Diana, Homeless since Childhood, Leading a Simple Life

A Routine Keeps Her Busy and Sane

As the morning rush hour rumbles overhead, Diana listens to the radio as she prepares a cup of hot chocolate over a small campfire. She says she has been homeless for over 30 years. “You know, at this point in time in my life, especially with the way everything is in the world, it's just, I have a routine, it's easier,” she said.

Diana has been in Reno for a little over ten years. She enjoys the city but says the people make it hard to live here, saying that “being homeless, people are very judgmental.” A routine keeps her busy and her mind occupied.

Being hypoglycemic, Diana must eat every few hours and spends this money on food, batteries for her radio, trash bags, and other odds and ends. “I just wish sometimes there is a way I could show them what I get,” Diana said of people who give when she pandhandles. She pointed out that when she is panhandling, or “flying a sign” she tries to keep what she has purchased nearby so people can see she isn’t buying alcohol or drugs. 

Diana enjoys being outside and finds comfort in knowing our ancestors existed for millennia living outdoors. “I just want to look at people and go, whoa, where do you think your ancestors used to live? You know, I mean, we didn't have houses and condominiums and all that forever, you know?”

She finds comfort in the rhythm of gathering supplies and keeping an organized camp. Her possessions were all bundled nicely in a few plastic totes that tuck away inside a large blue plastic rolling shipping container, the kind you might see holding luggage in the belly of an airplane.

Not Disneyland Though 

“Go home and [be] with your parents and go to school,” Diana wants to tell the younger homeless people she meets. Having been homeless since she was “eleven and a half,” she says, she does not want the younger folks to live the way she does.

Living in Washington, north of Seattle, Diana briefly worked at a Gospel Mission helping the homeless. She finds it strange and somewhat offensive that “richer people in the world are taking camping to a different level where they buy camping stuff and then camp in their backyard. And it kind of feels like they're mocking our situation,” while their camping is glorified, and her survival camping is criminalized.

When asked about the upcoming general election, Diana says she is not a regular voter. Having voted in the past and seeing the results play out, like many Americans, she says she has become disillusioned with the political process.

She does not plan to vote this year, “and I know a lot of people get mad at that.” She believes that politicians do not care about people. “There's no for the people it's money [and] power,” she explained and believes the current president Donald Trump is “a businessman and we're not a business.” She does pay attention to politics by listening to the radio but believes government does nothing to help those most in need, “I don't have a desire to be part of that craziness.”

“I'm sorry for the other flyers that are irresponsible and drunken rude and pee on the highway and do all that other stupid stuff. I'm so sorry I cannot apologize for them enough. But not all of us are like that some of us are honestly just waking up everyday trying to survive trying to do what we've got to do and just come home,” Diana told Our Town Reno reporter Richie Bednarski. Photo by Scott King.

“We’re Not All Living Garbage”

Diana wants the community to know that not all panhandlers and those without stable shelter are parasites, as some people say to her face or on social media.

“That we're not all what you see by your eyes, we're not all living garbage we're not all you know uneducated, irresponsible lazy people. We’re good for a lot of us have good hearts.”

She is hopeful people can “look past the other people [who] are doing wrongs just like people look past wrongs in a regular community and see the people for who they are and maybe take the time to come talk to us. ”I'm not out there to try and make anybody's life difficult but I do want the community to know that there are those of us out there that are so very appreciative of their help and if it wasn't for them we wouldn't we wouldn't be able to live, so thank you."

Reporting and Photography by Richie Bednarski for Our Town Reno

HopeSprings, a New Bridge Housing Project Still Faces Financial Hurdles to Open

Wraparound Services On Site

“We've got 30 tiny homes that are 92 square feet each,” Chris Fegert, Philanthropy Partnerships Manager at Northern Nevada Hopes, said during a recent tour. “Then the big community center is over 3,000 square feet and has all the other services: bathrooms, laundry, showers, kitchen and lockers. There's also offices where individuals can have private meetings with primary health care providers, a behavioral health care specialist, a therapist or access group therapy. These [facilities] were very intentional in how they were designed.”

The tiny homes themselves will have a twin bed, a nightstand and a dresser inside. Each of the units will be equipped with air conditioning and heating, while also featuring donated art work from Nevada Fine Arts. The tiny homes will be complete with a small porch, deck chair and storm door to provide a personal, home-like feel for residents but accessing the community center and other services will be key. 

“Our CEO, Sharon Chamberlain, lived on the streets as well,” Fegert said. “She said that when she was experiencing homelessness, she felt invisible and isolated. So when I say these houses were intentionally created, it’s because we don't want [the residents] to stay in their [tiny] home. We want them to be in the community center and interacting with each other. We'll have all different types of services available while they're here learning new skills,” Fegert added. “Like resume building, for instance. Many residents will be working and saving their money so when they move out, they will potentially have their first month’s rent and a deposit.”

The HopeSprings campus will be a dry and drug-free campus. However unlike most shelters, residents will be able to keep their pets, with a small dog park set to be built on the West side of the property.

Nevada Hopes has been hosting tours for media and local officials as the opening of the tiny homes village draws nearer but has been delayed due to fundraising shortfalls.

Easy Access to Quality Health Care

Aside from job search and resume-building services, cooking classes will also be offered for residents at HopeSprings. The property will have a community garden and fruit trees, and residents will be able to utilize the community center’s kitchen to prepare their own meals. A barbecue and fire pit will also be featured on the property behind the community center’s two roll-up garage doors.

Inside the community center, on-site laundry services will be available as well as lockers for individual residents. Although the property itself will be fenced in and have 24/7 security on-site, the community center and all its amenities will be accessible via a fob key that residents will be given. 

For Northern Nevada Hopes, they believe they are in a unique position to take this more holistic approach in supporting the homeless community in Reno.

“Northern Nevada Hopes is a primary care medical clinic and a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC),” Fegert said. “So on-site at Northern Nevada Hopes on East Fourth Street, we have primary health care, behavioral health, case management, a pharmacy and a lab. So we have all these different resources for an individual who is disenfranchised.”

According to Fegert, 25% of the patients seen at Northern Nevada Hopes are experiencing homelessness. With a bridge housing project like HopeSprings, some of these patients will be able to receive that primary care and other services, all in one location. 

“[Hopesprings] allows them to get all of their needs met on one campus,” Fegert said. “That's important because folks that maybe don't have a vehicle, have a large family, or are working per hour and need to see a primary care doctor, go to the pharmacy or get lab work done might otherwise miss a full day of work to do that. So this allows that person to access both healthcare and also housing.”

In order to stay at HopeSprings, Fegert said prospective residents will have to undergo an intense vetting process to ensure they will be a good fit for the community and its programs. “[Prospective residents] will go through some deep questionnaires of what their housing has been in the past,” she said. “What are their addiction issues? What do their family life and relationships look like? We will look at the person as a whole and then we can establish if [HopeSprings] is going to be a good fit for that person.”

Extensive Screening for “Good Fits”

Part of the screening process will include so-called “motivational Interviewing” to determine what a prospective resident’s goals will be for the end of their temporary, transitional four-to-six month stay.

“Not everyone that's living on the streets is indeed motivated and willing to do the work,” Fegert said. “This program here is a 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM program. So they really have to be motivated and have to be emotionally and mentally ready for this.”

With a bridge housing project like this, there will be significant financial benefits for the community and its taxpayers, as well. 

“Homelessness not only affects the homeless individual themselves, but it also is affecting our taxpayers who help fund jails, hospitals, social services and shelters,” Fegert said. “According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, chronically homeless individuals often cycle in and out of our emergency departments, inpatient hospitals, psychiatric centers and detox programs and that results in a high public cost averaging about $35,578 taxpayer dollars each year.”

Consequently, Northern Nevada Hopes estimates that for each person staying at HopeSprings for each four-to-six month period, the taxpayer cost will go down from $35,578 to about $14,226 per person. With the difference being about $21,000 saved in taxpayer costs and if HopeSprings moves 60 people through the property each year, an approximate amount of $1,281,000 in public costs will be saved in the community, according to her calculations. 

A bridge housing project like this will not only save taxpayers’ money, but also lengthen the life expectancy of those experiencing homelessness.

“Research shows that homelessness directly affects health,” Fegert said. “The average life expectancy for someone that's experiencing homelessness is 50 years for a man and 43 years for a woman. That's an average of 27 years lost per person. So not only is this important for saving our taxpayers and saving our community money, but we're giving people their lives and their dignity back.”

Our mission aligns with that of HopeSprings and I see it as a duty, a responsibility and an obligation that we have to help these individuals to get back on their feet,” Eric Schmacker, CEO of Silver Summit Health Plan who recently traveled from Las Vegas to see HopeSprings in person. “This community provides them with an opportunity where they can recover, have some privacy, recuperate and learn new skills.”

Still in Need of Funding

Although the tiny homes are now complete, the community center and the rest of the property are still undergoing construction, with the goal of HopeSprings being completed and taking in residents by early 2021.

To support that fundraising effort, Silver Summit Health Plan in Las Vegas recently made a $100,000 donation to HopeSprings. With an anonymous donor who pledged to match every donation up to $400,000; Silver Summit’s donation meant getting closer to the final fundraising goal, with $1.6 million out of a needed $2.5 million already reported to have been raised as of last week.

Schmacker attests that at Silver Summit, an FQHC like Northern Nevada Hopes, they understand the influence stable shelter can play in determining an individual’s health.

“FQHCs see a lot of Medicaid members and take care of them from a clinical standpoint,” Schmaker said. “So we know that it's not just about providing immunizations or caring for a wound that an individual has, but that there's also social determinants of health. One of the determinants being housing, so this project hits right at one of those social determinants of health and helps these individuals get back on their feet by providing them that housing.”

When asked about his biggest takeaways after a tour of the property, Schmacker was impressed by the dichotomy of both community and privacy that HopeSprings will offer residents. 

“It has a community area where food will be served, where individuals can congregate and they can create relationships,” Schmacker said. “But it also has space where they can get away and have some privacy as well. It really has a home feeling to it and a community type of feeling to it, and that's what struck me.”

Fegert and Northern Nevada Hopes are excited that HopeSprings can be one piece of the puzzle to address the affordable housing crisis, but acknowledge that much more needs to be done.

“Homelessness is a big problem across the nation,” Fegert said. “We have had two times the increase in homelessness since 2009. We know that one in seven Nevadans live below the federal poverty line and COVID will exacerbate this as well. This is just a start and we need more of these bridge housing projects to help individuals succeed in getting off the streets.”

Reporting by Scott King for Our Town Reno

Rose, Unable to Hear or to Access Housing after Being Evicted

Evicted and Now Out on the Streets

Rose’s troubles with stable shelter began after she and her roommate were evicted from the place they were renting several years ago.

“[My roommate] didn't pay his half for the rent, so we both ended up getting evicted,” Rose said. “Now that there’s an eviction on my record, a lot of people don't want to rent to me.”

Since then Rose, who is hard of hearing, has barely been getting by on the social security and food stamps she receives. “But Social Security can’t afford me to get a place to live in by myself,” Rose said. “I do get food stamps, $17 a month.”

She’s been looking for affordable housing that fits her budget, but even when she might find something, her search recently got more difficult, she says, after her cell phone was stolen.

“People just steal telephones around here and it’s terrible,” Rose said. “You go buy one for $128 bucks and a week later you don't have your phone anymore,” Rose told Our Town Reno. Photo by Richie Bednarski.

