Jarred Santos, pursuing his artistic growth as a tattoo apprentice

A troubled youth and accomplished boxer turned self-described struggling artist, Jarred Santos is a Reno local who exemplifies the opportunities here in Northern Nevada, as he keeps grinding, evolving in his passions and turning them into his livelihood.

Santos now 31, who previously did commissioned for Our Town Reno, has been working as a boxing coach at Elite Boxing & Crossfit for the past five years, and is now two years into his apprenticeship as a tattoo artist at Empire Tattoo Company.

Santos has been in the ring since he was a kid, using it to learn responsibility and work ethic. Seeing how much boxing has helped in his own life, Santos hopes to give others the same positive reinforcement and purpose.  He himself benefits from another passion.

“My whole life has been spent in a boxing gym but when I'm not boxing, I’m drawing,” he explains.

A tattoo of boxing gloves that Santos did on himself at the beginning of his apprenticeship, merging his two passions.  

When first tapping into his creative side Santos would call himself a “struggling artist” on social media as he didn’t see himself creating much income through his art. After constant encouragement from others, he can now proudly say he has achieved his dreams of staying creative while also getting paid. 

Santos met Samuel Linville in the boxing gym a few years ago, where they first traded boxing lessons for free tattoos. Once Santos found out he was having his first child, their collaborations evolved into tattoo lessons to start off Santos's apprenticeship, allowing him to develop another source of income. 

A portrait of Santos focused on his craft on a wall at Empire Tattoo. 

Santos’s work corner at Empire Tattoo where he displays some his artwork.

“Art isn't seen as a sustainable career but I want to be able to provide for my boys so they are inspired to follow their dreams,” Santos explains as to his motivation to keep going in an artistic vein despite the challenges. “When my boys are older and trying to figure out their life plans I want to be able to tell them not to listen to anyone else and do whatever you want to do, just put in the work.”

When scrolling through his social media portfolio, viewers can see how Santos was able to transfer his art style from canvas to skin. “People would describe my style as lowbrow but I like art because I can do whatever I want and no one can tell me otherwise. I don't have a style, I just do what I want to do.” 

A tattoo of a coffee cup on the leg of one of Jarred’s boxing students, done earlier this year. 

His finished pieces are no longer just on the walls of businesses and residences, but permanently displayed on the bodies of his clients as well.

Santos hopes to continue to have this creative outlet as a source of income and a way to find peace. “In ten years I see myself hopefully as a good father, a good role model, and still married to my wife. Nothing else matters,” he concluded.

Our Town Reno reporting by Joseph Azar and Valentina Garcia

What's That Construction Project? The Nevada Museum of Art Expansion

The Nevada Museum of Art is currently working on expanding their 15,000 square feet facility by 50,000 square feet, with a new entrance on California Avenue, connecting to the current entrance on Liberty Street with a long hallway.   

New spaces which are being built up will be used for research, education, and more gallery spaces. One of the main goals of this expansion is to add more areas for students, educators, and scholars in the community. 

They are also aiming to increase the amount of gallery spaces to be able to showcase more art from their collections. The museum has about 4,000 objects in its collection but only a small fraction is currently displayed with traveling exhibitions taking up most of the space. 

The museum’s research center called the Center for Art and Environment will get an expanded space of about 10,000 square feet on the second floor. 

Expansion plans also include having a new 5,000 square feet library with increased public access to books, research materials and archives.

All of the construction is due to be done by spring 2025 to be able to serve over three million residents in Nevada and its visitors as the Silver State’s only accredited art museum. 

Many of the visitors include thousands of students from the Washoe County School District who get organized hands-on tours.

The expansion, which will also include a new classroom, is expected to cost the museum around 60 million dollars.

To fund this project the museum received a 16 million dollar donation from philanthropists Charles and Stacie Mathewson, and the new wing will be called the Charles and Stacie Mathewson Education and Research Center. 

Charles Mathewson, who headed International Game Technology in the 1980s and 90s, committed to the large gift before dying in October 2021, at the age of 93. 

The museum has been asking for donations on their website to help this project, and has gotten other big donor contributions. 

On its website this is its pitch to encourage more donations: “They’ve become part of our cultural DNA. The events, the exhibitions, the spaces, the memories. From Raphael’s The Woman with the Veil to treasures of ancient Egypt. From The 36th Star: Nevada’s Journey from Territory to State to Tahoe: A Visual History. From the  E. L. Cord Museum School to First Thursdays to Hands ON! Second Saturdays. If you and yours have enjoyed any of these, you know what a vibrant asset the Museum has always been to our region.” 

Currently, it’s asking visitors to look for additional parking along nearby streets due to the ongoing construction.  

Photos and reporting by Dez Peltzer 

Devon Reese Leads in Fundraising and Spending in Ward 5 Race, with Challengers Jostling for Runoff

In the Ward 5 Reno City Council race, it seems to be a competition to face off against current at-large councilman Devon Reese, now running in a redrawn ward as his at-large seat will be eliminated.

Brian Cassidy, who runs Junk King Reno and lists himself as a Republican, received January to March contributions from individuals totaling $3,650 while spending very little.

Cassidy has a website which indicates he wants to build a “community-focused future” and that “his dedication to family and community is the cornerstone of his campaign, reflecting his values of hard work, perseverance, and service.” It also includes a “gameplan to fix Reno.”

Speaking of websites, Sheila Browning-Peuchaud, a former Assistant Professor at the Reynolds School of Journalism, who has been campaigning for a more transparent and ethical Reno, paid Grim Design nearly $5,000 as part of more than $9,000 in expenses, which also included $1,200 to the Apple Store.

She has been just Peuchaud on initial documents, and the B in her maiden name Browning will put her highest up on the ballot alphabetically.  Some of her highest donations, totaling over $12,000, come from another Browning and an additional $2,000 from an address in her native Michigan. 

Tara Webster, who also has experience in academia, and who entered the race later but is making a strong door to door push to make it to November on a message of being a transformative candidate for accessible housing, childhood care and more sustainability nets raised just $3,000 while spending under $300 during the first three months of the year.

The candidate with the highest overall name recognition lawyer Devon Reese, running on quality of life issues and being accessible, received over $40,000 in early year contributions while spending over $26,000.

His big donors include the Reno Sparks Association of Realtors, the Builders Association of Northern Nevada, Local 169, Local 39, the Circus and Eldorado Joint Venture, Peppermill Casinos and Las Vegas-based law firm Kaempfer Crowell. 

Reese’s big expenses have gone to Tissot Solutions and Changing Dynamics Political Consulting.  He also sent over $1,000 to the Nevada Independent.

Our Town Reno reporting, April 2024

Selena La Rue Hatch, Running to Keep Her Assembly Seat in the Spirit of Passionate Service

Selena La Rue Hatch, a teacher who is running as a Democrat to keep her Assembly District 25 seat in what could be a competitive November showdown, remembers distinctly what made her run in the first place.

Roe v. Wade had just been overturned, the skies were black with smoke from ferocious forest fires, her child couldn’t go outside and she was teaching up to 45 students in her high school classes.  

“I just felt like we were facing so many crises, so many fronts, and it felt like we were kind of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, but not really making the systemic changes that we needed. And so I decided to get involved. I was going to protest and I was working through my union and I just felt like we weren't making the changes we needed,” she explained to Our Town Reno during a recent phone interview. 

“And so I decided, you know what? If I'm not making a difference from outside the building, so let me run and get inside the building and let me bring my students voices with me,” she said. 

She’s proud of accomplishments made during the last legislative session in Carson City, but felt frustrated by the many vetoes from Republican Governor Joe Lombardo.  

“I think we passed some legislation that protects abortion rights, that protects LGBTQ students and citizens,” she said.  “And I think that we passed really important legislation on housing and gun safety and environmental protections. The problem is a lot of those bills that I just mentioned were vetoed, and that's I think, really frustrating to go back to the community and say, ‘hey … I did all this great work. We got these bills passed, but unfortunately, you're not going to benefit because they got vetoed.’ And so I think that while we did make progress, there's still a long way to go. And I think that I'm going to keep working on those issues.”

This time around, La Rue Hatch is hearing from her constituents they’re still struggling with affordable housing, calling it one of the biggest challenges facing our community.

