The Social Media Racism Fallout Affiliated to Lacey Shea and Shea's Tavern

Racist History Renewed

Shea’s Tavern opened in Midtown in the early 1990s, and is currently owned by Lacey Shea. It has a reputation as a raucous late night party place, also favored by other bar and restaurant employees. The restaurant next door, Homegrown Gastropub, is owned by her brother, Spencer Shea, and often gets rave reviews for healthy food and a quaint bistro environment. But during the Black Lives Matter protests last year, social media outrage over racist posts associated with Lacey Shea took off.

In April 2021, this concern was renewed when Reddit user u/concernedcitizen775 posted a screenshot that shook the Reno subreddit. The title of the post read: The owner of Sheas Tavern liking a photo of a devout white supremacist. Interesting. The screenshot shows her like (from her account @ladyshea2020) on a post of a picture of her with Instagrammer jesuschrist666hamc with a caption stating “The Fourteen Words”, a slogan popular among white supremacists: : "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." His publicly listed bio now reads: HELLS ANGELS NEVADA NOMADS! and I am your lord and savior.

The Instagram post featured the caption, “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children. #HELLSANGELS #FTOT #ALWAYSUS”. The 87% upvoted Reddit post featuring the screenshot had 66 comments before being locked by r/Reno moderators. 

Boycotting the Tavern

One Reno citizen, wishing to remain anonymous, shared her shock and disappointment after seeing the post, along with the other instances involving Lacey Shea on social media. She was first taken to Shea’s by a now-ex boyfriend, who had been going to the bar for years. 

“I was shocked because me and my boyfriend, who is Black, always tried to support businesses that were pro-BLM, although many Reno businesses aren't too open about this. I talked to my ex and he was shocked and saddened that a bar that he used to enjoy is now a bar he would feel unsafe in,” our source said. She stated she would feel unsafe if her name was included. “I think if more people saw these images, rather than just hearing about the situation, they would take it more serious and realize that this is actually terrifying that there is a local bar that supports racism.” Reached for comment via social media, Lacy Shea and Shea’s Tavern have not responded.

This was one of Lacey Shea’s public apologies from her Facebook. The post is no longer visible to the public. Many initial commenters voiced their support for her.

Lacey Shea wrote she was power scroll liking, including this post which includes the double lightning bolt symbol associated with the Nazi SS corps, which pledged an oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler and helped execute the Holocaust. The Filthy Few slogan is associated with members of the Hell’s Angels who have committed murder on behalf of the biker gang.

Negative Reviews Shunned by Yelp

Some Reno locals have retaliated with negative Yelp reviews, which have been displaced for violating Yelp’s terms and services and only appear in another section called 37 Reviews Removed for Violating our Terms of Service where you can’t see them. Another removed section called “12 reviews for Shea's Tavern that are not currently recommended. Note: The reviews below are not factored into the business's overall star rating,” can be read, but are all from before these controversies.

Over 35 1-star reviews have been removed since April 4th, 2021. Due to this, they still have a 3.5-star rating. We contacted Reno-based Michael Tragash, who lists himself as community manager for Yelp. He pointed us to different pages of the website, including community guidelines, and what happens when a local business gains increased public attention: “When a local business makes the news for something controversial, people often go to Yelp with the intention of sharing their views on the situation in a review, photo, or other content. These comments typically don’t reflect a personal consumer experience with the business, which should always be the focus of user content on Yelp,” is the wording on Yelp.

Shea’s Facebook page has deleted any comments on the situation altogether.  On the Shea’s Tavern Instagram page, two comments on a recent post have been hidden, but are still viewable upon clicking on them. One says, “Fuck Nazis”, with 14 likes, while another says, “Nazi punks fuck off”, earning 31 likes. 

Though the original post has been locked, many memes have been posted about Lacey Shea and her tavern across local social media. A recent meme ties in Homegrown Gastropub. After being mentioned in a Reno citizen’s Facebook post, her brother and Homegrown Gastropub owner Spencer Shea (above) stated he is not affiliated with Shea’s Tavern.

Why the Media’s Silence?

Many who know about the social media outrage were confused as to why local news hadn’t covered it, while others were mad about the lack of substantial apology by Shea’s. Many Reddit commenters claimed the man who originally posted the photo worked for Shea’s, and was possibly in a relationship with Lacey Shea. Her Facebook status is currently “single”, and does not follow the account that made the original post. Since she didn’t respond for a direct interview, we couldn’t ask about her exact relationship with Instagram user jesuschrist666hamc.

Despite Lacey Shea’s claim that the caption on the post was not “The Fourteen Words” when she liked it, she was in a picture with someone whose own Instagram comments are filled with the lightning bolt emojis, representing the white supremacist symbol “SS”. It is difficult to believe that this man’s behaviors and beliefs were unknown to Lacey. 

This photo was posted on Lacey Shea’s old Instagram and confused many as to whether a Nazi salute was being celebrated. We tried to get direct comment from Lacey Shea but did not hear back.

Lastly, when scrolling to the very first post on @lacested, Lacey Shea’s previous Instagram account, this below is the first photo which appears from that account.

Another Reddit post was made in late April, reminding people to not forget about this.

Reporting by Rachel Jackson for Our Town Reno

Dwindling Cheering for Disappearing Sports Teams Despite Stadium Space

The Reno sports fan base, although it doesn’t expand much outside of the Sierras, has undergone a recent decline in attendance. Although the Nevada men’s basketball team saw a spike under former head coach Eric Musselman, he who would sometimes take his shirt off for on camera celebrations, the Wolf Pack football team saw its lowest total fan turnout in pre-pandemic days in 2019 (97,080 fans) since 2011 (93,685). It has been a troubling trend. The Reno Events Center would be riddled with open seats during the ten-year Reno Bighorn era which began in 2008.

Along with the Bighorns, the Biggest Little City in the world has been home to multiple college and minor league sports teams, many of them deceased.

In soccer, Reno 1868 FC made its debut in the USL Championship in March 2017 only to cease operations during the pandemic. Serving as minor league affiliate for the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer, Reno 1868 played in 120 games -- 60 at Greater Nevada Field -- and went 62-30-28 with a 2-4 playoff record in that tenure.  It attracted a small but loyal fan base, and crowds were bigger when there were special exhibition games involving teams from Mexico.

In ice hockey, the Reno Renegades started in the 1995–96 season in the WCHL, became the Reno Rage in 1997, but folded that season. They played in the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, and attracted attention when they signed female goaltender Manon Rhéaume who appeared in 11 regular season games for the during the 1996–97 season.

Greater Nevada Field still hosts the Minor League Baseball team, the Reno Aces. The Aces are a part of the Triple-A division -- the best among the six minor league divisions. Greater Nevada Field, formally called “Aces Ballpark”, has played host to the Aces since 2009. It can seat over 9,000 people.  With COVID-19 still going, they are scheduled to host 50 percent of its fire code capacity at Greater Nevada Field when the season opens next month.

The Reno Events Center is the former home of the Reno Bighorns, who served as the D-League affiliate of the Sacramento Kings for nine seasons, as well as hosting the Reno Barons and the Reno Express. The Reno Events Center holds up to 7,500 people.

The Bighorns played in the Reno Events Center (above) since the franchise formed prior to the 2008-09 D-League season. In their nine seasons, they went an even 225-225 -- including 34-16 in 2010-11 under Musselman, who also coached the Nevada Wolf Pack men’s basketball team from 2015-19. The Bighorns relocated permanently to Stockton, Calif., prior to the start of the 2018-19 season, renaming themselves the Stockton Kings.

The Barons, an arena football team, and the Express, an indoor professional football team, resided in Reno Events Center for one season each. The Barons logged just one win in its only game as a franchise. The Express went 6-6 in its lone season in 2019.  

Mackay Stadium is the current home to the Nevada Wolf Pack football and women’s soccer teams. The current Mackay Stadium finished construction in 1965 with an original seating capacity of approximately 7,500 people. Several renovations later, the half-century old stadium can seat up to 30,000 people, although that number was significantly limited this year due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

The original Mackay Stadium was constructed in 1908, named after Clarence Mackay, an American financier, chairman of the board of the Postal Telegraph and Cable Corporation and president of the Mackay Radio and Telegraph Company.

Lawlor Events Center (above) is the current home to the Nevada men’s and women’s basketball teams, seating over 11,000 people. It has hosted the men’s team since it opened in Nov. of 1983; it has played host to the women’s team since 1994-95. The highest attendance in the arena’s history was when it jam-packed 11,841 people in an intrastate battle between Nevada and UNLV in the 2016-17 season, where the Wolf Pack came out on top 104-77.  

The Virginia Street Gym, formally called the “Old Gym” has existed since 1945, seating up to 1,800 people. Although it has stood for nearly 80 years, it became the full-time home for the Wolf Pack volleyball team in 1994 after it was an all-sport arena for the 49 years prior. 

Peccole Park, which seats up to 3,000 people, has been the home to the Nevada Wolf Pack college baseball team since 1988. It also played host to the Reno Silver Sox from 2006 to 2008, when they were a part of the Golden Baseball League. It went 110-134 over that span. The Silver Sox are a now-ceased minor league baseball team who existed from 1947-1992 and 2006-08.

Speaking of the Silver Sox, they played in Moana Stadium in a first stint. Moana Stadium ballpark finished construction in 1946. The Silver Sox, a Class C affiliate of the New York Giants at the time, began playing at the beginning of the franchise’s establishment in 1947. The original stadium burned down in 1960, but was refurbished in the same location for the 1961 season. After the Silver Sox relocated in 1992, the historical ballpark stood for two more decades before it was destroyed in 2012. 

Why has Reno lost so many of their teams?