Looking for a New Cell Phone

Rose says she’s tried to apply for a so-called government Obama Phone, but has been told she makes too much to qualify for one. Having a phone is crucial for her to search for affordable housing and other resources, particularly because she is hard of hearing and relies on the messaging that cell phones provide.

“When I keep getting my telephone stolen from me, they can't get a hold of me or text me and stuff,” Rose said. “So it’s like I’m stuck here.”

Rose doesn’t mind being hard of hearing, though. In fact, she enjoys it as a means of keeping to herself.

“I don't have to hear the bullshit, but if I want to know what's going on I'll find out,” Rose said. “I wore hearing-aids back when I was three years old but by the time I was 19, I gave up because the hearing aids would make a bunch of noise and I wasn’t even hearing what people were saying.”

So she says she mostly enjoys spending her day with her dog, a chihuahua-mix who she takes to a nearby park from time to time. 

“I’ve had him for two and a half years, since he was a puppy,” Rose said. “My brother bought him for $150 and he became my dog. I want to have him certified as a therapy-hearing dog. He'll bark at you, but he hasn’t bitten anybody.”

When it gets cold at night, Rose has her dog stay with her brother to stay warm at night. So when she doesn’t have her dog with her, Rose enjoys watching her hometown Chicago Bears play at the Diamonds Casino. 

“I’m originally from Chicago, Illinois, so I’m a White Sox and a Bears fan,” Rose said. “Oh, that Bears game last week, I couldn't believe they lost. I sit and watch the games over there at Diamonds and they bring me hot chocolate or coffee.”

A Survivor Finding Simple Pleasures

For Rose, it’s times watching sports at a casino with a warm drink in hand that she’s just grateful to be alive. Back in 1993, she says she was involved in a car accident that nearly took her life, leaving her with head trauma and a collapsed lung. 

“In 1993, I was run over and dragged by a pick-up truck,” Rose said. “I didn't get anything [financially] out of it, but the hospital bill was paid. I just thank God every day to still be here.”

When asked about the upcoming election, Rose confirmed she was a registered voter but wasn’t interested in discussing the topic.

“I’m a registered voter and a Democrat, I’m not Republican,” Rose said. “But that's not a good thing to talk to people about: religion or politics.”

She just wants to be left alone, she says, to enjoy her own company, which is why she avoids staying at the local shelter.

“I'd rather be right here, just me and my dog,” Rose said. “The shelter's just not a nice place to stay, I’m sorry. I’ve been there before and things get stolen and some people aren’t fit to be with other people, so I’ll be alright right here.” 

For Rose it’s nothing personal, it’s just who she is. 

“I really don't want anybody to know about [my experience], but that's me personally,” Rose said. “It's better to be left alone. You don't speak to them, they don’t speak back.”

Reporting by Scott King for Our Town Reno

Lily Baran, Helping Organize a People's Summit for more People Power

Building Some Community Power Before the Unpredictable Election

Lily Baran, a performing arts professional turned activist, describes her and Minaberry’s idea behind creating the recent leftist fair in a Reno park as a way to “get all these organizations to try to help social justice things and community things. And we just thought that this would be a good way for all of us to actually talk to each other and build some community power before the election to not feel hopeless and helpless after the election.”

Baran says she wanted to help non-profits and other groups coordinate with each other and form a collaborative environment where a free market of ideas would flow.

“It was like ‘hello.’ We’re creating this space. If you would like to join: here’s a form to fill out and B.Y.O. (bring your own) table, and we will be there. It’s important because that’s the future we want to move to.”

Working in an open environment, the organizations and participants developed ideas of “how to help each other, how to form mutual aid and coalitions to make sure that we can continue to function because we are the only ones who care about us.” 

For Baran, the key to Reno forming a more robust community is to embrace our differences and understand that the community can have a more significant impact than those in public office. “I’m really proud of Reno. I’m really proud of like, seeing all these different people, like Reno Burrito Project … all these people are really coming out and showing up and supporting each other. And it feels as if, even though our city officials and other governing bodies aren’t really doing everything they could, the community is finding its power, and that is much better.”

Neighborhood Power

The creation of A People’s Summit was an idea that had inhabited the minds of Baran and Minaberry’s for a while. “It got to a point where there were so many non-profits that I was like, ‘We have to figure this out. Like we have to get to know everybody and everybody has to know who’s here,’” Baran said.

Barab believes Reno has potential and that a “better Reno is possible.” Building a healthy support system of like-minded groups, she says, is a significant step. Assembling neighborhood power by maximizing efforts in delivering education, mutual aid, and a welcoming environment is crucial, she adds.

As Reno continues to change and rebrand, Baran stresses that the community needs to stick together more than ever.

“I am hoping that right now, more of us are actually like putting truth to power and putting action into motion for office because Reno is unlike other cities I’ve lived here long enough to know that it is very possible to change. It is very, very possible that we can take our government and our city and make it work for people.”

As more and more tables popped up and curious Reno residents who had heard of the event through social media showed up, distributing materials and discussing ways to curb the steep ascent of housing costs, how to help the unsheltered, how to push for police change, and how to make Reno greener, the initial goal of the informal outdoor summit had been met.

Reporting by Gracie Gordon for Our Town Reno

Nightingale, Flocking to Support Others for Radical Change

A Selfless Group

The idea of “people enacting radical change” has been around years. Now in Reno, it’s actually a formal group of community members whose primary goal is to organize protests and be “here for support,” says Nightingale, a core member of the group known as PERCh, an acronym for People Enacting Radical Change. 

On a recent Friday evening, members of PERCh were at the intersection of Plumb Lane and Harvard Way. They consider themselves a democratically run group that organizes protesters. They lead their own protests, but unlike most other groups who just do their own thing, PERCh will go out of their way to help other groups in northern Nevada.

“We hear about other protests, we'll give them our numbers, you know, as long as it falls under our umbrella of things that we support as a group,” Nightingale says as a few more protesters arrived on the scene.

Also unique to their methodology, PERCh utilizes social media to spread information about protests but doesn't promote themselves through social media.

Nightingale took out a gun at the protest, but of the plastic kind to disperse bubbles of joy. “Sometimes we’ve gotten a lot of honks and support and in other places [it] generally tends to be kind of like a 50-50 kind of thing,” she said of public reception of the protests.

Solidarity Crosswalking

Since April, PERCh has also been doing “solidarity crosswalks,” explains Nightingale. “Right now we’re doing it in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.” These mini-protests now happen once a week at different intersections throughout Reno and Sparks, and used to happen more often.

“It’s only for two hours and we try to have it finished before the sun goes down,” Nightingale said of the current iteration. Cars go by and mostly honk in protest, but there have been many cases of intimidation, animosity and counter-protests as well.

Nightingale talked about members being stalked, having a gun pointed at them, and counter-protesters showing up in their faces, yelling at them drunk, in one of their early protests in South Reno. These incidents were all defused but it did cause PERCh to slow down and alter their tactics for the safety of their members. They have now decided to be at a new location for every protest. 

But change doesn’t happen when people give in to pressure. “It’s trying to make that push to inspire compassion for our community,” explains Nightingale. She hopes to keep the pressure and protests up in light of the animosity in order to enact radical change. 

Photo provided by PerCh of other members at a downtown Reno protest.

Helping Neighbors in Need

PERCh members say they are in the process of also establishing a community outreach program. While the idea is still in early phase, Nightingale says they want to try to “feed our street family” and have “a vision of possibly doing their laundry for them.”

These little steps go a long way at helping our neighbors in need. They are hoping to establish a budget and “be as transparent as possible so that people do donate to us. They can feel comfortable with that.” But Nightingale explains they are not quite ready for donations yet.

Nightingale believes in the benefits of the solidarity sidewalk protests and the high visibility is important for spreading their message. The idea of PERCh is based around “the image of birds [that] are flocking to support.”

This is evidenced through their organization of community clean-ups, supporting other protests, such as the Power and Liberation Movement, who have been holding regular protests in Carson City. Nightingale is fired up about building the PERCh organization and looks forward to the coming months.

“It’s all around very positive,” Nightingale concluded before rejoining others in their celebration of creating rush hour traffic public awareness for change.

Reporting and Photography by Richie Bednarski for Our Town Reno

Indigenous People's Day in Reno: ‘The truth is that, for a long time, we’ve been dying.’

First, A Day of Rage Against Colonialism

The soft but persistent sound of sidewalk chalk scratching against concrete filled Downtown Reno’s plaza yesterday. It intertwined itself with the hum of outdoor voices, chants and rap music played over a loudspeaker, a child’s scooter clattering as it struck cracks along the sidewalk, revving motorcycle engines, and the Truckee River roaring like white noise in the background.

Native Americans and allies gathered Sunday afternoon to color the concrete in support of Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage Against Colonialism. The agenda for the full-day event preceding Indigenous People’s Day included a morning river cleanup, the artistic reclamation of the plaza, and a march on UNR’s Mackay statue later in the afternoon.

“[Rage] may sound like a heavy word, or an intense word,” Avory Wyatt, one of the event planners said. “But this is how we do it, with cleanups, art murals.”

This community-building approach garnered support from a wide array of people. Alongside Native American participants, the event was well-attended by the LGBTQ+ community, AntiFa, local artists, and white allies.

“It’s a way for me to connect my ancestry to today, and show my resistance to colonization,” said Ruby Barrientos, a Salvadoran artist who helped fill the Downtown Reno plaza with sidewalk chalk drawings. “The people that inhabited the Great Basin prior to the European invasion were the Numa or Numu (Northern Paiute), the Washeshu (Washoe), the Newe (Shoshone), and the Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute),” the Reno Sparks Indian Colony says. Indigenous People’s Day on October 12th to honor Native American peoples was officially acknowledged as a holiday by Reno last year. Photo by Sydney Oliver.

Deep Sobriety

While the day was filled with welcoming eye-crinkles that hinted at smiles shared from underneath masks, it was also touched by deep sobriety, especially during the march on the statue of John Mackay, at the north end of the University of Nevada Quad in front of the Mackay School of Mines.

“The truth is that, for a long time, we’ve been dying. We’ve been dying, and we’re just trying to live, and just trying to thrive now,” Dwight George, one of the event planners, said during a public speech. 

Someone had just turned off the music coming from a portable sound system—audience members listened solemnly, some snapping their fingers or Mhm-ing as Dwight spoke. The relative silence broke for applause as he said, “If anything, we’ve always been here, and we will always be here.”

His twin brother, Everett George, who works at a youth shelter that takes in native children, also spoke publicly. He mentioned how isolated life can be on a reservation. “When I talk to [the kids] about going to a different city, they treat it like I went to Paris,” he said.

“In order to ‘prosper’ in America—you can’t really do that on a reservation,” Everett said. “We have each other, and that is it. We don’t have any other land to return to, we don’t have any other place to go back. This is it. This is it right here.”

Many event attendees donned unique t-shirts. Beside the slogan featured above (“The wrong Amazon is burning. The wrong ICE is melting.”), another event attendee’s shirt read “Merciless Indian Savages,” a direct quote from the Declaration of Independence. Photo by Sydney Oliver.

The Significance of Marching on Mackay Statue

One line Everett repeated several times: “It’s very weird being Native American.”

Avory also spoke, touching on the upward battle against history that Native Americans face. He gestured to his pocket, and said that, in his wallet, he has a card documenting his native blood. 