“I don't think it is something that one single bill is going to solve,” she said. “I think it is a multi-faceted issue. We have a huge shortage of housing availability and so I think we need to look at zoning laws, We need to look at how we build up rather than just out so that we are maximizing the use of our space. I also think we need to look at making sure that people have a fair shot of getting a home. I am very concerned at the number of out-of-state corporations that are coming in and buying homes with cash offers so that everyday Nevadans don't even have a chance to bid on their home. We have to provide protections so that our folks can afford a place to live.”

Portrait photo by Harmony Hildebrand shared with permission to reuse.

Reducing class sizes in northern Nevada is another goal of hers.  As a world history teacher at North Valleys High School she experiences this problematic overcrowding first hand, with over 35 students in each of her six classes.   

“The national average is about 15 students per class and I think at the high school level, the sweet spot would be around 25 students. You know, the problem with having 35 to 38 students in a class is a lot of behavior issues, [some] students want to perform in front of a crowd, other students get left behind because maybe they're not the bright star of the class or they are just kind of quiet.”

The state has been investing more in education, after being chronically underfunded for decades, but she says “it's not going to be a one session solution.”

Seeking the seat from the other side of the political aisle, Diana Sande, who works as a Health Communications Manager at UNR, got an early endorsement from Government Lombardo, something La Rue Hatch says voters should think about.

“I think that you have a governor who vetoes every single piece of legislation that is meant to address housing, every piece of legislation that's meant to address climate change, every piece of legislation that's meant to address gun safety, even a bill that's meant to get kids in school, that's what our free school lunches and breakfasts [are] to me … And so it is it is a community concern,” she said. “But there are a lot of candidates who support all of those vetoes. I think those are pretty extreme. And I think if you're a candidate that supports that, then you need to explain to the voters why you support those policies.”

Even though she’s an incumbent, she says she takes no vote for granted, and will work to speak to as many voters as possible in a swing district in a swing state with high national stakes as well. 

La Rue Hatch who grew up on a cattle ranch near Pyramid Lake, before going to college at Boston University, then working on campaigns and volunteering for non-profits, says she had a sense of service instilled in her by her grandma who took care of her and ran a daycare for the kids of first responders.  

“I just wanted to give back to my community in whatever way … And I always teach my students, you know, you need to follow your passions, but your passions need to serve others. You need to use your gifts to help other people, because that, I think, is really the purpose for all of us on this planet,” she concluded.  

Our Town Reno reporting, April 2024

End of an Era for the Jacobs Bought Out Gold 'N Silver Inn

Workers were emptying out parts of the usually “always open” Gold ’N Silver Inn Monday, as a sign said it was closed until Thursday, as it’s now under the management of Jacobs Entertainment, as part of its buyout spree of entire swaths of downtown Reno, most of it now dirt lots surrounded by unstable fencing.

"Jacobs Entertainment extends its sincerest gratitude for everything Jeff Paine has done for this community and we are excited to carry on the legacy of The Gold 'N Silver Inn," Jacobs Entertainment said in a statement.

A favorite restaurant for many locals, it’s been an iconic venue on 4th street since the 1960s, and which according to their sign was established in 1956.

It was bought by Jacobs Entertainment in January last year, with Paine saying he was ready to retire after owning and running the restaurant for over 35 years.

Nearby, the Chapel of the Bells, closed for a while now after also being bought out, is slowly decaying, with litter all around it. A historical home is boarded up behind it, also bought out, with birds flying in and out of broken windows.

Several unhoused people pushing their belongings could be seen walking in front of the Jacobs Gold Dust West across the street, while people living in an RV had a view of the now familiar multi colored and quickly fraying Neon Line District fabric which covers the fences around the many dirt lots.

Many of these were previously the site of motels, and due to the affordable housing crisis, often the last or first resort before or after homelessness.

Our Town Reno Photography and Reporting, April 2024

Jake Erwin, a Young Photographer / Videographer Taking on the Reno Music Scene

While Jake Erwin may have outgrown multiple cameras, he says he began to grow into himself when he moved to Reno at the age of 23.

He found himself in the Biggest Little City after wanting a fresh start away from Susanville, California. Moving to an unfamiliar place, with no friends besides his uncle, it was uncomfortable at first to adjust. However Jake has flourished in this new city and has quickly become a go to photographer and videographer for the local music scene.

When Jake was 16, him and his brother started playing Call of Duty, a popular video game that pins clans against each other to engage in combat as a soldier. At the time, in 2012, it was common for people to record the gameplay and create a video montage to upload to YouTube. Jake quickly found that he preferred editing videos of the game rather than playing it and thus his passion for creating content began. 

He taught himself how to edit through YouTube tutorials and trial and error. As his skills progressed he became interested in graphic design and decided to attend college pursuing a more fine arts based education. After about four months he realized that graphic design was not his passion and Jake left school. 

A little shocked and discouraged that graphic design hadn’t been what he thought it would be, he began to find local jobs to work at while he figured out what he wanted to do. He worked at Papa Murphy’s along with other jobs in Susanville until he decided to make a drastic change. After some bad stuff had happened, he says, he packed his things, moved to Reno and bought a Subaru WRX. Little did he know that this car would lead him to the discovery of his lifelong passion. 

Through some friends, Jake began getting into the local car scene. He and his friends would organize and attend car meetups and film content of cars with the help of a photographer in their spare time. Unfortunately they had a falling out with their photographer and with no one there to film the cars, Jake stepped up and bought his first camera.

An EOS Rebel T7 camera that Jake describes now as adequate for a beginner. He started teaching himself how to take pictures but after six months he quickly realized he had outgrown the camera and he decided to sell it to his friend Josh, another local Reno photographer who goes by takeone_visuals on Instagram. He then bought a new camera at the end of 2021 and kept that equipment until the middle of 2023. 

Between November 2021 through June 2023, Jake said he became a well sought after car photographer. While he loved taking pictures he began to stop loving the car scene in Reno as a whole. “That final six to eight month period from November of 2022 to June of 2023, I didn't enjoy cars anymore. It was mostly just due to people I had encountered… I just kind of fell out of love with the car side of it. But I was still really in love with the picture side of it,” he says. 

Through this weird transition period of falling out of love with the scene he had become so accustomed to, Jake started attending more concerts with his girlfriend.

He said that it wasn’t until he went to a concert at the GSR in July that he started noticing photographers running around the stage capturing music artists. At this show in particular he saw a man in all black sprinting back and forth as he captured memories for the bands In This Moment, Motionless in White, From Ashes to New, and Fit For a King.

Jake said he was curious and then he had a realization, “what's this guy doing running around up on stage–I want to do that. I want to figure that out.” 

After the show he figured out that the photographer had been Ian Urquhart. He found his Instagram and reached out to Ian. Unsure where to start, Jake also asked for some tips and Ian kindly sent him a long list of things to do. Or as Jake describes it, a “bible” on how to become successful in musical and touring photography. Jake was incredibly grateful for these tips as most people in the photography scene gatekeep their methods. 

Before diving into the list, Jake had to buy a new camera because he had sold his old one in the middle of 2023. However life got in the way and buying a camera had to become a later priority but once he was able to, with the help of his girlfriend, Jake bought a Sony A7R III, which Jake describes as the perfect combination of video and photo. He also credits his girlfriend as his biggest supporter. “She has been, just, the most supportive person that I could ever ask for in my life. She’s the one person in my life that i've met, that no idea has been stupid to her, no idea has been too far out of reach for her” and so she pitched in to help make Jake’s vision come true.

So, with the help of his girlfriend and some local bands, he started to get into the music scene. Over the last summer Jake and his girlfriend rebuilt a gazebo in their backyard that served as the perfect makeshift venue for their friends in the band, Quitter, who had approached them asking if they knew of any places they could perform. Emberwake was one of the bands on the bill and their song Monster spoke to Jake.

That was what inspired him to shoot a music video for them. “I was like hey, this song I, I really want to get my hands on this. I don’t have the camera yet, and I don't have any pictures to show you. I don’t have any video to show you of what I’m capable of, but take my word for it. I’m good for it.” 
Emberwake happily agreed and the two started planning out music video ideas, times, and locations. However, right before filming was set to begin, Steven, one of Emberwake’s vocalists, broke his foot. The camera mentioned previously arrived in the mail three days after this incident. Jake was really bummed but he understood and so they postponed filming. 