The reasons, depending on the organization, vary. For the Bighorns, one big reason the franchise was relocated was because Stockton was closer to Sacramento and the Kings; the travel from Stockton to Sacramento is 45 minutes, as opposed to the two-plus hours it takes from Reno to Sacramento. It makes it more readily accessible for fans, assistant coaches and scouts to track player development. It’s also easier for the players to travel in between sites. 

“Our NBA G League team has been an incredible asset to help prepare players for NBA action and bringing the team closer to Sacramento will allow us to continue to build on that success and increase efficiency to this valuable development tool … Kings fans in Stockton will now have an opportunity to see the next-generation of NBA players each week,” said Kings general manager Vlade Divac at the time, via a press release. 

In Nov. of 2020, the Reno 1868 FC announced it would cease because of the COVID-19 financial impact the franchise underwent. In their last stretch, no fans were permitted in the stadium for in-person seating for all but two playoff games. 

The Silver Sox relocated to Riverside, Calif., and became the Riverside Pilots in 1993 due to Moana Stadium’s subpar conditions. It returned in 2006 in Peccole Park, playing just three seasons there (as noted above). 

The Reno Barons cut their season after just one game due financial problems and inability to pay players. The Express took the 2020 season off to attract more of a following with the hopes of returning in 2021, but COVID-19 has halted their return. 

It seems expensive and not worth the hassle for those who have looked into it to have a new minor league hockey team in Reno, with bus travel back and over the pass being challenging during the winter and spring.

There hasn’t been just one answer; different factors have contributed to their downfalls. 

Reporting by Matt Hanifan for Our Town Reno

Alex Munoz, Studying the Geography of our Unhoused Neighbors

Our Town Reno reporters, Richard Bednarski and Gracie Gordon sat down with Muñoz in a podcast studio to learn more about what exactly spatial geography is and what he hopes to learn from his master’s thesis research. This Question & Answer interview sheds light on how he chose to study in Reno and became part of the community.

Richard Bednarski: What were some of the biggest surprises you had when you first came to Reno?

Alex Muñoz: I think it's interesting to see the bigger picture in the U.S., because the differences are that it doesn't look like Europe but the U.S. are kind of the same. We are these like and I quote like, Western culture, but it's everything, it's very different. One of the first things I noticed, and this is a stupid cliche, but everything has a bigger. For example, I think like before coming here, I only saw in the streets [of his hometown], one pickup truck in my whole life. And there are around 15, on my street [in Reno]. And you know, this makes sense here because it's near to rural areas. Everything is bigger here. Everything is greater. I didn't know. I grew up with the American culture, every cinema you go, every movie theater, you go in Barcelona, like it is probably then more than 70% of the offer is American. So I kind of have this preconceived idea of what living in the U.S. is, or even like what being American means. And I think it's cool to see how this happens in not, and a lot of that is also in Reno, certainly.

Alex is a founding member of Laundry to the People.

Richard Bednarski: So how did you land on Reno and the University of Nevada?

Alex Muñoz: So with my advisor in Barcelona, I shared these interests for human and oral geography with him. And he put me in contact with my advisor here, Dr. Casey Lynch. And I started reading what he was doing. I got really, really interested. He said that he could offer me a position as an assistant here and the possibility of doing my masters. And I was in LA at that time So I flew to Reno, I met with him and that was it.

Richard Bednarski: You are studying human and urban geography. What are some of the goals for your research?

Alex Muñoz: What I am particularly interested in, is to see how social relationships happen spatially in the urban setting. For example, like going back to Reno and what my research can be in Reno, I'm really interested in inequality and how it's reproduced spatially in the city. So I want to focus my thesis on working on the homelessness issue here in Reno, actually talking about that geographical topic I would observe in the city and see how this inequality happens inside the, city fabric.

“[Reno] is changing rapidly. And I saw that being here and everyone I talked to, they are being here for 10, 20, 30 years. They described the city today, nothing to do with the city that they knew when they moved here initially. And you know, all these relations with the tech industry and how it's shifting socially and economically the city. It's very, very interesting. I said to my advisor, why should I move to Reno? They just have to send me the second season of The City Podcast with Anjeanette Damon. And I will be completely hooked and say, okay, you know what, I'm going to that city, I'm going to live in that city.”

Gracie Gordon: So could you briefly explain what critical urban geography is and like what practicality it may have?

Alex Muñoz: Urban geography is a sub-discipline that studies cities and urban processes. This is really broad. Like you can have thousands of research topics relating to the area or I feel like you can be interested in transportation in planning and economic and human flows that happen in the city. As I said, my interest in how inequality is reproduced and using the spatial formulas as a topic. For me, critical geography, I see it as our perspective, acknowledging how we relate to our environment and the sociopolitical structures that kind of organize these environments. And this means that the social scientist, our work is not like it can not be objective. That's what you have to acknowledge. I think when you think of being a critical geographer and as a geographer, this means like understanding myself as a subject that is observing the environment and challenging the kind of absolute ideas that can be produced and trying to find alternative views and ways of observing these special relations.

With this example, I think I would like to look at the political map. There's like some absolute knowledge that, you know, this is a country, this is a border, this is another country. And this is how things are. And things are stable and they can not be moved. But if you zoom in to the border, you're going to see that that's not really what happens like borders are kind of like hybrid spaces and there's modeling, there's cultural contact, there's personal contact. I think of the border with Spain and France in the Pyrenees [mountains]. If you're thinking of the political map, you're okay from this side to this side, your Spanish or Catalan from this side to the other, you're French. 

But if you actually visit the Pyrenees and this border, it's awesome. The people living on one side of the border have more, have more in common to the people on the other side of the border than they have with me. And we share the same passport, the same ID, the same like nationality or whatever, but they are more in common between them. And if you look, as I say, as they are the absolute, like idea of the map, you're not going to see these relations and you have to look at these alternative beers to observe how these, um, relationships happen and why and how. And I think that's interesting,

A Downtown ambassador telling the group Reno Soup for the Soul they can’t serve food near a bar on 4th Street.

Richard Bednarski: Can you elaborate what you want to get out of your master's thesis in regards to the homeless and the houseless community here in Reno?

Alex Muñoz: The thesis is still nearly in an early stage, but my idea is to build the thesis observing secure encampments. I want to do it through the case of the new Governor’s Bowl shelter, which is a projected secure camp kind of design. And so I'm really interested in how is this camp organized and how they reproduce these dualities between caring and banishing that happens in homelessness policy? Where you want to help people and you get resources for them at the same time, the activities that the homeless people reproduce in the city sometimes are banned and restricted in our laws. So there's this contrast between services and caring for them at the same time, you have to punish them for not having a house, which is crazy.

For me, it's easier to think that I can go to the bathroom. I have a bathroom in my office. I have a bathroom in my house, but if I live in the streets and I don't have a job, my only bathroom is, you know, the public place. I want to observe this duality. And my focus is especially on how the people that opt to move there, or the people that opt not to move there, experience that and observe this difference and try to help to see how we can do that policy and that kind of service is more attractive or more useful for them.

Gracie Gordon: What do you think the community is doing well to address homelessness in Reno?

Alex Muñoz: I would say that I'm amazed by the kind and amount of self organizing groups that take action. Like I'm shocked. Like one connects to one, this one connects to another, and I don't know how many, like little groups there are that self-organized, self-owned and are really constant. And there are a lot of rules in this community and I don't know if that's something that has to do with the country or with the city, but I am just amazed. People that get food, people that get clothing, people that get services and, you know, use their own time to do that. I really want to think that this is like a thing that only happens here and I'm amazed about that.

Advocate Michael Carson does a Facebook Live during a recent sweep.

Gracie Gordon: How did you get involved with helping out our homeless neighbor?

Alex Muñoz: I think it has a lot to do with the fact that my roommate is Blaize Abuntori. I think that marked my relationship to this and how to take action. And I always explain the same story, how the Reno Burrito Project, you know, shocked my life. The first weekend that I was in my own house, it was like a Saturday and there were a lot of people bringing him food and water, like huge amounts of food and like huge packaging though for water. And I was like, okay, I don't know what's happening. Something weird is happening in my house. And at some point that day Blaize came into my room and he was really apologetic. And I think that says a lot about Blaize. He said ‘this is happening because we have this project called the Reno Burrito Project where we meet here. You know, people bring food for making burritos. And then tomorrow, we're going to hand them out. I'm really sorry. You know, that this is happening here’.

Gracie Gordon: And did it just spark your interest immediately?

Alex Muñoz: I was already interested, I live near downtown, I already see what's happening in the city. So that kind of like got me thinking that, you know, that there's a way of taking action. And a few months later I was talking to Blaize about the thing that people in Tent City actually have to throw away, like their clothes. Because they don't have any way of washing them. And I've never thought of that. And we were talking about underwear and how they're in desperate need of getting underwear and moving underwear between like the different organizations to bring underwear to the tent city. I use a clean pair every day. So if I was living in the street, I would need a new one. Then he told me that he knew Ilya and Rosie, and that they were starting this,   Laundry to the People project. So I got on board as soon as I could.

“I felt very terrible he was apologizing to me for something that was happening in my house, that was amazing. I was like, what kind of person do you think I am that you shouldn't be apologizing for?”

Richard Bednarski: Is there anything in the community that you've noticed that, and it could be city, it could be community members, that isn't working to help alleviate the struggles that the houseless community have to deal with?

Alex Muñoz: With homelessness is that it has so many edges and different problems, that it is really difficult to find an answer that unifies all the problems and helps solve them. I think that housing affordability is one of the biggest issues and we kind of focus on what we see, which is like when people are like living … on the corner of your street, but maybe we should try to focus on what happens before and like help people to maintain their own houses or to actually help people find affordable housing. And this is the hardest part. I don't see myself with the kind of authority to say this is not working. For example, through meeting Grant Denton and the River Stewards, I saw a different approach. Like not only saying, okay, this is going to work and let's apply, but, let's meet the people that  we're gonna give the services to and that way we can see what their needs are and how we can help them.

