Linda, On Avoiding Shelters and Trying to Leave Reno

After experiencing roughly 13 years of living on Reno’s streets, Linda, 70, says she wants to leave the Biggest Little City. She recently survived a stroke, but says she will not stay in local shelters anymore. “They're not nice. Everybody fights to their teeth. I'm staying out on the streets where I’m safe,” she said.

Although Linda is among the demographic most susceptible to Covid-19, she remains unafraid of the virus. “I'm 100% safe. I have taken the test eight times and negative eight. Now I can leave Nevada safely.”

The unsheltered have been tested more than others in our community.

She says she’s survived fights, thieves, and mistreatment by others, so she is fearless in a way. But she says she does suffer from “loneliness.”

She says people like her gather along railroad tracks, but when the group gets too big, it attracts unwanted attention.

She says she feels she’s one of the “mentally ill,” but has given up on seeking out resources as well. It’s too much of a hassle, she says. She says she burned her hair. Her sentences become incoherent

Where will she go? She doesn’t want to say, but her rolling suitcase seems neatly packed and she’s by the downtown bus station.

Reporting and Photography by Gracie Gordon

Campaigning in a Pandemic with Sparks Council Candidate Wendy Stolyarov

Hitting the Ground Running Before COVID-19

Stolyarov’s first foray into city politics was in 2018, when her name was listed on the ballot for Sparks city mayor. At the time, however, her candidacy was primarily a paper-campaign in which she hadn’t done much active campaigning in the community. So when she decided to run for Ward One representative for the Sparks City Council in this election cycle, Stolyarov made sure she hit the ground running.

“Luckily, we started campaigning really early back in September [of 2019] and people had said, ‘Oh, you shouldn't be knocking on doors that early,’ but in hindsight, I'm very glad we did because we had hundreds of fantastic conversations before the pandemic hit,” Stolyarov said. “Of course, now we can't do that kind of face-to-face contact, so we have a fleet of volunteers out here today and we're going to be doing a literature-drop. It’s a no-contact, safe, socially-distanced way of campaigning during the pandemic.”

The primary purpose of her campaign literature-drop is to ensure that voters are informed about her candidacy and where she stands on certain issues, such as striving for housing affordability, good paying jobs and equality. The campaign materials are double-sided: English on one side and Spanish on the other. This way, she says she knows her message won’t get lost on any of the residents in her ward.

“We're just taking campaign literature and putting one piece on every door in the neighborhood and making sure that people know what their options are and are educated about their choices in this election,” Stolyarov said. “If we can't talk to people, at least we can make sure that they're informed. So that's our goal today is just to cover some ground, enjoy this beautiful weather and make sure people know the choices they have,” Stolyarov said as she prepared her socially distanced team of masked and gloved volunteers.

Missing Face to Face Conversations

Although she’s adapted her campaign strategies to the COVID-19 pandemic, she still wishes she could continue having those face-to-face conversations with people in the community.

“The bread and butter of a municipal campaign is normally knocking doors, talking to people, getting one-on-one with them and meeting them where they are,” Stolyarov said. “That helps you understand people by getting into their communities and getting to see them face-to-face and have those really interesting and deep conversations.”

That’s not to say she hasn’t been able to engage. During some of her literature drops, she may encounter residents who are out working in their yard or doing chores outside.

“The most important part of any municipal-elected job is making sure that you really are hearing the community and that you're addressing those concerns. So it has been really nice to still be able to get out here and occasionally have those conversations. It's just not what it would have been in a normal year,” Stolyarov explained.

Another way she has adapted her campaign to the COVID-19 pandemic has been relying on phone-banking and text-banking, which she admits isn’t nearly as effective with low-response rates. But to counteract that, Stolyarov has also been hosting a series of community conversation videos, inviting stakeholders in the community to speak with her about their concerns. 

“We did [a community conversation video] on racial equality, making sure that the Hispanic and LatinX community is heard here and there will be more [videos] coming,” Stolyarov said. “So while we can't necessarily have those face-to-face one-on-one conversations at the doors, now we can at least interview stakeholders in the community. The next one should be coming out in the coming week or so and each one of these is targeted at a specific area or issue that Sparks has struggled with in the past.”

Since the onset of the pandemic in March, Stolyarov has learned a lot about how to engage the community in creative ways that facilitate citizens supporting each other. This includes updating a slick website, which makes clear her priorities.

Helping People Out During a Campaign

Stolyarov has also turned her campaign into a vehicle for assisting people in need.

“When the pandemic hit, we switched to doing community welfare calls,” Stolyarov said. “Whatever [their needs] might've been, we were then putting them in contact with those resources and encouraged people to engage in mutual aid. Our first mailer for the campaign was a mutual aid card, which you basically put your name on and stuck it on your neighbor's door offering to help. I got a lot of phone calls from people who had received those and said that it was such a sweet idea and were going to reach out and help their neighbor and see what they can do in the community.”

She says this also made her realize the positive influence of community building, rather than pretending to be an individual savior.

“I think too often we idolize political figures and expect them to save us and really as a community, it's up to us to save ourselves,” Stolyarov said. “So any tools I can give our community to help them lift themselves up is a big step in the right direction. So I'm proud of what we've been able to do, even with the pandemic.”

“This is the most important election we've ever had to vote on and when you go to the ballot box or whether you're mailing in your ballot or whatever it is, do it early,” Stolyarov said. “Early voting starts on October 17th. You should be getting your ballot the week of October 2nd, according to the registrar, so as soon as you get it please act on that and let’s get through this.”

Secondary Challenges and Surprise Endorsements

It hasn’t been only the COVID-19 pandemic, however, that has brought challenges for her campaign.
“[Another challenge has been] the wildfire smoke, I don't think any of us expected that and it has made literature dropping a challenge too,” Stolyarov said. “I don't want to subject volunteers to unhealthy air quality. So if the air is bad, I won't make people go out and walk because it's not right.”

Despite the challenges her campaign has had to take on in the past year, there have been some pleasant surprises, too. Stolyarov recently received an endorsement from the Local 1265 Sparks Firefighters Union, even though she’s running against a Sparks City Council incumbent, Donald Abbott.. 

“In terms of positive surprises, I think the endorsement of the [Local 1265 Sparks Firefighters Union] is the biggest one for me,” Stolyarov said. “But it's because the Sparks Fire Department really does feel unheard right now when it comes to their needs and their ability to care for our city and make sure that they have the resources they need to make sure the entire city is protected while our firefighters are able to come home safe.”

Going bilingual is one of Stolyarov’s strategies to have a wider reach in her campaigning.

Issue and Equality Oriented

Moving forward, Stolyarov says her campaign will continue coming up with creative ways to engage with the community. One of the biggest issues she’s focusing on is housing affordability, particularly with the wave of evictions she says is imminent due to the prolonged effects of the pandemic.

“Especially with the pandemic, [affordable housing] is more imperative now than ever before,” Stolyarov said. “So when [mass evictions] hit, where are all of those people going to go if our housing prices and rent remain as high as they are right now? Rent has gone up by 50% in the last five years and wages have remained relatively flat. So one of my biggest goals on city council is to find ways we can work with zoning reform ways we can implement inclusionary zoning in order to bring down that cost of housing.”

Additional issues Stolyarov wants to shed light on are workers’ rights and protections and equality for all of Sparks’ citizens.

“My other two big issues are workers' rights and protections, which are again, more imperative than ever in this pandemic and equality in the city of Sparks,” Stolyarov said. “When I talk about equality, I'm not just talking about LGBT equality, which is important for me because if elected I would be the first queer council person. But also accessibility in the city by making sure that when we offer a city council meeting, we really are making it accessible to everyone.”

Some ways Stolyarov envisions making city council meetings accessible for everyone is by offering them in Spanish, or at least by making a translator available.

“The [city council meetings] are never offered in Spanish and we don't offer translators even though a huge proportion of ward one is Spanish-speaking only or you speak Spanish as a first language,” Stolyarov said. “So we should offer more city services in Spanish. Our website should be offered in Spanish and that's a very basic one that Reno and Washoe County both do as a matter of course. How can you participate in your government or in your community if you are being cut off at every turn from access?”