“If we’re not more than one fourth native, we’re not native in United State’s terms,” he said. “They track the blood of horses, they track the blood of dogs, but what they don’t tell you, is that they track the blood of natives.”

He also mentioned the significance of marching on the Mackay statue. In the 1800s, miners arrived in Nevada. They profited off of the land, and killed local natives to do so.

Throughout the day, attendees passed around a flyer carrying a QR code for a petition to take down the Mackay.

“The reality is, we drink that water. We literally drink that water,” Orlando OH (above) said while tracing out the raised arm in his sidewalk chalk mural. He was glad to help with the river cleanup earlier in the day, but dismayed at the amount of trash event attendees fished from the Truckee. Photo by Sydney Oliver

Reporting by Faith Evans with Photography by Sydney Oliver for Our Town Reno

Annemarie Grant, Turned Activist Against Police Abuse In Her Brother's Name

Large Settlements but No Justice

Like on her Facebook Page, Annemarie Grant keeps the focus on her late brother Thomas Purdy, who died October 8th, 2015, after being hog tied while in custody of the Washoe County Jail.  “I fight daily for his justice!” she writes.

“I just share his story as much as I can across social media and to the general public. If I see somebody, you know, I tell them what happened. Everybody I meet, I tell them what happened with my brother ,” she told us in a recent phone interview as she took a break from her work in her home outside Boston.

Following his arrest for alleged trespassing at the Peppermill casino five years ago, Purdy kept telling Sherriff’s deputies at the Washoe County Jail he couldn’t breathe as he tried to fight off restraints, with his hands tied against his back and attached with straps to his ankles. He asked a jail intake nurse to send him to the hospital, telling her: “I can’t breathe, ma’am.” 

An investigation by Sparks PD found no crime involved, the medical examiner ruled Purdy’s death a homicide by "complications of excited delirium," and when contacted the sheriff’s office had no comment on whether any deputies involved faced disciplinary action.  

Purdy’s father got a $25,000 settlement from the city of Reno, a $50,000 settlement from the Peppermill and received a $100,000 settlement from Washoe County over wrongful death lawsuits.

“Filing a lawsuit is the only type of justice that you've got open,” Grant said. 

Grant is grateful for Reno Cop Watch organizing yearly events to support families of those killed by local law enforcement.

“They were the first to reach out to me,” she told us. “I feel like they get some hate from police supporters, but they are about transparency and accountability, nothing else. Also obviously they promote filming the police, which everybody should be doing. It is a way to protect other people. We all know how hard it is to get the body cam footage released. I view them as a vital resource for the community to be aware of what's going on. “

Suddenly More Attention

Purdy’s death started getting more attention after other inmates died while in custody, and local media started investigations. 

Two months before Purdy’s killing, it was revealed, Niko Smith died in similar circumstances at the Washoe County Jail, which later resulted in a $75,000 settlement. In August 2016, Justin Thompson died after he struggled with deputies at the jail, and a hood was put over his head.  His family got $500,000 settlement and a gruesome video was released.  

“Knowing what my family experienced from law enforcement, when my brother was killed, I feel it's important to speak out and let people know not to get swept under the rug, because people forget,” Grant said of why she’s taken a leading role in the yearly protest to support the families of those killed by local police, as she did this past September.

“I don't want anybody ever to forget what happened to my brother and the two other men up at the jail, as well as the families who have lost people in officer involved shootings. They experienced the same exact type of lack of accountability and transparency. When their loved one is killed, you get a wall of silence from the police.”

She says local media coverage or official investigations which find no criminal wrongdoing from law enforcement add to the hurt. “They criminalize the victim.  I believe it is to sway the court of public opinion.” She says sometimes support from families in similar situations is the only support a family member gets.

“There’s a lot of negative stigma that comes along with being a family member of somebody who was killed by police. So I feel like we need to bounce off of each other and use the strengths of each other because it's not easy to get up and for us to share your loved one's story. Because of the stigma that comes along with it, and because things need to change, I don't want to see more people dying. Someone has to be loud. Someone has to keep speaking out or it will just fade away and get swept under the rug because people forget and I can't let them forget what's happening.”

A screengrab of an image search for Thomas Purdy and Reno.

The Need for Change

In our interview, Grant repeatedly refered to the 1989 Graham v. Connor Supreme Court decision which  established that police actions must be judged by what a so-called ”reasonable” officer might do under similar circumstances. This according to legal analysts gives police wide and ongoing latitude for their actions, whatever they may be, even deadly ones without seemingly any need.  Grant would like to see that decision overturned, or else she says police “will continue to legally be able to get away with killing people.”

Even more attention has been brought to police conduct in the wake of George Floyd’s killing which sparked the current cycle of global protests.

“I think it's long overdue,” Grant said of this heightened interest.  “It’s given families some hope that there are people who are now aware and they don't want this stuff to continue. They see the budgets that's at the police. I believe it's 39% of the 2021 budget is going to Reno police department [according to documents released by Reno Cop Watch]. It gives me hope that with enough backing and pressure on elected officials and the police department and the Sheriff's office, that things can change.”

Where does she get her strength we asked her?

“My strength comes from the families,” she said of the positive power social media and other activists can have in establishing new connections. “I wasn't connected with other families, until about a year and a half, maybe two years after my brother was killed.  I get my strength from them. And, the way that I remember my brother is by spreading the names of other people every day on my Facebook, sharing the names of everybody that was killed during interactions in the United States, at least on that particular day,” she said. 

What about all the negative comments which are seen on social media targeted at those who criticize police?

“I think it's easy to judge from an imaginary pedestal where you believe that you are safe and only criminals are killed by police, but that isn't the reality of it,” she said. “I realized that ignorance is bliss sometimes, and it's easier thinking, ‘these days, things, bad things only happen to bad people. ‘ But that's not the truth.” 

Reporting by Our Town Reno in Fall 2020

Zach Cannady, Growing Healthy Food for Our Communities, Sheltered and Unsheltered

Growing In Line With Food not Bombs

Zach Cannady is the driving force behind Prema Farm, overseeing a small organic farm in Long Valley just twenty minutes north of Reno.

Along with four employees, he cultivates just over an acre of farmland along with three greenhouses. He estimates his team produce senough food to feed 600 to 800 families in the summer. “I hope to be a hub for inspiration,” Cannady said on a recent Fall day, inside one of his 3,000 square feet greenhouses filled with several hundred seedlings, almost ready to go into the ground for the winter growing season. 

As a pillar of the community, Cannady has been donating food to a local chapter of Food Not Bombs since early April. Food Not Bombs is a group of community members using direct action to build community networks and civilian solidarity through the preparation and donation of nutritious food.

Cannady feels the mission of Food Not Bombs aligns with the driving philosophy of Prema Farms.

“I think that working with them as people and just seeing them in action does a wonderful amount of good. It's really about getting food directly to people that need it and that's why we choose to work with them,” Cannady said. Connecting local food to people in poverty has the potential to make a huge impact. Prema Farm, knowing this, began taking donations online to improve the diversity and amount of donations. 

In the beginning Cannady donated extra seedlings which went to people in need. Soon it became boxes of freshly grown produce. Cannady realized that not everyone has a taste for kale or garlic and began to look for ways to bring in other food.

Through the donated funds, Prema Farm is now able to “purchase certified organic, small farm vegetables through a produce retailer,” he explained. Things like avocados, peaches, and plums, which help boost the nutrition of the food prepared by Food Not Bombs. These wholesome foods help get people facing poverty vital nutrients and support local farms at the same time.

“It really is a perfect scenario and a win-win,” he said.

Prema Farm is a regenerative organic farm growing food year round located just north of Reno.

The Importance of Healthy Food

“You see a total dysfunction mentally and physically and emotionally …” Cannady talks about how chemicals used in food production affects our bodies. He acknowledges that this food is the “easiest to get to homeless people [along with] the by-products of large chemical agriculture.” He sees his work as a way to get organic food to those most in need and the "desire for local food and local produce” as a motivator to continue donating to Food Not Bombs. 

Cannady wants to do more but knows it is not easy. He sees his farm as an educational farm. He hopes to teach other farmers how to grow food in the high desert and in turn increase the amount of local food available here in Reno.

“I hope that in the next year I could relinquish some of my selfishness and just continue to see things in a bigger picture and do things that would be the best for our community,” says Cannady.

He plans to continue the relationship with Food Not Bombs and continue donating food from the farm. Most of all Cannady wants Prema Farm to “give back as much as we can.”

For paying customers, the produce he grows will be sold starting October 9th on Saturdays from nine to noon at 925 Riverside Drive in downtown Reno.

Reporting and Photography by Richard Bednarski for Our Town Reno

Linda, On Avoiding Shelters and Trying to Leave Reno

After experiencing roughly 13 years of living on Reno’s streets, Linda, 70, says she wants to leave the Biggest Little City. She recently survived a stroke, but says she will not stay in local shelters anymore. “They're not nice. Everybody fights to their teeth. I'm staying out on the streets where I’m safe,” she said.

Although Linda is among the demographic most susceptible to Covid-19, she remains unafraid of the virus. “I'm 100% safe. I have taken the test eight times and negative eight. Now I can leave Nevada safely.”

The unsheltered have been tested more than others in our community.

She says she’s survived fights, thieves, and mistreatment by others, so she is fearless in a way. But she says she does suffer from “loneliness.”

She says people like her gather along railroad tracks, but when the group gets too big, it attracts unwanted attention.

She says she feels she’s one of the “mentally ill,” but has given up on seeking out resources as well. It’s too much of a hassle, she says. She says she burned her hair. Her sentences become incoherent

Where will she go? She doesn’t want to say, but her rolling suitcase seems neatly packed and she’s by the downtown bus station.

Reporting and Photography by Gracie Gordon

Campaigning in a Pandemic with Sparks Council Candidate Wendy Stolyarov

Hitting the Ground Running Before COVID-19

Stolyarov’s first foray into city politics was in 2018, when her name was listed on the ballot for Sparks city mayor. At the time, however, her candidacy was primarily a paper-campaign in which she hadn’t done much active campaigning in the community. So when she decided to run for Ward One representative for the Sparks City Council in this election cycle, Stolyarov made sure she hit the ground running.

“Luckily, we started campaigning really early back in September [of 2019] and people had said, ‘Oh, you shouldn't be knocking on doors that early,’ but in hindsight, I'm very glad we did because we had hundreds of fantastic conversations before the pandemic hit,” Stolyarov said. “Of course, now we can't do that kind of face-to-face contact, so we have a fleet of volunteers out here today and we're going to be doing a literature-drop. It’s a no-contact, safe, socially-distanced way of campaigning during the pandemic.”

The primary purpose of her campaign literature-drop is to ensure that voters are informed about her candidacy and where she stands on certain issues, such as striving for housing affordability, good paying jobs and equality. The campaign materials are double-sided: English on one side and Spanish on the other. This way, she says she knows her message won’t get lost on any of the residents in her ward.

“We're just taking campaign literature and putting one piece on every door in the neighborhood and making sure that people know what their options are and are educated about their choices in this election,” Stolyarov said. “If we can't talk to people, at least we can make sure that they're informed. So that's our goal today is just to cover some ground, enjoy this beautiful weather and make sure people know the choices they have,” Stolyarov said as she prepared her socially distanced team of masked and gloved volunteers.