I'm not sure if that approach is being used outside of this example. I don't know if the houseless people actually have a voice in the important meetings or have a voice on the policies that act upon them.

Richard Bednarski: Can you tell us about a moment or an interaction you had with a homeless person and explain how it went? 

Alex Muñoz": I have had a few with the Laundry to the People and the few times that I've been out with the Reno Burrito Project. Also kind of like starting a conversation and talking to people like, and I think that's part of what makes these projects interesting is that they're not only providing some material thing, but also, conversation and understanding that goes both ways.

I'm not talking about any paternalistic way, you know, I'm such a good person. You know, I talked with the houseless people. That's not what I'm saying. It's by their action and if I want to help him provide the service, I need to know the people. I remember one time that I was with The Reno Burrito Project and as soon as I talk, everyone knows that I'm not from here because of my accent. So they asked me, Oh, ‘where are you from’? I said, Oh, I'm from Barcelona and that person was a veteran. So we were talking about, you know, he's been touring through Europe and these and that, and the conversation kind of like when different set different directions. Then he said that he had a job and he was going to move to a motel with his brother. 

That conversation was great to have. We were talking about how you can change your life and how this little thing that happened can, you know, help you move on and change. We were talking about things like food in Spain and things in Spain and things in Catalonia. I had a great time. I could see his happiness for going to the motel and kind of like feeling that he was restarting again.

“So regarding the houseless crisis, the message I would like to voice is, take action, it's way easier than it seems like. I know I'm lucky that I just had the Reno Burrito Project that entered my life and showed me that it's kind of easy to do these things. I've just been here a few months and you know, I'm already involved with the Laundry to the People and it's easy to do in Reno. It's the easiest thing to do if you have some experience, some knowledge that you think that can be helpful, just go for it. And if not, just get interested in what people are doing, call them and everyone here is happy to collaborate.”

Q and A with Alex Munoz for Our Town Reno by Gracie Gordon and Richard Bednarski

Troy, Hoping the Nevada Cares Campus Will Help Him on Path to Sobriety

“This new one they’re building,” Troy, 53, said, overlooking ongoing preparations for the new Nevada Cares Campus at the old Governor’s Bowl location “is supposed to be huge.”

Troy is glad the shelter will serve both men and women but other than that he says he knows nothing else about its exact plans. He says he does plan on sleeping there when it opens and he hopes it will be different than the current place he resides at, the temporary tent shelter on 4th street.  “Too many rude people,” he said. The new campus might have even more, as local law enforcement and authorities are threatening sweeps and citations against those still camping once it opens, now scheduled later this month. Volunteers of America will remain as the operator. The opening will be staggered. Much of what’s been promised is not ready yet. Advocates, including a few formerly houseless, themselves have expressed concern this might be “warehousing,” where people with different problems are lumped together, which tends to create even more hostile environments.

Troy is thinking more of reorienting himself, and hopes a new shelter might offer him a new path. He has lived here in Reno for about three years and is originally from Eugene, Oregon. He says he has struggled with drinking and recently started a new program.

“I’ve had the money two or three times but I end up drinking it away,” he said. “But I’m doing this new program and will be doing a little treatment.”

Wraparound services at the Cares Campus are for future phases, not yet funded, or fully agreed upon.

Reporting and photos by Richard Bednarski for Our Town Reno

Trying to Report about an Out of Control Downtown Reno Ambassador

It was last Saturday, as a street medic awareness session was followed by a “Stop Police Terror” protest organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation at the Believe plaza.

But as we arrived, several street medics and bystanders kept referring to a downtown Reno ambassador who had allegedly berated them with strange rants, and then apparently returned, took off his shirt and berated them more with incoherent and threatening language, before being escorted away by another ambassador.

One of those targeted, Jake Maynard, shared with us a photo, which we tweeted out. Others on social media immediately grew concerned with this situation, while some, including journalists, reached out to us, saying they didn’t believe this was an ambassador, wondering why we were publicizing someone’s apparent meltdown. But what about the words he was yelling, we wondered, making people feel unsafe, especially coming from a uniformed and then shirtless “ambassador”? What about his position of authority trying to intimidate law abiding protesters? Did his uniform and Segway confuse them?

“My initial reaction to the ambassador was that he was not a good example of Reno. He responded to the medic, who wasn’t aware of who the ambassadors were, as he wasn’t from Reno, with aggression. The medic asked him if he was affiliated with law enforcement, and he said no, he wasn’t. I don’t recall if the medic responded with ‘good’ or ‘ok,’ but from there, the ambassador said something along the lines of ‘Who would your sister call if she was getting raped?’ to which the medic replied, ‘probably me.’ This seemed to visibly upset the ambassador, but he drove off on the Segway. The initial interruption caught everyone off guard as he approached from behind us and just started yelling. He then called us a ‘gang’ and told us that we were breaking the rules of the Believe plaza and pointed at the sign and told us to leave.”

One medic, Larry, told reporter Rachel Jackson he was there to support the protest and “teach some basic street medicine.” He said the ambassador had also tried to stop their gathering. “He had tried to shoo us off before, but we didn’t exceed the guidelines. He said 25 people or more, and we were like ‘dude, there’s like ten of us.’ And then he came back out of uniform, and then even more out of uniform because he ripped his shirt off, trying to fight a group of us, swearing in front of children, and saying how someone was raping family members of participants, and that you would want to call police. And we were just like ‘dude like there like kids … here. And then he just kept trying to fight everyone to the point where he almost got Maced by a bunch of people.”

Our Instagram post was finally met with an official statement, but it didn’t exactly confirm whether the heckler was indeed an ambassador.

Larry says the ambassador returned again, lunging toward the group, trying to fight, only to be escorted away, apparently by another Reno ambassador.

Maynard also elaborated on the bizarreness of the heckling and threats as these concluded with another ambassador on hand.

“When he returned to the area out of uniform he firstly interrupted the medic’s demonstration by saying ‘I’m here with my black friend’ and standing next to a Black guy who I also believe to be an ambassador and looked extremely embarrassed during the whole interaction. Other members of the medic group started to argue with him and told him to leave, and that just made him angrier to the point where he called us “f*ggots” and then took his shirt off to try to fight members of the medic group.” At this point, Maynard said “his friend began to hold him back and try to move him out of the area. Most of us were just standing there thinking,  ‘Is this really happening?’ I’ve seen people get upset and haggle at protests before, but this guy went further than I’ve personally seen before and had to be physically escorted away.”

After collecting these testimonies, we tried to get in touch with the Reno Ambassadors but they kept ignoring our calls, or who knows, maybe not taking them seriously. Journalists and bystanders kept casting doubt over our social media posts. After several tries, Chris Reardon eventually replied by text, and when asked if the man was an ambassador, Reardon replied “I confirn that he is not in a[sic] Ambassador uniform and that a picture of him is not of concern. Have a good night.”

A bizarre text exchange also did not confirm whether the aggressive heckler was an ambassador.

The event ended with a sense of hope. Activists marching in the protest continued to emphasize that individuals have the power to create ripples of change. And before the protesters went their separate ways, a member from the crowd was called upon to chant cheers, and all the audience embraced the enthusiasm from their peers. 

Bob Conrad from This is Reno followed up by interviewing the marketing manager for the Business Improvement District called the Downtown Reno Partnership and got this quote below for an updated article:

This made us think of many other instances, where employees are not direct hires, which is then used as an extra layer away from accountability, such as the contractor who pepper sprayed a man who didn’t get out of bed fast enough at the current temporary big tent shelter.

We sent a message on the general Streetplus page, which has its closest offices in San Francisco but did not hear back yet. Here was our message: “The Our Town Reno reporting collective is looking into a downtown Reno ambassador who engaged in threatening conduct at a protest last Saturday, both in uniform and then returning shirtless, and we were wondering if Streetplus has a comment about this. Is training sufficient for ambassadors to deal with protests? What type of training do they get before going out in the community and do you believe it's sufficient? Some protesters were confused by their uniform as they had not encountered them before. Has that been a problem before and is that under review? Thank you for your time.”

Reporting by Gracie Gordon shared with Our Town Reno

Gentrifying Reno, A Personal Essay and Picture Series from a Student's Perspective

Reno, Nevada, is constantly changing and proceeding with new construction plans almost every day, with barriers and bulldozers in every corner. But what does this mean for the older buildings that are being pushed out by the newer buildings? What does this mean for the people who lived in torn down motels and can’t afford new apartment buildings with fancy names. A student journalist at UNR Alexandra Rush writes about her own experience watching the Midtown and Downtown area change throughout the years.

I have lived in Reno, Nevada, for almost two decades–which means the change I have seen in not only the buildings, but the population has been astounding. I began college in the Fall semester of 2018. It was my first time living in Northern Reno versus Southern Reno and I was struggling to get used to the busy streets that were filled with many people and old buildings that looked like they were decaying.

That same semester, they began construction in Midtown and it became a one way street. That construction continued for longer than I expected– over a year. Every time I went down to the area, I saw more and more change happen. I saw people who were homeless with their carts of living supplies walk down the streets that were abundant with workers, orange cones and construction vehicles. Of course, this was a shock because even before this construction, Midtown was a very different place. I had only been down there a few times when I was younger, in middle school and high school, and these upscale, modern buildings like the Acai Cafe and Pizzava did not exist.

