Jessica Castro, Helping Put the Cares into Cares Campus with Birthdays

Every third Wednesday of the month, Helping Hands Loving Hearts Reno has been organizing a birthday party celebration for the unhoused staying at the Cares Campus. 

“I think that birthdays is really important because it’s that we definitely think of family,” said Jessica Castro, formerly unhoused herself and now an advocate and regular volunteer.  “We think of our loved ones. It’s a day that hurts when we're out there on the streets, it's kind of a sad day. It can be because it's a reminder that, you know, life is passing by and we're getting older and we're still out there. I felt like it was definitely a day to be able to celebrate, to make them feel happy about birthdays again.”

The group brings drinks, healthy food, cake, and cheer for those who want to join and celebrate others or themselves.  

Castro says Washoe County now operating the compound has been helpful with this initiative which started in June. 

“They've pretty much given us free range,” she said over the phone with Our Town Reno.  “We’re allowed to bring in fruit, we don't have to ask for extra permission. We don't have anybody overseeing us, like, they don't micromanage us. So far it's been pretty smooth.” 

Castro says people staying at the compound are “shocked” by the kindness.  

“The first couple times a lot of people were like, is this for anybody? Or is this for staff? And I was like, no, this is for you guys,” Castro remembers. “And it just reminds them that they're human.”

Now, hundreds show up when the cake is being cut. Before they leave, the team of volunteers also fill flasks with ice.

Helping Hands Loving Hearts is no longer allowed to do formal community meals outside the compound, with County officials citing security issues, but JP Harvey, also with the group, has taken it upon herself to give more one on one attention to neighbors in need, doing her own daily outreach efforts. 

“She's actually doing more in-depth care where she focuses on them and she tries to help them take every step,” Castro said,  “Like if they need to get to the DMV to get something done, she gets it done with them. If they need to make it to an appointment with ReStart or whatever, she gets them there. She takes them around to look at places that take vouchers.”

The group also regularly hands out clothes and donated food at different parks, and when asked try to fill specific requests, such as shoes or colostomy bags.

Castro also wants to add small gift cards for those whose birthday is in the current month based on their driver’s license, saying it’s also an incentive for them to get one if they don’t have it anymore.  

She’s been working two jobs herself, dealing with rising prices and bills, but still manages to find time for others.   “The fear of being homeless is something that triggers me a lot,” she said. “So I have to really find that balance to make myself feel like, okay, Jessica, you're doing the appropriate things you need to do to make sure that you and your family are okay, and now you have this much time or this much energy to go do this. It kind of reminds me of my past even more when I'm constantly worried about, you know, finances.”

Our Town Reno reporting, September 2022

Jackeline Duron, the Candidate with Lived Experience that Ward 5 Missed

Just last month, Jackeline Duron, 29, was in the running among the three dozen candidates for the Ward 5 Reno City Council seat which fell vacant after Neoma Jordan abruptly stepped down to head the Downtown Reno Partnership non-profit.

Duron was among the top 11 candidates who got at least one vote as part of the internal selection process by council members, minus Jenny Brekhus who boycotted the process.  

And then in a flash it was over, despite a stirring speech via Zoom.

At a public meeting on August 25th, after hearing from some of the candidates and their supporters, the Council finally chose Alexander Goff, Elliot Malin and Kathleen Taylor as the top three finalists to move on for community meet and greets ahead of a decisive interview process and announcement on September 7th.

While the three candidates have since talked about the need for affordable housing, Duron has lived experience, having been unhoused while she was a teenager in high school. After her grandmother had a stroke in Central America, her mom left the United States for a while, and the family could no longer afford their apartment. She ended up moving every other week from one place to another, and at one point sleeping in parking lots in an old Saturn her father had bought for her for several hundred dollars.

“When I was unhoused, all I needed was a home,” Duron, who grew up in Sparks, said.  “Folks don’t just need me, but they need more of us there,” Duron said of the Council, and having a voice included for low income residents. 

Duron believes that the people who are closest to a problem are also closest to providing solutions for it.  She says Council will be missing out on her recent experience of balancing multiple jobs and rising rents, and then having to quit school to make money. She also has many links with residents who were previously or are currently undocumented, giving her needed perspectives on vulnerable populations.

“I was able to get one vote from Council member Reese, who I know is a really big supporter of reproductive justice and the Wild West Access Fund,” Duron said of the one vote she did get.

Duron is currently a community organizer and activist fighting for reproductive rights and abortion access in the state of Nevada and nationally. As a woman of color she has also worked on immigration and racial justice issues.  

While her day job is with a large reproductive rights organization, she says her passion is serving as board Vice President of the Wild West Access Fund of Nevada. The group, the state’s largest abortion fund, is an all volunteer organization supporting those seeking abortions in Nevada, who are either traveling into the state or who live here and need support. 

“We support folks with … travel, if they need it, by either booking their flights or trying to get them gas cards or even things like I did, I think several months ago now, but I drove someone from Reno from their home to West End, which is one of the abortion clinics in town, and stayed with them and drove them home,” she said.

Duron said that following the Supreme Court decision to overturn federal abortion protections, Nevada has seen an influx of travelers coming from nearby restrictive states. 

Duron is no longer in the Ward 5 race but with her passion for many hot button issues, she has not given up entirely on the possibility of running for office in the future. She hopes whoever does get selected will place “people before profit.”

Our Town Reno reporting by Kingkini Sengupta

Last Motels Standing of Reno: The Midtown Motel

friendly strangers 

knocking on the office door, i was greeted by the man who runs this motel, keith

he was the nicest guy you could talk with

he told me that the motel was built in 1951 and that he’s the only one that runs the place

we shook hands and he let me walk around shooting photos

there is so much charm to these old buildings

i could hear people talking about me through their motel room window

“I don't know what’s so interesting, he’s taking pictures of flowers or something” 

i could hear everyone’s tv’s through their windows too

passing by

the news

some sort of drama 

then a cat appeared on the windowsill, staring at me with these deep, yellow eyes 

i met another man named george

he told me from his balcony you could see the aces fireworks every time they win a game

we talked for a few minutes about a few things

housing problems

motels around the area

he excused himself with a great line

“well, i gotta go grab myself a beer”

 i called Keith “Frank” by accident 

he laughed and said “close enough!”

and disappeared to somewhere else lugging around two tv’s 

i didn’t get to say goodbye to him for the night 

Photos and Essay by Jake Lorge for Our Town Reno

NAMI UNR Advocates For Students Struggling with their Mental Health

Recent national surveys indicate 20% of students have had a significant decline in mental health since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and that more than half don’t know where to go for help. At the University of Nevada, Reno, it’s clear from incoming students and those pursuing their studies here, that many share in these difficulties. Steeper and steeper financial burdens with rising tuition and living costs add to the prevailing stress.

Currently, UNR offers counseling services with licensed professionals to all students, as well as a new outreach center in Great Basin Hall called The Annex. It’s a new effort to make it more convenient to access mental health support. It’s open to all students for consultations, workshops, support groups, quiet study areas, and mindfulness activities.