Missing Face to Face Conversations

Although she’s adapted her campaign strategies to the COVID-19 pandemic, she still wishes she could continue having those face-to-face conversations with people in the community.

“The bread and butter of a municipal campaign is normally knocking doors, talking to people, getting one-on-one with them and meeting them where they are,” Stolyarov said. “That helps you understand people by getting into their communities and getting to see them face-to-face and have those really interesting and deep conversations.”

That’s not to say she hasn’t been able to engage. During some of her literature drops, she may encounter residents who are out working in their yard or doing chores outside.

“The most important part of any municipal-elected job is making sure that you really are hearing the community and that you're addressing those concerns. So it has been really nice to still be able to get out here and occasionally have those conversations. It's just not what it would have been in a normal year,” Stolyarov explained.

Another way she has adapted her campaign to the COVID-19 pandemic has been relying on phone-banking and text-banking, which she admits isn’t nearly as effective with low-response rates. But to counteract that, Stolyarov has also been hosting a series of community conversation videos, inviting stakeholders in the community to speak with her about their concerns. 

“We did [a community conversation video] on racial equality, making sure that the Hispanic and LatinX community is heard here and there will be more [videos] coming,” Stolyarov said. “So while we can't necessarily have those face-to-face one-on-one conversations at the doors, now we can at least interview stakeholders in the community. The next one should be coming out in the coming week or so and each one of these is targeted at a specific area or issue that Sparks has struggled with in the past.”

Since the onset of the pandemic in March, Stolyarov has learned a lot about how to engage the community in creative ways that facilitate citizens supporting each other. This includes updating a slick website, which makes clear her priorities.

Helping People Out During a Campaign

Stolyarov has also turned her campaign into a vehicle for assisting people in need.

“When the pandemic hit, we switched to doing community welfare calls,” Stolyarov said. “Whatever [their needs] might've been, we were then putting them in contact with those resources and encouraged people to engage in mutual aid. Our first mailer for the campaign was a mutual aid card, which you basically put your name on and stuck it on your neighbor's door offering to help. I got a lot of phone calls from people who had received those and said that it was such a sweet idea and were going to reach out and help their neighbor and see what they can do in the community.”

She says this also made her realize the positive influence of community building, rather than pretending to be an individual savior.

“I think too often we idolize political figures and expect them to save us and really as a community, it's up to us to save ourselves,” Stolyarov said. “So any tools I can give our community to help them lift themselves up is a big step in the right direction. So I'm proud of what we've been able to do, even with the pandemic.”

“This is the most important election we've ever had to vote on and when you go to the ballot box or whether you're mailing in your ballot or whatever it is, do it early,” Stolyarov said. “Early voting starts on October 17th. You should be getting your ballot the week of October 2nd, according to the registrar, so as soon as you get it please act on that and let’s get through this.”

Secondary Challenges and Surprise Endorsements

It hasn’t been only the COVID-19 pandemic, however, that has brought challenges for her campaign.
“[Another challenge has been] the wildfire smoke, I don't think any of us expected that and it has made literature dropping a challenge too,” Stolyarov said. “I don't want to subject volunteers to unhealthy air quality. So if the air is bad, I won't make people go out and walk because it's not right.”

Despite the challenges her campaign has had to take on in the past year, there have been some pleasant surprises, too. Stolyarov recently received an endorsement from the Local 1265 Sparks Firefighters Union, even though she’s running against a Sparks City Council incumbent, Donald Abbott.. 

“In terms of positive surprises, I think the endorsement of the [Local 1265 Sparks Firefighters Union] is the biggest one for me,” Stolyarov said. “But it's because the Sparks Fire Department really does feel unheard right now when it comes to their needs and their ability to care for our city and make sure that they have the resources they need to make sure the entire city is protected while our firefighters are able to come home safe.”

Going bilingual is one of Stolyarov’s strategies to have a wider reach in her campaigning.

Issue and Equality Oriented

Moving forward, Stolyarov says her campaign will continue coming up with creative ways to engage with the community. One of the biggest issues she’s focusing on is housing affordability, particularly with the wave of evictions she says is imminent due to the prolonged effects of the pandemic.

“Especially with the pandemic, [affordable housing] is more imperative now than ever before,” Stolyarov said. “So when [mass evictions] hit, where are all of those people going to go if our housing prices and rent remain as high as they are right now? Rent has gone up by 50% in the last five years and wages have remained relatively flat. So one of my biggest goals on city council is to find ways we can work with zoning reform ways we can implement inclusionary zoning in order to bring down that cost of housing.”

Additional issues Stolyarov wants to shed light on are workers’ rights and protections and equality for all of Sparks’ citizens.

“My other two big issues are workers' rights and protections, which are again, more imperative than ever in this pandemic and equality in the city of Sparks,” Stolyarov said. “When I talk about equality, I'm not just talking about LGBT equality, which is important for me because if elected I would be the first queer council person. But also accessibility in the city by making sure that when we offer a city council meeting, we really are making it accessible to everyone.”

Some ways Stolyarov envisions making city council meetings accessible for everyone is by offering them in Spanish, or at least by making a translator available.

“The [city council meetings] are never offered in Spanish and we don't offer translators even though a huge proportion of ward one is Spanish-speaking only or you speak Spanish as a first language,” Stolyarov said. “So we should offer more city services in Spanish. Our website should be offered in Spanish and that's a very basic one that Reno and Washoe County both do as a matter of course. How can you participate in your government or in your community if you are being cut off at every turn from access?”

Whatever the outcome come Election Day, Stolyarov said she’s proud of her team’s effort.

“This is my first real political campaign and it has been an adventure,” Stolyarov said. “It's a wild year to run for office and I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's been a fantastic learning experience and whatever happens in November, I feel like we have been able to do a lot of good for the community.”

Reporting by Scott King for Our Town Reno

New Shelter Ideas Under Review at Reno City Council

A Current Lack of Shelter Space with COVID-19 Spacing

Of Washoe County's 973 people experiencing homelessness, according to an official pre-COVID count  in January, the county's current emergency shelters can only accommodate about 714 of them.  That’s a clear lack of shelter options, especially if the number of people experiencing homelessness is seen as an undercount, as most activists who work with people living on the streets would attest.

This comes as the main shelter on Record street has been spaced out due to COVID-19 protocols. The new Our Place shelter for women, seniors and families is also turning away some women due to restrictions. And the big tents on East 4th street remain just a temporary emergency shelter, which replaced the Reno Events Center serving the homeless community at the outset of the pandemic.

In response, Acting Assistant City Manager Arlo Stockham said in a City Council meeting this week that he is pushing for a more permanent solution: building winter-ready shelters at Governor’s Bowl Park. Plans for the site would include two 22,400 square foot sprung structures with more room for "future expansion" and a "flex area." 

Some activists have complained the proximity to major highways off of 7th Street downtown is not ideal or welcoming, but plans seem to have been set in motion.

Four examples of sprung structures were featured in Stockham’s presentation. Stockham used this image to demonstrate what a new shelter at Governor’s Bowl Park might look like, touting their relatively inexpensive building costs and durability.

Where to Find the Funding?

During its Zoom-broadcast meeting Tuesday, the Reno City Council took a close look at Stockham’s presentation, even though according to the acting city manager, there’s still no “formal agreement” on its funding. 

The county’s CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act) funds were touted as a possibility. According to official documents, the Washoe County COVID-19 emergency pot of money “may be used for medical and public health needs, payroll expenses (for employee services substantially dedicated to mitigating or responding to the public health emergency), economic support, secondary effects and other costs reasonably necessary for government functions.” In August, government documents stated Washoe County was getting over $20 million with an additional $46 million for Reno and $19 million for Sparks, money which all expires at the end of the year.

"We need a permanent long term solution,” Reno Vice Mayor Devon Reese said in support of Stockham. “And if that solution costs us money, it costs us money."

The Governor’s Bowl land belongs to the state and could cost over $2 million. Building the shelter could be in the range of $6 million, according to documents presented.

The Northern Nevada Continuum of Care counts the region’s homeless population once annually. Council members find it useful, but lament that its data, recorded once in January, leaves much to be desired in the later months of the year. Activists repeatedly say they believe these counts are useful, but always miss many people who avoid the process entirely.

Questions and a Sales Pitch

Ward 2 Councilwoman Naomi Duerr pressed the issue of holding more counts, suggesting a second count be conducted later in the year. People experiencing homelessness are more likely to be outside and counted, she said, when the weather is less severe.

There are fears COVID-19, which has sent unemployment skyrocketing throughout Nevada, has created more homelessness amid an ongoing affordable housing crisis.

Ward 5 Councilwoman Neoma Jardon wondered why most shelters typically force people out early in the morning during cold months. Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve stressed the importance of providing adequate services in the new shelter. If the operation is going to be long term, Schieve believes, the city needs to be "thinking bigger and broader."

If “bigger and broader” is the mayor’s goal, Built for Zero’s presentation at the meeting appeared to offer a path toward achieving it. "Ending homeless isn't impossible,” Built for Zero representative Dana Searcy said. “It's already happening."

Built for Zero is an organization run by Community Solutions, a New York City-based non-profit, operating in more than 80 communities that approaches solutions to homelessness from what it says is a data-driven perspective. By gathering information on every individual experiencing homelessness in the region, the community can receive “tailored solutions for individuals and a clearer picture of the system as a whole,” according to the Built for Zero website.  

Built for Zero, according to Dana Searcy, is only part of the solution to eliminating homelessness in the communities it serves. “The initial work of Built for Zero is about setting foundations,” she said. “And that does take time to realize.”

Reporting by Ian Cook for Our Town Reno

Community Concerns Rise Over Relationships Between Developers and City Council

A Former Sports Club Thought to Be Saved, Now Gone

The property where the Lakeridge Tennis Club formerly stood, on the corner of Plumas and McCarran Blvd., has become both a wasteland and a trigger point for rising concerns about the relationship between developers and members of the Reno City Council. Campaign donation disclosure forms show developers involved in controversial projects with unexpected twists and turns, including Lakeridge, have given incumbent city council members, seeking to keep their seats, thousands and thousands of dollars in election cycle money.

The Daybreak project is a well publicized case. Less so is the dooming of the Lakeridge Tennis Club, which was sold last year to Reno Land to be redeveloped with a Newport Beach, California-based company called Lyon Living. Together, according to campaign disclosure forms, the two entities have given $15,000 in campaign contributions to Devon Reese, Oscar Delgado and Neoma Jardon, all incumbents trying to keep their City Council seats.

Initially, Reno Land’s purchase of the property seemed to be a saving grace of sorts, though, for those wanting to save the club. Original proposals brought forward by Reno Land to the surrounding community and Lakeridge club members indicated that the struggling club would be revitalized. 

“[The Lakeridge community] was really curious to know what Reno Land had in mind when they made this proposal at the public meeting, so there were about 200 plus people at the meeting and they shared their vision for what the tennis club could be moving forward,” said Sharon Weiss, the head coach of the Lakeridge swim team for the past 30 years.

“[Reno Land’s vision] was to develop half of the property with some infill, meaning they would bring in some 150 apartments on the western portion of the property. Then on the other half, they would revitalize the club knowing that it was an iconic property and had clubs for the community. So they came in like they were saviors [of the property],” Weiss said of initial hopes.

A Zoning Amendment Easily Brought Forward

In order to bring in apartment units to a portion of the Lakeridge property, a zoning amendment from the city council was required. Since Lakeridge was originally founded as a planned community, a specific zoning map was implemented. Therefore, Reno Land needed to change the Lakeridge Tennis Club zoning status from a specific plan district (SPD) to community commercial (CC). 