Whatever the outcome come Election Day, Stolyarov said she’s proud of her team’s effort.

“This is my first real political campaign and it has been an adventure,” Stolyarov said. “It's a wild year to run for office and I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's been a fantastic learning experience and whatever happens in November, I feel like we have been able to do a lot of good for the community.”

Reporting by Scott King for Our Town Reno

New Shelter Ideas Under Review at Reno City Council

A Current Lack of Shelter Space with COVID-19 Spacing

Of Washoe County's 973 people experiencing homelessness, according to an official pre-COVID count  in January, the county's current emergency shelters can only accommodate about 714 of them.  That’s a clear lack of shelter options, especially if the number of people experiencing homelessness is seen as an undercount, as most activists who work with people living on the streets would attest.

This comes as the main shelter on Record street has been spaced out due to COVID-19 protocols. The new Our Place shelter for women, seniors and families is also turning away some women due to restrictions. And the big tents on East 4th street remain just a temporary emergency shelter, which replaced the Reno Events Center serving the homeless community at the outset of the pandemic.

In response, Acting Assistant City Manager Arlo Stockham said in a City Council meeting this week that he is pushing for a more permanent solution: building winter-ready shelters at Governor’s Bowl Park. Plans for the site would include two 22,400 square foot sprung structures with more room for "future expansion" and a "flex area." 

Some activists have complained the proximity to major highways off of 7th Street downtown is not ideal or welcoming, but plans seem to have been set in motion.

Four examples of sprung structures were featured in Stockham’s presentation. Stockham used this image to demonstrate what a new shelter at Governor’s Bowl Park might look like, touting their relatively inexpensive building costs and durability.

Where to Find the Funding?

During its Zoom-broadcast meeting Tuesday, the Reno City Council took a close look at Stockham’s presentation, even though according to the acting city manager, there’s still no “formal agreement” on its funding. 

The county’s CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act) funds were touted as a possibility. According to official documents, the Washoe County COVID-19 emergency pot of money “may be used for medical and public health needs, payroll expenses (for employee services substantially dedicated to mitigating or responding to the public health emergency), economic support, secondary effects and other costs reasonably necessary for government functions.” In August, government documents stated Washoe County was getting over $20 million with an additional $46 million for Reno and $19 million for Sparks, money which all expires at the end of the year.

"We need a permanent long term solution,” Reno Vice Mayor Devon Reese said in support of Stockham. “And if that solution costs us money, it costs us money."

The Governor’s Bowl land belongs to the state and could cost over $2 million. Building the shelter could be in the range of $6 million, according to documents presented.

The Northern Nevada Continuum of Care counts the region’s homeless population once annually. Council members find it useful, but lament that its data, recorded once in January, leaves much to be desired in the later months of the year. Activists repeatedly say they believe these counts are useful, but always miss many people who avoid the process entirely.

Questions and a Sales Pitch

Ward 2 Councilwoman Naomi Duerr pressed the issue of holding more counts, suggesting a second count be conducted later in the year. People experiencing homelessness are more likely to be outside and counted, she said, when the weather is less severe.

There are fears COVID-19, which has sent unemployment skyrocketing throughout Nevada, has created more homelessness amid an ongoing affordable housing crisis.

Ward 5 Councilwoman Neoma Jardon wondered why most shelters typically force people out early in the morning during cold months. Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve stressed the importance of providing adequate services in the new shelter. If the operation is going to be long term, Schieve believes, the city needs to be "thinking bigger and broader."

If “bigger and broader” is the mayor’s goal, Built for Zero’s presentation at the meeting appeared to offer a path toward achieving it. "Ending homeless isn't impossible,” Built for Zero representative Dana Searcy said. “It's already happening."

Built for Zero is an organization run by Community Solutions, a New York City-based non-profit, operating in more than 80 communities that approaches solutions to homelessness from what it says is a data-driven perspective. By gathering information on every individual experiencing homelessness in the region, the community can receive “tailored solutions for individuals and a clearer picture of the system as a whole,” according to the Built for Zero website.  

Built for Zero, according to Dana Searcy, is only part of the solution to eliminating homelessness in the communities it serves. “The initial work of Built for Zero is about setting foundations,” she said. “And that does take time to realize.”

Reporting by Ian Cook for Our Town Reno

Community Concerns Rise Over Relationships Between Developers and City Council

A Former Sports Club Thought to Be Saved, Now Gone

The property where the Lakeridge Tennis Club formerly stood, on the corner of Plumas and McCarran Blvd., has become both a wasteland and a trigger point for rising concerns about the relationship between developers and members of the Reno City Council. Campaign donation disclosure forms show developers involved in controversial projects with unexpected twists and turns, including Lakeridge, have given incumbent city council members, seeking to keep their seats, thousands and thousands of dollars in election cycle money.

The Daybreak project is a well publicized case. Less so is the dooming of the Lakeridge Tennis Club, which was sold last year to Reno Land to be redeveloped with a Newport Beach, California-based company called Lyon Living. Together, according to campaign disclosure forms, the two entities have given $15,000 in campaign contributions to Devon Reese, Oscar Delgado and Neoma Jardon, all incumbents trying to keep their City Council seats.

Initially, Reno Land’s purchase of the property seemed to be a saving grace of sorts, though, for those wanting to save the club. Original proposals brought forward by Reno Land to the surrounding community and Lakeridge club members indicated that the struggling club would be revitalized. 

“[The Lakeridge community] was really curious to know what Reno Land had in mind when they made this proposal at the public meeting, so there were about 200 plus people at the meeting and they shared their vision for what the tennis club could be moving forward,” said Sharon Weiss, the head coach of the Lakeridge swim team for the past 30 years.

“[Reno Land’s vision] was to develop half of the property with some infill, meaning they would bring in some 150 apartments on the western portion of the property. Then on the other half, they would revitalize the club knowing that it was an iconic property and had clubs for the community. So they came in like they were saviors [of the property],” Weiss said of initial hopes.

A Zoning Amendment Easily Brought Forward

In order to bring in apartment units to a portion of the Lakeridge property, a zoning amendment from the city council was required. Since Lakeridge was originally founded as a planned community, a specific zoning map was implemented. Therefore, Reno Land needed to change the Lakeridge Tennis Club zoning status from a specific plan district (SPD) to community commercial (CC). 

“Since the only way that [Reno Land] could move forward with this revitalization idea was to change the zoning, [the community] believed and supported them and almost no one went to the city council meeting to express concerns about them changing the zoning,” Weiss said. “So they appeared like it was all good and the plan was in the works.”

At the city council meeting on September 23, 2019, Reno Land’s request for a zoning amendment to the property was passed unanimously by the Reno City Council. Outside of concerns expressed by Councilwoman Naomi Duerr, whose ward includes the Lakeridge property, councilwoman Jenny Brekhus was the only other member of city council to raise questions in the meeting regarding Reno Land’s proposal for the property.

The discussion and voting for the zone change in question begins at 1:28:00 in video above.

Was a Bait and Switch Maneuver Used?

“Of course City Council members will say they are not biased, but a review of the City Council Meeting about changing the zoning for Lakeridge Tennis Club shows a very different possibility,” Weiss wrote in an email correspondence with Our Town Reno. “How is it that an iconic property with the history of Lakeridge Tennis Club is presented for a zoning change to the City Council, yet only a single member other than Naomi Duerr has any question? How is it that there is very little discussion on the motion to change the zoning for the whole property, even though the developer is suggesting that they only want to develop a portion of it (while maintaining the rest)? It wasn't until I went back and watched the meeting that it seemed like minds were made up... It's hard to trust that there is a level playing field,” she concluded.

After the zoning amendment was approved, Weiss says Reno Land’s interactions with community and club members suddenly stopped. So Weiss, whose nonprofit, the Lakeridge Swim Club, was dependent on the two pools that were part of the Lakeridge Tennis Club property, reached out to Reno Land because she had a particularly vested business interest in Reno Land’s proposed revitalization. 

In April 2020, just weeks before Reno Land’s purchase of the property became official on June 1st, word went around the community that Reno Land had changed their proposal for the property entirely. 