Additionally, the Department of Psychology has a Psychological Services Center, offering treatment, crisis intervention, evaluations and other walk-in services. The Student Health Center offers services and other resources. And now students can benefit from the new group NAMI UNR.

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) is the largest grassroots organization dedicated to improving the lives of persons living with serious mental illness, as well as their families. Originally founded in 1979, NAMI slowly became the nation’s voice for mental illness, providing advocacy, research, support and education about mental illness. They have grown significantly and have organizations and affiliates in every state.

Our reporter Gaia Osborne recently had the opportunity to interview two of the NAMI UNR Board Members about the work they are doing to advocate and help UNR students with their mental health. Caitlin Shamiya, Vice President of NAMI UNR, is a second-year Honors student, double majoring in International Business and Marketing, with a minor in Arabic. CJ Frasco, Secretary of NAMI UNR, is a second-year undergraduate student who is hoping to apply to UNR’s Nursing School this winter.

G: Can you tell me more about NAMI as an organization, and what its mission is?

CS: Of course. NAMI centers towards individuals struggling with mental health issues, and they use their platform to advocate for those people. I think that a lot of online platforms focus on more common mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety. Not saying that those don’t need to be talked about, but I think it’s super important that NAMI discusses the mental health issues that maybe aren’t talked about as much, and people aren’t educated on. The conditions that have more stigma attached to them. People probably don’t know how to be there for someone suffering with those types of conditions, and NAMI works to educate people who are struggling, but also how to be there for someone else that is struggling.

G: How does NAMI function on a college campus? How has NAMI as a larger organization helped you get started on the UNR campus?

CS: So, we’re fairly new to campus. I remember when Angelina, a graduate student, started NAMI UNR last year. With the COVID-19 pandemic, we found it hard finding a balance between being online and hybrid. There were only a few actual members and board members, so we found it really difficult to grow in the beginning. But this year with restrictions lifting, hopefully we can find some consistent growth and host more events. I think it’s important to have NAMI on campus and have resources for students going through school struggles, and adjusting to campus life and balancing school with time for yourself. I, myself, struggled balancing school with other priorities, and while I did utilize other services, I think NAMI can provide additional help on top of what is offered already.

And NAMI has been very helpful. Our president, Sophia, works closely with NAMI, especially NAMI Northern Nevada, in terms of obtaining information and resources like pamphlets for our club fair. Especially since we are so new, they’ve been helpful and always there whenever we reached out needing help starting up and getting clarification on certain things.

CJ: Our goal on campus is to create a no-pressure, no-stress environment. We host activities and events such as yoga and painting in order to build relationships in a setting that is calming and relaxed, so in later sessions when more serious and difficult topics arise, the relationship and trust has already been somewhat established.

 NAMI has been really helpful, especially with providing NAMI merchandise and products we can use to promote the club and give out at events and club fairs. 

G: Do you work alongside any other on-campus organizations?

CS: Yes! Right now we are club allies with The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. We are also actively trying to create a better relationship with the counseling department, since they tend to be busy and overbooked at times and students can find it difficult to get counseling appointments and find somebody to talk to. There’s so many students on this campus, and counseling services can only help so many of them at one time.

CJ: Yeah, UNR is a big campus with a lot of students actively seeking out the counseling services. Given that NAMI is fairly new and we aren’t that established yet, we’re still working to make those connections with the counseling center and LGBTQ+ organizations on campus. That’s our main goal this year, so we can build a bigger pool of services and resources for the students. 

G: Why do you think it is important that NAMI is reaching the college student demographic?

CS: I think it is very important, especially since there is this stigma around mental health that attribute those suffering as needing to be “fixed” which isn’t the case at all. The power of presence is so important for people who are suffering. As we mentioned, COVID was a big obstacle for a lot of people, and NAMI’s goal is to cut through that shame and those stigmas and provide a safe, and non-judgmental environment for people.

G: NAMI’s website has a lot of resources for different racial and cultural groups. Why do you think that specific sectors of people are less likely to seek help when it comes to mental illness? How do you think this should be addressed?

CJ: So I can’t speak for all groups, but for me personally, I grew up with South East Asian cultural influence and haven’t had the best mental health experiences given how I was raised. My parents culture surrounded this idea that you have to “tough it out”, and “it’s all in your head”, and not something that can be physically fixed and therefore in a sense wasn’t real. But it’s very much real. When I got to college, that was when I started seeking out resources and discovered NAMI and all these different coping mechanisms, and realized how important mental health really is.Because everybody is so different, and comes from such different backgrounds, it’s difficult to have one clear approach or set of procedures that will work for everybody. I think providers need to be open and understanding of every individual, despite their cultural differences, and treat them as an individual.

CS: As someone who is Middle Eastern, I completely relate to what CJ was saying in terms of this idea of “toughing it out”. Throughout my own mental health journey, I’ve realized that a lot of the resources that I’m so grateful to have here in America, my parents didn’t have access to growing up in Lebanon and Palestine. The supportive environment that I grew up in has allowed me to seek help and therapy when I need, without feeling judged. My parents didn’t grow up in their environment; emotional needs were shut down and hidden away, and they pretended like they weren’t there. They were always there, just not talked about.

I think that it’s important to be aware of the cultural beliefs of someone seeking help. I’ve had therapists who were of the same culture as me – Middle Eastern – and I’ve had therapists that were white. And they actually have been different in their approaches. My first therapist was Middle Eastern, and I would say she was more conservative in her beliefs in terms of respecting my parents for example, and her approaches were centered around the fact that I too, was Middle Eastern. Both approaches were very helpful in different ways, however. I think it’s just important to find the right person; the first therapist you go to might not always be the best fit for you as an individual.

G: What do you think the mental health system should look like in the future? How does NAMI work towards reforming and bettering the system?

CS: NAMI does a lot of work in criminal justice reform for mental illness patients which I think is super important. There are so many cases going back in the years where inmates’ mental health wasn’t taken seriously or accounted for. Especially with drug charges. At the end of the day, mental illness can lead people to reach for external coping mechanisms such as drugs and alcohol. This is actually a big issue in Reno concerning the unhoused community. Members of this community are given all sorts of nasty labels and stereotypes, when most of them are struggling with mental illness. These discussions surrounding reform need to happen if we want to create a better system and be able to help people.

CJ: The justice system is so caught up in the “black and white” of who is guilty versus who is not, and forget that these are real people and that some of them have mental illnesses and require help. NAMI provides resources for these inmates, and helps people who have been pushed aside by society like those in prison or are unhoused.

Our Town Reno reporting by Gaia Osborne

A Father-Son Moment on the Truckee River

As dwindling flow levels on the Truckee force some people to cast their fishing luck farther west, nine-year-old Axel is content to stay along the cool shaded shores of Riverside Drive.

