convince more politicians and companies to create policy to save our environment before problems worsen further. In Reno, the Nevada Youth Climate Strike will be held at City Plaza in front of the BELIEVE sign at 5:30 pm. One of the local organizers is 17 year-old Jaren Hutchings, a senior at Davidson Academy.

“We really want our politicians to know that we care about climate change and that this is the most important issue for us and not to take our future for granted. We hope that people go away [from the strike] with renewed motivation to help mitigate the effects of climate change and to join climate activism groups. We really hope we can start a movement here in Nevada, which is one of the most vulnerable states to climate change,” Hutchings said. 

Hutchings is president of the Green Earth Community Knowledge Organization, an environmental club at his school. He said that he would like to major in some type of environmental studies and continue to be a climate activist his entire life.

“I've noticed my generation, in general, feels kind of a grim resolve towards climate change. I don't want to say it's unfair for us to have to like protest for our own futures at the expense of going to school, but I do think there is a broader motivation to end climate change because we recognize that this is our future as well,” Hutchings said, as high school students prepared posters for the event.

Ideas for Nevada to Be a Sustainable Model

Hutchings doesn’t want the conversation regarding climate change to end after the strike. He said that Nevada can be a leader in the fight.

“Nevada and Reno and even down in Las Vegas specifically could be the poster child for clean energy and for a carbon neutral future,” he said. “If you think about the resources we have available: we have 300 plus days of sunshine per year, we have endlessly windy valleys out in central Nevada. We really have no excuse to still be extracting energy from fossil fuels here. So I think Nevada could become the model, not only nationally, but globally, for how to have a sustainable carbon free energy system and still have a successful economy.”

Hutchings said that it’s important to act, especially in Nevada. In 2016, Reno was named the fastest warming city according to Central Climate. In 2019, Las Vegas got that title and Reno was excluded from the ranking due to inconsistencies in the data from the city’s weather station.

“I think in general with climate change, and this has been changing for the better over time, but people especially in privileged scenarios like those in Nevada who don't necessarily have to face direct effects of climate change yet feel really distant from it. They see other issues as potentially more important and more pressing,” Hutchings said.

“While I don't want to deny the importance of any other political or social issues, at the end of the day, if we don't fix climate change, none of those issues will have meant anything because our society will grind to a halt,” Jaren Hutchings said, taking a break from helping organize today’s protest.

Gen Z Ready to Soon Vote for Change and Taking Responsibility

As students get ready to participate in the march they say they feel a heavy responsibility on their young shoulders.

“The youth are really passionate about this issue and that to those politicians who discount the importance of climate change or to those politicians who say it's an issue, but that we have more pressing matters to deal with first: We're going to be voting soon,” Hutchings warned.

“I'm voting next year and I know everyone at my high school is going to be voting before 2024. So if you really want to stay in power and if you really want to be reelected, you have to begin to treat this issue seriously because I know the youth care because this is our future,” Hutchings said.

Hutchings has taken his own steps to lower his carbon footprint. He has switched to a plant-based diet since the beginning of high school.

“Barack Obama said that we're the first generation to feel the effects of climate change and we're the last generation who can do anything about it. And so more people need to wake up to the fact that if we want a secure world for our children and our grandchildren and our great grandchildren's generations, we really need to act now for our sake and for theirs,” Hutchings said.

Photos and Reporting by Lucia Starbuck for Our Town Reno