“I never heard from them after I wrote to them and sent them my bio and an explanation of my program and what we do,” Weiss said. “I called their offices and I never heard back. So I thought it would be business as usual this Spring, but then they came forward with the site plan for 350 apartments for active adults 55 and over, with an explanation for their rationale was that as a result of COVID, this club that's already in trouble will inevitably close and [the property] should be for housing.”

Weiss says she and other members of the community she’s spoken to believe Reno Land used a ‘bait-and-switch’ tactic in order to gain community support, before changing plans. Tennis players in the community have been exchanging emails and conversations at still existing tennis courts, expressing similar concerns.

“They basically baited the community, they baited the planning commission, they baited everybody because on their application for the zoning change, every question all has to do with revitalizing the club,” Weiss said. “Their whole initial application for the zoning change was all about revitalizing the club, so there wouldn’t be any changes or any problems with traffic and everything's going to be great. [The property] is going to be in existing use and it's not that big of a deal because all we're doing with changing the zoning is changing colors on a map.”

“Members were actually still paying dues late into April, when [Reno Land] put their site plan out and they were talking about how, ‘As a result of COVID, the club is no longer financially viable,’ but the billing cycle for the club wasn’t complete so there's no way they can make a claim like that,” Weiss said. “My [swim] team had paid 100% of our dues for March. So members of the club were still paying and still happy to pay to keep the club afloat while it was closed due to COVID. So that's actually not a true statement for them to make that the club is dying.”

Appealing the New Plan which is Then Suddenly Dropped Before the Election

Once the new site plan was revealed, several community members got together as an appellate group to appeal the new plan. 

“We all got together and started looking at the proposal on their original application. We looked at all the planning commission and city council meetings and just started taking each issue one at a time,” Weiss said. “We had a hearing in June with a neutral hearing examiner who heard our case via Zoom. We went one at a time and went piece by piece to address the issues in the case and the hearing officer ended up ruling in our favor in July.”

Reno Land consequently appealed the ruling, as did Weiss’s appellate group simply, she says, to remain a part of the conversation. At that point in the process, the appeal was set to return to city council for a ruling. To prepare for the city council ruling, Weiss and her group assembled further findings to strengthen their case. But just hours before the hearing, Reno Land withdrew their appeal.

“Just a few hours before we were supposed to present our case to the city council, the developer withdrew their plan and didn't really offer any explanation,” Weiss said. “They simply said, ‘We're withdrawing our application for the 350 units, and we will be back in the next couple months with a new plan.’ So we still have all of our findings and what's tricky about this is that there's important information for the city and there's a lot of learning that needs to happen with this case because the city made a lot of allowances for the developer already.”

To notify of plans suddenly changing, Garret Gordon, a lawyer representing Reno Land Inc., released a statement to acting City of Reno community development coordinator Angela Fuss, which read: “We are withdrawing the Application prior to final action by the Reno City Council, but fully intend to re-submit an updated Application in the coming months. We look forward to continuing working with you and appreciate all of the time and effort you and your staff spent to process the application.” The statement and withdrawal came ahead of the November 2020 election, in which several city council incumbents are facing re-election. Devon Reese, who was appointed to the at-large seat in 2019, is seeking to keep his seat as well. Reese and two other re-election candidates have each received $5,000 from Reno Land and $10,000 from Lyon Management.

A Political Rival’s Take Amid a Quick Tear Down

Eddie Lorton, a local businessman who is running for the at-large City Council seat against incumbent Devon Reese, also believes the city of Reno has been too accommodating to developers. 

“I guarantee since [city council] took all the heat and it's an election cycle, that the developer was called and told to stand down for now because there was an outcry in the community,” Lorton alleged. This could not be independently confirmed.

Requests for comment submitted to Reno Land, Lyon Living and the election campaign for Devon Reese for this story went unanswered. Campaign contribution reports for Reese show he received $5,000 from Reno Land on June 1st. They also show Reno Land gave $5,000 to Oscar Delgado’s campaign effort on June 1 for his run for Ward 3, and $5,000 to Neoma Jardon’s coffers on June 16th for her re-election run for Ward 5.

The three have also received $10,000 in campaign contributions from the Lyon Management Group, which according to its website includes Lyon Living.

Councilwoman Brekhus responded to our query for a comment on what might have happened with this emailed information: “As this was an appeal, the City Council sits quasi-judicial, like a judge would,” she wrote. “In those instances, contact with parties related to the issue is not appropriate.  All information sharing is required to be in the public meeting under due process considerations.  For this reason, I refrain from contact when matters like this involving are pending.  So I did not have any contact with Reno Land or their paid team during this period.”

According to Weiss, Reno Land submitted a demolition permit to the city the same day their site plan review was approved on May 15th. Less than two weeks later, she said, despite existing appeals against the site plan, the city issued Reno Land their demolition permit to start tearing down the standing building, tennis courts and the swimming pools on the property. Messages to Reno Land and Lyon Living to get confirmation of this timeline went unanswered.

“They pulled a fast one especially since [the community] didn't even notice the property was being demolished until it was too late,” Lorton said. “Once [developers] get their approval, they do the bait and switch and will go back to the table 50 times and it's never for the city's advantage. It's always at [the city’s] detriment, so I don't know why [the city council] keeps renegotiating these things.”

“Many citizens believe that it was not appropriate for the city to issue a demolition permit until the appeal process was completed, so it's really disappointing to see that the city had chosen to do that,” Weiss said. “It doesn't seem right that if a case is in appeal that any permit, whether it's demolition or building, be given until the appeals process is over.”

The property is now sitting idle and destroyed until a new plan is announced.

The Case of Daybreak Reno and Views of Another Challenger

Lorton also cites Daybreak Reno, a developer owned by Newport Pacific Land Company, which have also both made significant campaign contributions to same members on the Reno City Council. The controversial Daybreak project would bring nearly 4,000 housing units to an undeveloped plot of land in a floodplain in Southeast Reno. According to campaign contribution documents, Newport Pacific made maximum campaign donations of $10,000 to Oscar Delgado and Neoma Jardon. In the case of Reese, according to a News 4 media report, it indicates he’s received $24,500 from three different entities linked to the project.

The three Council members who received donations from Daybreak-involved developers, Reese, Delgado and Jardon, voted to approve the Daybreak project in September 2019. Previously in November 2018, Delgado and Jardon, who were at that point already elected members of the Reno City Council (Reese was appointed to fill the vacant at-large seat in 2019), initially voted against it. That vote prompted the Daybreak developer Newport Pacific Land to sue the city.

Delgado and Reese released statements to media indicating the campaign contributions were not a conflict of interest and that the money did not influence their votes.

“Developer money is an outsize influence on city council — impacting city priorities, council agendas, and greatly distorting electoral politics and public trust,” Rudy Leon wrote to Our Town Reno via Facebook Messenger, summarizing how she views the situation. Leon is running against Delgado for the Ward 3 seat.

“The city should be putting as much attention to social issues (such as housing precarity, homelessness, mental health, public health epidemics, and quality of life) as developers. But what incentive is there for incumbents to pay attention to issues which lack the big money developers bring to campaigns? Individual resident donors really can’t compete,” Leon wrote.

Delgado, Jardon and other City Council members, besides Brekhus, did not respond to emails to give us statements on the record about these donations and the controversial development projects. Requests for comments by Daybreak Reno and Newport Pacific Land Company for this article also went unanswered.

In the case of Lakeridge, Lorton says he wants the developer and city council to go forward with the original plan. “Reno Land did buy the property and their original plan was approved, which got through the right way,” Lorton said. “I would have never wanted the tennis courts torn down, and let alone we hardly have any pools in this area and quality of life issues matter. But now it's too late to take it back and rebuild it, but that was really unfortunate for that to happen to our community. So now though, I guess we'd have to go back and approve the original deal.”

The Need to Bring Quality of Life to Reno Residents

More generally, Lorton says he wants to see a better problem-solving approach by the city council to enhance the quality of life for Reno residents.