“Look at that crawdad,” he says, holding up a 3-4 inch long greenish- brown crayfish, its pincers waving. “And here’s a bigger one.”

Axel scoops up another one, then places it gently down into the bucket full of river water.

“I gotta go get some more minnows for them,” he says scrambling back down into the clear river water that runs from Lake Tahoe, through Reno/Sparks and empties into Pyramid Lake, or Cui-Ui-Pah as it is known to the Paiute Tribe, on the reservation.

Tom, Axel’s stepfather, says Axel loves exploring and playing in the Truckee. “It’s a great playground for kids,” he says, admiring the catches Axel eagerly raises up in his fishing “cup". The young boy yells out to him when he spies something interesting in the water.

“I sometimes wish kids didn’t have phones for games- they could all be out here,” he says, pointing at the river and trees. Axel brings some more minnows to show Tom. “Very cool,” Tom tells him. They discuss that the crawdads might need to go back in the river as Axel debates keeping them as pets. He can’t figure out what to name them yet, but there are more things to look for in the river and he wanders back off shore, head down to discover more of what the Truckee can offer.

Our Town Reno River Reporting by Dina Wood

The Last Motels Standing in Reno: Horseshoe Motel

This is part of a series of essays with photos on the last motels still standing in Reno. We previously had a series on the last motel residents of Reno. Motels, initially conceived for tourists, increasingly became a last housing option for many, due to bad credit, not enough money for deposits, or not wanting to deal with a multitude of bills and complications, or a first housing option for residents coming out of homelessness. Many motels are now being torn down, after being bought out and razed by slow to act developers, with many vacant lots now dotting the downtown landscape.

take care of yourself 

i haven’t been sleeping much

there weren’t any people around this motel, even though it has twice the amount of guests as the swan inn

it was so quiet 

no one in the office

no one in the back room

no one looking out on their balconies or hearing tvs blare from open windows 

i haven’t been eating much

the shadows that this motel casts are what i loved most about this place

they’re so deep and rich, and stretch up and over everything 

it’s almost like this place was left behind by people, but everyone's belongings were still there

the plants in the office seemed well taken care of

i wonder who is doing that

this motel has a lot of charm to it

it’s the biggest horseshoe i’ve ever seen 

there’s so many little things that add up or go unnoticed every day

i wake up to a sinking pit in my stomach almost every morning 

the dusty red car hidden within the garage window made me laugh

the cigarette butts and ash trays crowded the dashboard

it wasn’t until i was walking away i could hear a child start to cry from a room

and a parent trying to comfort them

but i had everything i needed for the night  

Essay and Photos by Jake Lorge for Our Town Reno

Help Instead of Handcuffs: Reno’s Community Court Back in Session at the Library

Every Wednesday morning, amidst the green foliage that fills the rooms and engulfs the Downtown Reno Library, the Reno Community Court is in session.

Security guards search people, individuals file down staircases, packed lunches are handed out, coffee is drunk, brochures are passed from hand to hand. The weekly session run by Reno’s Municipal Court provides resources and services to a large population of people – most of whom are unhoused individuals – instead of jail time and fines for minor offenses.

“Quality-of-life offenses” are misdemeanors and non-violent crimes such as open containers, urinating in public, trespassing, loitering, disorderly conduct. The majority of these citations are often given to those living on the streets. Instead of sending offenders directly to jail or Municipal Court, Reno Police or Washoe County Park Rangers can give the offender the option of going to this Community Court instead. Offenders for their part can participate, get help and have their community service hours and fines suspended, or receive traditional punishment.

When an individual comes to Community Court for their first offense, they are checked in at the entrance. There is a list of names of the people expected to attend, however individuals are free to come even if they aren’t on the list. These are “service-only” individuals; people who haven’t committed a misdemeanor, but who just want to access help and assistance.

The individual will then meet with a social worker who completes an initial risk assessment and with a case worker who delves further into the individual’s needs. Depending on what’s at stake, they will have the opportunity to visit tables and speak to the many service providers present. The service providers offer assistance in all different sectors; employment, resume building, getting a government-issued ID, clothing, food, substance abuse counseling, mental health, medical and insurance assistance. 

The myriad of different services is important since every individual, and thus their needs, are very different, as well as constantly changing.

Marie Krueger, a service provider from the Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission, explained to Our Town Reno the importance of having so many services available. As well as handing out food, clothing, and furniture to those who need it, the RSGM also offers a free, residential substance abuse rehabilitation program. These are long-term stays, six months to a year. Krueger explained that these are “a last resort for people seeking help, since it’s such a long program.” If Krueger cannot assist an individual, she can point them in the direction of another table with a different service provider.

Attendees are provided with lunches, water, and hot drinks in the courtroom which occupies what is normally the library’s auditorium.

One of the in-court lawyers will meet with each individual, and bring their case forward to the judge.

Here, though, Judge Hazlett-Stevens is not dressed in robes. He’s not sitting in an elevated position either. You might not even realize he’s the judge at first, sitting at a ground-level table wearing a simple polo shirt.

“I like to sit right opposite them, at eye-level. I want to be approachable,” Judge Hazlett-Stevens said. “I want people to engage, speak with, and trust me. Being physically on the same level as them matters. It lets them know I’ve got their back, and we are here to help them.”

When asked if there was a reason for Community Court being held at the public library instead of the courthouse, the Judge explains: “the library is a neutral and relaxed setting. It’s a place of refuge for the unhoused population year-round, to seek shelter from the weather.”

And now, on Wednesdays, it’s a place they know is available to them to seek help, whether they’ve been in trouble with the law or not.

Judge Hazlett-Stevens further explains that the concept of “Community Court” – offering services instead of punishment for petty crimes – began 33 years ago in New York. Programs have been popping up all over the country since. No Community Court is the same – different communities have different needs, and each court will look different depending on the population and community involvement. He explains that “some police officers have really embraced this new system, and others have not, they still choose to go the traditional route and issue tickets and fines. Luckily Reno PD are really on-board with the program,” he said.

Reno’s program was initially started by Judge Tammy Riggs in 2019. In the program's first year, 115 individuals were admitted by the court, according to official tallies. Then, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020, Community Court was shut down.

With the pandemic easing, Reno’s community court is back in session in the hands of Judge Hazlett-Stevens, who says his main focus has been to “get it back on its feet in order to meet the needs of the population.”

Relaunching the program was no simple task. They had to reach out to providers and services all over again, redo all of the logistics. Judging from a recent Wednesday though, the demand is there.

Reporting and Photos by Gaia Osborne for Our Town Reno

Local Hard-Money Lender, Montessori Chair Max Haynes Caught in Education Fraud

Major local hard-money lender Max Haynes, who is also board chair of High Desert Montessori Reno, in late December signed a settlement agreement and consent order with the Nevada Division of Mortgage Lending after being caught in a continuing “education cheating scheme.” The information has yet to be displayed at the state level as is usually customary, adding to the lack of publicity this has received.