“Since the only way that [Reno Land] could move forward with this revitalization idea was to change the zoning, [the community] believed and supported them and almost no one went to the city council meeting to express concerns about them changing the zoning,” Weiss said. “So they appeared like it was all good and the plan was in the works.”

At the city council meeting on September 23, 2019, Reno Land’s request for a zoning amendment to the property was passed unanimously by the Reno City Council. Outside of concerns expressed by Councilwoman Naomi Duerr, whose ward includes the Lakeridge property, councilwoman Jenny Brekhus was the only other member of city council to raise questions in the meeting regarding Reno Land’s proposal for the property.

The discussion and voting for the zone change in question begins at 1:28:00 in video above.

Was a Bait and Switch Maneuver Used?

“Of course City Council members will say they are not biased, but a review of the City Council Meeting about changing the zoning for Lakeridge Tennis Club shows a very different possibility,” Weiss wrote in an email correspondence with Our Town Reno. “How is it that an iconic property with the history of Lakeridge Tennis Club is presented for a zoning change to the City Council, yet only a single member other than Naomi Duerr has any question? How is it that there is very little discussion on the motion to change the zoning for the whole property, even though the developer is suggesting that they only want to develop a portion of it (while maintaining the rest)? It wasn't until I went back and watched the meeting that it seemed like minds were made up... It's hard to trust that there is a level playing field,” she concluded.

After the zoning amendment was approved, Weiss says Reno Land’s interactions with community and club members suddenly stopped. So Weiss, whose nonprofit, the Lakeridge Swim Club, was dependent on the two pools that were part of the Lakeridge Tennis Club property, reached out to Reno Land because she had a particularly vested business interest in Reno Land’s proposed revitalization. 

In April 2020, just weeks before Reno Land’s purchase of the property became official on June 1st, word went around the community that Reno Land had changed their proposal for the property entirely. 

“I never heard from them after I wrote to them and sent them my bio and an explanation of my program and what we do,” Weiss said. “I called their offices and I never heard back. So I thought it would be business as usual this Spring, but then they came forward with the site plan for 350 apartments for active adults 55 and over, with an explanation for their rationale was that as a result of COVID, this club that's already in trouble will inevitably close and [the property] should be for housing.”

Weiss says she and other members of the community she’s spoken to believe Reno Land used a ‘bait-and-switch’ tactic in order to gain community support, before changing plans. Tennis players in the community have been exchanging emails and conversations at still existing tennis courts, expressing similar concerns.

“They basically baited the community, they baited the planning commission, they baited everybody because on their application for the zoning change, every question all has to do with revitalizing the club,” Weiss said. “Their whole initial application for the zoning change was all about revitalizing the club, so there wouldn’t be any changes or any problems with traffic and everything's going to be great. [The property] is going to be in existing use and it's not that big of a deal because all we're doing with changing the zoning is changing colors on a map.”

“Members were actually still paying dues late into April, when [Reno Land] put their site plan out and they were talking about how, ‘As a result of COVID, the club is no longer financially viable,’ but the billing cycle for the club wasn’t complete so there's no way they can make a claim like that,” Weiss said. “My [swim] team had paid 100% of our dues for March. So members of the club were still paying and still happy to pay to keep the club afloat while it was closed due to COVID. So that's actually not a true statement for them to make that the club is dying.”

Appealing the New Plan which is Then Suddenly Dropped Before the Election

Once the new site plan was revealed, several community members got together as an appellate group to appeal the new plan. 

“We all got together and started looking at the proposal on their original application. We looked at all the planning commission and city council meetings and just started taking each issue one at a time,” Weiss said. “We had a hearing in June with a neutral hearing examiner who heard our case via Zoom. We went one at a time and went piece by piece to address the issues in the case and the hearing officer ended up ruling in our favor in July.”

Reno Land consequently appealed the ruling, as did Weiss’s appellate group simply, she says, to remain a part of the conversation. At that point in the process, the appeal was set to return to city council for a ruling. To prepare for the city council ruling, Weiss and her group assembled further findings to strengthen their case. But just hours before the hearing, Reno Land withdrew their appeal.

“Just a few hours before we were supposed to present our case to the city council, the developer withdrew their plan and didn't really offer any explanation,” Weiss said. “They simply said, ‘We're withdrawing our application for the 350 units, and we will be back in the next couple months with a new plan.’ So we still have all of our findings and what's tricky about this is that there's important information for the city and there's a lot of learning that needs to happen with this case because the city made a lot of allowances for the developer already.”

To notify of plans suddenly changing, Garret Gordon, a lawyer representing Reno Land Inc., released a statement to acting City of Reno community development coordinator Angela Fuss, which read: “We are withdrawing the Application prior to final action by the Reno City Council, but fully intend to re-submit an updated Application in the coming months. We look forward to continuing working with you and appreciate all of the time and effort you and your staff spent to process the application.” The statement and withdrawal came ahead of the November 2020 election, in which several city council incumbents are facing re-election. Devon Reese, who was appointed to the at-large seat in 2019, is seeking to keep his seat as well. Reese and two other re-election candidates have each received $5,000 from Reno Land and $10,000 from Lyon Management.

A Political Rival’s Take Amid a Quick Tear Down

Eddie Lorton, a local businessman who is running for the at-large City Council seat against incumbent Devon Reese, also believes the city of Reno has been too accommodating to developers. 

“I guarantee since [city council] took all the heat and it's an election cycle, that the developer was called and told to stand down for now because there was an outcry in the community,” Lorton alleged. This could not be independently confirmed.

Requests for comment submitted to Reno Land, Lyon Living and the election campaign for Devon Reese for this story went unanswered. Campaign contribution reports for Reese show he received $5,000 from Reno Land on June 1st. They also show Reno Land gave $5,000 to Oscar Delgado’s campaign effort on June 1 for his run for Ward 3, and $5,000 to Neoma Jardon’s coffers on June 16th for her re-election run for Ward 5.

The three have also received $10,000 in campaign contributions from the Lyon Management Group, which according to its website includes Lyon Living.

Councilwoman Brekhus responded to our query for a comment on what might have happened with this emailed information: “As this was an appeal, the City Council sits quasi-judicial, like a judge would,” she wrote. “In those instances, contact with parties related to the issue is not appropriate.  All information sharing is required to be in the public meeting under due process considerations.  For this reason, I refrain from contact when matters like this involving are pending.  So I did not have any contact with Reno Land or their paid team during this period.”

According to Weiss, Reno Land submitted a demolition permit to the city the same day their site plan review was approved on May 15th. Less than two weeks later, she said, despite existing appeals against the site plan, the city issued Reno Land their demolition permit to start tearing down the standing building, tennis courts and the swimming pools on the property. Messages to Reno Land and Lyon Living to get confirmation of this timeline went unanswered.

“They pulled a fast one especially since [the community] didn't even notice the property was being demolished until it was too late,” Lorton said. “Once [developers] get their approval, they do the bait and switch and will go back to the table 50 times and it's never for the city's advantage. It's always at [the city’s] detriment, so I don't know why [the city council] keeps renegotiating these things.”

“Many citizens believe that it was not appropriate for the city to issue a demolition permit until the appeal process was completed, so it's really disappointing to see that the city had chosen to do that,” Weiss said. “It doesn't seem right that if a case is in appeal that any permit, whether it's demolition or building, be given until the appeals process is over.”

The property is now sitting idle and destroyed until a new plan is announced.

The Case of Daybreak Reno and Views of Another Challenger

Lorton also cites Daybreak Reno, a developer owned by Newport Pacific Land Company, which have also both made significant campaign contributions to same members on the Reno City Council. The controversial Daybreak project would bring nearly 4,000 housing units to an undeveloped plot of land in a floodplain in Southeast Reno. According to campaign contribution documents, Newport Pacific made maximum campaign donations of $10,000 to Oscar Delgado and Neoma Jardon. In the case of Reese, according to a News 4 media report, it indicates he’s received $24,500 from three different entities linked to the project.

The three Council members who received donations from Daybreak-involved developers, Reese, Delgado and Jardon, voted to approve the Daybreak project in September 2019. Previously in November 2018, Delgado and Jardon, who were at that point already elected members of the Reno City Council (Reese was appointed to fill the vacant at-large seat in 2019), initially voted against it. That vote prompted the Daybreak developer Newport Pacific Land to sue the city.

Delgado and Reese released statements to media indicating the campaign contributions were not a conflict of interest and that the money did not influence their votes.

“Developer money is an outsize influence on city council — impacting city priorities, council agendas, and greatly distorting electoral politics and public trust,” Rudy Leon wrote to Our Town Reno via Facebook Messenger, summarizing how she views the situation. Leon is running against Delgado for the Ward 3 seat.

“The city should be putting as much attention to social issues (such as housing precarity, homelessness, mental health, public health epidemics, and quality of life) as developers. But what incentive is there for incumbents to pay attention to issues which lack the big money developers bring to campaigns? Individual resident donors really can’t compete,” Leon wrote.

Delgado, Jardon and other City Council members, besides Brekhus, did not respond to emails to give us statements on the record about these donations and the controversial development projects. Requests for comments by Daybreak Reno and Newport Pacific Land Company for this article also went unanswered.

In the case of Lakeridge, Lorton says he wants the developer and city council to go forward with the original plan. “Reno Land did buy the property and their original plan was approved, which got through the right way,” Lorton said. “I would have never wanted the tennis courts torn down, and let alone we hardly have any pools in this area and quality of life issues matter. But now it's too late to take it back and rebuild it, but that was really unfortunate for that to happen to our community. So now though, I guess we'd have to go back and approve the original deal.”

The Need to Bring Quality of Life to Reno Residents

More generally, Lorton says he wants to see a better problem-solving approach by the city council to enhance the quality of life for Reno residents.

“If we need to get a pool, we could reach out to foundations and get one bill privately-funded because we have excellent people in our community that would more than be happy if you talk to the right folks,” Lorton said. “Quality of life issues matter like never before. [The city] doesn’t make a lot of money on tennis courts, golf courses or swimming pools; but that's quality of life. That's the good part about living here in Reno is quality of life issues, so we need to expand on that.”

Moving forward, both Weiss and Lorton want the greater Reno community to become more aware and involved in what’s going on in their community.

“The greater Reno community really needs to participate and pay attention to when developers come in with plans, because there's a lot going on that's out of the public view and we really need to stay vigilant,” Weiss said. “Had I had any idea that [Reno Land’s proposed] plan didn't really need to mean much, I would have been at that meeting in a heartbeat. I didn't realize that I was going to have to become a political activist in the middle of the pandemic and try to also save my business at the same time. So the greater community needs to stay vigilant and pay attention when their offers come in with plans because what's happening behind closed doors and what's happening in public is not always the same thing and that's very unfortunate. It puts us in a really tough spot.”

She considers losing the city’s only indoor tennis courts, and two pools, a huge loss to the community, and several swimming and tennis families we spoke to agreed. Watchdog websites have also been keeping tabs on this story, but have not gotten rebuttals from City Council members either.

Reporting and Photos by Scott King for Our Town Reno

Marcus, Put on a Train and Finding the Big Tent Shelter in Reno

“It’s humbling.  I came from Winnemucca. It’s hard.  I had nowhere else to go. I was  fighting with my sister in law and I had nowhere else to go. So a great woman bought me an Amtrak ticket, one way, to right here. 