“If we need to get a pool, we could reach out to foundations and get one bill privately-funded because we have excellent people in our community that would more than be happy if you talk to the right folks,” Lorton said. “Quality of life issues matter like never before. [The city] doesn’t make a lot of money on tennis courts, golf courses or swimming pools; but that's quality of life. That's the good part about living here in Reno is quality of life issues, so we need to expand on that.”

Moving forward, both Weiss and Lorton want the greater Reno community to become more aware and involved in what’s going on in their community.

“The greater Reno community really needs to participate and pay attention to when developers come in with plans, because there's a lot going on that's out of the public view and we really need to stay vigilant,” Weiss said. “Had I had any idea that [Reno Land’s proposed] plan didn't really need to mean much, I would have been at that meeting in a heartbeat. I didn't realize that I was going to have to become a political activist in the middle of the pandemic and try to also save my business at the same time. So the greater community needs to stay vigilant and pay attention when their offers come in with plans because what's happening behind closed doors and what's happening in public is not always the same thing and that's very unfortunate. It puts us in a really tough spot.”

She considers losing the city’s only indoor tennis courts, and two pools, a huge loss to the community, and several swimming and tennis families we spoke to agreed. Watchdog websites have also been keeping tabs on this story, but have not gotten rebuttals from City Council members either.

Reporting and Photos by Scott King for Our Town Reno

Marcus, Put on a Train and Finding the Big Tent Shelter in Reno

“It’s humbling.  I came from Winnemucca. It’s hard.  I had nowhere else to go. I was  fighting with my sister in law and I had nowhere else to go. So a great woman bought me an Amtrak ticket, one way, to right here. 

There's good people here, man, then just like anywhere else and there's bad people. No matter what situation, know what you're going through in life, stay humble. It won't last that long. I'm a Christian. So I believe in that, man, God gives his hardest situations and the hardest missions and hardest battles to the strongest.

I came here with just a suitcase and my backpack. The first day I was here, I was walking up and down, walking up down Fourth street,  giving up my clothes to people, just paying it forward. 

I don't really worry about [COVID-19]. It's terrible. I don't wear [a mask] unless I got to go in the store.

[At the tent shelter], there's a lot of elderly people here, veterans too.   And it upsets me, you know? 

My message to everybody, even the veterans, like I said, just be patient man. Just give it time. It says it's got to get worse before it gets better, I’m a firm believer of that. So right now we're at the worst of it, but it will get better in time.”

Reporting and Photo by Scott King for Our Town Reno

Ray Bacasegua Valdez, In Support of Families of those Killed by Police

Need to Change a Bad Reno Ranking

“We obviously need change,” said Ray Bacasegua Valdez who came out with the American Indian Movement of Northern Nevada this past Saturday to show support for local families who have lost a relative to a police killing. Along with members of Reno Cop Watch and PERCh (People Enacting Radical Change), there were several dozen participants. The families of Thomas Purdy (killed by Washoe County Nevada sheriff’s deputies at the Washoe County Jail in 2015), Johnny Bonta (killed by Sparks PD in 2017), and Kenneth Stafford (killed by police in Sparks in 2013), were present as well.

“We’re also asking for accountability and some reform. We need some change,” Vazquez said. As cars drove by the protest at the Bruce R. Thompson Courthouse and Federal Building, some honked in support.

According to MappingPoliceViolence.org, Reno is the 9th highest city in the country in terms of the number of yearly police killings per capita.

Over 60 people joined the protest on Saturday September 12th. The Peltier sign refers to Leonard Peltier, whose 76th birthday was on that day. Peltier is an AIM activist who has been in prison since 1977, serving two life sentences after being convicted of killing two FBI Special Agents on the Lakota Sioux reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, in 1975. Numerous doubts have been raised over his guilt and the fairness of his trial.

Early Signs of Progress

While Valdez recognizes there is a need for change he personally does not think defunding and removing law enforcement is the answer, as has been the goal of many protesters in the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement.

“I think right now, we’re just in the early stages of a solution,” Valdez said. “I think it starts with our leadership, the leadership of our country and the mindset.” 

Valdez also believes real change will come from the bottom up and from the people. “We don’t want the next generation to carry this hate. We need to stop that,” he said.

He does see some change going in the correct direction.

“The City of Reno removed Columbus Day, it’s now Indigenous People’s Day. That was a big thing,” Valdez said. He also mentioned the recent decision by the Squaw Valley Ski Resort that they will be changing their name as a positive. The resort acknowledged the word “squaw” is racist and sexist and said it would change the name after the next ski season.

Reporting and Photos by Richard Bednarski for Our Town Reno

Ryeanna, A Rastafarian Showing Local Support for Black Lives Matter

A Rastafarian at Heart

For Ryeanna Jahsiah Iverly, participating in the recent We Have a Dream fair was never a question.

Her passion for the Black Lives Matter movement is tightly connected, she says, to her connection to the Rastafarian culture:

“If it wasn't for black lives in this world? I don't know if my home would have ever been found because I'm personally, I am Rastafari and if it weren’t for Buffalo soldiers and people that came over from Africa, I wouldn't have the history that I have and...I fear what I might've become if there had not been black lives involved in my life at some point.”

Rastafari, also known as the Rastafarianism first developed in Jamaica in the 1930s as a joint religious and social movement. According to Wikipedia, the Buffalo Soldiers nickname was given to the Black Cavalry by Native American tribes who fought in the Indian Wars in 1866.  It’s also the name of a famous Bob Marley song:

Buffalo Soldier, dreadlock Rasta

There was a Buffalo Soldier
In the heart of America
Stolen from Africa, brought to America
Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival

Hurt by the Ongoing Racism and Police Brutality

Iverly says she aims to help in anyway she can.

“I brought down the flags and most of the protest signs,” she said. She often acts as a welcome person waving tall progressive-themed flags at downtown events,

“I've been contributing by helping out and just giving a hand here and there, but previous to that, I've been, walking around town and it displayed my flags and pull my wagons and played Rasta music because Rasta is a call to love, and love is what we all need.”

Iverly stressed the importance of keeping the Black Lives Matter movement alive.

“That's very hurting to have to watch that on television,” she said of Jacob Blake, who was recently shot seven times in the back by a police officer in Wisconsin, paralyzing him from the waist down.

“You know, I've, I've heard things that are bad saying, well, he's done this, and he's done that, but it doesn't matter what he's done. Nobody deserves to be shot in the back for just going into their car. You know, nobody deserves to be attacked for something that is non-consequential. You know, they knew who he was. They already had him; if he got in the car and drove off, they knew his license plate. They could have stopped him, whatever, you know, but to shoot someone for no reason or strangle them or just to brutalize them in any way is so wrong. And I've been there.” 

We could not independently verify her own run-ins with local police, but Iverly said she’s been arrested several times during recent protests.

Above a photo of the recent We Have a Dream event. Photo by Neith Pereira from our sister Reynolds Sandbox publication.

Love and Vote

For Iverly, the solution to creating a better world is simple. She says she is confident that voting and love are the two answers.

“I would say the election is coming up very soon and the main issue is really to get Black lives to matter.”

Locally, Iverly says she doesn’t believe the support is nearly close enough. “I get about a 50/50 mix of love and hate when I'm out protesting all the time. So, I don't know if that's good. I don't think it is, you know.”

Due to her Rastafarian beliefs, Iverly says she wants to love and forgive everyone but finds herself losing hope in people who are filled with negative thoughts.  “I can't change people. All I can do is speak to them about how I feel and try to tell them why Black lives do matter to me. And hopefully, they can see the reasoning behind it instead of perhaps worrying about their white privilege.”

Reporting by Gracie Gordon for Our Town Reno

The Homeless Shelter Shuffle in Reno, from the Events Center to Big Tents to New Possibilities

Satisfied with the Temporary Big Tents on 4th Street

The Reno Event Center has officially closed in its role as a temporary shelter for the displaced community, seven months after the COVID-19 pandemic forced city officials to get creative in implementing social distancing guidelines at local shelters.

In its place, a Big Tents shelter has been built farther down on East 4th Street to serve as another temporary shelter for the near future. With the new Big Tents shelter and the opening of the Our Place campus this summer, the unsheltered community in Reno is finding itself spread out across a number of facilities to find support.