The settlement document was brought to our attention by a community member who expressed concern that there wasn’t more awareness and state information about this “pay to play” fraud given the amount of money Haynes lends out locally.

A hard-money lender offers short-term loans quickly with high rates for individuals buying residential or commercial real estate and land. Haynes is said to be a key operative in this space in northern Nevada, working on many major projects, with subdivision developers, and according to our sources, the CAI Investments conversion of the Harrah’s into Reno City Center.

The community member wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, as they operate in local real estate.

They added that, “this is a highly regulated industry and when something like this happens it should be right out to the public.” They said these types of settlements are usually published on Nevada state websites but that they couldn’t find it there, and found it instead on the national Nationwide Multistate Licensing System & Registry website.

Alpen Mortgage, the Arlington Avenue company run by Haynes, which bills itself as “Northern Nevada's premier private lender, serving both borrowers and investors in Northern Nevada for almost two decades,” wrote back to Our Town Reno saying the fraudulent course credit was due to “a technical licensing matter.” The email went on to say: “Back during Covid 2020 we unfortunately used a dishonest “online” vendor to complete our required continuing education and made a mistake by not catching an automated, wrongly reported, “in person” course completion requirement.  With almost a thousand people and companies in 42 states wrapped up in the vendor education fraud scheme, there was one settlement agreement offered by all states that did not admit wrongdoing but required new education and a new license application, which is now approved and current.” 

The settlement agreement Haynes signed which we were shown states mortgage loan originators got course credit for an eight-hour in-person course in Westminster, California, despite never attending. It also indicated the company coordinating these classes, Real Estate Educational Services, helped them cheat by taking the courses on their behalf.

The High Desert Montessori Reno did not write back, nor did Nevada officials, when asked for more information about the case and why it wasn’t publicized.

Haynes has also served with the Reno Mayor on her Housing and Development Task Force. Hillary Schieve who is running for reelection in November wrote back to Our Town Reno saying she had not heard about the settlement agreement, which also included a $1,000 administrative penalty and having to take more classes to regain licensing.

“The task force has not been meeting for a few years,” Schieve wrote in an email. “It was an all open working group and I believe he attended a couple meetings. Anyone was invited to attend the meetings so many people dropped in and out. The goal was to listen to developers frustrations with our planning department.”

Haynes also comes up in public contribution documents, with his two most recent political donations going to perennial losing Republican candidate Adam Laxalt, and Ward 4 incumbent Bonnie Weber, who has faced ethics complaints in her dealings with developers.

In light of the global financial crisis of 2008, caused by irresponsible lending, the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act (SAFE Act) was enacted that same year requiring all Mortgage Loan Originators (known as MLOs) to complete continuing education approved by the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System & Registry.

Our Town Reno reporting, August 2022

Catching up with Hagen Sandoval's Side of Reno and his New All Star History Team

The weather in Reno has always been confusing. I’ve lived here for my whole life, but I’ve never found any consistency in the seasons. Winters without a single snow cloud and summers filled with flash floods are more like a coin flip rather than a surprise. On the August day I was out to meet with This Side of Reno, an upcoming mini-series documentary project on the city’s history, gray clouds blanketed the sky, and a barely noticeable drizzle would gently fall every so often. 

This Side of Reno is trying to preserve Reno’s history, through short spotlights of various buildings and other spots of local historical significance.

The plan is to release a series of short videos, approximately ten minutes in length. The first episode, for instance, will focus on the Reno Arch on North Virginia and Commercial. It’s a three-person project between Hagen Sandoval, a 6th generation Nevadan, with experience in journalism and car sales, local historical preservationist Brett Banks and filmmaker Hunter Rand. The team combines skills in scholarship on Reno history and video production, with Banks and Sandoval both having the title of Executive Producer and Host, while Hunter Rand is listed as the Producer and Director of Photography. 

On that cloudy day, I was on my way to meet with Sandoval and Banks. I slightly sped up my pace walking down North Virginia Street as I idly checked my phone and realized I was moving too slowly to make it on time. The road is closed off to car traffic right now thanks to the micromobility pilot project, but Downtown Reno felt the same to me as it always had: a hectic mix of tourists and Reno residents walking between the tall casinos, long alleys and small corner stores.

The cars were gone, but the people were still the same. Not that I was complaining, since the open streets helped me make it just on time to our meeting at Believe Plaza. I looked around as a few other groups loitered around, smoking and chatting as I waited for Banks and Sandoval to arrive. I wouldn’t be there long, probably less than a minute before I saw Sandoval on the other end of the plaza. Once he got a little closer, he introduced himself and handed me a small ziplock bag of stickers and pins with the This Side of Reno logo directly on the center of each.

As we picked a spot to sit, Banks arrived at the same time. A few skateboarders fifty feet or so in front of us rolled back and forth across the mostly open ground. They seemed to be actively looking for small pieces of trash and other obstructions to do tricks over with varying degrees of success. The talented ones occasionally looked around, hopefully expecting someone to watch them. Those who needed a little more practice looked around more sheepishly, seemingly praying for the opposite.

This is a scene that has been played out many times for anyone who’s been to Downtown Reno, but the irony of meeting at the Believe Plaza to talk history was not lost on me. Sandoval told me during our conversation that we stood right on top of the Mapes Hotel that was knocked down a little over twenty years ago. The Mapes Hotel was the main star of Sandoval’s previous aspiration, trying to document and compile as much information about the building as he could. He runs an active Instagram page about the building, gaining over 800 followers by posting historic photos of the Mapes Hotel. Looking at the plaza now, it’s almost hard to believe that the hotel, the tallest building in the entire state when it was first built over 70 years ago, ever existed in the first place.

Sandoval has had six generations of family in Nevada before him, and Banks has had seven. This created a deep connection to the Silver State, and each says they’re one of the only people they know in their twenties to spend time actively seeking out local history. 

“Hagan and I just want our voices out there too, because we are realistically gonna be doing this long term,” Banks said. ”We've put ourselves into a lifetime commitment with the city of Reno and its history.”

History isn’t just a passion project for them; it’s a hobby, too. For fun, they look through listings for interesting photo albums and other undiscovered treasure troves containing tidbits of the Biggest Little City’s past on eBay. If a listing is particularly intriguing, they’ll call each other to coordinate who’s going to be the one to buy it. After explaining that they collect these photos and historical records, some people will part with their photos for free. But one of Sandoval’s biggest recent finds was a cornerstone of the Mapes Hotel. 

“I'm getting yelled at at home,” Sandoval said. “You spent how much on a piece of concrete from a building that no longer stands? Why does that even matter? But to me, this is so important. I pulled this off the side of the road in Sun Valley, because some guy was trying to move it. He had no idea what it was. This is a part of the Mapes. Why is there not more of this? Why do people not know what that is?”