Honestly speaking, many people I know, including myself, really didn’t want to go to Midtown because it wasn’t the young, hip place it is now. Now my friends and others I know go there on the weekend just for fun. When I see someone pushing a filled up cart amid all the change, it makes me wonder about their story. Was the person a victim of inflating rent prices in the area? Are they being pushed out by newer businesses? It could be anything. But I know for sure that this scene happens almost daily as this area continues to transform and modernize.

A variety of advertisements among the streets of Midtown during construction. Many diverse buildings are seen, both modern and old. Photo by: Alexandra Rush

I am certain that parts of the old Midtown still exist, but are slowly being pushed out. A new type of spirit embodies it now– one filled with hip bars, trendy thrift shops and new age restaurants. It is exciting to see this change and to see this new life instilled into part of the city, but what does it entail for the older residents and businesses there?

To me, gentrification means historic buildings that have meaning being overtaken by more corporate, more expensive businesses. As rents rise, it sometimes becomes impossible for the older buildings to hold their place. This also affects the older residents that are being pushed out by apartments with insanely high rent. These apartment buildings that I have seen seem to all look very similar with dull colors and matching square windows overlooking the city.

When I look over West Street, I see these apartment buildings called the ‘3rd Street Flats’ that are green and grey. It’s a square building that hosts two businesses underneath– the Bab Cafe and the Urban Market. Surrounding this building which rents out its room for a fairly expensive price, is a pretty large unhoused population that often sits on the corners of the sidewalks watching the residents shop from the new Urban Market and walk back up to their rooms. My role as a photographer while shooting these areas is quite unique. When I look back at the many pictures I have taken throughout the years, I see everything changing. The pictures I took of Midtown this year and last are two different parts of Reno. Though it seems like the construction is taking a long time, in truth, everything is evolving quite rapidly.

A view from above reveals a variety of buildings on West Street. The 3rd Street Flats, Kwoks Bistro and an old motel can be seen all in the same area. Photo by: Alexandra Rush

Many motels in the downtown area are being converted to upscale apartments in order to accommodate for a new and growing population. That being said, this leaves a specific population without access to housing. Motels can be good living accommodations if people are short on money and looking to have shelter without renting pricy apartments that require deposits, background checks and monthly rent, along with utilities. Often I am walking down the streets and I see how much these converted motels are increasing the population without shelter. Again, though I previously lived in southern Reno, I still saw how motels decreased and apartments increased. I still see motels around Reno, but I can tell that they are one day going to probably disappear as well. It’s strange knowing how large Reno’s population has grown and how many buildings have built to host this surge of people. The ‘Biggest Little City in the World’ is starting to look more and more like any other city. 

One of the motels on West Street. Behind it is the Montage Apartments and the Eldorado. The contrast between the buildings is quite stark. Photo by: Alexandra Rush

More recently, never ending construction has moved to areas surrounding the University of Nevada, Reno campus and the freeway as well (what locals here consider the ‘spaghetti bowl’). The change around UNR took many students by surprise with the demolition of The U and Textbook Brokers. A few of the old houses around there were moved at the request of faculty members and historical advocates so that they were not demolished. This section of campus was especially historical with the old houses. Now there’s a newly designed bus stop. The construction went all the way up Virginia Street to Archies. They constructed a new roundabout and a bus lane. The freeway is consistently changing as well. Even as of today, every day I drive down, there is a new addition. According to local news, this construction is expected to continue for over a decade. I understand why these changes are happening, but it is sad to see the character of Reno slowly disappear.

Many buildings remain unvacated, and available for rent with no potential renters. In the meanwhile, others go without shelter, unable to afford these high priced places. Photo by: Alexandra Rush

I saw an infographic a little while ago showing the estimated homeless population compared to empty houses. The amount of houses that could host this population would be enough to cover them and even more people. Yet it seems the problem is only getting worse. Compared to when I was younger, I believe that the issue involving homelessness in Reno has gotten much worse. Every time I get off the freeway on my way to campus, I don’t go a day without seeing a person on the sidewalk with a sign– no matter the weather– snowing, rainy, sweltering hot. There are even anti-homeless construction projects that I see where they put spikes or rails on benches and other countermeasures for people without shelter. I have personal relations with family members who have been homeless for periods of time, so to me it is odd to think that we are spending money on countermeasures and new buildings instead of helping the unhoused.

One of the older motels in Midtown stays up despite the changing environment around it. It still hosts residents and has not yet been bought out. Photo by: Alexandra Rush

Gentrification is happening all across the globe, and even more rapidly in other cities. Is it possible to stop it? I am not sure myself. The more we grow as a society, the more we move away from historic buildings and older neighborhoods, and the more we opt for modern, trendy and corporate buildings. I myself feel like this is a huge loss of character. It is creating issues that we can’t solve. It is interesting to me to see how Reno will change in the upcoming years. Though I may not live here in the future, my family does live here so I will continue observing this transformation. There are many advocate groups that want to stop gentrification. Should society have a more empathetic stance on older neighborhood populations and stop the modernization and inflation of rent in these areas? I would argue yes, seeing what has happened in Reno. My own experience is not unique here. I am sure others have witnessed the same change, and hopefully in the future we may show more empathy towards the residents of old neighborhoods and deny this gentrification.

Essay and Photo Series by Alexandra Rush for Our Town Reno

Sana Sana, an Artist Fusing Creativity and Activism to Protect Humans, Land and Water

“I was pretty much born an artist, but I feel like I didn’t really start coming into my own,” said Sana Sana, a local visual and hip hop artist “until I dedicated my art to saying something that was meaningful to the people and for the land.”

He does not believe art and activism are independent of one another. He goes by Sana, which is Spanish for heal as his chosen name because of the song mothers from his community sing to their kids when they get hurt, sana sana colita de rana. 

Originally from Milwaukee, Sana Sana came to Reno about fifteen years ago. His artwork is based in illustration, having worked as a tattoo artist for fifteen years. As the pandemic wore on, he chose to leave a local shop. It was an opportunity to break out on his own and focus more on his work and be selective about whom he tattoos. 

Sana Sana draws heavily on his ancestry for not just inspiration but also to live up to who he is. His family goes back to the people of central Mexico where he says poetry is the highest form of expression. “When something moves me to say something, that’s when I create,” he said “that can be either an illustration or it can be a song.” His mother’s side is Coahuilteca, an Indigenous group from southern Texas and his father’s side is Purépecha, a group of people living in Michoacán, located in central Mexico. 

Sana Sana prefers pen and ink as a medium. He enjoys the accessibility it offers. These two pieces highlight how he draws inspiration from the land and his Indigenous roots. 

One of his current pursuits is working with kids and teaching them art, everything from drawing to poetry. He feels this is a great way for kids to handle the realities of life, especially during a pandemic. It can become he says a positive outlet for frustrations and anger and sadness. “A lot of kids are really resilient and they’re dealing with real things, they just need a way to use their voice in a way that doesn’t give them negative consequences,” he said.

Another outlet for Sana Sana is his hip hop. He always wanted to put his words to music but without a background in music, struggled to make it happen. So when a friend asked him to be in a musical, Sana Sana thought, why not? The musical gave him a taste of not just performance but memorization and “eventually it just clicked, the timing clicked,” he said “I can’t wait till this is done so I can start writing my own music,” he said.

And that is just what he did and the hip hop duo Niño Santo was born. Not a fan of abstract art, he feels like art should be clear and make a statement. That much is true in some of his lyrics. He feels having a platform to speak obligates him to say something important and his activism drives him to produce compelling songs and lyrics that turn people’s attention to issues that need to be addressed. 

A Soundcloud track which can be found here: https://soundcloud.com/ninosantomusic/sana-sana-freestyle-pbnj-radio-show

“My life isn’t safe as it is, being an Indigenous person,” Sana Sana explained “it’s not safe just existing, our existence is resistance.” He spoke to the struggles Indigenous and people of color face in today’s society being a driving force for his lyrics. 

“I’m not trying to call out anybody,” he said “but I’m here to call out people’s structures that we have internally that make us not be the best human beans we can be.” 

He also draws a lot from his readings. He looks to books for inspiration and to place himself in the context of others’ struggles in order to better understand the situation in today’s society. His hip hop group, composed of himself and his brother, Rubevelli, recently released an album. One of the videos goes where no other hip hop video has gone before, showing Sana Sana and others planting a small seedling in a wildfire burn area.

“It’s an opportunity to tell a story,” Sana explained about the video “and we wanted to be honest.” He says he does not like to tell stories that are not real to him, drawing inspiration from his community and the elders whom he seeks advice from. He does not portray a reality that is not true to his own but instead links himself and the community to the land. He also wants to draw attention to climate change. “These fires are a real reality that I want to draw attention to,” he said.

“I never want to get people pissed off without making them feel empowered,” Sana Sana explained. He elaborated by saying that people have the ability to be the problem a lot of the time, but notably, they have the power to be part of the solution, he said he “really wanted to paint that picture” with the music video. 

Sana Sana has directed much of his activism toward local issues. He has been helping Beverly and Autumn Harry, a Navajo and Paiute Indigenous mother and daughter duo, clean up trash along the river and feed the houseless community. “When I lean towards social movements, I always can’t help but think of the land first,” he said. 

He understands the importance of social justice issues and draws racism together with the environment through the idea of dehumanization. He says that people need to improve their relationship with the land and water in order to move past the racism of today’s society. 
“My approach is always calling truth; always speaking the truth,” he said “and if I’m wrong, to admit I am wrong, because I am human and go from there.” He wants people to be accountable for themselves, to get their hands dirty, to get out there and meet people. He believes everybody has the power to be an activist and encourages everyone to become one through lifestyle changes. 