There's good people here, man, then just like anywhere else and there's bad people. No matter what situation, know what you're going through in life, stay humble. It won't last that long. I'm a Christian. So I believe in that, man, God gives his hardest situations and the hardest missions and hardest battles to the strongest.

I came here with just a suitcase and my backpack. The first day I was here, I was walking up and down, walking up down Fourth street,  giving up my clothes to people, just paying it forward. 

I don't really worry about [COVID-19]. It's terrible. I don't wear [a mask] unless I got to go in the store.

[At the tent shelter], there's a lot of elderly people here, veterans too.   And it upsets me, you know? 

My message to everybody, even the veterans, like I said, just be patient man. Just give it time. It says it's got to get worse before it gets better, I’m a firm believer of that. So right now we're at the worst of it, but it will get better in time.”

Reporting and Photo by Scott King for Our Town Reno

Ray Bacasegua Valdez, In Support of Families of those Killed by Police

Need to Change a Bad Reno Ranking

“We obviously need change,” said Ray Bacasegua Valdez who came out with the American Indian Movement of Northern Nevada this past Saturday to show support for local families who have lost a relative to a police killing. Along with members of Reno Cop Watch and PERCh (People Enacting Radical Change), there were several dozen participants. The families of Thomas Purdy (killed by Washoe County Nevada sheriff’s deputies at the Washoe County Jail in 2015), Johnny Bonta (killed by Sparks PD in 2017), and Kenneth Stafford (killed by police in Sparks in 2013), were present as well.

“We’re also asking for accountability and some reform. We need some change,” Vazquez said. As cars drove by the protest at the Bruce R. Thompson Courthouse and Federal Building, some honked in support.

According to MappingPoliceViolence.org, Reno is the 9th highest city in the country in terms of the number of yearly police killings per capita.

Over 60 people joined the protest on Saturday September 12th. The Peltier sign refers to Leonard Peltier, whose 76th birthday was on that day. Peltier is an AIM activist who has been in prison since 1977, serving two life sentences after being convicted of killing two FBI Special Agents on the Lakota Sioux reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, in 1975. Numerous doubts have been raised over his guilt and the fairness of his trial.

Early Signs of Progress

While Valdez recognizes there is a need for change he personally does not think defunding and removing law enforcement is the answer, as has been the goal of many protesters in the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement.

“I think right now, we’re just in the early stages of a solution,” Valdez said. “I think it starts with our leadership, the leadership of our country and the mindset.” 

Valdez also believes real change will come from the bottom up and from the people. “We don’t want the next generation to carry this hate. We need to stop that,” he said.

He does see some change going in the correct direction.

“The City of Reno removed Columbus Day, it’s now Indigenous People’s Day. That was a big thing,” Valdez said. He also mentioned the recent decision by the Squaw Valley Ski Resort that they will be changing their name as a positive. The resort acknowledged the word “squaw” is racist and sexist and said it would change the name after the next ski season.

Reporting and Photos by Richard Bednarski for Our Town Reno

Ryeanna, A Rastafarian Showing Local Support for Black Lives Matter

A Rastafarian at Heart

For Ryeanna Jahsiah Iverly, participating in the recent We Have a Dream fair was never a question.

Her passion for the Black Lives Matter movement is tightly connected, she says, to her connection to the Rastafarian culture:

“If it wasn't for black lives in this world? I don't know if my home would have ever been found because I'm personally, I am Rastafari and if it weren’t for Buffalo soldiers and people that came over from Africa, I wouldn't have the history that I have and...I fear what I might've become if there had not been black lives involved in my life at some point.”

Rastafari, also known as the Rastafarianism first developed in Jamaica in the 1930s as a joint religious and social movement. According to Wikipedia, the Buffalo Soldiers nickname was given to the Black Cavalry by Native American tribes who fought in the Indian Wars in 1866.  It’s also the name of a famous Bob Marley song:

Buffalo Soldier, dreadlock Rasta

There was a Buffalo Soldier
In the heart of America
Stolen from Africa, brought to America
Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival

Hurt by the Ongoing Racism and Police Brutality

Iverly says she aims to help in anyway she can.

“I brought down the flags and most of the protest signs,” she said. She often acts as a welcome person waving tall progressive-themed flags at downtown events,

“I've been contributing by helping out and just giving a hand here and there, but previous to that, I've been, walking around town and it displayed my flags and pull my wagons and played Rasta music because Rasta is a call to love, and love is what we all need.”

Iverly stressed the importance of keeping the Black Lives Matter movement alive.

“That's very hurting to have to watch that on television,” she said of Jacob Blake, who was recently shot seven times in the back by a police officer in Wisconsin, paralyzing him from the waist down.

“You know, I've, I've heard things that are bad saying, well, he's done this, and he's done that, but it doesn't matter what he's done. Nobody deserves to be shot in the back for just going into their car. You know, nobody deserves to be attacked for something that is non-consequential. You know, they knew who he was. They already had him; if he got in the car and drove off, they knew his license plate. They could have stopped him, whatever, you know, but to shoot someone for no reason or strangle them or just to brutalize them in any way is so wrong. And I've been there.” 

We could not independently verify her own run-ins with local police, but Iverly said she’s been arrested several times during recent protests.

Above a photo of the recent We Have a Dream event. Photo by Neith Pereira from our sister Reynolds Sandbox publication.

Love and Vote

For Iverly, the solution to creating a better world is simple. She says she is confident that voting and love are the two answers.

“I would say the election is coming up very soon and the main issue is really to get Black lives to matter.”

Locally, Iverly says she doesn’t believe the support is nearly close enough. “I get about a 50/50 mix of love and hate when I'm out protesting all the time. So, I don't know if that's good. I don't think it is, you know.”

Due to her Rastafarian beliefs, Iverly says she wants to love and forgive everyone but finds herself losing hope in people who are filled with negative thoughts.  “I can't change people. All I can do is speak to them about how I feel and try to tell them why Black lives do matter to me. And hopefully, they can see the reasoning behind it instead of perhaps worrying about their white privilege.”

Reporting by Gracie Gordon for Our Town Reno

The Homeless Shelter Shuffle in Reno, from the Events Center to Big Tents to New Possibilities

Satisfied with the Temporary Big Tents on 4th Street

The Reno Event Center has officially closed in its role as a temporary shelter for the displaced community, seven months after the COVID-19 pandemic forced city officials to get creative in implementing social distancing guidelines at local shelters.

In its place, a Big Tents shelter has been built farther down on East 4th Street to serve as another temporary shelter for the near future. With the new Big Tents shelter and the opening of the Our Place campus this summer, the unsheltered community in Reno is finding itself spread out across a number of facilities to find support.

“What we've been doing since the beginning of the pandemic is pretty much continuing with social distancing requirements and everything like that,” Jon Humbert, City of Reno spokesman, said in a recent interview with Our Town Reno. “We've just changed locations from the Reno Event Center to the new temporary shelter farther down on Fourth Street. We know that [the Big Tents shelter] is designed to be temporary and that we need it to be temporary. But it seems to be doing well at this point and given how quickly it came together, we're pretty happy with the results.”

When the Reno Event Center was operating as a temporary shelter, it had the capacity to host over 300 people with beds placed six feet apart to maintain proper social distancing. Humbert noted, however, that the typical nightly use at the Reno Events Center was between 230 to 265 individuals. But as the summer went on those numbers continued to dwindle down to about 165 people, which is about roughly the same capacity the new Big Tents shelter holds at a little over 200.

“The hope is [for the Big Tents shelter to operate] through the fall, so probably about the next three and a half months,” Humbert said. “But all of that is pending negotiation and what we can do as far as space. But we’ve been consistently saying it's a temporary [shelter] and that's the goal.”

The big tent situation got off to an uncertain start with a lawsuit, but a judge allowed the plan to proceed despite this court action. In mid-August, District Judge David Hardy lifted a Temporary Restraining Order that for a week or so prevented the opening of the new homeless shelter on a Truckee Meadows Water Authority lot. The owner of Wells RV Storage just next to it had earlier filed suit, saying the shelter would cause harm to his business and that it could become a long term facility.

A google street map view of the Governor’s Bowl Park which could be a future shelter site.

Looking at Future Possible Permanent Shelter Locations

The city of Reno is still in negotiations with the state about other long-term solutions to support the unsheltered community, especially men. Women, families and the elderly have started being moved to the new Our Place campus run by RISE and Washoe County. One potential site that is being explored for men as a future option is the Governor’s Bowl Park on East 7th Street.

“We're still ongoing with the state [with discussions on the Governor’s Bowl],” Humbert said. “There hasn't been any sort of specific ‘No’ at this point from anybody on any side, but those discussions are ongoing at this point.”

Meanwhile, the Volunteers of America-operated Record Street downtown shelter has remained open as it has been since the start of the pandemic, but with fewer people being helped.

When the transition to the Reno Events Center first took place in mid-March, the Record Street shelter retained several dozen men, most of them veterans or disabled. Linda Grace, the Regional Development Officer at Volunteers of America, noted that resources such as VOA’s Restart program for mental health services have also continued despite the pandemic. 

“We are still keeping 35 men in our men's shelter and all of this has been done so that we can keep people socially distant because you can't have them in the shelters as they were prior to COVID,” Grace said. “But our case managers continue to meet with all of the clients via telephone or making visits standing outside their door so as to keep that social distancing.”

The downtown Record street remains busy during the day, with some people outside close together and not wearing masks.

Lots of Moving Pieces

With the new big tents shelter and Our Place moving people around, Grace explained Volunteers of America has been busy maximizing local places they have access to, to keep people they are helping spread out.

“We've taken over what used to be the Good Shepherd's Clothes Closet and have converted that into a shelter and we're housing 53 individuals there at night,” Grace said. “Looking ahead, we have the capacity to add about another 87 beds here at the Community Assistance Center and other different areas. Then what used to be the old family shelter, we have a plan to move about 30 individuals up there but we don't have that set in stone yet. We have a space in another area that we could take 40.”

Meanwhile, the emergency overflow shelter on Washington Street is still hosting approximately 50 women as the dorm-style wing at the women’s shelter on the Our Place campus is only at partial-capacity due to social distancing requirements there. Consequently, Grace and VOA are looking at how they can support the 20 or so women that are still in need of nighttime shelter.

“It's our understanding that not all the women are being served [at Our Place],” Grace said. “So we're looking to take in about 17 to 20 more women over here [in the future].”

The Reno Events Center is no longer being used as an emergency shelter, as local casinos have expressed interest in restarting events there whenever possible.

Despite the shuffling of temporary shelter locations, Humbert says he has been pleased with how well everyone has adapted to the challenges the pandemic has brought for shelter operations. 

“We're pleased that folks have been so adaptable to some of these changes and the need to modify lifestyles, but we still do the very best we can to maintain quality of care,” Humbert said.  “We know that our VOA partners are working a lot with less these days and we're glad that they're doing their best to keep things going.”

Humbert also acknowledged that more needs to be done as the city looks to the future.

“We know that by expanding resources, that'll take some pressure off of everyone and that's why we're continuing to focus on the Governor's Bowl as a possible opportunity in the future to expand and improve,” Humbert said. “But the temporary shelter is a great example of our community coming together and the city to be able to get creative and do something different because we can't just sit on our hands anymore on any of this.”