Banks has similar stories about discovering local history. After her grandmother passed away, she inherited hundreds of photos sharing a common thread: a service station over eight hours away by driving in Welcome, Nevada. She started researching, deciding to make the long drive and brought a tent to camp in. After tracking down this service station and talking with the owners, they decided to turn the building into a museum. 

“If I hadn't found those photos and spent the time researching them, that would've been a lost story to my whole family,” Banks said. “Now I have cousins calling me that I've never met in my life, because my phone number's in the museum.”

Sandoval said the first episode on the Reno Arch is planned to be released by the end of the year at the very latest and joked that he will jump in the river if it isn’t out by the end of September. The long-term plans for This Side of Reno include influencing public policy. Banks and Sandoval want more protections for buildings that are classified as historic structures and for the City to implement adaptive reuse of historical structures whenever possible. This is the process of refurbishing or repurposing an older building to have a new purpose in a modern environment. 

“Our goal would be for the City to give more avenues to its Historical Resources Commission to protect our structures when something is recognized as historic and important,” Sandoval said. “We need to stop selling out our history for the promise that the future's gonna be brighter. Because if the past is all gone, what do we have?”

Our Town Reno reporting by Jesse Stone

Last Motels Standing: Capri Motel

mellow

the weather was perfect

it felt so nice to have a summer storm this year

the smell of rain and stormy clouds 

the puddles crowding my feet 

raindrop kisses on my glasses 

i pass by this motel all of the time 

this has become my favorite one

the motels dense, forest green and fading sand colors 

pale blue curtains draped over the windows

little plants at my eyes

i met a dog named luna, she was a sweet girl 

this place reminded me of

moments i’ll never forget

i’ll always keep this between me and you  

it must have been something in the air or whatever they say 

you were the sweetest 

you were the prettiest 

i would laugh

you would smile

you’re something special

i can’t help but feel the same still

and i say all of this with a fond smile

i’m almost done with that book you recommended, damn it’s good

Our Town Reno Photos and Essay by Jake Lorgé

Meghan Ebert, Running for Ward 4 and the People of North Valleys

Running for a Reno City Council seat, Ward 4, that has see-sawed in the past, Meghan Ebert likes her chances in November. She says her message of working for the people of North Valleys is starting to resonate with would-be voters when she meets with them. 

“We don't feel like we're heard out here,” Ebert told Our Town Reno, during a recent sit down interview at a locally owned coffee shop on Golden Valley Road, Superstitions Java. 

“We don't feel like we have a voice. And that's one of the reasons why I'm running. I want to … make sure that we have a seat at the table. We pay the same taxes, but we don't always feel like we're treated the same,” she said.

The incumbent she is facing Bonnie Weber is a long-time office holder. Weber previously served as a Washoe County Commissioner, and won the Ward 4 seat in 2018 against then incumbent Paul McKenzie.  But Weber has lost the seat before, in a 2014 election against McKenzie. Last year, Weber also faced scrutiny from the Nevada Commission on Ethics into lunches she organized. These were attended by developers, herself and staff, and paid for by prominent North Valleys development companies, including one hired to provide water to the 5,000-unit Stonegate project. 

The panel ultimately concluded Weber didn’t break the law but called on the City of Reno to come up with new rules to adequately address similar situations, during which city staff work at closed-door events  organized by an elected official.

Ebert is proud of endorsements she’s gotten from Reno firefighters, Planned Parenthood, the Nevada Central Labor Council , the Northern Nevada Building Trades and the Sierra Club, which she says reflect her values and beliefs.  “I’m very pro-union. I think that they do a great thing for wages and quality of life for workers. I'm very supportive of our first responders and our firefighters. I feel like they need more support as well and funding and, we need more first responders up in the North Valleys for sure with all the development happening out here. We're not keeping pace with the number of first responders that we have in the area.”

In light of this, and recent endorsements (see above postcard), Ebert feels confident, having garnered 1727 votes to Weber’s 2279 votes in the primary.  The third place finisher Dennis Owen got 1358 votes. During his campaign, he spoke out against uncontrolled growth without proper infrastructure, a message shared by Ebert. 

“I like to remind everybody that more people have voted against the incumbent than for her,” Ebert said of one of her campaign strategies, while going door to door, holding coffee talks and attending advisory board meetings.

“I think we have a master plan that we're not currently following,” she said of managing local growth.  “Why aren't we following that? If it doesn't work, then we should be adjusting it. If it does work and we're just choosing not to follow it because developers would like special use permits, we need to reevaluate why we're doing that. We need to look at the big picture here. Are we going to be a cohesive city, or are we just putting in warehouses wherever there's open space? I think we need to look at how we're developing. Are we developing smart? Are we building communities or are we just kind of filling wherever we can with whatever we want without much concern for any kind of plan.”

Ebert has concerns about available resources including enough water and infrastructure.  “You know we need to take that into consideration and also take into consideration the impact to the people that live here … you know, the increased traffic that comes with increased development, what are we doing to make sure that we have infrastructure to keep pace with the development that's happening.”

A mother of three, Ebert has concerns for the future.  

“Because I'm a first time candidate and I don't have any kind of developer ties, I don't have those conflicts of interest,” she said. “I’m doing this purely because I care about my community and what kind of legacy we're leaving for our children. I don't want to raise my kids in a neighborhood surrounded by warehouses. I don't think it's safe to put in thousands of houses without increasing our numbers of firefighters and police in the area. I think we're going to reach a tipping point where we're going to start having property losses, probably loss of life and damages because we're not taking into consideration the people that live here. And that's why I'm running because I really care about my ward. I care about my family and I care about everybody else's family out here.” 

Last year, the City of Reno finally reached a $4.5 million agreement to conclude litigation related to the 2017 Swan Lake flooding in Lemmon Valley, a terrible occurrence which affected her friends and family, and also prompted Ebert to get into local politics. 

“The people that were impacted had water from the Reno Stead sewage treatment facility flood their homes. The city of Reno had an opportunity to settle with these residents to give them funds to fix the damage caused to their homes. And the city council voted against that, not everyone, but in particular, our current representative. That to me is unacceptable. These are her constituents that are affected by this, and she voted against doing what was right and fixing the damage caused to their homes,” she said.

She doesn’t see that situation as a done deal either, saying there still needs to be better treatment of the Reno Stead water facility.  “It's still not considered safe for humans to be around,” she said. “I mean, you can use it for livestock feed crops, but you can't use it in your vegetable garden. It's not safe. We need to look into how we can treat that water to a higher quality, so that water becomes usable. We're living in a desert and we're pumping this water into a lake. It's just dumped into this area to evaporate every day. And last I checked, we're dumping over 2 million gallons of water into this lake every single day.” 

Ebert says she’s a pro-environmental candidate.  “We have beautiful areas of Sagebrush and forest around us. And how do we embrace that? How do we build, or put in trails so we can enjoy these areas and treat them as the asset that they are and appreciate them, and, and not just level them to, you know, put in whatever development that it comes along.” Other ideas she would like to see more include covered parking areas with solar panels above them.