Their focus shifted back to planning from September through November of 2023. At one of Emberwake’s September shows at the Remedies Bar, Jake asked them if he could take pictures of them performing completely free of charge. They offered to pay him and he denied saying, “They were like so what’s your Venmo we’ll give you– and I'm like no no no no. I don’t want that expectation first of all, to be put over my head. You know like, in my head I don't want to not live up to what that dollar value would have been” because these guys are way too generous Jake says. 

He used this show as an opportunity to improve his photography skills and step into the world of photographing bands for the first time. During this time he also started attending Holland Project shows. Reporter Lauren Juillerat, in the band BenderWorld, was playing one of the nights Jake came to take photos. His photos provided them with some beautifully captured moments of their performance and when he told them that was only his second time photographing bands, they were shocked. “He is incredibly talented. The photos he took that night in October are still some of our favorites to this day” Lauren says. 

Jake says that he was following Ian’s advice and seeking out local venues to help him improve his skills. He says that The Holland Project was very welcoming. Anyone with or without experience is invited to attend and enhance their abilities or enjoy shows put on by local and touring bands. 

It wasn’t until early November that he and Emberwake were finally able to begin filming. This consisted of very late nights in the freezing cold since that was the only time all seven of them were free. But this experience was not only rewarding in a creative sense, but also in a friendship sense. From complete strangers in the beginning, to good friends at the end, lots of laughs were exchanged on set. “If you’ve seen it, it was a very emotional video. But, behind the scenes of recording it, it was just laughs. It was constant fun” Jake says. 

They had no budget for the music video. Meaning any money that was used came directly from Jake’s paychecks. His experience was developed along the way as he experimented with his new camera and new found companions. 

Emberwake was just the beginning. Because of them, Jake was able to showcase his talent through videography and photography and gain a multitude of opportunities after the music video release for Monster. Such as his first arena show in early 2024 and being paid to shoot four to five shows on average a week. 

His advice to anyone new to the Reno photography/videography scene is, “do not charge anyone, until you'd be comfortable paying for your own experience. People assume I'm getting paid, so I'm good. Money does not make you good.” In the meantime he recommends practicing your skills at venues like The Holland Project. That way you don't have to worry about contacting bands in advance. Just show up, take pictures and learn the etiquette of the creative field. He also encourages wearing all black when taking pictures at events. “I do my best to lay low and be a fly on the wall” so he doesn't draw attention away from the performers. 

Jake also wants to warn beginners that when you do start out in this creative field, there is a lot more bad than good initially. You have to really love it to be able to get past the rejection and hate in order to do this long term. 

He also recommends being realistic to an extent. Currently, Jake is fortunate enough to say that this has become his full time job. However he doesn't just do photos in the music scene. He helps local businesses with commercials and photographs as well. For example, Low Boost Performance is a local business he does social media for. “Have plans in place. This isn’t a guaranteed job” says Jake. 

Jake constantly strives to improve his work. He is currently working with Split Persona, a Reno band, on a music video that will be released within the next few months. He is also attending local shows and venues and aims to expand on storytelling with his work in the coming months.

Our Town Reno reporting by Lauren Juillerat

Amy, With a Manager's Job and No Dependents, But Struggling Mightily in Biggest Little City

“I’m to the point of almost giving up, like ‘no I can’t do this’,” Amy who in her 40s says of trying to survive in a rapidly changing and costlier Reno. She’s been sharing local resources she’s found with Our Town Reno via email to share with the community and now she wanted to share her own story in more detail.  

She works as a manager for a self storage company for $16 an hour, while living in a small 325 square feet apartment or what she calls “a glorified hotel room,” for $1,000 near the Row.

She wanted to stay anonymous, not wanting her ex husband to find her or to lose her job. She initially moved to Reno to flee her ex, after traveling non stop with another previous job, to find a place where she could start over.

Initially she worked in a friendly thrift store where there was a sense of community. Then the pandemic rolled around, and she got a slightly higher paying job, but still she struggles. 

“I don't have any savings. My car is falling apart, and I don't have enough money to fix it,” she said. 

She says she’s in a category that gets little to no help, making too much money to qualify for welfare, able bodied, employed, with health insurance, housed, “sane,” even if dealing with mental health challenges, not addicted, not a veteran, sober, without dependents, but still struggling, not eating healthy enough, always afraid of her car totally breaking down, not being able to afford co pays for proper health care. 

“We need just as much help as the next person does,” she says of people in her situation.  “There’s a lot of barriers, you have to already be on food stamps, already have to be going through sober living, but none of that applies to me and others struggling.”  

She’s tried to enlist in different local assistance programs, but “by the time that you're done with all this rigamarole, you're just ‘well, anyway, I mean, I said to myself, I'm like, my God, I'm giving up.’” 

Food banks she says are often closed when she has time to get to them, so she relies on Karma Boxes to have just enough to eat. 

Her company offered her on site housing but she says conditions there were “hideous” and probably wouldn’t pass code enforcement, and you can have someone knocking at your window who needs help in the middle of the night, she said of why she decided to avoid that option.  

Downtown, where she lives instead, she says she falls asleep to gunfire and people fighting over drugs, she walks around with mace and knives to protect herself, and every morning she’s grateful her car hasn’t been broken into.  

She’d like to see more meals on wheels, at more different times, and not just for seniors.  She’s worried about worsening traffic, wildfires and earthquakes.  She says people have gotten less and less friendly locally in recent years.   

“I don't want to, like, go somewhere and lie and say, yeah, well, I'm homeless, you know, and can you give me resources for this? I don't drink, I don't do drugs, but I can’t get ahead here,” she concluded.   

Our Town Reno reporting, April 2024

Kathleen Taylor, Receiving and Spending Lots of Money in Unpredictable Ward 1 Race

As wards were redrawn recently, and longtime council member Jenny Brekhus is being termed out, a crucial, unpredictable primary is taking place currently for our new Ward 1, now encompassing downtown, much of 4th street, UNR, parts of University Ridge, and the Spaghetti Bowl.

Contribution and expenses reports for the January to March 2024 period show a casino and developer backed non elected incumbent currently in a different ward receiving and spending much more than her opponents, a candidate favored by the local Latino political machinery getting money from a controversial charter school company and a people’s champion candidate getting dozens and dozens of individual contributions. 

The Ward 5 selected councilwoman now running in an election Kathleen Taylor has received $42,327 in January through March contributions, while spending a whopping $49,507. As we previously reported, she received over $100,000 in contributions last year, filling up her coffers to stay on Council.

Notable recent contributions for Taylor come from the casino affiliated, from “Circus an Eldorado Joint Venture” ($5,000), Cindy Carano ($250), and Cal Neva ($1,000), the developer realm, including S3 Development ($1,000), mortgage lender Alpen Mortgage ($1,500), marketing company Nevada Trip Partners ($2,500), and the Builders Association of Northern Nevada ($2,500), the Kaempfer Crowell law firm ($2,500), NV Energy ($1,500) and Savage and Son ($1,000).

Taylor’s spending has gone mostly to Dietz Media and Marketing, Las Vegas based G8 Political LLC, Tom Clark Solutions and Tiffany East PR, who always does well come campaign season.

There’s also a $562 charge to Samsung and a $500 one to Stripe and $40 to the City of Reno.  

One of her two opponents Frank Perez, a former chair of the Washoe County Library Board, raised $22,457 while spending $15,897.  A big check for him came from the controversial for profit charter school education company Academica Nevada ($2,500), while another big chunk of change came from IUOE Stationary Engineers Local 39 Nevada Voice ($5,000).  He’s spent most of his money with Google, Changing Dynamics Political Consulting, Stripe, ActBlue, Reno Type, USPS, Southwest Airlines, Tissot Solutions, Señor Tequila’s Mexican Kitchen and Cantina, Mari Chuy’s and Costco. 

There’s also 12 small charges of $15 and less at Cafe con Papi.  

Lily Baran, meanwhile, a champion of progressive causes, has received $10,025 while spending $4,180.

Her contributions come entirely from individual donors, over 100 of them, many of them familiar in advocate circles and from public comment speakers at the city and county level.  

Her spending has gone notably to Darren Archembault ($600) (correct spelling should be Darren Archambault) and several other individuals.