“What we've been doing since the beginning of the pandemic is pretty much continuing with social distancing requirements and everything like that,” Jon Humbert, City of Reno spokesman, said in a recent interview with Our Town Reno. “We've just changed locations from the Reno Event Center to the new temporary shelter farther down on Fourth Street. We know that [the Big Tents shelter] is designed to be temporary and that we need it to be temporary. But it seems to be doing well at this point and given how quickly it came together, we're pretty happy with the results.”

When the Reno Event Center was operating as a temporary shelter, it had the capacity to host over 300 people with beds placed six feet apart to maintain proper social distancing. Humbert noted, however, that the typical nightly use at the Reno Events Center was between 230 to 265 individuals. But as the summer went on those numbers continued to dwindle down to about 165 people, which is about roughly the same capacity the new Big Tents shelter holds at a little over 200.

“The hope is [for the Big Tents shelter to operate] through the fall, so probably about the next three and a half months,” Humbert said. “But all of that is pending negotiation and what we can do as far as space. But we’ve been consistently saying it's a temporary [shelter] and that's the goal.”

The big tent situation got off to an uncertain start with a lawsuit, but a judge allowed the plan to proceed despite this court action. In mid-August, District Judge David Hardy lifted a Temporary Restraining Order that for a week or so prevented the opening of the new homeless shelter on a Truckee Meadows Water Authority lot. The owner of Wells RV Storage just next to it had earlier filed suit, saying the shelter would cause harm to his business and that it could become a long term facility.

A google street map view of the Governor’s Bowl Park which could be a future shelter site.

Looking at Future Possible Permanent Shelter Locations

The city of Reno is still in negotiations with the state about other long-term solutions to support the unsheltered community, especially men. Women, families and the elderly have started being moved to the new Our Place campus run by RISE and Washoe County. One potential site that is being explored for men as a future option is the Governor’s Bowl Park on East 7th Street.

“We're still ongoing with the state [with discussions on the Governor’s Bowl],” Humbert said. “There hasn't been any sort of specific ‘No’ at this point from anybody on any side, but those discussions are ongoing at this point.”

Meanwhile, the Volunteers of America-operated Record Street downtown shelter has remained open as it has been since the start of the pandemic, but with fewer people being helped.

When the transition to the Reno Events Center first took place in mid-March, the Record Street shelter retained several dozen men, most of them veterans or disabled. Linda Grace, the Regional Development Officer at Volunteers of America, noted that resources such as VOA’s Restart program for mental health services have also continued despite the pandemic. 

“We are still keeping 35 men in our men's shelter and all of this has been done so that we can keep people socially distant because you can't have them in the shelters as they were prior to COVID,” Grace said. “But our case managers continue to meet with all of the clients via telephone or making visits standing outside their door so as to keep that social distancing.”

The downtown Record street remains busy during the day, with some people outside close together and not wearing masks.

Lots of Moving Pieces

With the new big tents shelter and Our Place moving people around, Grace explained Volunteers of America has been busy maximizing local places they have access to, to keep people they are helping spread out.

“We've taken over what used to be the Good Shepherd's Clothes Closet and have converted that into a shelter and we're housing 53 individuals there at night,” Grace said. “Looking ahead, we have the capacity to add about another 87 beds here at the Community Assistance Center and other different areas. Then what used to be the old family shelter, we have a plan to move about 30 individuals up there but we don't have that set in stone yet. We have a space in another area that we could take 40.”

Meanwhile, the emergency overflow shelter on Washington Street is still hosting approximately 50 women as the dorm-style wing at the women’s shelter on the Our Place campus is only at partial-capacity due to social distancing requirements there. Consequently, Grace and VOA are looking at how they can support the 20 or so women that are still in need of nighttime shelter.

“It's our understanding that not all the women are being served [at Our Place],” Grace said. “So we're looking to take in about 17 to 20 more women over here [in the future].”

The Reno Events Center is no longer being used as an emergency shelter, as local casinos have expressed interest in restarting events there whenever possible.

Despite the shuffling of temporary shelter locations, Humbert says he has been pleased with how well everyone has adapted to the challenges the pandemic has brought for shelter operations. 

“We're pleased that folks have been so adaptable to some of these changes and the need to modify lifestyles, but we still do the very best we can to maintain quality of care,” Humbert said.  “We know that our VOA partners are working a lot with less these days and we're glad that they're doing their best to keep things going.”

Humbert also acknowledged that more needs to be done as the city looks to the future.

“We know that by expanding resources, that'll take some pressure off of everyone and that's why we're continuing to focus on the Governor's Bowl as a possible opportunity in the future to expand and improve,” Humbert said. “But the temporary shelter is a great example of our community coming together and the city to be able to get creative and do something different because we can't just sit on our hands anymore on any of this.”

Reporting and Photos by Scott King for Our Town Reno

Our Place Shelter Strives to Help its Guests 'Heal and Grow'

An Open and Inviting Environment

Located on East 2nd and 21st Street, on what was formerly known as the Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services campus, Our Place has been purposed to be an open and inviting environment for those in need of shelter.

“It's a beautiful campus with a park-like setting where it's open,” Jen Cassady, a former recovery specialist, now the Our Place director, said. “There's a lot of open spaces for our families, women and seniors to spend some time outside. [The campus] is fenced-in, so each building has its own very large backyard as well as the open community spaces.”

For Cassady and the rest of the RISE staff, creating an open-space environment is essential to ensuring that the guests staying at Our Place can find comfort and dignity.

“We felt that if we wanted to provide a therapeutic place for someone to transition from homelessness into a more permanent living situation, they needed a place to heal and grow,” Cassady said. “So rather than have a warehouse-like setting or some of the traditional models that look institutional, we decided to offer dignity and beauty [with an open-space campus].”

More Space Inside as Well for Families, Seniors, Women and Even Pets

It’s not just the open green spaces and picnic tables across the campus that are designed to make local residents sheltered at Our Place feel safe and at home, as even the interior rooms of the buildings have been designed with this purpose in mind.

“Each family has their own room and the rooms are fairly large, even our smallest room can have five people pretty comfortably inside,” Cassady said.  “No bathrooms are shared between more than three families, but most have one or two families per bathroom. Each family home has a beautiful, large kitchen space with an industrial-sized refrigerator and a large pantry.”

Three of the buildings on the campus are designed as family homes that can host up to 28 families. Another building is designated for those in the Temporary Assistance for Displaced Seniors [TADS] program, which currently hosts six seniors. A fifth building is solely for women, which although it has the capacity for about 115 women, is currently only hosting 85 women, due to ongoing COVID-19 health restrictions. 

The women’s home, which officially began operation when women were transitioned from the Washington street shelter on August 14th, has five wings, to suit various needs.

“One of the wings is a pet wing, one is for seniors and then two women and a dorm-style,” Amber Howell, Director of the Washoe County Human Services Agency, said. “The biggest challenge that we've had is because of COVID, the dorm area can only be at 50% capacity. So that's really been the only challenge we've had is we haven't been able to go to full capacity [in the dorm-style wing].” 

Due to COVID-19 and safety precautions, services which could eventually be offered to more women in the community have to be curtailed. But even women not sleeping at Our Place will soon be allowed to come to the campus and get showers.

“Hopefully in the next week we will be able to provide community showers, even for those who don't want to be in the shelter,” Howell said at the time of our interview. “So that's probably been the biggest challenge during the pandemic is the social distancing requirement. Our Place was designed to have more beds and more room than downtown Reno because we knew we needed it,” she said of women who might have been staying overnights at the Washington street location, for whom Our Place is now full.

Inspirational messages line the walls. Opening and getting everything in order has been somewhat of a mad scramble at times during the pandemic.

Challenges of Opening during a Pandemic

Cassady said RISE usually relies on a volunteer base of over 700 people, having served community meals for years among several previous initiatives, but due to COVID-19 they have not been able to go onto the Our Place campus. Still, they’ve been helping indirectly, with donations for those sleeping at the shelter, whom Cassady refers to as guests.