As a professional benefits analyst who does data analysis, financial reporting and audits, Ebert says she would also bring much needed scrutinizing to proposals under discussion at Council.

“I would definitely ask a lot of questions, make sure that we've thought of everything, you know, as far as traffic studies, when we're doing road construction, financial impact,” Ebert said, adding she would continuously seek resident and expert input.  “We definitely need somebody in there that can look at the numbers and analyze the data. And, and again, like I said, just look at the big picture and find out, what's really going to be the best and not just appease developer money. Sometimes things look great on paper, but when you really come down to, you know, the impact to the community, it's not so great. So just really digging deep into that data and not just looking at superficial presentations.”

Ebert has never run for office, and hopes people who themselves feel marginalized, and who say they’ve even given up on voting will consider voting for her or get into the process themselves. 

“That's why I'm running, so many people in this ward are very eager to express their displeasure, but their names aren't on the ballot. So if you are unhappy with things, it is up to you to be that change, or it's not going to change. It will be business as usual. So I urge you to step up and take on that challenge,” she said. 

Our Town Reno reporting, August 2022

Outside and Inside, Local Researcher Seeks to Help Local Plants

“Historically, a lot of the Great Basin, the lower elevations were dominated by plants like big sagebrush, but there's been invasions of non-native grasses, particularly cheatgrass being the biggest one that have changed the way that a lot of the native plants in the Great Basin are distributed,” Robert Shriver said during a recent interview, getting straight into his passion for local plant populations.

Shriver, an Assistant Professor of Plant Ecology & Population Biology at the University of Nevada, Reno, spends his work hours in very different places. As an ecologist, some of that time is spent in Nevada’s Great Basin, some in a classroom and other hours crunching away at numbers and research in his office. Through his work, Shriver said that it’s becoming clear to see that sagebrush populations in the Great Basin have been decreasing, and the way that ecosystems look around Northern Nevada has changed compared to how they looked 50 years ago. 

“These invasive annual grasses lead to increasing fire frequency, which has led to really big declines in a lot of the native species and especially the shrubs in the Great Basin.”

As an assistant professor, Shriver’s work includes teaching and mentoring students, collecting data in the field and using quantitative analysis to identify and find causes for changes in local ecosystems. Finding changes isn’t always easy. Shriver’s work requires establishing so-called transects, a flat line laid on the ground in an ecosystem, and long hours comparing the phenomena he sees in the fields to records that might be fifty years old or older.

“I tend to describe it as mind numbingly boring work in beautiful places,” Shriver said.

“One of the methods that we use a lot is tagging and marking plants along a transect,” the researcher explained. “We’ll go out, we'll establish a transect that we'll return to every single year and along those transects, either map or tag where the plants are, and we'll go back to them every single year, see whether that plant is still there, whether it's alive, how much it's grown and whether it's reproduced and if there's new plants along that. That gives us a really good understanding of what's happening to these populations.”

Shriver said that climate change was a central theme of the research that he does. Specifically, Shriver tries to look at how climate change will affect the United States and the Great Basin. As an ecologist, finding the ways that the world around us has changed and is going to change can help the plants and ecosystems that make Nevada special survive.

“One of the big questions that ecologists try to understand is how ecosystems are going to respond to changing environmental conditions,” Shriver said. “Being able to document that and anticipate where that's going to happen into the future can have a really big impact in identifying and building tools that can both help academics, but also people managing these ecosystems that are trying to anticipate coming changes.”

Growing up in Kansas, Shriver wasn’t surrounded by as much of a diverse range of ecosystems and plants as he does now. After going to university in Wyoming, Shriver became interested in ecology.

“It fills my desire to both be outside and understand the world around me, but, also, I get to come back and do a lot of problem solving, doing data analysis and doing other things that I really enjoy,” Shriver said. “The problem solving keeps me entertained all winter when I can't be outside.”

Our Town Reno reporting by Jesse Stone

Grandpa Wabbit, a Buckaroo with a Banjo Along the Truckee River

Walking along the banks of the Truckee most days in late morning you might feel as though time has warped back to the early days of Reno when buckaroos would come into town from the ranches of the Great Basin for rest and recreation and maybe a little music.

There he is- a cowboy- walking at a brisk pace from his home in Midtown to Idlewild Park and back. Old time music, coming from a modern music box hanging on his side, gives first notice, along with the beautiful vintage banjo hanging on his back, that Robert, often known as “Grandpa Rabbit”, is on one of his nearly daily walks along the river.

With his well-worn black hat and jeans or work pants tucked into a pair of roper cowboy boots, it would be easy to mistake Robert for one of Reno’s earlier residents. And he comes by the cowboy title honestly.

Robert grew up in Siskiyou County in far northern California on a family ranch with five siblings. His parents, who farmed in the south, migrated to the West after World War Two from the Missouri Ozarks and northern Alabama.

“A ranch is a ranch,” he laughs. He grew up listening to his mother play accordion, piano and organ. “I lived with my grandparents in Alabama for two  years, he says. ”I was ten years old when I started playing banjo with my grandfather.”

“You know the first time I came to Reno I was passing through for the Summer of Love in 1967. It was small then, of course. I actually had a friend who came through in 73 and ran out of gas. He wound up working as a dealer in a casino and never did leave and maybe with the price of gas now we should see the population rising even more quickly,” he suggests with a smile.

Robert ended up living all around Nevada and Oregon and raising a family, working at times as a restaurant chef and always back to ranching, cattle and sometimes dairy cows.

“With dairy every day the milk is coming in, so you make quicker money than waiting on beef cattle,” he points out. “When I was retiring, I spent so much time up here seeing my grandkids that my daughter said I might as well stay “

He is proud of the banjo he is carrying. “It’s a 1912 body,” he indicates, showing the beautiful instrument. He saw it on an auction site and it was being ignored because of a crack in the neck. 

“Somehow I ended up getting it,” he laughs. With a new neck and skin, the five string plays sweetly now.

On most days he stops to play for anyone who wants to listen, sometimes along the river, but nearly always at Idlewild Park where the ducks gather to hear him play.

“People thought I looked like a Disney character so they started calling me ‘Grandpa Rabbit’. I just love playing for people,” he adds and then says slyly “if people enjoy it that’s great. And if they don’t enjoy it, I enjoy annoying. I sometimes like to sit and play on my neighbor’s porch on a cul de sac and if strangers make the wrong turn they think ‘I saw that movie’ and turn back around quick.”

Since his skinhead banjo can’t handle if the weather is too cold or damp, there are days when Robert gets his walking in with just the music player on his back sending out cowboy songs of the past. “Back in the old days people carried a lamp to warm up the skin,” he says. “But I can’t really carry a lantern these days.“

Reno may be outgrowing its Biggest Little City nickname, but rest assured, buckaroos still walk the streets and the ducks approve.