“I hope that the community of Reno can take the time to really understand what it’s like to be somebody else,” Sana Sana said “I feel that people inside our society have this way that they lean into just thinking about themselves.” He encourages people to try and step back and really see situations outside of themselves. “I really challenge everybody inside our community” he said “if you see a houseless person, instead of judging them, talk to that person.”   

Reporting by Richard Bednarski for Our Town Reno

UNR Group Speaks out Against University Police Taking Part in Looming Sweeps

UNR Police Takes Part in Threats of Oncoming Sweeps

In a recent notification posted by UNR Police on UNR land away from the main campus, houseless individuals were notified of the upcoming opening of the CARES Campus, followed by an order to vacate the area. The flyer cited Sparks Municipal Code 9.48.030, which states that camping on public property is illegal “within 350 feet of the shore of the Truckee River.”

At a recent CHAB (Community Homeless Advisory Board) meeting, a UNR police representative said one police staff was doing two days a week of outreach in that river area.

A phone call to UNR Police Services and a conversation with Eric James, listed as Assistant Chief of UNRPD, pointed me towards the direction of the Sparks “H.O.P.E Team”, which stands for Homeless Outreach Proactive Engagement. The flyer was said to be part of a “regional effort” by Reno and Sparks PD, including UNRPD.

After we posted a photo of the flyer on the Our Town Reno Instagram page as well as on our Twitter https://twitter.com/ourtownreno, angry comments poured in. One of those was from Elise Campbell (she/they), a student at UNR and member of a group called FUSED UNR. Campbell said those looking to connect to the local houseless population could donate food, water, and other necessities by contacting either themself or the FUSED UNR Instagram page.

After getting into contact with Elise and FUSED’s president, Ro Gil (they/them), we set up a call to talk about what FUSED UNR is, why UNR Police may be conducting sweeps, and what are the other solutions to this issue.

Elise Campbell (top left), Ro Gil (bottom left), and Rachel Jackson (bottom right) spoke over Zoom about FUSED UNR and how the club relates to Reno’s police and houseless community through social work. Visual by Rachel Jackson.

FUSED Concerns

While neither Campbell or Gil were born in Reno, they both consider the Biggest Little City their home. As members of FUSED, they are focused on social justice movements and ways to create change through social work. Campbell and Gil are both social work majors with interests in macro social work, which includes lobbying, policy-making, and global social work in contrast to individual case work and therapy that micro social work entails.

FUSED UNR is a club of about 10 or so consistent members who are involved in multiple social movements. In the past, they have done fundraisers with the ACLU, a collaboration with Nevada’s attorney general on a bill to end no-knock warrants, and a march with Indigenous people to Mackay Statue which resulted in a petition to get rid of the statue (the sculptor was a member of the KKK). They also have educational talks with guest speakers on issues like mass incarceration.

When asked about their thoughts on Reno, Campbell compared the city to the many other places they’ve lived as a child in a military family.

“There's a, like a lot of pretty lights and there's a lot of fun things to do and tattoo parlors and like, um, you know, everything like that. But, uh, when you start to look at like the background and like, notice that, you know, on Virginia street, for example, just like the gentrification and the amount of properties that have been demolished even like specifically right next to the University for that bus stop.” Campbell said, later commenting on Reno’s handling of the housing crisis: “there's obviously a huge, huge problem in Reno specifically, just because I don't think you could go to any intersection, any street intersection without seeing someone with a sign, you know, asking for some spare change or anything like that.”

FUSED has been fundraising through tee shirts.

Having Social Workers Do Work Instead of Police Outreach

In response to looming sweeps on camps of houseless individuals, Gil voiced their solution of taking the money used to conduct the sweeps and giving it to social workers and services to help the houseless individuals affected. “Sometimes I do not understand human beings and how they can see a dog on the street or a cat on the street, and everybody huddles around them and like, ‘Hey, let's help this dog. This dog is lost,’ you know, and they can see another human being and they just turn a blind eye and don't even care, you know, and, and call the police on them and, and do things like that. Like it, just, to me, it does not make sense,” Gil said. 

“It's just crazy that they're making these requirements and these rules like that, but they're also, they're not willing to provide even like a water spigot here, you know, where you can get clean water or anything like that,” Campbell said of the 350-feet rule.

Campbell went on to describe how university money going towards UNR Police could be directed towards a social services coordinator position on campus.

FUSED UNR is currently recruiting members for the upcoming fall semester, and also held a donation drive on April 18, partnering with the Reno Burrito Project.

Reporting by Rachel Jackson for Our Town Reno

Puff Puff Pass the Love Spreads Generosity

Puff Puff Pass The Love describes themselves as “a beginning stage community of cannabis supporters who love giving back”, and with a name like Puff Puff Pass the Love, one might assume the focus of the organization is centered around cannabis, but this is not the case.

Puff Puff Pass The Love has been helping houseless communities in Reno obtain the resources they may have a hard time obtaining themselves, such as healthy food through regular distributions, bedding, and sanitary items such as baby wipes and hand sanitizer. In a community like Reno which has a population of hundreds and hundreds of individuals without stable shelter, this is no small undertaking.

I attended an April outing of the group at the homeless camp located under the Wells Street Bridge. Being relatively new to reporting I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. One might expect a feeling of doom and gloom when attending an event like this, especially in a town like Reno with an ever-growing affordable housing crisis, but what stuck out the most to me was the sense of community I felt between the volunteers and those they were helping. Although the distribution itself lasted only around ten to fifteen minutes between the volunteers showing up in their SUV, handing out food to everyone in line, and packing up and heading out, I could tell that the volunteers had a passion for helping those who need it.

The SUV Tony Doara and another volunteer served food out of to the people residing in the camp. “The people are happy for our help and we’re happy to help them,” she said. The group has an Amazon Wishlist here: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1Q5VWNFLOHMHO?ref_=wl_share&fbclid=IwAR0v8yBrEB_cTaYStzB2FotXw1IwHspLDafdfecMkmkjHCeXlLr3qDQ5lwA

Reporting by Christion McLeran shared with Our Town Reno

Life in a Tent City Before the Opening of the Nevada Cares Campus

Last Easter Sunday, I travelled to a tent city near Wells and 4th Street to document a day in the life of the houseless community living there. The overcast day brought heavy winds, often blowing against and through tents lined up next to the railroad tracks. The lack of sunshine and dust in the air made for a dismal scene next to the rushing Truckee River. Crossing the threshold from “riverside” apartments to the world of the unhoused on Easter, and the final day of Passover, brought a new meaning to one of the holiest days of the year for me. Despite this, volunteers with Reno Soup for the Soul showed up in tow with food and water to share. While these good deeds brought joy, volunteers can only heal symptoms of the housing crisis. Action is needed to solve the root of the problem: houselessness. The only solution to this problem? Homes. 

The park rules and regulations, posted near the bank of the river, states rules including a ban of, “camping, storing personal belongings or washing clothes.” However, for now at least, houseless individuals have been urged to move to this area, rather than other areas of town, as a new super sized shelter campus prepares to open in late April.

 A person walks on a bridge over the Truckee River, towards the tent city. 

On the other side of the river, new apartments are being built under the advertisement of being “riverside” locations. 

 A person sleeps near the side of a building without shelter.

Volunteers push through the wind to hand out food and water.

 A man walks across the bridge above an area of graffitied rock, painted with the words, “No Hope, No Love”.

The words “NO TRESPASSING” are spray painted onto a pillar of the bridge, nearby the tents. Local officials and officers have been allowing people to stay in the area without removing them, for now.

A group of three volunteers wheel a cooler of food and water to tents tucked away under the main road.

 A volunteer chats with someone in their tent, as he holds a bottle of water in his hands. In the background, an apartment is adorned with the American flag and a Pride flag.

Photo Essay by Rachel Jackson shared with Our Town Reno

Patches and Shannon, Two Women Surviving in Reno's Tent City

On an early morning by the Wells Avenue bridge, downtown Reno ambassadors roam around on Segways; cops respond to disturbance calls, and two women attempt to clean out their tents in hopes of making the area feel more like home. Ahead of a new Cares campus, this is where people living in tents are being allowed to stay, but that may all change soon, with sweeps being threatened, and police refusing to hire more social workers, despite pleas from advocates.

Shannon Moore, 32, has lived in Reno for 30 years and has been homeless for the past six years. Moore feels invisible because of her current state of living. To her, being a woman and homeless comes with severe challenges.

“I can't even take a shower now,” she said. “You know, like they have two different men's shelters for men to do whatever they want all day long, be drunk on beer and all that. And they can take showers.  The women’s shelter is all the way (across town).  And when you get there, you can't get in and take a shower, not unless you have a bed there and the bed wait is like a month.” 

Now instead of showering Moore has to boil water and clean herself. Moore feels uncared for. She says she’s not worried about COVID-19 as she has worse to worry about, such as, she says, recovering from recently being shot in the head. She says she used to sleep in just a lawn chair so it’s been worse for ever.

The tent where Moore was sleeping in, saying the shelter for women is already full.

“There is a lot of perspective. You know, you have that loyalty and respect for yourself, not just yourself, but if you know yourself, then you've got loyalty,” Patches explained of the predicament of being a woman out on the streets. “I’m a girl,  you know, people out here hate that. It's all about themselves and not doing what they're supposed to do. They take and take from other people, you know, and people get mad.”

Patches says she longs to have a home for herself, but has endured mistreatment from landlords and even loved ones. The homeless camps have brought friendship and relationships for both Moore and Patches. Moore has friends that “always got her back,” and Patches has a girlfriend. 