Each candidate has misspellings for some donors or recipients and several companies use different names in their contributions, which can make these campaign financial disclosures less clear cut sometimes in terms of figuring out who is getting and who is giving out lots of money during local campaigns.  Still for Ward 1, the lines are clear. It remains to be seen who will have the winning formula in what we see as a very competitive race.

Our Town Reno reporting, April 2024

Setas Seminary "Psychedelic Church" Returns With Cold Plunge

After an introductory gathering, Setas Seminary is returning with a cold plunge on April 21st, with a 7:30 a.m. gathering at Hub Coffee on 727 Riverside Drive, with a “sensation session” followed by a dip “into the crisp Truckee River.”

Other upcoming events following moon cycles include discussing Food as Medicine, Fun & Healthy Summertime Dishes, Mind, Body and Mood, and a Summer Solstice Celebration.

Setas Seminary, founded by Reverend Dr. Leah Linder and Reverend Pam Conboy, kicked off its inaugural event with a Spring Equinox Celebration in late March. 

Described as a Church of Spiritual Integration, the Seminary also calls itself a psychedelic church, giving interested members access to psilocybin, which founders of the church say is helpful for overall health. 

As long as they follow the rules of a formally established church they believe their practitioners will be protected from prosecution under the Controlled Substances Act—which still lists psilocybin mushrooms under Schedule I, meaning according to the DEA “that it has a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision.”

“You actually need to use less over time,” Leah Linder informed the audience of curious participants at the first gathering when discussing psilocybin mushrooms. “Eventually, the goal is to thrive without outside help.”

At the Equinox Celebration, Linder and co-founder Pam Conboy organized mini-workshops such as breath work, yoga and massage. 

In the breath work session, participants were taught the box breathing method of system regulation.

At this Sunday’s event, according to its website, participants will be taught Wim Hof breathing techniques, while beverages and snacks will be provided. Attendees are being asked to bring their own towel and something warm to slip into post-plunge. Setas towels and a book by the Dutch motivational speaker Wim Hof, also known as the Iceman, will be available with donation.

Reporting and Photos by Em Tomeo shared with Our Town Reno

Marketing Strategist Brandi Anderson, the Only Woman Running for Ward 6, Wants to See Smarter Growth

A resident of Curti Ranch, now in Ward 6, since 2005, a mom who battled to get one of her son’s to overcome childhood leukemia, and a professional in marketing for decades, Brandi Anderson wants south Reno to no longer be overlooked in terms of parks and recreation, public safety, and solutions-based infrastructure.

She points to being a mom as being a main motivator to drive change for current and future generations. 

“As I was raising my children, I started realizing I need to deal with people that are driving through too fast through the neighborhood. Who do I call? I need to deal with the fact that there's no swimming. There was no aquatics facility at all in South Reno for me to take my kids to teach them how to swim… Those are the things that the city council can affect. And so once I started really realizing that as a mom, I really got involved and really interested. The work and the public service is fascinating to me.”

She ran previously for what was then Ward 2 in 2010, but says she didn’t listen to constituents enough.  Then three weeks before that election, her son Cooper was diagnosed with cancer.  

That taught her even more about politics intersecting with life as the Affordable Care Act had recently passed.  

“That mattered dramatically to me because of the lifetime cap issue with insurance and the fact that nobody was going to be able to drop us from our insurance, that was a main issue in the beginning,” she said.

“So I started to pay attention to politics at that time because I wanted to know why was everybody so either happy or sad about this policy? So through that journey, I started learning about how these decisions get made. And I think that my temperament, and my preparedness makes me an excellent person to have in an elected position … number one, do no harm, number two, do as much good for as many people as you can with the resources you have.”

She says she understands some voters are currently disillusioned by the toxic nature of national races, and appreciates that local ward races here are nonpartisan. 

“There's no reason to look at your neighbor and be concerned about ideological foundations,” she said. “ Let's talk about the quality of life and how to make this neighborhood better. That's what a city council race is about.”

When asked if she had concerns on tense back and forths displayed at recent Reno City Council meetings, she said if elected she would focus on her “ability to be a good leader, to be a consensus builder, to collaborate and better understand and publicly show people that you can disagree with somebody and still be respectful and be part of the same team, that's moving towards a common goal for the city.”

Anderson says her experience as an entrepreneur will also come in handy to be a better representative for residents like her.

“I think being a small business owner that's just recently been through the pandemic with the rest of the business owners, it's really good to have that heart and mind of what people are trying, what they're going through when they're employing our neighbors, when they're trying to put food on their table.”

Anderson would like to take a close look at fees that go along with licenses for businesses, including those without brick and mortar presence.  

“Every fee that you pass along to a small business owner is money that they're not able to pay employees, inventory that they're not able to order and possibly gas they're not able to put into a delivery truck. So we need to be thinking about that as a city,” she said. 

In terms of general concerns, traffic is an issue she mentions often, including how to get South Reno residents to and from where they need to go, and to find ways to ease existing “choke points” while making sure “we're thinking about the residents when we make those decisions.”

“I think that I'm looking at our priority in our intersections, but not just in the high traffic. There's a lot of accidents that happen in small neighborhoods where maybe they don't get as much focus from the media,” she said. “I think we need to identify these areas, figure out how much money is going to need to be invested in making those crosswalks well-lit and easy to identify from a driving perspective. But we also need to do much more awareness about walkers’ safety as well. We're all looking at our phones. We're not paying attention to what's around us.”

While new construction takes place to bring about more infrastructure, she urges patience in the short term and communicating concerns politely. 

“If you're having issues with traffic, if you have wild horses in your neighborhood that are causing any concerns and you want to figure out the best way to safely handle that, just be kind to your neighbors, be patient, and then reach out to people that can get you some help because Ward 6 is changing, but it's definitely changing for the good.”

Her husband is a retired fireman, and she also wants our fire departments to communicate better between each other, “so that we can use the resources that we have in fire personnel and equipment and make sure that we're getting to emergencies as quickly as we can, no matter where they are in the valley.” 

As we completed our interview, Anderson was about to receive her promotional materials, to begin a new phase of door to door campaigning. She will draw on her experience in 2016 of doing just that to get a sales tax increase to build new schools and repair old schools. 

“I’m just going to get to as many doors as I can and talk to as many voters as I can,” she said of her current campaign strategy, saying she is confident she will finish in the top two in June to make the final November showdown.  

Our Town Reno reporting, April 2024

Places of Reno: Downtown-ish Living on Ralston Street

I’ve lived on Ralston Street in Reno for about ten months. 

Relatively, that’s not a long time — but I feel like the area has become its own version of home.

This is definitely a far cry from South Reno, where I originally grew up. And even now, south Reno seems like a completely new place. Especially with the prospect of downtown Damonte, an area that will include luxury apartments and shops.

Here on Ralston, my neighbors include fraternities, sororities, students, a fire station, a restaurant and the occasional family. It all varies — I’ve heard nearby neighbors yelling at each other, with the police showing up. Surprisingly, I rarely hear sirens from fire trucks. At the same time, there are people out walking their dogs, parents playing with their children and students walking to campus. Of course, there’s lots of UNR students and Bird scooters. It’s easy with the walk to campus only taking 10–15 minutes. On walks to school, people on scooters pass by. Music blasts from cars. 

Pub N’ Sub seems to draw the most people, and not just students. With the summer coming in, the restaurant will turn on their string lights that hang over the front deck. The times that I’ve been there have always been easy, with groups of people sitting in the back on cool summer nights.

Weekends are the loudest, especially now that it’s getting warmer. Music sounds from the surrounding frats and sororities (I’m talking about St. Patrick’s Day). But honestly, it wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated it would be. They’re not the only ones - the fire station will open their doors and play music as well. 

Nearby, the Whitaker Park tennis courts are starting to get busy on the weekends. The playground is filled with families and dogs. My sister and I would walk up to Rancho San Rafael Park, although after the incident that occurred recently with a dog being shot and killed, it has a sinister quality that I never felt before. 

Just from what I’ve seen while living here, Ralston Street has an abundance of history. Homage used to be located on this street, near St. Mary’s Hospital. I had a friend that used to work there. It closed down last December, after being open for roughly 12 years. 