Reporting and Photos by Scott King for Our Town Reno

Our Place Shelter Strives to Help its Guests 'Heal and Grow'

An Open and Inviting Environment

Located on East 2nd and 21st Street, on what was formerly known as the Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services campus, Our Place has been purposed to be an open and inviting environment for those in need of shelter.

“It's a beautiful campus with a park-like setting where it's open,” Jen Cassady, a former recovery specialist, now the Our Place director, said. “There's a lot of open spaces for our families, women and seniors to spend some time outside. [The campus] is fenced-in, so each building has its own very large backyard as well as the open community spaces.”

For Cassady and the rest of the RISE staff, creating an open-space environment is essential to ensuring that the guests staying at Our Place can find comfort and dignity.

“We felt that if we wanted to provide a therapeutic place for someone to transition from homelessness into a more permanent living situation, they needed a place to heal and grow,” Cassady said. “So rather than have a warehouse-like setting or some of the traditional models that look institutional, we decided to offer dignity and beauty [with an open-space campus].”

More Space Inside as Well for Families, Seniors, Women and Even Pets

It’s not just the open green spaces and picnic tables across the campus that are designed to make local residents sheltered at Our Place feel safe and at home, as even the interior rooms of the buildings have been designed with this purpose in mind.

“Each family has their own room and the rooms are fairly large, even our smallest room can have five people pretty comfortably inside,” Cassady said.  “No bathrooms are shared between more than three families, but most have one or two families per bathroom. Each family home has a beautiful, large kitchen space with an industrial-sized refrigerator and a large pantry.”

Three of the buildings on the campus are designed as family homes that can host up to 28 families. Another building is designated for those in the Temporary Assistance for Displaced Seniors [TADS] program, which currently hosts six seniors. A fifth building is solely for women, which although it has the capacity for about 115 women, is currently only hosting 85 women, due to ongoing COVID-19 health restrictions. 

The women’s home, which officially began operation when women were transitioned from the Washington street shelter on August 14th, has five wings, to suit various needs.

“One of the wings is a pet wing, one is for seniors and then two women and a dorm-style,” Amber Howell, Director of the Washoe County Human Services Agency, said. “The biggest challenge that we've had is because of COVID, the dorm area can only be at 50% capacity. So that's really been the only challenge we've had is we haven't been able to go to full capacity [in the dorm-style wing].” 

Due to COVID-19 and safety precautions, services which could eventually be offered to more women in the community have to be curtailed. But even women not sleeping at Our Place will soon be allowed to come to the campus and get showers.

“Hopefully in the next week we will be able to provide community showers, even for those who don't want to be in the shelter,” Howell said at the time of our interview. “So that's probably been the biggest challenge during the pandemic is the social distancing requirement. Our Place was designed to have more beds and more room than downtown Reno because we knew we needed it,” she said of women who might have been staying overnights at the Washington street location, for whom Our Place is now full.

Inspirational messages line the walls. Opening and getting everything in order has been somewhat of a mad scramble at times during the pandemic.

Challenges of Opening during a Pandemic

Cassady said RISE usually relies on a volunteer base of over 700 people, having served community meals for years among several previous initiatives, but due to COVID-19 they have not been able to go onto the Our Place campus. Still, they’ve been helping indirectly, with donations for those sleeping at the shelter, whom Cassady refers to as guests.

“One of the things that we do for our guests here is when they come in, we know that they don't have much so we have a ‘bed-in-a-bag’ for every person that walks in and we invite them to take that with them,” Cassady said. “So [guests] can come into our closet, pick out bedding, take it to their room and then take that with them when they leave. So we've got an enormous response from the community for beds, bags and cribs and things like that.” 

Additionally, in order to address the risks of COVID-19 infections for those who are on the campus, Washoe County has been providing cleaning services at Our Place.

“The safety of our guests is important, so we have cleaning schedules where we clean often,” Cassady said. “The County has paid for a professional cleaning staff to come in and we've involved our guests to be part of that community of keeping each other safe, so we ask that every time they use a shared surface that they wipe it down and sanitize it in between use and that's been a great response [from the guests].”

Flyers point people to the many resources in our area. On campus, available services include an on-site therapist and nurse.

Keeping Families Together and Pets as Companions

An additional asset for Our Place and those staying there is close proximity to Crossroads, which provides substance use and addiction counseling along with other support. With on-site daycare services for the families staying at Our Place, families can now stay together while a parent undergoes treatment at Crossroads.

“What we have found is the worst thing that can happen to a parent is to lose their children because they're without shelter,” Howell said. “So by keeping the families together, they don't have to worry about [being separated] and can just focus on what it is that they need to do. Having the daycare there allows them to have a place for their children to go during the day so they can attend groups and case management and those types of things.”

By having a wing in the women’s home designated for pets, Our Place also aims to remove what can be an additional barrier for houseless individuals seeking shelter.

“Not being able to bring your pets into shelter is a barrier to people wanting to enter because their pet is usually the only thing that they have, that's their companion, their best friend,” Howell said.

“I've met with a lot of the women there who have their pets and it has made a world of difference for them. [Having pets] also bonds the guests together, they are a morale booster and so it's been going very well. A lot of people who didn't take shelter in the past because of the fact they couldn't have their pets are now sheltered, so we know that that philosophy works and it's an incentive to come indoors instead of staying outdoors in the elements and where it's unsafe,” Howell said.

Time Limits Loosened with Long Term in Mind

The Our Place approach varies from traditional formats typically found in many shelters across the country. Most shelters operate with 90-day-stay time limits for guests, or even shorter stays, which can lead to a street-to-shelter-to-street cycle. Our Place is setting out to break that cycle with the goal of serving as a stepping stone for guests toward more permanent housing.  

“Traditionally there's been a 90-day-stay [at shelters], but when we look at our housing environment we know that 90 days is not enough,” Cassady said. “So our goal is to have people come in, take a break, rest, feel comfortable and heal [before finding permanent housing]. Obviously, we're not going to make that goal right away, but we like to say that six months is about how long we'd like you to stay. But again, if you're here and you're working hard to end your houselessness, if you're working hard to try to move on to your next steps, whatever that may be, we won't remove you.”

Many RISE staff members have lived experience with homelessness themselves, so they know how difficult this journey can be. “RISE hired 75% of our staff as peers, so they have lived experience [with homelessness] and they play a great role in advocating and walking with our guests to make sure that they have the emotional support as well as the connection to resources,” Cassady said. “We put relationships first, we listen rather than come in with a plan and tell people what they need. We've gotten great results by offering that relationship, respect and that dignity rather than coming in and offering what we think might be right. [This approach] builds long-term success.”

“[RISE] knows this population, they know all of the guests and their personal stories,” Howell said. The decision to award the Our Place contract to RISE surprised some initially, as it had been more of a grassroots organization at its inception.

“That connection is so vital for us to have a vendor that the guests trust, and I trust RISE completely,” Howell said. “We understand our roles, so we complement each other instead of contradicting each other, so it's been great. They've never done something of this magnitude and they've done it in a wonderful way and I'm really proud of them coming together, giving us a proposal and implementing what they promised. It’s been a great process. I love their passion and I love their commitment to helping us by being a critical partner in this community.”

Although Our Place has been launched and is working to overcome the challenges brought on by the pandemic, resolving the affordable housing crisis and helping the hundreds of people living on the streets in our area is far from over.

“Our Place has solved a couple of challenges that we're facing, but it certainly doesn't solve people experiencing homelessness because there's other variables,” Howell said. “Our Place gets rid of some additional barriers by increasing bed capacity, access to daycare and the ability to have pets. So we’re one step closer to really having a targeted approach and a menu of services, but it’s in no way going to solve all of the issues. We still have to move on to the next set of issues and start tackling those, but it's nice to be able to check a few off a few boxes for those that weren't sheltered or didn't want to get sheltered for those reasons. So [Our Place] is a great first step.”

Cassady agrees that the long-term goal of ending houselessness in our community may still be a long way off. However, she is optimistic that Our Place will continue playing a positive role for its guests moving forward.

“So our long-term goal is to always have [Our Place] empty, right?” Cassady said. “We're going to make sure that everybody has a safe and stable place to live with a locking door, a roof and their dignity intact. But in the meantime as we move toward that, the goals are to continue that mission of a healing and therapeutic environment where people are respected and listened to and honored. When they come into Our Place, they're surrounded by support and we can get creative in finding long-term solutions for people, with people.”

Reporting and Photography by Scott King for Our Town Reno

Brian Melendez, the Voice Behind the Local Coffee with an Indian Podcast

Creating a Forum of Understanding

“The podcast was part of a larger conceptual idea I had about wanting to educate and inform other people about indigenous thought, tribal existence and an understanding of what was occurring in Nevada from both the micro and macro level,” Melendez said. “I wanted to create a forum that allowed people the opportunity to see a greater description of the human element that tribal people are experiencing and the ways in which we're existing every day in relation to other people.”

Season Two of the Coffee with an Indian podcast, which had an initial run of 21 episodes up until December 2019, is set to be released in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, listeners may find from season one that the Coffee with an Indian podcast follows a different format than the typical podcast.

“[Podcasts are] very culturally different from the way that people would present themselves in tribal communities or from indigenous spaces,” Melendez said. “I felt that what I had to do was create a podcast that started off by me giving this narrative of where I came from, my ancestors and my relate-ability and more so just showing them my humanness. That's a real cultural dynamic that is important when communicating with other tribal people, because when we see the relate-ability or the human side of it, then the information is able to be transmitted.”

Therefore, the narrative format delivered in season one is intended so that listeners can better understand the human and worldview perspective Melendez is sharing as an indigenous person. If Melendez started the podcast in any other manner, without first establishing his authenticity as a human being, he says, it would have gone against tribal conventions and would not have been as nearly well-received by his tribal community.

“When I started the podcast, it was really just to tell the story and to let indigenous people and other people from around the world understand that I wasn't just trying to come out and be that character that just said, ‘Hey, look, I'm a great person. I know lots of things. I have X amount of resources. I know some things and this is why you should listen to me,’” Melendez said. “If I would've started the podcast in that format, it would have gone against a lot of tribal conventions so I didn't want to do that. In order for me to be able to get to a point where I can start talking about real specific content, I had to get through the long story and basically start the podcast in reverse.”

In terms of local reach, the podcast is one of the most successful on Apple Podcasts and other platforms.

A Podcast and Family Affected by COVID-19

Although self-deprecating at times, the narrative format Melendez used in season one was essential to establishing a level of trust and authenticity with a broad audience that could relate to him and his message.  

“By telling the story that way, it allowed people to understand that I'm very much human and I'm very much connected to my tribe and my community,” Melendez said. “My perspective is not one that is not entirely binary, either. I live in the city, so it's not stuck to just the tribal space. I wanted to make that connection to my community that I'm advocating for, for tribal thought in issues, but at the same time I'm also advocating for diversity and inclusion and education of all people.”

As Melendez prepared for season two of the Coffee with an Indian podcast, he originally intended to start bringing in guests to facilitate discussions. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he had to redirect the format of his podcast back to a more narrative-driven one. 

“My original plan was to have a lot of guests and have that type of engagement but that was thwarted [by COVID] because of all the self-isolation and staying within our own homes,” Melendez said. “But I'm glad [the podcast got redirected] because now my season two approach is somewhat similar to the first season. I'll still be talking and telling stories and going down that experimental phase of the podcast.”

