Morning hours of the January 11th Reno City Council meeting were dominated by concerns over the city’s decision last month to deny a renewal of a privileged license for alcohol sales for Wrightway Market on Evans Ave. right across from the main bus station.
The 5-2 vote had come following police and city code enforcement officials saying the corner store’s alcohol was causing an increase in criminal activity.
During Wednesday’s public comment section, the owners of the building and the business, as well as employees, community activists, friends and family members followed each other insiting the decision had been misguided. Some showed videos of calls being made to police for incidents just outside the market which had nothing to do with any alcohol sales.
The first to speak was John Iliescu, 96, a retired physician and the owner of the building. “Us little people count,” he said. “It can’t just be the big casinos.” His wife Sonia read a statement saying the business is an anchor for a large family, providing a store that is convenient for people who ride buses. The nearby area also has bars, restaurants and services for the unhoused.
She said crime in that part of downtown was “a community problem, a government problem.” The alcohol license has been key to the store’s profit margins, while vegetables, fruits and other food items are bought there by many low-income residents in what is otherwise a food desert for the underprivileged.
After the Iliescus spoke, Mayor Hillary Schieve said downtown Reno needs to be “safe and clean,” and a “good place for our community and visitors.” She asked the city manager to look into possibly setting up a special meeting with evening hours to publicly discuss our downtown’s future.
Chase McMullen, a grandson of the Iliescus, said the city was blaming a corner store for the criminal activity of an entire block.
Wrightway Market owner Opinder Dhillon pleaded for a reconsideration. He was the first of many speakers to show videos of police coming outside the store for incidents which had nothing to do with any sales which had been made. The council was told Wrightway Market was being used as a landmark for police calls, even if what prompted the alert was happening in nearby areas.
Those who spoke, numbering several dozen, many from the South Asian community, also said emergency calls were continuing even after sales of alcohol had stopped and that the data on earlier calls wasn’t clear at all. A businessman said the decision was making their “minority community feel unwelcome” and “insecure in seeking help.”
Owners of the Ace Mart corner store on 2nd street also spoke on their behalf. Last month, the renewal of a privileged license was also denied for Lakemill Maxi Mart which sits at the base of the Lakemill Lodge on Mill street. Its operators had made similar complaints in vain that they were being punished for what was happening in their entire neighborhood.
A Facebook page called Reno Mini-Marts Matter has recently been making similar arguments.
Hawah Ahmad, whose name was mangled before she stepped up to speak, a recent candidate for the Washoe County Commission, and active community member on many boards, said this “looks really discriminatory,” but called the idea of a proposed special meeting “a start.”
A representative for the Downtown Reno ambassadors Chris Reardon concluded the morning session of public comments by saying the “calls were precise.”