If you follow Ralston to the south, towards the Truckee River, it will eventually turn into Riverside Drive. This stretch is always the part that I’ve loved the most: In the summer, it’s a clear shot, by bike, to Food Truck Friday in Idlewild Park, and on Sundays, it’s the Riverside Farmers Market. 

I recently found out that the street is named after William C. Ralston. He founded the Bank of California, but found his wealth during Nevada’s Comstock Lode. The Washoe County Library website has an archive of the Reno Gazette-Journal, which was helpful for looking back into the history of Reno. It takes a while to sift through, but it’s an effective resource that I would recommend checking out. 

Ralston Street is mentioned in the Reno Evening Gazette in bills for city ordinances, as well as naming city precincts. This paper merged with the Nevada State Journal and formed the Reno Gazette Journal back in 1983. Ralston Street is also mentioned in public notices and ads. Pub N’ Sub is mentioned as far back as 1976. 

For the now, it’s obvious that this street has relatively nothing to do with that Ralston. This street has become an integral part of downtown Reno — it’s close to all of the Neon Line projects that are currently going on, one topic that’s been debated and protested over recently.

For me, Ralston Street symbolizes the end of my college experience at UNR, and a time of figuring out what makes a home. It was my intro to downtown-ish living. I only plan on staying in Reno for the next year or so, ready to find a new adventure wherever I find a job in journalism, but even after I leave, Ralston Street will always be the place that was my first home away from home. 

Places of Reno reporting by Ember Braun

Bipartisan Nevada Anger Smokes Up Ahead of Postal Service Senate Hearing

Many Reno eyes will be on the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee called “Oversight of the United States Postal Service” early Tuesday morning (7 a.m. our time), with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testifying.

Current plans to save several million dollars would have northern Nevada mail getting rerouted through Sacramento starting in January before being delivered locally, which could cause substantial “over the hill” delays due to snow and wildfires. Over 60 USPS employees in Reno would also potentially lose their jobs.  

U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen, currently in a fierce re-election battle and with a seat on the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, has made her opposition known repeatedly. 

On her website, she indicates there was an April 11th meeting with fellow Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican Congressman Mark Amodei with United States Postal Service officials “regarding the proposed downsizing and relocation of the mail processing operations from Reno, Nevada to Sacramento, California.”

A statement indicates “the bipartisan Nevada delegation expressed their deep concerns about the effects the plan would have on mail service reliability and local jobs, and pushed USPS officials to instead listen to local Nevada leaders, businesses, and residents.”

“They were unable to provide us with detailed explanations of how this misguided proposal is good for Nevada,” said Senator Rosen. “I’m outraged by the lack of answers and transparency we have received on a matter that could lead to delayed mail delivery for Nevadans who depend on it. I won’t stop pushing to stop this ill-advised plan, and I look forward to questioning Postmaster General Louis DeJoy about it.”

“I made it clear that moving the Reno distribution center to California is a mistake that would kill Nevada jobs and could delay the delivery of Nevadans’ essential medications, benefits, and ballots,” Senator Cortez Masto was quoted as saying. “Not a single Nevadan I’ve talked to thinks this is a good idea, and I will continue fighting to stop it.”

“There is still much to be done in getting the justification for sending Nevada-addressed mail to another state before being sent back to Nevada for delivery,” Congressman Amodei said in a matter of fact tone. 

Meanwhile, USPS officials offered their own statement clearly indicating they viewed the change with a totally different lens.

“As outlined in the Mail Processing Facility Review, we’re looking to update the Reno P&DC as a Local Processing Center (LPC), investing $12-14 million into the facility for modernization, deferred maintenance, and new vehicle infrastructure,” the statement indicated, not addressing the grievances of the Nevada delegation. 

“The plan would also offer improved employee amenities, a better working environment, and result in a cost savings of $3.1-$4.2 million annually, all while maintaining service standards for our customers. Throughout the study process, we have welcomed input and dialogue such as this. This transparent, methodical approach helps us make the right decisions for the future of service to the American public. We appreciate the delegation’s interest in these modernization efforts and look forward to communicating our progress going forward.”

Earlier this year, in March, Republican Governor Joe Lombardo had already sent a letter to Postmaster General Dejoy asking he “take seriously the concerns being expressed by [his] constituents, local governments and Nevada state agencies,” after regional revamping postal service plans were initially outlined.

Governor Lombardo said northern Nevadans rely on mail arriving quickly for urgent situations such as matters involving SNAP, Medicaid and safety plans for survivors of abuse and that these proposed changes would put all this and more in jeopardy.

Our Town Reno reporting, April 2024

Spring is Springing at the Riverside Farmers Market (Audio Included)

On a recent Sunday, people slowly started to trickle into the open air market by the Truckee River, which soon became bustling with newcomers and repeat customers. 

Mia is relatively new to Reno, having only been here for eight months. She is discovering new places to go in Reno.

“I really like the venue, I think it’s super pretty here,” she said.

The market has lots of unprocessed pesticide-free fresh foods to choose from, and vendors from sustainable local farms, a point underlined by the market’s manager Emma Kunz.

“I do think that it is really cool that we have so many local organic farms and I think that at our core the nonprofit is all about fostering a really strong local food shed, so those are the businesses that I like to support,” Kunz said. 

One vendor Sara Garey-Sage, who owns the Desert Sage Collective, resells vintage products as well as locally-made hand crafted textiles and other artisanal goods.  

“We have such a wonderful group of vendors, Shoppers, friends, and I think everybody is just sort of united in the mission behind the Farmers Market,” Garey-Sage said.

The market is surrounded by Idlewild’s lush greenery and nature, with the nearby river making it an all around soothing experience.  

Local artist Eli Maria owns Terranium De Fleurs, selling beautiful pieces of artwork and jewelry made with flowers inside. 

Her business started around May last year when she saw someone make resin jewelry on Tik Tok.

“I signed up for this market because I used to come here all the time,” Maria said. “They’re very welcoming and I started like that. I just had a few products just jewelry, I went and got all my flowers from around town, It was during the spring so there were a lot of flowers. So I gathered all my flowers, made the jewelry, and then I would just come here every week with a new product every week.”

The Riverside Farmers market takes place year round on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Idlewild park with over 100 vendors usually participating.  

From upcycled stuffed animals to healthy food, ceramics, and skin care, an average day at this farmers market is filled with many unique stalls to cater to many different interests, while attendees also sit in the grass or talk to new and old friends while listening to music. 

Report by Lexi Waisanen with additional contributions by Kiana Freeman for Our Town Reno

What About the Future of the Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission?

While the future of the former Record Street shelter known as the CAC (Community Assistance Center) is up in the air, members of the community are also wondering what might happen to the non-profit Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission next door, increasingly surrounded by new bars, businesses and apartment projects on 4th street.

Advocates have been urging City Council for several years now to save the Record street shelter compound and still use it for emergency social services. With the establishment of the Cares Campus post pandemic, the County took over local services for the unhoused.

The Reno City Council decided this past week to appraise the shelter compound which has been neglected in recent years and put it up for an RFP, instead of going straight to negotiations with Bash Capital as initially recommended by city staff.

In one of their letters, the Bash developers had written they “will work in tandem with local social services to provide support for homeless residents, and continue to look for [sic] new location for Gospel Mission."

After we reached out by email expressing concern over their own future fate, we received this statement from Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission Executive Director Luis Santoni.

"Any development agreements regarding the CAC is between the City of Reno and Bash Capital. The Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission is committed to being a good neighbor to the future renovation to the CAC property. The Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission is also dedicated to continuing the best possible services to the hungry, homeless, abused and addicted in our beloved community,” he wrote.

The Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission website asks for the community’s support to provide “nutritious meals, safe shelter, clothing and addiction recovery services.”

“We rely solely on the generous support of private donors like you, as we do not receive any federal, state or other government assistance,” it indicates.

Our Town Reno reporting, April 2024

Places of Reno: Peaceful Living in Spanish Springs

Reno can be gritty and filled with loud noises, casinos and bright lights. It can be hard to find peaceful options. The northeast suburb of Spanish Springs offers that choice. 

Its population is about 17,000 and is much smaller and quieter than other parts of Northern Nevada.

My family moved here in 2018 from Wingfield, a nearby neighborhood in Sparks. It was during my high school years, and I made plenty of memories as a Spanish Springs High alumni. McDonald’s and Starbucks are within walking distance of the high school, so it was a tradition every Friday to walk down. 