Melendez still hopes to incorporate guests into his podcast as soon as it’s possible to do so safely. But due to the health risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining the health and safety of his family and community have taken priority. The pandemic has disproportionately affected indigenous communities across the country, with Melendez’s being no exception.

“My aunt Jenny was the first one in our community that died from COVID-19,” Melendez said. “Since then, in just my own life, I have had about eight friends and five relatives die from COVID since March.”

A screengrab from a promotion for an episode from Season 1.

Homelessness and the Pandemic in Indigenous Communities

For Melendez, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the everyday challenges indigenous communities in America face, including mass homelessness.

“One of the things that is very rarely talked about is the discernment of mass homelessness on Indian reservations,” Melendez said. “There aren’t any homes where people can live in [on the reservation], so they're living with each other. If you go to the reservation right now, there may be a small, two-bedroom home that could have three or four families in it.”

Although Melendez acknowledges there is a cultural element of families living together, it also comes as a means of families surviving in a constant state of poverty. 

“Culturally, our people have existed with each other because we live in small bands of communities and with our families,” Melendez said.  “But there is really a lot of declining health on reservations because of poverty, lack of adequate healthcare and food deserts. There's a lot of people on reservations that don’t have access to fresh produce or clean water or facilities. So when we start talking about homes on reservations, we're talking about homes that sometimes lack clean water.”

Consequently, he says, due to poverty and the close-quarter homes families often live in, COVID has spread quickly through indigenous communities. The problem is further exacerbated by an infected individual’s inability to self-isolate or quarantine from others. 

“The reason COVID spread quickly in tribal communities is because there are so many people living in one domicile so when somebody gets sick there, it's almost impossible to self-isolate,” Melendez said. “You're all breathing the same air and you have to use the same facilities. It's not like other American situations where you could imagine there's somebody living in some suburb somewhere and they have a big house and everyone's got their own room so if somebody got sick, you just stay in your room; it's just not like that on the reservations.”

Generating an awareness of how issues such as the COVID pandemic affects indigenous populations is something that Melendez hopes his podcast platform can support. 

Melendez notes that there are 27 federally-recognized tribes and sovereign nations within the state of Nevada’s borders, alone. Therefore, he wants his platform to be a voice for diversity and inclusion for other marginalized communities and social movements, such as the Black Lives Matter movement. Photo provided by Brian Melendez with permission to use.

Building Social Movements from a Place of Understanding

“When it comes to situations like the Black Lives Matter movement, tribal and indigenous people absolutely can resonate and understand the frustration because they're saying, “This is my problem. This is how I hurt. This is why this is occurring,’” Melendez said. “Yet it gets redirected back to them that they should just be strong or just toughen up or do something else, or it’s ‘Why are you complaining?’ It really is tantamount to a really abusive relationship.”

Consequently, indigenous support of other marginalized communities comes from a place of common understanding and shared experiences in America.

“When people are out there in the streets and protesting that there's all this inequality and this disenfranchisement, we absolutely resonate because we've been in the same place,” Melendez said. “So for tribal people to support those movements would be similar to us supporting any of our brothers and sisters who've gone and who've been through that struggle. Looking at those situations similarly, although some of the elements are a little different, the overall impact of injustice and racial discrimination is very much the same.”

As Melendez moves forward with the launch of season two of Coffee with an Indian, he is seeking to create more “well-rounded perspective of tribal people.”

Not Going Anywhere

“We're still very much alive on this land and we're still very much not going anywhere,” he explained. “Any chance we get, we're going to sing, we're going to dance, we're going to pray. We're going to speak our languages and any chance we get we're going to remind the world that we're still very much here.”

For Melendez, it’s also his way of leaving the world in a better place than he found it. 

“The response you see in the world for a lot of people that have been historically marginalized is that they are going to get louder and louder, and that's not going to stop anytime soon until learning is occurring and opportunities are presented,” Melendez said. “I don't claim to be an expert in anything or this master of my culture. I'm just a tribal person doing the best I can at leaving a little bit of information for somebody else, to feel like they're being supported somewhere else in the world.”

Reporting and Writing by Scott King for Our Town Reno

Our Lady of The Snows Launches New Food Help During the Pandemic

Building on Current Momentum after a Retirement

“As a parish we've always done outreach for the poor, for people who need some food assistance and the person who organized those [outreach programs] was Sister Carmen Baca,” Rev. Bob Chorey, pastor of Our Lady of The Snows parish, said. “But when she retired in June, I wanted to take this [outreach program] and see how we can expand it and incorporate Catholic Charities. So this [food service] is part of this movement to help get our parish community better connected to the community around us and to take more action in serving.”

The third food distribution event, now known as Our Lady Snows Outreach, was held earlier this week. The service is operated in conjunction with Catholic Charities, a working relationship Chorey hopes will continue to expand as the outreach program grows.

“[Catholic Charities] can offer way more services,” Chorey said. “So my hope is to evolve our client list and also have Catholic Charities here on a regular basis to provide some of those services. Especially if people can't get down to Fourth Street, [Catholic Charities] can do some of their services here on-site for some of the people that come here.”

There have been lots of changes to volunteer and church meals in recent months, in the wake of evolving services for homeless services in the community and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Healthy food was being donated as part of the most recent outreach afternoon. There are no prerequisites or qualifications to receive food, as this outreach program is meant to help address anyone suffering in any way during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Team of Volunteers Helping Our Community

“Basically, people just come in and my volunteers here pass out food,” Chorey said. “It doesn’t have to just be the homeless [being served] and nobody has to prove anything. It’s just about food insecurity given these times and knowing we're in this together because with the economic situation, there's now a lot of families in a food crisis.”

Our Lady of Snows is not the only parish that is running a food insecurity outreach program, as St. Peter’s in Sun Valley and St. Francis of Assissi in Incline Village have their own programs as well. According to Chorey, it’s all a part of these parishes working together to support their communities.

“We're all a part of the same umbrella of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Reno, so it's really working together to use our resources,” Chorey said. “In our own parish we have barrels where we collect food and we'll take it down to Catholic Charities and they bring up a bunch of other food here to distribute. So it's all of us working together really to help provide for the greater Northern Nevada community.”

Masked parishioners serving as volunteers participate in the program, as well as members of the Knights of Columbus who help carry boxes of foodstuffs for those that are unable to do it themselves.

A Plan to Expand Services

Moving forward, Chorey hopes to continue working with Catholic Charities to expand what’s offered to include social services like connecting people with immigration support and financial assistance to help clients pay their bills. 

In the meantime, Our Lady of Snows Outreach will continue to be held on the first and third Tuesday of every month from 3:00-4:30 p.m., while Chorey looks to garner additional support from his parishioners.

“This is a wealthy parish and I want these people to see that they're blessed,” Chorey said. “Most of them really understand that they're blessed and are willing to share in this, but I want them to see at an even deeper level the impact they can do and that we’re part of this greater community. We're here to help. I want people to know who we are and to come on down and be served.”

Photos and Reporting by Scott King for Our Town Reno, August 2020

Edward Coleman, a New Local Leader and Voice of Reason Emerges

A Missed Bid to Become Reno’s City Manager

Coleman, a trained tailor and designer, who is currently pursuing a doctorate in finance through an online school, said he applied to be considered for the open Reno City Manager position, but that it was too late for the initial go round.

“Positions like that require an individual who has the ability to see beyond themselves,” he said during a recent phone interview to explain his interest. “You have to be practical and you have to be able to manage people. My experience is in all of those things and what attracted me to that position was the fact that I would be able to do all those things as well as potentially do some good for the city of Reno and the various communities in Reno that often aren't represented, our communities of color here, our unhoused community, our lower income immigrant community. I do know that those groups need someone who's going to listen to the issues they have and what's bothering them in the city. “

The Toledo, Ohio born Coleman who moved to Reno from Arkansas nearly nine years ago, when his sister got a promotion to move to the Biggest Little City, said once he has his new degree, he’ll have more time to think of his future plans, including running for political office for the benefit of marginalized communities.

“A lot of ways people are shut out of systems is through who controls the rules. And there's not many people willing to stand up for low income people, minority people, unhoused people that know how the financial systems work. Because if you can get someone in there who can adjust those regulations, you can see, you'll see changes just cascade down the system,” he said of his long-term thought process.

Coleman (right) has been invited to help several groups trying to get off the ground, including a new “Black Wall Street” initiative by Donald Griffin (left), a downtown Reno ambassador and former contributor to Our Town Reno, and RoMar T-Wizdom Tolliver. Photo provided by Griffin with permission to use.

Helping Other Local Initiatives and Becoming a Voice on Social Media

One initiative he’s looked at helping is a new “Black Wall Street” with Donald Griffin, who just a few years ago hit rock bottom as an addict sleeping along the river, but who has slowly turned his life around. “I like the idea behind his Black Wall Street project and that's really why I reached out,” Coleman said. “I liked the fact that he's trying to empower a community and he's trying to do it in such a way that that community is able to grow and build from what it's learned. I feel that throughout history, the only thing that's really held back Black communities from prosperity is the fact that every so often all of our knowledge gets destroyed. You know, like the original Black Wall Street (in Tulsa) got destroyed (in 1921). Rosewood got destroyed (in Florida, in 1923). So we're constantly having to start over and then catch up. And I think having a repository of knowledge is great.”

Coleman also hopes the many young people who took part in this summer’s activism remain engaged. “They're the ones who are going to inherit whatever happens after this,” he said. “And they're going to have to live with it. So I think their involvement is necessary. And I think institutions and other groups that are protesting should really be looking to support them as opposed to figuring out how to manage them and, or undermine them.” 

Coleman repeatedly calls out local politicians of all stripes on his social media, especially his Facebook page. “I put the energy and time into it because I want to make sure that those ideas and voices that aren't heard are heard and I think it's worth it because a lot of the time people make decisions without considering all perspectives,” he said. “And that's just me personally. That's what I do. Even though I put out a Black perspective, it's not to say that other perspectives are wrong. It's more to say, ‘hey, here's something else you might want to consider.’”

Coleman also has a Twitter account, but he primarily uses his Facebook page to get his views across.

A Deeper Look at Local Police Forces and Reno

Coleman says he thinks he got more local attention after he spoke in downtown Reno because his message was so clear. “My message was that the policing system in this country is working exactly as it's intended. Therefore you can't reform it to get any real change. You're going to have to tear it down and build a new system,” he explained as way of a succinct summary of one of his speeches.

He says local city councils in Reno and Sparks need to push for real accountability for officers, fight their unions which dictate how police are punished for wrongdoing and take “a strong look at the budgets that each police force has.”  He says it’s been clear from recent media reports quoting Reno police chief Jason Soto, who is also acting city manager, that he created “a culture excluding women and people of color.” A late July Reno Gazette Journal article was headlined: Reno police past hiring practices resulted in overwhelmingly white, male force.

As far as Reno, he says, “it needs to really shake off this, we're this perfect city with no problems, attitude. That's the exact attitude that allows those things to fester and be hidden. As a community moving forward,  this is really on white people. White people have got to hold each other accountable for these things. I mean, strictly speaking, it's a numbers game. There aren't enough Black people here to really hold anybody accountable. And the Black people who are here don't have the power to do it. So it really falls on white people just saying, ‘Hey, this isn't right.’  That's the only way this community is really going to move forward and address this.” 

Phone Interview with Our Town Reno in August 2020