Both Patches and Moore take great pride in their tent homes they have created. Moore took the morning to clean out her whole tent. “I had it all fancy. I have my bed. I put my blanket down and then my tablecloth thingy that's like pretty fancy. ”

Patches even tries to help other clean up their sleeping areas. “I'm a person that gets along with everybody,” she said. “Right. Everybody loves me. Cause when you hear Patches up and down the street, or anywhere people live, they all know me. They know who I am. I'm a good person. I'm down to earth people. I help anybody in the whole world.” 

Patches does say people are jealous of each other in the encampment and will sometimes trash each other’s possession or burn tents out of spite.

Both women have plans for the future. Moore hopes to go  to rehab in Fallon so that she can see her 14-year-old son again who is in a “facility” in Las Vegas, and Patches hopes to move back in with her adult son at some point. Homelessness was neither woman’s choice nor plan, but the world sometimes has other plans and its harshness can cause unintended consequences. They both expressed their hopes for a better world for homeless women to be seen and cared for.

Reporting by Gracie Gordon with Photos by Rachel Jackson for Our Town Reno

Laundry to the People Fills a Local Gap in Volunteer Help

Helping those Living in Tents Wash their Clothes

While there have been a handful of groups stepping up and providing nutritious food and hygiene kits to the houseless community locally, less attention has been given to other necessities. Seeing this, Laundry to the People stepped in and began helping people living along the Truckee River get their laundry to the laundromat, cleaned, and dried.

“We basically go down to tent city in a big van,” said Ilya Arbatman, one of the founding members “get people who need their laundry done. They load up their laundry in the van, we meet them at the laundromat and we help them do their laundry.” 

A simple action can go a long way if it’s done consistently and with compassion. Run by three community members, Rosie Zuckerman, Alex Muñoz, and Arbatman, the group came together after Blaize Abuntori of the Reno Burrito Project put them in touch. For nine weeks now they have been helping the houseless community wash their clothes. 

Recently, Our Town Reno reporter Richard Bednarski met them at the Mr. Bubbles Launderland on Second Street and Wells Avenue, not too far from the encampment where people are being helped. The sun was shining and people were busy shuffling in and out of the laundromat as the large white van pulled in. Moments later, members of the houseless community walked up and began helping Arbatman and Muñoz unload the van, each person carrying a bag full of dirty laundry.

Ilya Arbatman filling up a cup with laundry detergent. He is from the Bay Area and has been in Reno for about six years. Outside of volunteering for the community, he works as a freelance electronics repairman. 

Help from the Community and the Laundromat Itself

While other groups, like Black Wall Street and Reno Soup for the Soul, continue to help by providing food, hygiene kits, and other needed items, Arbatman, Muñoz, and Zuckerman realized doing laundry to help was also needed.

“Laundry is expensive, and realizing that it was a service we could provide,” explained Zuckerman “if we could get funded that would, I think, help create less waste and also let people hang on to the clothes they like.” Every Friday at noon the group rolls into the encampment and collects laundry from about ten to twelve people. The laundromat, has been fully supportive of Laundry to the People since its inception. They have also recently received a financial donation from community member Jeremy Cole.

“Ideally this would be something where everyone would have access to laundry,” said Arbatman. Being a basic need, he understands that laundry is necessary but providing this resource for the houseless community comes with its challenges. They want to offer this service to anyone who needs it but due to various limitations can only help about a dozen people per week. “For us, one of the barriers is just how many people need it done,” he said. In addition, the laundromat is small and can only facilitate so much laundry. 

“The laundromat has been paying for the drying,” explained Arbatman and this has been a huge boost to how much laundry they can do. A typical week, it costs them about $60 to $80 for washing alone and Muñoz estimates the drying would be an additional $30 or more. Him and the others are grateful for the ladies at the laundromat, Carel, Jody, Alycia, and Andrea for covering the drying costs and being helpful each week.

A community member experiencing houselessness loads his laundry into a machine. 

Sweeps Jeopardizing the Project

“We sort of have to see what happens,” said Zuckerman. “There’s all this talk about sweeping and getting people living outside kettled into this more consolidated zone. So what that means for the people and what that means for their needs and what that means for the homeless population in Reno?”

With the onset of a new Nevada Cares Campus, local authorities have said in meetings that sweeps will ramp up.

The group is concerned that once the Governor’s Bowl shelter opens up next month, it may spur another host of other issues. Notably, the location is too far removed from the needed services of the houseless community. “We’re able to help people living down in tent city,” Zuckerman said “because it’s close to this laundromat, they can walk over here.” While she does not know what the next steps will look like for Laundry for the People, she wants to address these issues and be able to continue providing these services. 

Through conversations with the houseless, the group has learned about how they feel towards the recent and pending sweeps. “I think some people are bummed,” Zuckerman said about the homeless community’s reactions to the threatened sweeps. “I think some people are freaked out because they are really scared about what that’s going to mean for their well-being.” 

There is definitely some apprehension in tent city. “From our conversations here,” explained Muñoz “they feel like they are being gathered.” He explained there are serious concerns about what may happen after the new shelter space opens. Arbatman explained the cohesiveness formed within tent city is a way for them to cope with the struggles they face. Moving them via sweeps only disturbs this sense of place. 

“The problem with the sweeps,” Arbatman said is that a community is already established and “if you just show up, knock everybody’s tent down and force them to go to a new place, it’s kind of counterintuitive.” The process of community building has to begin anew and this simple rattling can have damaging and lasting effects on the community.

Arbatman would love to see people coming down to tent city and providing non-service related outreach as well. “Somebody to go down there and just talk to people,” he said. A genuine conversation with members of the houseless community can change their day for the better. In addition, Zuckerman identified the need for veterinary services. Many people living in tents have companion pets, which drastically improve mental health, and those pets need services as well.

Zuckerman and Muñoz are efficient and diligent about keeping accurate records and notes. Muñoz, who is from Barcelona, Spain, is studying Geography and working towards a Master’s degree at the University of Nevada, Reno. Zuckerman, who is originally from the Bay Area, works for an accountant for a logistics company.  

Being Kind Neighbors

Moving forward the three of them will continue to facilitate laundry services for the houseless community. “Homeless people living there,” said Muñoz “they’re our neighbors too.” He is concerned that the greater community of Reno does not see them as neighbors and knows that when everyone begins to understand that they are our neighbors, it will be easier to lend a hand. 

“I would agree with Alex, you know, you can just do something,” said Zuckerman “it doesn’t take very much to make a big difference.” While there are a lot of things beyond the community's control, she emphasized that a little help can go a long way with the houseless community, “when we can help them, that’s important.”

“The more we think about things in terms of things like investment and growth,” explained Arbatman “I feel like we just lose track of the fact that something isn’t working.” Instead of coming up with a big plan to address the issue of homelessness, Arbatman encouraged people to simply take action and start helping. He feels people can sometimes get bogged down in the weeds, stuck on trying to devise a plan.

“It starts with a very basic kind of compassion and willingness to just get off of the couch and go do something,” Arbatman said. “It can be small, once a week, once a month, whatever.” 

Reporting by Richard Bednarski for Our Town Reno

if you’d like to take part or donate, here’s the contact info: ilya.arbatman@gmail.com

As UNR Vineyard Ends Its Run, Concerns over Plot's Future

A Retirement and the Overuse of a Herbicide Seal A Wineyard’s Fate

Scientists at the Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station on Valley Road have studied the cultivation of wine grapes in the high desert for over 25 years.  According to its About page, the “Federal government established the state Agricultural Experiment Station network through the Hatch Act of 1887. Experiment stations were established to ensure that agricultural research geared to specific geographic regions would be conducted throughout the United States.”

But now that a co-founder and longtime manager of the vineyard, a professor in UNR’s Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department of the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources, Grant Cramer is retiring, the vineyard chapter is closing. The two acre plot of wine grapes is being removed for future projects. This decision also comes on the heels of the alleged overapplication of the wrong herbicide in recent years, Dicamba, which severely damaged the vineyard, and spread from one acre into another.

It has also led to questions, including from Our Town Reno, about whether new experiments will move toward organic growing instead, or whether the use of pesticides, herbicides, insecticides and other chemical products will persist. 

“The Ag station director [Chris Pritsos] decided to decommission the vineyard,” said Jill Moe, the interim director and education program coordinator for the Desert Farming Initiative, which is also part of the Station “and it’s going to be transitioned into a cover crop.” A cover crop is grown between other plantings to regenerate the soil and reduce erosion. 

There are concerns about the plot’s future now and whether an opportunity to turn to organic farming is being missed.

An Experiment with Many Phases

The vineyards were planted in several rows with three varieties per row with the idea being to learn about which varieties did well in the harsh northern Nevada climate. The vineyard was managed on and off over the past two decades by researchers, students, and volunteers.

“Volunteers did a lot of the work on it originally,” explained Moe. “It’s been through several phases.”

Recently that included the application of the wrong herbicide in the wrong amounts, according to Cramer. 

“I had verbally instructed [the field manager] on how to use RoundUp,” explained Cramer “and instead he used a different herbicide,” namely Dicamba which has been shown to spread to nearby fields. And, according to Cramer, this is what happened. 

In his interview with Our Town Reno, Cramer said the vineyard suffered almost immediately from the over-application in 2015. The following season, signs of poisoning were noticed in the northern acre, which was not treated with Dicamba. Because of this, he feels the vineyard is no longer in a state worth preserving. 

Moe explained the two acre vineyard was intended for research and that given current circumstances it is too challenging and demanding to continue growing grapes there for production. 

Alynn Delisle, a winemaker at Nevada Sunset Winery, holding up one of the limited bottles of wine made from the UNR grapes from the 2020 growing season, which was the last harvest from this vineyard.

What Comes Next for Wine in Northern Nevada and the UNR Plot?

“Really valuable research did occur from that vineyard,” Moe said. “Grant Cramer published research papers from the results of those trials and taught winemaking classes.” 