Driving around the area, you wouldn’t think 17,000 people lived there. It’s slowly expanding, but your options out here are pretty slim.

In terms of education, Spanish Springs High School and Shaw Middle School are both located in the area. Spanish Springs Elementary School and Alice Taylor Elementary School aren’t too far away either. 

There are a few small shopping centers, including two gas stations, a few fast food spots, a Walgreens, and two grocery stores. An ER was most recently built, big bonus points for that.

Besides that, there’s a lot of open land. There’s the Andelin Family Farm, which hosts several events throughout the year such as a pumpkin patch and corn mazes in the fall.

A bit further down Pyramid Highway, which connects Spanish Springs to the rest of Sparks, you’ll reach my neighborhood of Autumn Trails.

A map of Autumn Trails and nearby neighborhoods.

This neighborhood is still fairly new, as my house was built the year my family and I moved in. It was the first house built on Smoke Wagon, the name of my street.

People get a kick over my street name. If I’m ID’d or filling out paperwork, a small laugh or mocking tone over the name “Smoke Wagon” will usually follow. I’ve always lived on originally named streets, so the jokes cause me to eye-roll from time to time. 

Slowly but surely, the rest of the street was built and families began moving in. Driving through these neighborhoods made me feel like I almost didn’t belong because of how elegant the homes were.

About every house has at least two-plus acres of backyard space. Many have even more space with small white fences to cover their ranches. Horses, goats, and chickens can usually be seen walking around in their owner’s backyards.

The entryway of Autumn Trails

It’s hard to not sound snobby when talking about my neighborhood, but the hard reality is people and families with money live here. Almost every home, mine included, is valued at over $1 million. According to CalNeva Reality, the average house in this area is listed at $1.16 million.

Another reality is that a majority of Autumn Trail residents are white. The longer I’ve lived here and the more I’ve grown up, the more I’ve seen how predominantly white the neighborhood is.

Now, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that. Living in more of a countryside ranch-type area where it’s usually quiet will consist of that. Many residents are either retired or have established families and careers. 

But, as one of the few minority families living in the area, it’s easy to notice. My family is of Latino descent, coming from both parents. As I mentioned before, you usually won’t see others like my family in the area. There’s definitely some, but it’s not the majority.  

It’s also easy to notice how residents are not afraid to spend their money on luxury. About every other house on my street owns either a sports car or a car/truck bought brand new very recently. I can’t judge when I own a 2018 Camaro and my mom owns a 2023 Hybrid Hyundai.

The holidays are another time when you can notice the money. Most residents will put up their own Halloween or Christmas decorations, but some will pay to have companies install them. Most of the neighborhood has fancy phone-controlled house lights that can make any color or pattern appear.

It does make the neighborhood look great during the holidays, however. Streets illuminate every night with tons of lights and decorations. Most houses will even leave their Christmas lights on all day (not worried about the electrical bill I suppose.) Halloween is filled with kids on the streets to check out the self-made haunted houses and loads of full-size candy bars.

Speaking of holidays and money, residents in Spanish Springs love to own and give each other expensive toys. ATVs, dirtbikes, and quads are everywhere. The neighborhood is mostly quiet, but now and then you’ll be driving by and hear the loud rev of an ATV go by.

They’re even more common during the holidays. Halloween in this neighborhood doesn’t see kids walking around the streets. Instead, parents will drive them around on ATVs or in self-made wagons pulled by their pickup trucks.

The same can be said for Christmas, when families decorate their rides, make floats out of trailers, and drive around looking at Christmas lights.

The money also shows from the amount of home improvements residents do. My family and I have done a LOT to our house, so I’m not calling anyone out. But, it seems like every other week there’s a house with construction workers in the backyard and different types of rock piled outside.

Whether it’s adding stone to the backyard, putting in a firepit or hot tub, or re-doing the driveway, home improvements are always happening. It makes sense why almost all of these homes are selling for over $1 million when constant renovations are done to jack up the value.

I’m in no way trying to make up a stereotype about the residents who live here. But, it can be quite funny reading posts from neighbors on the Ring app.

Being straight up, people like to be nosey. I can’t say that I’m not curious about what’s going on, but sometimes it can be a bit much.

“Screenshots of the ring app, showing neighbors posting about coyotes in the area” 
Posts I see a lot are about coyotes in the area. I understand if the intent is to give a heads-up to homeowners with smaller pets or children, but Spanish Springs is filled with them. The coyotes were here first, and the whole community doesn’t need to know when you see one just minding its own business.

There are always plenty of posts saying “Did you feel that earthquake?” (Yes, everyone felt it.) “Did anyone hear a loud banging sound? It almost sounded like a gun.” (They were just fireworks and you could see them in the sky.)

Lots of animals go missing as well which of course is a sad event. More times than not, the pets get returned to their rightful owners. Lots of packages seem to get misplaced or even stolen at times as well.

“Screenshots from the Ring app of neighbors posting about missing animals and missing packages”  

Overall though, there’s not much to complain about my neighborhood. People are proud to live here and aren’t afraid to show how they have money. 

When the Spring/Summer season hits and the sun is out, you’ll see people everywhere walking, running, or taking their dogs on a walk. You’ll see those fancy sports cars in the driveways being hand-washed or yard work being done.

I feel blessed to be able to reside here, and I’m sure many people feel the same way. It’s a great, safe, and quiet neighborhood, and it’s a place you look out on and can say “I made it” if you live there.

Anonymous Places of Reno Contribution

Future of Former Record Street Shelter Is Back on City's Agenda

The former Record Street shelter right behind Greater Nevada Field was locked up and partially boarded up this morning, with tumbleweeds, broken glass, plastic bags and litter strewn all around.  

Advocates have long called for the former shelter to be rehabilitated so that it could be an emergency location in extreme situations, or perhaps continue as a smaller shelter for the locally unhoused feeling overwhelmed and unwelcomed at the Cares Campus, or for families when no spots are left at Our Place, or for victims of domestic abuse when all facilities helping them are closed or unable to answer their phones.  

Item D5 on the agenda for Wednesday’s City Council meeting is “presentation, discussion, and direction to staff on the potential disposition of the Community Assistance Center (CAC) properties generally located at 315 and 335 Record Street … in response to a Letter of Interest by Bash Capital, LLC to include entering into an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement, obtaining an appraisal, and/or reversion of acreage.”

A letter of intent from late January indicates Bash Capital is offering two purchase options, one for $1.5 million without a development agreement, the other for one dollar, with a development agreement for a multi-family project with over half of its units at 80% Area Median Income of HUD income limit calculations.

In another letter from late January, Troy Keeney and Brianna Bullentini conclude that their “attainable workforce housing project represents a significant step towards transforming downtown Reno.” 

In a previous paragraph outlined as “Our Commitment” bullet point 1. refers to “homelessness services” indicating they “will work in tandem with local social services to provide support for homeless residents, and continue to look for new location for Gospel Mission,” which is currently operating next door.

City of Reno staff are currently recommending that the City dispose of the former CAC either through a developer, through a request for interest  proposal process or through an auction. 

Alicia Barber recently wrote in the Barber Brief she was surprised this proposal was being considered so suddenly as “the City has not yet decided whether or not to dispose of these properties, much less whether to offer them for private development. And yet staff is not only recommending that Council direct them to “prepare the properties for sale” but is providing them with just three options—enter into negotiations with this company; issue an RFP; or hold an auction—without even providing the option that the City might retain the properties for some other use, either civic or leased.”

Just a few years ago, Reno’s City Council had considered selling the CAC for a much higher total of $7 million, and then more recently indicated the former shelter was in need of major interior repairs prohibiting any current usage. 

“Even if Council decides in favor of unloading the property, the various options for how to proceed also warrant thoughtful discussion,” the latest Barber Brief indicates. “Auctions, of course, basically award a property to the highest bidder. In contrast, issuing an Request for Proposals or Request for Interest … gives the City (and the public) control over what might be developed there, allowing for public negotiation, transparency, and community buy-in.”

Our Town Reno reporting April 2024

Tara Webster, Running for Ward 5 and Seeking a "Transformative Community"

As crowded June primaries approach quickly, one of the new local candidates on the ballot this year is Reno native Tara Webster, running for City Council Ward 5, which goes from West University all the way through Verdi.

