There were signs, speeches, tours of fenced off dirt lots, pets, solidarity and photo ops at yesterday’s activist “breakup” with Jacobs Entertainment in downtown Reno.
“The fact that Jacobs has been allowed to buy up multiple blocks of Reno, and the City Council has just given him a deal to do whatever he wants with all that land,” Rosa, one of the protest organizers from Reno-Sparks Tenants Union said, “and so far he has just been knocking them down and not replacing them with anything.”
“He started buying up buildings around 2017 and started most of his demolitions in 2018,” Elizabeth, another RSTU organizer said.
“A lot of people have been displaced since he has torn down motels, which is the last stop for many people before homelessness. Not a lot of building has been going on, but a lot of people have been displaced.”
The crowd consisted of several dozen people chanting and walking together. Passing cars honked their horns at the protesters, which was read as support. Pedestrians raised their fists in solidarity.
“It’s a way to show that we exist,“ said David Friedman, another member of the RTSU. “It’s a way to educate."
RSTU’s complaints about the lack of affordable housing locally, include having even fewer options when looking for a place which allows pets.
“When we got to a point where we could afford a place” Aspin Murio, who has two dogs, says on finding a place with their pets, “a lot of the places we could afford did not allow pets. It was actually a huge battle and we actually had to find emergency living for three months.”
“We had to end up registering our dogs as emotional support animals to have them with us,” Hana Fahmi, a roommate of Aspin said.
In its latest move in buying out properties on and around 4th street to develop a so-called Neon Line District, after saying it wouldn’t, Jacobs Entertainment won a court auction bid on the dilapidated Bonanza Inn.
Another motel it recently bought out the Desert Rose Inn used to house many seniors living on fixed income, and people who had been previously unhoused.