Cramer also started a YouTube video series as a way to preserve what he has learned and archive the lessons and knowledge the vineyard has yielded. 

“I think it added a lot,” explained Alynn Delisle, the co-owner of Nevada Sunset Winery “because it got people, especially in Reno, involved and it showed you can grow grapes in Nevada.” 

There are current restrictions, however, in addition to climate challenges. Nevada wineries are required by law to have a minimum of 25% Nevada-grown grapes in their wine after selling a thousand cases from their winery.

“This is what I would like to see happen: a state-of-the-art commercial demonstration vineyard,” said Moe of her hopes for the future, so the experiment can live on elsewhere. “Go with the varieties we know do well in this climate and really take it to the next step,” said Moe. 

“We have a real interest in serving our stakeholders,” explained Chris Pritsos, the Director of the UNR Experimental Agriculture Station.  “What we need is stakeholders to step up, like they do in all the other states, and help us do this work.” 

What also remains to be seen is what will replace the vineyards in the long run, and if it will be chemical-based planting, or if that opportunity has already been missed due to current work on the soil. 

Reporting by Richard Bednarski for Our Town Reno

Another Motel Goes Down, A Photo Timeline and Essay

Downtown Reno provides an overabundance of photographic opportunity. From the varied people and activities to the unique architecture of its motels and churches. But now we have one less motel and one more empty lot. 

The Town House Motor Lodge has suffered the same fate of at least nine other motels in recent years, including the Lido Inn, the Stardust Lodge, and the Mardi Gras Motor Lodge, among others, bought up by Jacobs Entertainment and then bulldozed leaving piles of fenced off dirt. This empty lot syndrome has displaced hundreds of people who relied on motels as their first or last resort from homelessness. 

This photo series highlights a sixpweek process of dismantling the Townhouse Motor Lodge. I began when I noticed the windows boarded up and continued until nearly all resemblance of the hotel was gone. Throughout each week, I would stop by and spend an hour walking around photographing the slow process of removing this motel.

This photographic process included interaction with the police, almost resulting in an arrest, an experience many street photographers can relate to.

Now that the Townhouse Motor Lodge has been bulldozed down, what is the fate is for other motels recently bought out by Jacobs Entertainment?

The destroyed motels all featured various architecture, adding to the uniqueness of the Biggest Little City, now destroyed.

Like a scar on the landscape these “gentrification war zones” only serve as a reminder to the growing houseless population in the community. 

Photos and Writing by Richard Bednarski shared with Our Town Reno

Downtown Ambassadors Force Houseless Individuals to Move

At approximately 9:20 a.m., on Sunday, March 21st, two Reno Ambassadors, in their trademark blue jackets, asked a group of a half a dozen houseless individuals to leave their spot where they were lounging under an archway near the Truckee River.

The two ambassadors stayed to supervise the move. When asked about why the group wasn’t permitted to stay, one ambassador made a phone call, sharing that the group was on private property. The ambassador then stated they clear this area nearly every Sunday.

They noted to me a nearby tent city, behind the Aces stadium, where houseless individuals are allowed to stay, for now at least. The other ambassador did not wear a mask while waiting for the group to clean up. 

According to the business improvement district’s Downtown Reno Partnership website, the four main tasks of the ambassadors are cleaning, safety, social outreach, and hospitality. The overall About page states one of the main missions of the “private-sector led and managed” nonprofit is to “enhance property values, sales, and occupancy.” It also says it aims to “stabilize downtown streets”, including “improving public safety, reducing homelessness, enhancing cleanliness, and advocating quality public spaces.”

The City of Reno has recently paid for artists to paint over electrical boxes. Behind the Reno is Rad slogan, Downtown Ambassadors wait for a group of houseless individuals to move.

While members of the moved group also declined to go on the record, three of them allowed me to walk with them as they carried their belongings to the Believe plaza.

Backpacks and shopping carts were used to carry sleeping bags, water jugs, empty cans, and miscellaneous packs of cigarettes. While I couldn’t live up to the request of a cigarette, I could play one of them a song from my phone. We listened to “U Know What’s Up” by Donell Jones featuring Left Eye as we waited to cross South Center Street. Three cars drove by without stopping to allow us to use the crosswalk.

By 9:55 a.m., all but one person had moved with their belongings over to the plaza. The relocated group went to socialize with other people.

As we parted ways after a near half-hour chat, the group bumped fists and elbows with me. After we said our goodbyes, a man with a speaker played “When Somebody Loves You Back” by Teddy Pendergrass. A few individuals danced around to the song. 

It was a nice, sunny morning, but where would the group sleep next I wondered, with temperatures still predicted to go below freezing throughout this week’s early hours.

Reporting by Rachel Jackson for Our Town Reno

Why I Take Black and White Street Photos in Reno

I learned photography though the traditional black and white analog process. This method has developed a lifelong pursuit of black and white photography in my work. From landscapes to street photography, I strive to capture the essence of a moment. When color is eliminated from an image, the brain must view and engage with the photograph for a longer time to make sense of the image.

When creating images, I have trained my eye to focus on light. I observe how it bounces off of windows and falls into a shadow; or how shadows move throughout the day; or how the quality of light changes with the seasons.

This awareness is similar to the knowledge of mixing two colors of paint for a specific color.

After all, photography is painting with light and to not be aware of light in its most basic and zonal sense, is to neglect the goal of photography.

Photos and Text by Richard Bednarski for Our Town Reno

Rain Fernandez, Spreading Fierce Compassion in Northern Nevada

A Journey to Help Others

Behind a relatively new social media account visible on Instagram called Support Washoe is Rain Cares, LLC. Behind the business is Rain Fernandez, a Philippines born and raised immigrant focused on making the greater Reno-Sparks area a better place for everyone. 

Her schooling has ranged from the Emilio Aguinaldo College in Manila, to Long Beach City College, to the University of Southern California and now UNLV as a remote student.

“Give people the benefit of the doubt,” said Fernandez “that’s all I can do,” she said of her approach to helping others in the community here in northern Nevada, through a myriad of ways, including multiple web endeavors including the SparksJoy.biz page to promote businesses in Sparks. Police sweeps have led her to take a closer look at housing first solutions, and pushing local governments at addressing the surging population of neighbors without housing. 

Her resume, goals, accomplishments and aspirations in whiteboard style.

Housing First and Keeping it Local

Fernandez has worked with the non-profit Mental Health America Los Angeles, an organization that prioritizes housing first for people, and then addressing their other needs. She said when people are not worrying about where to sleep at night, they can focus on other struggles, like dealing with addiction, mental health, and unemployment far easier than when contending with the added elements of being houseless. Fernandez fully supports local governments adopting a #housingfirst strategy focused on putting people before policy and red tape.

“I want to leave a legacy of kindness,” she said about her self-funded work. Working as a Senior Budget Analyst for Truckee Meadows Community College for six years, Fernandez says she realized her life was not going in a fulfilling direction. She began practicing mutual aid in the form of purchasing gift cards to local restaurants and giving them to people experiencing food insecurity. 

This is the idea behind one of her latest initiatives, Support Washoe, which builds support for locally-owned businesses through social media features. Fernandez wants to shine a light and raise awareness for these small businesses throughout the entire region. Like the Korean restaurant we met at, Fernandez visits food trucks, small retailers, and once it was a tire shop in Sun Valley and unabashedly promotes them on her social media channels. She does this every day hoping to “bring money back into the area.” 

Her work is selfless and amplifying. Beyond small businesses, Fernandez also highlights other community members and organizations working to improve the community, tackling issues such as houselessness, and food insecurity. “I like aiding, so I was going to do this anyway,” she said. “I want to focus on the positive.” 

A screengrab of a recent story Fernandez posted on the Support Washoe Instagram Account. She explained her tiny car can hold up to 25 pre-made food boxes. She considers herself a resource navigator and spends a lot of time picking up boxes of food and bringing them to people without vehicles. Often these people, she explained, with no ability to get to food bank distribution locations, would not be able to feed their kids.

Finding Strollers to Gift and Surviving COVID-19

One of her newest projects is collecting strollers that have served their purpose from mom’s groups, and giving them to people without housing to help with their belongings. This simple repurposing of strollers keeps them out of the landfill and extends their usable life. 

As an accountant, Fernandez has a keen eye for numbers and balancing budgets. She is also focused on information management and relies on this heavily to manage the many irons she has in the fire. After struggling with COVID-19 in December, she began to concentrate on what she calls, “fierce compassion”. Her underlying process is to give people the benefit of the doubt and help wherever and whenever and however she can.

After recovering from COVID-19 herself, she realized she was given a second chance. “I’m not going to waste any time,” she explained. This drive has led to the growth of Support Washoe, her self-funding Rain Cares, LLC. and directly supporting businesses. At the end of the day, Fernandez views her resource navigation as a way to help “when you can’t advocate for yourself.”

Reporting by Richard Bednarski for Our Town Reno

Reno Soup for the Soul "Keeps Going" and Pivots to Salads, Sandwiches and Much More

The Pandemic Leads to a Growing Initiative

Amidst a surge in the pandemic last fall, and feeling heartbreak for those facing increasingly tough times, Amie Duncan had an idea. Born and raised in Reno, she wanted to reach out and help neighbors without housing, while also bringing together the community. She began collecting homemade soups and packaging these soul meals in individual portions, and spent Sunday mornings passing them out with her family.

“We decided as a family to start putting soups together, putting them in warm containers, and delivering them to the homeless,” Duncan said in the parking lot of the Diamond’s Casino on a recent Sunday morning. She continued this every weekend through the winter. The community stepped up, came together, and with overwhelming support the organization has bloomed, grown and expanded. 