Webster has a background in science, with past research focusing on the “integration of social political issues in higher education,” as she explains. In her academic past, she has examined the views of both first year students and professors on the importance of bringing political issues into STEM curricula.

“We're talking about things like air pollution and land use,” says Webster– topics that were pressing issues at the time of Webster’s research during the 2016 and 2020 elections. 

“What I found was that, pretty much across the board, everyone wanted these conversations to be happening. They saw the importance of social political issues in higher ed, but they didn't really know how to act on it,” she says.

Webster’s research motivated her pivot from academia to running for public office. She is determined to bring more people into the conversations about social issues, and she has a few ideas about how to do so. If elected, Webster’s focal points will include increasing accessible housing, and building sustainable safety nets for Reno’s unsheltered neighbors.

Despite local government initiatives, homelessness and lack of affordable housing have proven to be stubborn issues in recent years.

Webster views the pervasiveness of the crisis as “a lack of compassion.” As she sees it, unhoused folks and other marginalized populations “aren't really being brought into conversation,” and because of that, “decisions are being made for them, and not with them.” 

Reno has a robust mutual aid community, with organizers and advocates who work hard and often to provide resources to unhoused and housing insecure members of the community. “These groups are carrying so much of the weight…to take care of people,” says Webster.

“All of these amazing people are doing this out of genuine care and compassion,” she continues, “and I think that our resources, on a public level, need to be going to take off some of that burden.”

Webster believes that one possible solution to relieving that burden may lie in increased protection of public lands. Pushing back against urban sprawl, and focusing more heavily on developing properties that already exist within the city, might have a great impact on the housing crisis, in Webster’s view. 

On top of running for public office, Webster is also a new parent. And raising her child has opened her eyes even more to solvable problems in the city. Webster’s monthly childcare cost is $1300– “that's like, a rent payment or a mortgage payment for most people. So, I'm basically working so that my son can go to daycare and get normal development and engage with other kids.” Another one of Webster’s goals is to work on “rezoning ordinances, and reducing fees and overhead costs” so that childcare within the city is more affordable and accessible for the average parent. 

Webster emphasizes that her campaign is not for or about herself. Rather, she sees it as a potential step in building a long term, transformative community in Reno. She knows that term, “transformative community,” may sound a little “woo-woo” to some. But for her, it’s about giving a voice to all members of the community so that the changes made will be meaningful and impactful in the long run.

Having grown up in Reno, and after experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity in her own childhood, Webster has a wide lens view of the city and all of its potential. And despite the city’s needs for improvement, she also sees Reno as the beautiful landscape that it is. “Outside of the fact that we have four seasons and we're surrounded by these gorgeous mountains, we (also) have the most beautiful sunsets that I've ever seen,” she says with a smile. 

Our Town Reno reporting and photo by Ray Grosser

Michaelangelo Aranda, Running for Ward 6 with Love for South Reno and Public Service

Before his mother passed away at the end of 2022, Michaelangelo Aranda remembers she used to call him “Mayor Michael.”

His father, who is currently struggling with health challenges, set the bar even higher.  “When I had shared with him that I'm running for city council,” Aranda says, he told him he hopes to stay alive to see him as president. 

“I don't know if I will career that far,” Aranda told Our Town Reno during a recent podcast interview. 

For now he’s one of many candidates for our city’s new Ward 6, with a campaign website extolling “Reno Born Reno Ready.” 

He says he wants to be a voice for a thriving neighborhood as well as bringing representation for the city’s large Filipino-descendant population. 

“I am a first generation product of immigrants who chose Reno as their home when they moved away from their homeland of the Philippines Islands,” he writes on his about page.

For Ward 6 and south Reno, it’s a labor of love.   

“I love the community. I have tried to build strong ties within it,” he said of where his mother used to work as a nurse and what has been his family home for his wife and two young boys. “We go on walks, we do all the local things within our areas, including the library and the regional parks. It actually inspired me to get into local government. I actually currently serve on the Washoe County Regional Parks and Open Spaces Commission and hopefully do a good job of representing my district as well as on the Washoe County School District’s SHARE Advisory Committee.”

As part of his busy life, Aranda works part time as a paraeducator at Jwood Raw Elementary School for students on the neurodivergent scale from kindergarten up to fourth grade.

“I have a strong belief in localized government,” he said when asked his reason for now running for political office. 

“The biggest changes come from those who represent us on a local level. Nothing is more affecting to the day to day of an average citizen than the rules, the municipal codes, everything that happens on that local level. I want to do right by my community,” he said.

With a crowded field, and only the top two vote getters going to the November election, unless one wins outright with a majority on June 11th, Aranda says he is trying to meet as many ward members as he can. 

“I am very excited and proud of the connections I've made so far, but it's really about getting into the community, knocking on some doors. I have an upcoming Meet the Candidate Town Hall that's coming up on April 10th, where I want to be able to meet as many people as possible, get my name out there, and hopefully succeed in the primary to make it to the general,” he said. 

His underlying priorities he says are cross partisan. “I think that no matter who you are on party lines, everyone can agree that you want safe schools, you want safe access to parks, and you would love to keep our beautiful wetlands and our beautiful South Reno economy ecologically succeeding,” he explained.  

As a school educator, he has inside interests in improving our schools.  

“There is obviously the constant underfunding,” he said. “Everyone, I think would agree with that. There's also the change of leadership that keeps happening with the superintendents going in and out.”

Another point he brought up is the importance of increasing access to more quality child care, with long waiting lists currently for many families.

Meanwhile, he calls regional parks the most important aspect of our communities.  

“We're talking about these large parks that are multipurpose that our community uses. And it's so important to be able to put some love and appreciation into that. It also encompasses anything that's not within the actual city borders to the open spaces, anything that's owned by the county. “

His story is Reno through and through, having been born at what was then called Washoe Medical Center, attending Dilworth Middle School, Reed High School and then UNR, with his father having worked in casinos his entire life.  

One of Aranda’s first adult jobs was working for the Sands Regency before if became known as the J Resort, as part of the Jacobs Entertainment 4th street buyout spree. 

“I have a little bit of nostalgia when I look at the building, and then I cry a little bit knowing that it's not the Sands Regency it was in its heyday,” he said of a development project that has divided locals.

“That's not to say that it didn't need the improvements, and I believe that if you ever followed and not many people do, the story of the Sands Regency in that area in itself, it has changed hands because of a lot of economic downfall…. Jacobs has the funds to be able to make that area beautiful, and I think they're doing a good job at that,” he said. “What we should be looking at is the economic impact that it's having on that area in that district.” 

Generally, in terms of new ideas for the 4th street area, downtown Reno, other development and the boom in Ward 6, he believes there should be more strategizing and work with the Planning Commission.   

“We just don't want new traffic,” he said of Ward 6 specifically.  “And when we say traffic, it's because there's a lot of lack of infrastructure to go with the speed of everything being built.”

Proper infrastructure, he says, should also include “ensuring street lighting projects are thought ahead of time rather than reactive to the population that we're growing, but also making sure that we don't encroach on some of the natural resources and the natural environments that we have.”

On a personal level, when asked if he has any hobbies he responded:  “At the risk of sounding boring, I think the biggest hobby I'll have is learning. I'm a perpetual learner.”

What about his first name? “I’m a baby of five, and when [my parents] were pregnant with me, they allowed my siblings to choose my name and they voted on their favorite Ninja Turtle, which happened to be Michaelangelo,” he explained. “I remember in high school I had an election and I said, Michaelangelo, I have two names. I'll do twice the work.”

Our Town Reno reporting, April 2024

Highland Ranch – My Beloved Hellhole in Sun Valley

I was born in Napa Valley, California, in 2004.

My family moved around several times in my first three years, then we moved to Reno when my dad lost his job as a transit planner in 2007.

My dad could not support us in a house with his new job at Cabela’s, so we had to move into our trailer for three years, moving from Truckee to Verdi to Stead. Afterwards, we moved into a house in the Highland Ranch neighborhood of Sun Valley, where we have been ever since.

Reno, Nevada is known as the “Biggest Little City in the World.” While this is a unique nickname that most residents of the city connect with, I believe that a more accurate nickname would be the “Biggest, Most Complicated Little City in the World.” 