Our Town Reno reporting by Dina Wood

Last Motels Standing: Easy 8 Motel

quiet on our side 

it doesn't get any easier 

a man sat at the bottom of the staircase screaming for someone in their room

over and over again

hurry up, hurry up

there wasn’t anyone else

the woman at the office let me walk around without any trouble, explaining myself and my purpose 

she said she wouldn’t answer any questions, i get it

the motel next door told me to leave 

i can’t blame them 

the Yamaha motorcycle almost took on a life of its own

i have never seen anything like it

you have to look out for yourself for once

don’t keep waiting but i’m wrapped up in intimate memories 

this terrible memory

i love seeing older RVs around town

it was the first thing i noticed when i was walking up

there was lots of police activity across the street at another motel 

quiet on our side, i'd rather keep it that way 

i’m just here to document what will be removed at one point 

just like me

removed 

Photos and Essay by Jake Lorgé for Our Town Reno

Craft Fair Benefitting Grieving Local Prenatal and Neonatal Parents

The Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support Organization of the Sierras (PILSOS) is a non-profit organization founded in 2013 focusing on supporting parents through one of the hardest times in their lives. A craft fair for fundraising and awareness will be held at Katie’s Garden at the Bridge Church, one of the Reno urban farm sites run by Farmily. The event is free to attend and includes goods sold by local craftsmen and a raffle. 

“We have an amazing lineup of talented artists that are providing them with the opportunity to buy local, handcrafted, unique items to give as gifts for themselves or their loved ones,” Daniel Fisher, Executive Director of PILSOS, explained. “The admission is free. Katie's Garden is a lovely, peaceful location. There is ample parking. They can enter the raffle for their choice of items at a low cost that in turn benefits a local non-profit.

For Jacque Hibbs, a parent, PILSOS provided a safe space to talk about her family’s loss. Being connected to and in the company of other parents who have experienced similar pain gave Hibbs a sense that she wasn’t alone.  

“Your grandparents, they lived a full life,” Hibbs said. “They had a full life, they did all the things. But when you lose a child, your child hasn't had that chance. I think it's harder for people to connect with that and be able to figure out how to console you as a parent or even converse with you as a parent, because it's not a loss that a lot of people have dealt with.”

In previous years, PILSOS has fundraised through a yard sale. It was becoming difficult to keep up with the huge amount of work needed to sponsor a yard sale, so PILSOS decided to try their hands at a craft fair this year.

Nineteen local vendors will be taking part, with some of the proceeds going toward A Time for Remembrance event hosted by PILSOS later in the year, a special time for parents to remember their lost loved ones. 

“Reno is not a very big place and everyone, at some point, is going to experience a form of loss,” Hibbs said. “We all do, but when it's your child, it hits different. If you go, you're supporting an organization that is helping people get through life. Losing your child is life altering and you would be supporting a cause that helps moms and dads be able to have somewhere to go and talk and be able to remember their child.  Because in our society, sometimes we're expected to move on a lot quicker than we would like to.”

There will also be a raffle during the August event, where every one of the vendors who has signed up for the event have agreed to donate one of the items from their booth, which will be entered as prizes for the raffle. One ticket can be purchased for one dollar, six tickets can be purchased for five dollars and 26 tickets can be purchased for $20. Participants will have their phone number and name written down, meaning they can win the raffle even if they aren’t in attendance for the drawing.

Our Town Reno reporting by Jesse Stone

UNR Student Helps Organize International Climate Justice Forum

“We're getting to the point where I don't know exactly the amount of time that we have left to try to mitigate the climate crisis, but it is something that has been placed on our generation,” Zane Taylor says. “We've seen that policy makers are not willing to work with it, especially among the older generations. So it's really thrown on our generation specifically.” 

Taylor, a UNR student in international affairs, and summer intern at the Unitarian Universalist Association office at the United Nations, has been busy helping organize an online webinar on climate change scheduled for August 4th.

The event will be free to attend and feature a diverse set of speakers. Participants who register online but don’t attend the webinar will receive a Zoom recording of the event after its conclusion. Titled “More Than We Inherited: Youth-Led Climate Justice Initiatives”, Taylor says the name reflects the responsibility of the younger generation to take action and preserve the Earth’s climate. 

The United Universalist Association office is one of many faith-based organizations operating at the United Nations. The world body is more known for its veto-marred Security Council meetings and different aid organizations, but it also has offices for different religions. “It is a faith that originally started as a denomination of different Abrahamic religions, so Christianity, but we've shifted away from the scope of having a shared deity or a set holy scripture,” Taylor said of Unitarian Universalists. “We go off of seven principles that hope to reconnect us to the interdependent level of life. Those include stuff along the lines recognizing the inherent work and dignity of every person, the right of conscience and the use of democratic processes within our congregations and within society as a whole.”

Taylor said that the upcoming climate event welcomes and hopes to inspire participants from all generations and faiths, whether that be persuading someone to join a local organization, signing a petition, or urging a local politician to vote a certain way. 

“We're trying to get youth involved in the climate fight because the youth and at the domestic level is where the change needs to happen before it can go international,” Taylor said. “A lot of people think that the United Nations has all this power to affect a lot of concrete policies where the United Nations is mainly a system to get international collaboration.”

Anyone interested in registering for this event can visit https://uua.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJErf-uurDIiHtGOrt_tWulCwrhg6mwLmzcA

Meeting Dan, a Steady Presence in Downtown Reno and a Master of Recycling

In a city that seems to rebrand itself daily, the figure of a quiet man, pushing what appears to be a rolling landlocked boat buoyed by full rounded trash bags, has been a steady presence for nearly four decades.

Dan speaks to those who speak to him, but spends much of his day traveling silently and slowly through Downtown and Riverside, sometimes picking up things people have left for him to reuse and recycle, sometimes stopping to rearrange his bags, maybe occasionally having a smoke, tipping his ash into an ashtray he keeps on the top of his carefully balanced cart.

A hello gets a “Huyup” back from Dan and maybe a wave. He appears content in his solitude, walking every day for hours on end.

“The doctor says I’m in good health, so I just keep walking ,” he says quietly.  “ I used to take all kinds of aluminum cans to recycling,  but they quit taking them, so I don’t now.” It worries him. “You shouldn’t waste things,“ he asserts softly. 

Dan continues to sort as he talks about moving here from San Jose those many years ago. “I’m really a Nebraska boy- from Omaha.”

He has found a home in Reno, a home that doesn’t involve doors or a roof. “I have a doorway I sleep in,” he says, pointing toward Downtown. “About a mile over there. Every day of the year,” he smiles.

Dan used to eat more often at St Vincent’s and still uses some of the street outreach food pantries and public meals. But mainly now he says he finds food that people have thrown away, in bins, behind restaurants and stores. “I eat it- there’s plenty of good food wasted. And I feed the birds with it,”  he adds.

The bag he is arranging  has partial loaves of bread, still in the wrapper, and an open bag of carrots. He finds another plastic bag to sort the food. People in the neighborhoods he walks through often give him extra food, a sandwich, something they have cooked, or on a hot day, bottles of water and juice.

