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