“One of the things that we do for our guests here is when they come in, we know that they don't have much so we have a ‘bed-in-a-bag’ for every person that walks in and we invite them to take that with them,” Cassady said. “So [guests] can come into our closet, pick out bedding, take it to their room and then take that with them when they leave. So we've got an enormous response from the community for beds, bags and cribs and things like that.” 

Additionally, in order to address the risks of COVID-19 infections for those who are on the campus, Washoe County has been providing cleaning services at Our Place.

“The safety of our guests is important, so we have cleaning schedules where we clean often,” Cassady said. “The County has paid for a professional cleaning staff to come in and we've involved our guests to be part of that community of keeping each other safe, so we ask that every time they use a shared surface that they wipe it down and sanitize it in between use and that's been a great response [from the guests].”

Flyers point people to the many resources in our area. On campus, available services include an on-site therapist and nurse.

Keeping Families Together and Pets as Companions

An additional asset for Our Place and those staying there is close proximity to Crossroads, which provides substance use and addiction counseling along with other support. With on-site daycare services for the families staying at Our Place, families can now stay together while a parent undergoes treatment at Crossroads.

“What we have found is the worst thing that can happen to a parent is to lose their children because they're without shelter,” Howell said. “So by keeping the families together, they don't have to worry about [being separated] and can just focus on what it is that they need to do. Having the daycare there allows them to have a place for their children to go during the day so they can attend groups and case management and those types of things.”

By having a wing in the women’s home designated for pets, Our Place also aims to remove what can be an additional barrier for houseless individuals seeking shelter.

“Not being able to bring your pets into shelter is a barrier to people wanting to enter because their pet is usually the only thing that they have, that's their companion, their best friend,” Howell said.

“I've met with a lot of the women there who have their pets and it has made a world of difference for them. [Having pets] also bonds the guests together, they are a morale booster and so it's been going very well. A lot of people who didn't take shelter in the past because of the fact they couldn't have their pets are now sheltered, so we know that that philosophy works and it's an incentive to come indoors instead of staying outdoors in the elements and where it's unsafe,” Howell said.

Time Limits Loosened with Long Term in Mind

The Our Place approach varies from traditional formats typically found in many shelters across the country. Most shelters operate with 90-day-stay time limits for guests, or even shorter stays, which can lead to a street-to-shelter-to-street cycle. Our Place is setting out to break that cycle with the goal of serving as a stepping stone for guests toward more permanent housing.  

“Traditionally there's been a 90-day-stay [at shelters], but when we look at our housing environment we know that 90 days is not enough,” Cassady said. “So our goal is to have people come in, take a break, rest, feel comfortable and heal [before finding permanent housing]. Obviously, we're not going to make that goal right away, but we like to say that six months is about how long we'd like you to stay. But again, if you're here and you're working hard to end your houselessness, if you're working hard to try to move on to your next steps, whatever that may be, we won't remove you.”

Many RISE staff members have lived experience with homelessness themselves, so they know how difficult this journey can be. “RISE hired 75% of our staff as peers, so they have lived experience [with homelessness] and they play a great role in advocating and walking with our guests to make sure that they have the emotional support as well as the connection to resources,” Cassady said. “We put relationships first, we listen rather than come in with a plan and tell people what they need. We've gotten great results by offering that relationship, respect and that dignity rather than coming in and offering what we think might be right. [This approach] builds long-term success.”

“[RISE] knows this population, they know all of the guests and their personal stories,” Howell said. The decision to award the Our Place contract to RISE surprised some initially, as it had been more of a grassroots organization at its inception.

“That connection is so vital for us to have a vendor that the guests trust, and I trust RISE completely,” Howell said. “We understand our roles, so we complement each other instead of contradicting each other, so it's been great. They've never done something of this magnitude and they've done it in a wonderful way and I'm really proud of them coming together, giving us a proposal and implementing what they promised. It’s been a great process. I love their passion and I love their commitment to helping us by being a critical partner in this community.”

Although Our Place has been launched and is working to overcome the challenges brought on by the pandemic, resolving the affordable housing crisis and helping the hundreds of people living on the streets in our area is far from over.

“Our Place has solved a couple of challenges that we're facing, but it certainly doesn't solve people experiencing homelessness because there's other variables,” Howell said. “Our Place gets rid of some additional barriers by increasing bed capacity, access to daycare and the ability to have pets. So we’re one step closer to really having a targeted approach and a menu of services, but it’s in no way going to solve all of the issues. We still have to move on to the next set of issues and start tackling those, but it's nice to be able to check a few off a few boxes for those that weren't sheltered or didn't want to get sheltered for those reasons. So [Our Place] is a great first step.”

Cassady agrees that the long-term goal of ending houselessness in our community may still be a long way off. However, she is optimistic that Our Place will continue playing a positive role for its guests moving forward.

“So our long-term goal is to always have [Our Place] empty, right?” Cassady said. “We're going to make sure that everybody has a safe and stable place to live with a locking door, a roof and their dignity intact. But in the meantime as we move toward that, the goals are to continue that mission of a healing and therapeutic environment where people are respected and listened to and honored. When they come into Our Place, they're surrounded by support and we can get creative in finding long-term solutions for people, with people.”

Reporting and Photography by Scott King for Our Town Reno

Brian Melendez, the Voice Behind the Local Coffee with an Indian Podcast

Creating a Forum of Understanding

“The podcast was part of a larger conceptual idea I had about wanting to educate and inform other people about indigenous thought, tribal existence and an understanding of what was occurring in Nevada from both the micro and macro level,” Melendez said. “I wanted to create a forum that allowed people the opportunity to see a greater description of the human element that tribal people are experiencing and the ways in which we're existing every day in relation to other people.”

Season Two of the Coffee with an Indian podcast, which had an initial run of 21 episodes up until December 2019, is set to be released in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, listeners may find from season one that the Coffee with an Indian podcast follows a different format than the typical podcast.

“[Podcasts are] very culturally different from the way that people would present themselves in tribal communities or from indigenous spaces,” Melendez said. “I felt that what I had to do was create a podcast that started off by me giving this narrative of where I came from, my ancestors and my relate-ability and more so just showing them my humanness. That's a real cultural dynamic that is important when communicating with other tribal people, because when we see the relate-ability or the human side of it, then the information is able to be transmitted.”

Therefore, the narrative format delivered in season one is intended so that listeners can better understand the human and worldview perspective Melendez is sharing as an indigenous person. If Melendez started the podcast in any other manner, without first establishing his authenticity as a human being, he says, it would have gone against tribal conventions and would not have been as nearly well-received by his tribal community.

“When I started the podcast, it was really just to tell the story and to let indigenous people and other people from around the world understand that I wasn't just trying to come out and be that character that just said, ‘Hey, look, I'm a great person. I know lots of things. I have X amount of resources. I know some things and this is why you should listen to me,’” Melendez said. “If I would've started the podcast in that format, it would have gone against a lot of tribal conventions so I didn't want to do that. In order for me to be able to get to a point where I can start talking about real specific content, I had to get through the long story and basically start the podcast in reverse.”

In terms of local reach, the podcast is one of the most successful on Apple Podcasts and other platforms.

A Podcast and Family Affected by COVID-19

Although self-deprecating at times, the narrative format Melendez used in season one was essential to establishing a level of trust and authenticity with a broad audience that could relate to him and his message.  

“By telling the story that way, it allowed people to understand that I'm very much human and I'm very much connected to my tribe and my community,” Melendez said. “My perspective is not one that is not entirely binary, either. I live in the city, so it's not stuck to just the tribal space. I wanted to make that connection to my community that I'm advocating for, for tribal thought in issues, but at the same time I'm also advocating for diversity and inclusion and education of all people.”

As Melendez prepared for season two of the Coffee with an Indian podcast, he originally intended to start bringing in guests to facilitate discussions. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he had to redirect the format of his podcast back to a more narrative-driven one. 

“My original plan was to have a lot of guests and have that type of engagement but that was thwarted [by COVID] because of all the self-isolation and staying within our own homes,” Melendez said. “But I'm glad [the podcast got redirected] because now my season two approach is somewhat similar to the first season. I'll still be talking and telling stories and going down that experimental phase of the podcast.”