When asked how his life in Reno makes him feel he cracks one of his fleeting soft smiles.

He looks up and he says: “I’m good. I’m just happy, happy, happy.”

Our Town Reno reporting by Dina Wood

Reno Tattoo Shops Helping Unhoused School Children for First Day of School

Four tattoo shops in Reno, Aces Tattoo, Evolution Tattoo, Wolf City Tattoo and Lasting Dose Tattoo are running a community shoe drive, accepting donations of new shoes, clothes and underwear until August 6th to help unhoused or poorly sheltered Washoe County students, of which there are several thousand.

For Jake Griffin, a tattoo artist at Aces Tattoo, the effort is a way to help children get back some dignity.

“Your first day of school is the red carpet for kids,” Griffin said. “I remember being in school and seeing the kids that had nothing get ridiculed and mocked. It's not their fault. They’re kids, they can't afford to even buy their own wardrobe. My objective is to help as many kids as possible to avoid that scrutiny that comes with showing up for school on your first day, and everyone's showing off their outfit, and these kids don't have anything.”

The items gathered by the Shoe Drive will benefit the Washoe County School District’s Children in Transition program.  The Children in Transition program is designed to connect homeless students with any of the resources they need to succeed in their academic careers. That’s anything from backpacks and school supplies to musical instruments, and also basic clothes and shoes.  

“Seeing it work, seeing your community actually care and come out of the woodwork to support these kids, I think is amazing,” Children in Transition Program Coordinator Colin Usher said. ”It's twofold. You've got that community part which brings tears to my eyes. Then, at the end of the day, it's the students that get the support they need.”

The Shoe Drive comes after a separate charity event gathering toys for children living in motels last year.

Sitting at a red light, presents for nieces and nephews filling his car, Griffin looked across the street and saw kids playing at a motel with a soccer ball and sticks, still having the time of their lives. Thinking the kids deserved just as much as anyone else, an idea for a charity drive brewed in his mind for a few years until he mentioned the idea to his fiancée and fellow organizer, Grace Tecson. The motel drive gathering presents for children came to a sudden fruition, and the support from the community for this event was overwhelming to the point Griffin was left with leftover toys and backpacks.

This is when the partnership between the Washoe County School District and the tattoo shops was born. Fielding calls from parents looking for help on a daily basis according to Usher, the Children in Transition program could help distribute the presents and goods that the tattoo shops collected.

“Community partnerships are really important and each one contributes something different,” Usher said. “For them to come up with an idea for shoes and socks is great because a lot of organizations don't think about that sort of specific thing. You're gonna set them up first day of school looking good, feeling good, not so much standing out, but just blending in which a lot of these kids need.”

According to Usher, the Washoe County School District identified over two thousand Washoe County students as in transition last year. Factors involving the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential for children in transition to remain unidentified mean that the real number is likely even higher. 

“Oftentimes it's just inadequate housing,” Usher said. “It could be that they're doubled up with their aunt or uncle or grandmother or grandfather or another family. Some of them are unaccompanied youth, so they don't have a guardian or that adult in their life and they're living with another family, couch surfing essentially.”

Working at a tattoo shop, Griffin said he sees people from all walks of life, from bikers to lawyers, come through his doors.  Aces Tattoo has good relationships with other nearby shops, who agreed quickly to the idea of the Shoe Drive. The main goal is always the children, but the Shoe Drive is also an opportunity to show people that the stigma around tattoo shops doesn’t match up with reality. 

“Our shop has been open 27 years,” Griffin said.  “Before all this gentrification and before this neighborhood was Midtown, we were here. We've never left. We try to give back as much as we can, and we just want to show people that we care about our community, just as much as anybody else, if not more.”

Only new items will be accepted as donations.  Shoe sizes from 5T to 14Y are being accepted, and the shops are taking donations until August 6th.  Anyone who donates will be entered into a raffle, with first place earning a $500 gift certificate, second place a $250 gift certificate and third place eligible to earn merchandise from the shops. Raffle tickets can also be purchased at a price of $20. 

“We need as much help from the community as possible,” Griffin said. “Whether it be a simple pair of socks, underwear, five bucks from your pocket, 10 bucks or a $20 pair of shoes. People spend that in an iced tea at Starbucks, you know what I mean? Six bucks can make a difference in the kid's life, not just that day.”

Our Town Reno reporting by Jesse Stone

Feemster Name Honored at New Hug High Location

As the new Hug High School prepares to open its doors at its location in Sparks, it now includes the Feemster Family Resource Center.

Adrienne Feemster, 46, the granddaughter of the late Dolores Feemster, has been fighting to have the grounds of the old Hug High School, scheduled to become a Career and Technology Education Academy, named to honor the civil rights community activist. That effort was dealt a blow when two years ago the Washoe County School District instead chose to honor Debbie Smith, a former Nevada State Senator.

“I feel like there’s no compromise and one doesn’t negate the other,” Feemster said, when asked if the naming of the center was enough. “I feel like they were separate occurrences, separate issues.”

While she restated the importance of listening to the the community when renaming schools, she said she is keeping a positive outlook, and moving forward. 

The new Feemster center will provide families with guidance and referrals to local resources to improve their wellbeing. “It reminds me to focus on celebrating the honor to be able to see the Feemster name be connected with the school that my grandmother loved and cared for,” Feemster said.

She is currently gathering mementos and old yearbooks from her grandmother’s 30 plus years at Hug for a display case in the new center.  Among her many pursuits, she had advocated for the First Nations and Heritage clubs at Hug, “so students of all backgrounds could celebrate who they are and be proud of their roots and their heritage and make common ground.” 

Dolores Feemster died in 2018, at the age of 89, after a full life of helping others, including her persistent efforts to have local affordable housing built for abused women, senior citizens and families in need.

Our Town Reno reporting by Ariel Smith

Last Motels Standing: The Reno Royal Motor Lodge

july goes quick 

this motel appeared out of corner of my eye as i was driving around

a woman was smoking a cigarette on her porch as i began walking up

no one at the office

no one else around 

there were plenty of cars parked for at least someone to come around, i thought

this motel seems to be so tucked away as it is towered over by the Silver Legacy and the Eldorado 

sometimes, one of my favorite things about photographing these old motels is seeing the different sort of cars that are parked outside in the lots

like the lincoln for example

the deep grill on the front of it

the worn down paint job 

it just all seems so fitting 

they put an imaginary person into my mind of who might be the one driving it around, staying at the motel

one man emerged from his back corner room 

cargo shorts

collared blue, striped golf shirt 

except he didn’t get in a car, he made a quick turn behind the motel and disappeared 

a couple began staring at me as I was walking around taking my last few photos

and not just noticing me, but staring at me, following my every move, and didn’t stop looking at me until i rounded the corner and left 

heads on a well-oiled swivel, locked onto my every move

strange  

Photos and Essay by Jake Lorge for Our Town Reno