What most outsiders refer to as “Reno” is actually a combination of two neighboring cities - Reno to the west and Sparks to the northeast, respectively. Within these cities, there are many different “census-designated places,” which are defined as “a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.” Within the greater Reno-Sparks area, there are a total of 15 census-designated places.

One of these places is Sun Valley, which is located north of Reno, northeast of the UNR campus. In the 2020 U.S. Census, this area had 21,178 residents, a number which has consisted of me and my family since 2010.

After driving all the way down the main road of this area, Sun Valley Boulevard, you will find Highland Ranch sitting at the northern end of Sun Valley, on the border between it and Golden Valley. 

Notably, Sun Valley’s crime rate is significantly higher than the city, state, and national averages. Locals, such as my dad, sometimes refer to it as “The Murder Capital of the World.” This is because Sun Valley’s murder rate of 5 per 1,000 residents is significantly higher than the average American rate of 0.064 per 1,000 residents.

The majority of homes in Sun Valley are mobile homes, which, for the most part, are rather worn down. I am lucky enough to live in a typical house. Most crime in Sun Valley takes place in the “trailer park” area, but the suburban area does still have its fair share of rowdy kids and domestic violence.

There are hardly ever any cross-street connections in Highland Ranch. Most families are friends with people on their street, and only people on their street. My street contains three distinct “cliques” that hardly ever interact with each other. The bottom half of the street holds parties, gatherings, homeowners meetings, and are genuinely young and energetic. 

The top half of the street, which is where I live, is much different. Most people in this half are older, and their relationships are more of what I call “useful connections.” Most interactions between the people on this half of the street are amicable, but we don’t really go out of our way to see each other unless we either need help or wish to provide it.

The final “clique” is the two-story house at the center of the court, next to my house. This family is massive, disruptive, rude, and does not interact with any of the other families unless they have to. They hold frequent, massive parties where they blare their music, set off fireworks, park in neighbors' driveways, and are a general nuisance to everyone in the area until times as late as four in the morning. All of this is against HOA regulations. However, they are never fined for anything they do, seeing as the family has close connections with HOA members.

My house is one story, and was around 1,700 square feet when we moved in. There are three bedrooms and two bathrooms, which was perfect for a family of three. I grew up a bit spoiled, as I got two of the bedrooms, since my parents did not want me to keep my gaming systems in the same room as me. 

Once I became an adult, I condensed everything into one bedroom, while my parents repurposed the spare room as an exercise area. My dad eventually got a new job as a transit planner in Reno, which allowed us to expand the house, adding around 500 square feet, when my grandma moved in with us in 2022. 

Now, in 2024, I am a student at the University of Nevada, Reno. Most of my friends on campus aren’t from Reno, so every day, when I drive home from campus, I realize how lucky I am to live just 15 minutes away from my college.

Sun Valley may be a crime-infested hellhole that has hardly any notable landmarks, but, at the end of the day, it’s my hellhole, and until life takes me elsewhere, there’s no place I’d rather be.

Anonymous Contribution, March 2024

Mark Mausert, A Lawyer Helping Local Victims of Workplace Harassment

Mark Mausert is an attorney here in Reno, whose services are very much needed as over the past several decades he has specialized in combating sexual and racial harassment in the workplace. 

He remembers distinctly a case in 1990, his first related to Title VII, the statute in the Civil Rights Act prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.

A mother and father had grown concerned about their daughter, after drastic changes in her health and sleep schedule. “Turns out, at the restaurant she was working at, this sleazeball manager…was terrorizing her,” Mausert recalls. 

Mausert would come to find out just how common this waitress’s story was. As he was beginning to take on Title VII cases, the law was changing in drastic ways to allow for more employee protections.

Suddenly, “sleazeball managers” weren’t able to hide anymore, and workers finally had the ability to call out abuses of power, without fear of retaliation. 

In order to fully understand the way Title VII shakes out in the American judicial system, it’s helpful to look at the history. 

The progression of Title VII law throughout the late 1900s not only shaped Mausert’s career, but also had long-overdue positive impacts on the working class. Luckily, Mausert’s astounding memory doesn’t only apply to law; it extends to history as well. He remembers the chain of events well, all the way back to 1964.

In 1964, there were many Democratic opponents to the Civil Rights Act. Protests erupted, and Southern Democratic senators attempted to thwart the act’s passing with a filibuster. “The last thing they did to try to stop the civil rights bill,” Mausert says “…they added women to it.” The rationale was that this would generate more opposition to the bill, and stop it in its tracks. 

Fortunately, that plan didn’t work. “The liberal Democrats said, ‘that’s a good idea!’ And that’s how women got protected against discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace,” Mausert explains. 

But the original bill didn’t account for emotional damage. On top of that, attorneys fees were quite unaffordable for most people. Many victims of workplace harassment worked low-paying jobs, like waiting tables. “In three days, the victim has a job down the street making the same, or more,” Mausert says. “It wasn’t worth it.”

Then, on November 21st, 1991, (the year after Mausert’s first sexual harassment case) they amended the statute to add emotional and punitive damages. Plus, victims would have attorney fees covered. “So there was this explosion of Title VII litigations in the 90s,” Mausert goes on, “because suddenly, you could get some kind of compensation for getting your butt slapped and for guys saying all kinds of stuff to you.”

After two sexual harassment cases were brought to the Supreme Court in 1998, the Court spelled out the circumstances which would give a company immunity against charges of harassment. Essentially, employers couldn’t fire or demote victims of these cases, and they also had to implement harassment training for their employees. 

After the decision in 1998, workplace harassment cases tapered off for a while. But about five years ago, Mausert caught on to “a weird thing that’s happening.” He started to uncover that sexual harassment cases were often correlated to a surprising culprit: music.

Music with explicit, and sometimes brutally violent, lyrics is often played over speakers in kitchens, warehouses, and other work environments. To Mausert, this means that employers are violating their duty to enforce reasonable workplace harassment policies. “It’s a non-delegable duty,” Mausert says, meaning that employers can’t leave the enforcement of their harassment policies up to their employees. “So you have fifty guys and five women…and you’re gonna leave it up to the women, who are outnumbered 10 to 1, to stop the guys from playing their music?”

Mausert recalls a case that involved a large factory where “they just let (the) guys rock and roll. There was a cadre of really mean-spirited guys, and they basically engaged in competition over who could do the most outrageous (things) to the women each day.” One of the factory workers “broke ranks” and sought help from a lawyer friend of Mark’s. The case was settled with a 34-million dollar check that compensated over 800 women. 

It goes deeper than music. Mausert understands that not only women, but most humans, carry trauma with them. Sexual and racial trauma are extremely common, and usually have profound effects on human psychology. Workplace cultures of disrespect and violence can fester. These workplaces subject people with trauma to be re-traumatized on a daily basis.

Mausert also understands that seeking justice cannot, in itself, heal trauma. “I’m not in the vengeance business,” he says. “The Buddha says…vengeance is a hot coal, you pick it up to throw at somebody, you always get burned.”

“We need to get you over here, and on a different path, and deal with the trauma,” he remembers telling some of the victims he has worked with. “And I will try to get you some justice.”

Mausert has been an attorney for over half of his life now, and he says it hasn’t been easy. But he feels that, after 43 years on the job, he’s come out on the other side. “You know what the trick is? There’s a trick,” he says. “You have to do the right thing, without being right.”

Mausert’s law office on Evans Avenue was built in 1910. It was the historical home of Benson Dillon Billinghurst, who was superintendent of Washoe County schools from 1908 until his death in 1935. Under Billinghurst’s leadership, Nevada schools were ranked second in quality nationwide in 1933. It’s probable that the late Mr. Billinghurst would be proud of what his old house is used for today.

If you find yourself in need of Mark Mausert’s assistance, his yellow lab, Max, will greet you at the front door of the old house. Inside, the walls are stacked with thousands of books. In one corner of the office sits a stack with several copies of the same book: Trauma and Recovery, by Judith L. Herman M.D. In the introduction to her book, Herman writes: “Survivors challenge us to reconnect fragments, to reconstruct history, to make meaning of their present symptoms in the light of past events.” Mausert offers a copy of the book to all of his clients. 

Reporting and Photos by Ray Grosser for Our Town Reno