Melendez still hopes to incorporate guests into his podcast as soon as it’s possible to do so safely. But due to the health risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining the health and safety of his family and community have taken priority. The pandemic has disproportionately affected indigenous communities across the country, with Melendez’s being no exception.

“My aunt Jenny was the first one in our community that died from COVID-19,” Melendez said. “Since then, in just my own life, I have had about eight friends and five relatives die from COVID since March.”

A screengrab from a promotion for an episode from Season 1.

Homelessness and the Pandemic in Indigenous Communities

For Melendez, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the everyday challenges indigenous communities in America face, including mass homelessness.

“One of the things that is very rarely talked about is the discernment of mass homelessness on Indian reservations,” Melendez said. “There aren’t any homes where people can live in [on the reservation], so they're living with each other. If you go to the reservation right now, there may be a small, two-bedroom home that could have three or four families in it.”

Although Melendez acknowledges there is a cultural element of families living together, it also comes as a means of families surviving in a constant state of poverty. 

“Culturally, our people have existed with each other because we live in small bands of communities and with our families,” Melendez said.  “But there is really a lot of declining health on reservations because of poverty, lack of adequate healthcare and food deserts. There's a lot of people on reservations that don’t have access to fresh produce or clean water or facilities. So when we start talking about homes on reservations, we're talking about homes that sometimes lack clean water.”

Consequently, he says, due to poverty and the close-quarter homes families often live in, COVID has spread quickly through indigenous communities. The problem is further exacerbated by an infected individual’s inability to self-isolate or quarantine from others. 

“The reason COVID spread quickly in tribal communities is because there are so many people living in one domicile so when somebody gets sick there, it's almost impossible to self-isolate,” Melendez said. “You're all breathing the same air and you have to use the same facilities. It's not like other American situations where you could imagine there's somebody living in some suburb somewhere and they have a big house and everyone's got their own room so if somebody got sick, you just stay in your room; it's just not like that on the reservations.”

Generating an awareness of how issues such as the COVID pandemic affects indigenous populations is something that Melendez hopes his podcast platform can support. 

Melendez notes that there are 27 federally-recognized tribes and sovereign nations within the state of Nevada’s borders, alone. Therefore, he wants his platform to be a voice for diversity and inclusion for other marginalized communities and social movements, such as the Black Lives Matter movement. Photo provided by Brian Melendez with permission to use.

Building Social Movements from a Place of Understanding

“When it comes to situations like the Black Lives Matter movement, tribal and indigenous people absolutely can resonate and understand the frustration because they're saying, “This is my problem. This is how I hurt. This is why this is occurring,’” Melendez said. “Yet it gets redirected back to them that they should just be strong or just toughen up or do something else, or it’s ‘Why are you complaining?’ It really is tantamount to a really abusive relationship.”

Consequently, indigenous support of other marginalized communities comes from a place of common understanding and shared experiences in America.

“When people are out there in the streets and protesting that there's all this inequality and this disenfranchisement, we absolutely resonate because we've been in the same place,” Melendez said. “So for tribal people to support those movements would be similar to us supporting any of our brothers and sisters who've gone and who've been through that struggle. Looking at those situations similarly, although some of the elements are a little different, the overall impact of injustice and racial discrimination is very much the same.”

As Melendez moves forward with the launch of season two of Coffee with an Indian, he is seeking to create more “well-rounded perspective of tribal people.”

Not Going Anywhere

“We're still very much alive on this land and we're still very much not going anywhere,” he explained. “Any chance we get, we're going to sing, we're going to dance, we're going to pray. We're going to speak our languages and any chance we get we're going to remind the world that we're still very much here.”

For Melendez, it’s also his way of leaving the world in a better place than he found it. 

“The response you see in the world for a lot of people that have been historically marginalized is that they are going to get louder and louder, and that's not going to stop anytime soon until learning is occurring and opportunities are presented,” Melendez said. “I don't claim to be an expert in anything or this master of my culture. I'm just a tribal person doing the best I can at leaving a little bit of information for somebody else, to feel like they're being supported somewhere else in the world.”

Reporting and Writing by Scott King for Our Town Reno

Our Lady of The Snows Launches New Food Help During the Pandemic

Building on Current Momentum after a Retirement

“As a parish we've always done outreach for the poor, for people who need some food assistance and the person who organized those [outreach programs] was Sister Carmen Baca,” Rev. Bob Chorey, pastor of Our Lady of The Snows parish, said. “But when she retired in June, I wanted to take this [outreach program] and see how we can expand it and incorporate Catholic Charities. So this [food service] is part of this movement to help get our parish community better connected to the community around us and to take more action in serving.”

The third food distribution event, now known as Our Lady Snows Outreach, was held earlier this week. The service is operated in conjunction with Catholic Charities, a working relationship Chorey hopes will continue to expand as the outreach program grows.

“[Catholic Charities] can offer way more services,” Chorey said. “So my hope is to evolve our client list and also have Catholic Charities here on a regular basis to provide some of those services. Especially if people can't get down to Fourth Street, [Catholic Charities] can do some of their services here on-site for some of the people that come here.”

There have been lots of changes to volunteer and church meals in recent months, in the wake of evolving services for homeless services in the community and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Healthy food was being donated as part of the most recent outreach afternoon. There are no prerequisites or qualifications to receive food, as this outreach program is meant to help address anyone suffering in any way during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Team of Volunteers Helping Our Community

“Basically, people just come in and my volunteers here pass out food,” Chorey said. “It doesn’t have to just be the homeless [being served] and nobody has to prove anything. It’s just about food insecurity given these times and knowing we're in this together because with the economic situation, there's now a lot of families in a food crisis.”

Our Lady of Snows is not the only parish that is running a food insecurity outreach program, as St. Peter’s in Sun Valley and St. Francis of Assissi in Incline Village have their own programs as well. According to Chorey, it’s all a part of these parishes working together to support their communities.

“We're all a part of the same umbrella of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Reno, so it's really working together to use our resources,” Chorey said. “In our own parish we have barrels where we collect food and we'll take it down to Catholic Charities and they bring up a bunch of other food here to distribute. So it's all of us working together really to help provide for the greater Northern Nevada community.”

Masked parishioners serving as volunteers participate in the program, as well as members of the Knights of Columbus who help carry boxes of foodstuffs for those that are unable to do it themselves.

A Plan to Expand Services

Moving forward, Chorey hopes to continue working with Catholic Charities to expand what’s offered to include social services like connecting people with immigration support and financial assistance to help clients pay their bills. 

In the meantime, Our Lady of Snows Outreach will continue to be held on the first and third Tuesday of every month from 3:00-4:30 p.m., while Chorey looks to garner additional support from his parishioners.

“This is a wealthy parish and I want these people to see that they're blessed,” Chorey said. “Most of them really understand that they're blessed and are willing to share in this, but I want them to see at an even deeper level the impact they can do and that we’re part of this greater community. We're here to help. I want people to know who we are and to come on down and be served.”

Photos and Reporting by Scott King for Our Town Reno, August 2020

Edward Coleman, a New Local Leader and Voice of Reason Emerges

A Missed Bid to Become Reno’s City Manager

Coleman, a trained tailor and designer, who is currently pursuing a doctorate in finance through an online school, said he applied to be considered for the open Reno City Manager position, but that it was too late for the initial go round.

“Positions like that require an individual who has the ability to see beyond themselves,” he said during a recent phone interview to explain his interest. “You have to be practical and you have to be able to manage people. My experience is in all of those things and what attracted me to that position was the fact that I would be able to do all those things as well as potentially do some good for the city of Reno and the various communities in Reno that often aren't represented, our communities of color here, our unhoused community, our lower income immigrant community. I do know that those groups need someone who's going to listen to the issues they have and what's bothering them in the city. “

The Toledo, Ohio born Coleman who moved to Reno from Arkansas nearly nine years ago, when his sister got a promotion to move to the Biggest Little City, said once he has his new degree, he’ll have more time to think of his future plans, including running for political office for the benefit of marginalized communities.