In addition to cultivating community support, two local restaurants, Sup and Grateful Gardens have both been donating nearly ten gallons of soup each month. And now it has surged beyond soup. Duncan now offers clothing, hygiene kits, reusable masks, water bottles, sandwiches, books, produce, cookies, and snacks. Reno Soup for the Soul has become a commissary for our neighbors in need. As a working mom, Duncan dedicates nearly all of her free time to Reno Soup for the Soul.  The Instagram for the initiative recently said it would keep going, while transitioning to more weather appropriate food after the end of March. To make the model work better, the group has also gone to a twice a month distribution.

“We couldn’t do it without the community,” Duncan said, feeling overwhelmed both at the need and the response of others now helping.  The following is a photo series by Our Town Reno reporter and photographer Richard Bednarski.

“Everytime we come out there,” she said “there’s more and more people and I don’t know if that’s going to be changing anytime soon.” Volunteers help her set up at several locations every other Sunday. This week she began at tent city, under the Wells Avenue overpass. 

Before heading out to pass out food and supplies, Duncan gathers her team of volunteers for a roundtable discussion and welcomes new volunteers. She is vigilant about being part of the bigger picture with the community and understands it is important to work with others that are doing the same thing - trying to find long-term solutions. “Not just short term fixes and making dents,” she explained, “but actual sustainable changes that can really help make a difference in the community.”

Each week, Duncan said there are at least twenty people helping run the show. About half of them are making soups, sandwiches, and baked goods and delivering them to her house. The others help her set up and pass out their offerings to the homeless twice a month. This past Sunday, volunteers passed out 180 servings of soup, over 400 sandwiches, 40 chicken wraps, over 100 muffins, 50 pairs of gloves, 40 pairs of socks, 26 beanies, 48 fleece blankets, 175 face masks, 24 reusable water bottles, and 80 hygiene kits. 

Duncan and the volunteers are efficient. Within minutes of pulling into an encampment, tables were set up with boxes of soups, sandwiches, fruit, and hygiene kits ready to go. As a line formed, a volunteer passed out bags and masks and talked with each individual person. By the end of the line, people left with necessities making their struggle a little more bearable. 

Though she had to switch from weekly to every other week to remain sustainable, Duncan is proud that she has been persistent. “We’re still doing this consistently,” she explained “we’re making a difference, I really credit Blaize [Abuntori, the founder] from the Reno Burrito Project for inspiring me to do so, even when it’s not perfect, we keep going.”

While the group set up in a second location on Record Street, Duncan was approached by a Reno Ambassador. He informed her that the owner of Record Street Brewing Company did not want them set up and serving the homeless food in front of the building. With no other suitable location nearby, this came as a shock to volunteers who see this form of gentrification potentially impacting their efforts. The owner did not respond to our requests for input.

Duncan has set up a gofundme account to raise money for supplies. In addition, she has created an Amazon wishlist. These online accounts help the community provide resources in a time when the pandemic has limited social interactions. People can purchase items and have them delivered directly to Duncan’s house. The money raised allows her to purchase items to fill in any cracks.

A man experiencing houselessness and sleeping at the downtown shelter waits patiently next to his bike as volunteers set up tables and food. 

With plenty of food left over after the second location, Duncan and the volunteers next went to the Volunteers of America homeless shelter on east Fourth street. Once set up they served another fifty plus people with food, blankets, hygiene kits, and books. 

Moving forward, Duncan is brainstorming how to transition to warm weather and move the organization forward. “Also talking to others in the community about what the needs are,” she said “trying to see what’s going on so we can fill the needs where it’s needed.” 

Duncan credits the volunteers as being the catalyst that keeps her going. Though they are essential to the operation, the work Duncan does is vital. Just watching her orchestrate the operation is telling. She remains in the background and it is clear this project is not about her or personal gain. It is all about helping those most in need.

Reporting by Richard Benarski for Our Town Reno

An EMT Dealing with Reno's Drug Abuse, Mental Health, COVID-19 and Downtown Ambassadors

For Michael Guymon, being an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) is a career filled with tragedy, bitter realizations, and beautiful moments of brotherhood.

Guymon has been an EMT for about three years and six months full time on the streets of Reno.

As an EMT, Guymon, a UNR graduate, says he has seen sides of Reno he wished did not exist. “It's (Reno) dirtier than I thought it was going to be. Drugs are a lot more rampant here than I first anticipated, and the amount of meth in Reno is pretty absurd.” Meth, he says, remains a serious issue in certain communities.

“So opiates are kind of a more expensive drug, same with like all your like hallucinogenics and cocaine,” Guymon said.  “Meth is massive. Super cheap meth is easily obtainable, and you're high lasts for way longer. Fortunately, I don't see too much overdose in terms of heroin and the homeless population. I have encountered meth with people who have hotel rooms or live in some very low-priority housing kind of thing. That's where you start to see meth use.”

Mental health is also an issue he believe has not received enough sustained attention. “A big issue is with drugs and with just the inability for us to actually take care of mental health patients on the street, and they don't get help there. So they just continue to try dosing themselves with random drugs or use like meth or something like that. They're very easily taken advantage of by other people on the street. It's really sad because there's very little that we can do for mental health. And there's very little the ER can do for mental health. We only have, like, I would say probably like four or five major mental health facilities and Reno. And if you don't have insurance, it's kinda difficult to get into those.” 

Dealing with downtown ambassadors he says is also a work in progress.

“We know they try to do their best, but there's like a false sense of urgency with a lot of the calls, and realistically, driving lights and sirens is super dangerous for us. It's where the majority of healthcare fatalities in the field have happened. It's just, it's dangerous, and it's dangerous to other people. I wish the ambassadors would be able to get like a little bit of medical knowledge because they can sort of figure these little things out and be like, ‘Hey, there's urgent care down the street. You should go walk over to that urgent care,’  instead of requesting an ambulance with lights and sirens or something, cause realistically, almost all the Ambassador calls I've been on required a lights and sirens response. It could have been something we could have driven to fairly slowly because the patient's not critical. Right. The matter of a five to ten-minute difference wouldn't have made any difference at all in the patients overall care.”

The pandemic, he says, has also brought a new form of stress to many EMTs, especially when trying to help lower income communities. “So we do decently well with like obviously the upper and middle classes because you know, that tends to be where more of the education is focused around. A lot of the people tend to be a little bit more agreeable about it. When we start getting into like the lower classes, it's not necessarily that they don't want to be compliant with COVID restrictions. It's that they have a hard time with it. I mean, masks there's no, as far as I know, readily distributed masks system where people can get masks.”

Shelters he feels haven’t respected guidelines. “I mean, we talked about social distancing. You go into like the shelters, and they try their best, but it's just a whole bunch of burlap sacks on like the floor. And you have like three feet between you and the next person sleeping next to you. And then you have  a hundred different people in one different room.” 

EMTs invariably will have a brutal call or lose a life, although they did everything they could. The environment created by the connection between Guymon and colleagues reminds him to keep fighting. “It's kind of like a brotherhood between the people and like really the best relief for some of the stuff that you see is talking to your fellow coworkers and stuff, because they've also seen it and they've been there, and you know, they offer you like little things that can help you out,” he said at the conclusion of our interview.

Reporting by Gracie Gordon for Our Town Reno

Kelly, a COVID-19 Economic Casualty along the Truckee River

The [police sweeps] they suck. I mean, we're cleaning up our medicine and we're trying to make it livable out here. I mean my tent is the big one over there and you know, I think it's ridiculous. I think it's ridiculous when the cops come out here and pull all of us out of here. We're not doing anything wrong, you know, we're trying to live just like they do, every day. We're trying to get back on our feet and it's hard.

I've got my sister's dog. She's homeless too, but she's in the hospital right now.

I haven't heard anything like that [about the new Nevada Cares campus]. Well, I've heard a little bit, but just a tiny, tiny bit. But why can't they just leave us alone until then? Why can't we just stay here until that becomes available for us? I mean, that would make it a lot easier just in the last two weeks, we've had 15 other people move over here [near Fisherman’s Park].

The Wells bridge area, they got a lot of fighting and burning people's stuff and that's why we came way out here because it's a lot safer, or you don't fight out here. You know, like the other day we caught a guy beating a girl in a car and we stopped him, pulled her out of the car and she took off, went that way and he went that way and he called the police, you know, and I don't know if they ever showed up for it.

I do like Our Place, [the new shelter for women], and the [voucher program], they do put people up in hotels. They put me up in a hotel for two weeks and then I lost my bed because I was taking care of somebody else's dog.

I mean, [with the sweeps] it's just, yeah, it's hard trying to move all of our stuff. I have two bikes, no trailer, you know, you usually use trailers to move and shopping carts.

Just don’t treat us not like we are infected with diseases or something, you know, that's what they do. I usually try to introduce myself with somebody walking down the trail. So I was like, yeah, I'm Kelly. You know, this is where I stay right now. It shouldn't be like this forever. You know, it’s not going to be like this forever, but we're just like, we're just like everybody else, you know, and I wish they would just kind of leave us alone for it until that, until that place gets done that way we could just stop worrying every day we go to bed, we think we're going to be woke up at five in the morning.

I've seen friends lose their tents and have to sleep on the ground with no blankets because the cops came over and threw their [stuff] all away. [Instead we need] port-a-potties and showers and a lifetime supply of toilet paper, places to wash our hands because of course I'm not putting my head in that river… I mean, everybody's gotta be clean. I mean, my ex, my ex-husband, I go to his house and shower, but all I can is do that every other week. You know, usually I just wash up in a bucket or something, but yeah, that's mainly, you know, what we would, I would, I would think they [should help us with].

As told to Richard Bednarski for Our Town Reno