“A lot of ways people are shut out of systems is through who controls the rules. And there's not many people willing to stand up for low income people, minority people, unhoused people that know how the financial systems work. Because if you can get someone in there who can adjust those regulations, you can see, you'll see changes just cascade down the system,” he said of his long-term thought process.

Coleman (right) has been invited to help several groups trying to get off the ground, including a new “Black Wall Street” initiative by Donald Griffin (left), a downtown Reno ambassador and former contributor to Our Town Reno, and RoMar T-Wizdom Tolliver. Photo provided by Griffin with permission to use.

Helping Other Local Initiatives and Becoming a Voice on Social Media

One initiative he’s looked at helping is a new “Black Wall Street” with Donald Griffin, who just a few years ago hit rock bottom as an addict sleeping along the river, but who has slowly turned his life around. “I like the idea behind his Black Wall Street project and that's really why I reached out,” Coleman said. “I liked the fact that he's trying to empower a community and he's trying to do it in such a way that that community is able to grow and build from what it's learned. I feel that throughout history, the only thing that's really held back Black communities from prosperity is the fact that every so often all of our knowledge gets destroyed. You know, like the original Black Wall Street (in Tulsa) got destroyed (in 1921). Rosewood got destroyed (in Florida, in 1923). So we're constantly having to start over and then catch up. And I think having a repository of knowledge is great.”

Coleman also hopes the many young people who took part in this summer’s activism remain engaged. “They're the ones who are going to inherit whatever happens after this,” he said. “And they're going to have to live with it. So I think their involvement is necessary. And I think institutions and other groups that are protesting should really be looking to support them as opposed to figuring out how to manage them and, or undermine them.” 

Coleman repeatedly calls out local politicians of all stripes on his social media, especially his Facebook page. “I put the energy and time into it because I want to make sure that those ideas and voices that aren't heard are heard and I think it's worth it because a lot of the time people make decisions without considering all perspectives,” he said. “And that's just me personally. That's what I do. Even though I put out a Black perspective, it's not to say that other perspectives are wrong. It's more to say, ‘hey, here's something else you might want to consider.’”

Coleman also has a Twitter account, but he primarily uses his Facebook page to get his views across.

A Deeper Look at Local Police Forces and Reno

Coleman says he thinks he got more local attention after he spoke in downtown Reno because his message was so clear. “My message was that the policing system in this country is working exactly as it's intended. Therefore you can't reform it to get any real change. You're going to have to tear it down and build a new system,” he explained as way of a succinct summary of one of his speeches.

He says local city councils in Reno and Sparks need to push for real accountability for officers, fight their unions which dictate how police are punished for wrongdoing and take “a strong look at the budgets that each police force has.”  He says it’s been clear from recent media reports quoting Reno police chief Jason Soto, who is also acting city manager, that he created “a culture excluding women and people of color.” A late July Reno Gazette Journal article was headlined: Reno police past hiring practices resulted in overwhelmingly white, male force.

As far as Reno, he says, “it needs to really shake off this, we're this perfect city with no problems, attitude. That's the exact attitude that allows those things to fester and be hidden. As a community moving forward,  this is really on white people. White people have got to hold each other accountable for these things. I mean, strictly speaking, it's a numbers game. There aren't enough Black people here to really hold anybody accountable. And the Black people who are here don't have the power to do it. So it really falls on white people just saying, ‘Hey, this isn't right.’  That's the only way this community is really going to move forward and address this.” 

Phone Interview with Our Town Reno in August 2020

Blaize, A Student from Ghana Hands Out Healthy Burritos in Downtown Reno

From Ghana to Roberto’s with a Spirit To Help

As soon as he arrived in the Biggest Little City to start a new adventure, which now includes pursuing a master’s degree, ramping up his social media and media skills, teaching math, boxing and learning how to play tennis, Abuntori Blaize Akanaab noticed people without stable shelter, pushing grocery carts in downtown corridors.

“This is not something that is common where I grew up, because I mean, we have like a very big family system,” he said of differences with Ghana. “So you would always find somebody to stay with. I just felt like I wanted to do something about it the best way that I could at this moment with the resources and the skills that I have.  After thinking about it for so long, I decided that one day I wanted to do it. So I went to Roberto's and in my mind the first thing that came to my mind was to provide something, some food. So I went to Roberto's, I went and got five burritos or four of them. And I was like, I'm going to hand these over before I get home.“

He says before he got past Walgreen’s, all the burritos had been handed out. He then asked his roommate for a recipe she usually did for tacos, bought rice and beef, and invited friends over to help him roll burritos which he had never done in his life.

“One thing led to another,” he said. “And then the first day we were about five people and then we rolled 15 burritos and then we just drove around,” passing them out.

Blaize sets out near his home, next to Apple’s downtown warehouse, to find people to hand out healthy burritos and water bottles to on a hot July Sunday.

Finding the Drive for Persistence and Consistency

Blaize says his team of mostly international students now makes up to 40 burritos for its weekly distribution, which has been on Sundays lately. He says that’s “what their finances can handle,” for now. They used to change days, but people in need recently told them Sunday was a day they often went without a healthy lunch.

People are starting to anticipate their arrival now, as a communal burrito wagon. “They walk up to us and then we smile and we have little conversations and over time it got more comfortable. There's this guy who is in a wheelchair, he has like the biggest heart. He smiles and makes funny jokes with us and all those things. They're just people like us in some situation. I don't know exactly what the situation is, but then when you get to meet them and you see them, and you build a relationship with them, you realize that they're just like us, in some circumstance that we don't understand. And I like the feeling everyday that we can bring some kind of joy because they do like the burritos.”

A recent screengrab from one of his Instagrams showing Blaize preparing food with part of his team.

Inspiration from his Dad and a Happiness Entrepreneur

Blaize says he found the inspiration and courage to help from the examples of his altruistic father and the happiness entrepreneur David Meltzer. “He encourages you to do good for other people, not just for them, but also for yourself. And so in one of the coaching sessions that he does, he does free trainings on Fridays, he talked about it and that day I just decided, okay, this week I'm going to start it. So even though it was already something inside me, I think sometimes we just need some kind of external trigger outside of us to get us moving. And then also learning about, let's say consistency and persistence is something that is allowing me to do this over and over again.”

“Every time, there's just like a little nugget of joy that you get. It feels really good to be of service. Every week I look forward to be able to be of service to people,” he said. “The feeling of helping somebody is also very good for you, even as it helps the other person. And I think that people will really be surprised to see what it feels like, to not just help your family and people they are obliged to, but to have somebody who doesn't have anything to give you in return. And that's very liberating.”

Hard Work and an Uncertain COVID-19 Future

Blaize says he is trying to learn a lot from his U.S experience, despite living through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“One of the reasons I came to the U S was because I wanted to learn how to work hard, because over here nothing will be handed to you on a silver platter. You have to work hard, you have so much homework to do. You have to manage your time correctly. I mean, there are so many opportunities to learn from different people.”

The individualism which predominates here, he says, has its negatives but also positives. “It allows you to be more responsible because back home somebody always has your back…. Not having somebody have my back over here is allowing me to be much more responsible for myself and the decisions that I make.”

Back in his room, he’s setting up a new audio studio, thinking of developing a new podcast which will integrate his many passions and reflections, as another way to give to others, this time, perhaps, to help people become more independent financially, both here and back in Ghana. Blaize is a dreamer, but he’s also a doer, sometimes one healthy burrito at a time, always prepared and provided with love and respect.

His own future remains in doubt though as this week the U.S. government said foreign students would not have visas anymore if all their classes remain only online. UNR is still planning to have smaller classes in person, and the exact details of this new federal measure remain unclear, so time will tell if Blaize can continue his U.S. adventure, which now includes helping out countless neighbors in Reno without stable shelter and access to healthy food.

Our Town Reno Reporting in July 2020

Arthur, Advocating for Much More Training for Police Officers

Too Many Unfit for A Difficult Job

Arthur was attending a recent Black Lives Matter event in downtown Reno, and as he sometimes does, was watching from a distance at first.

Large groups of police congregated on bikes behind him, giving off a vibe of nervous laughter and waves. The Michigan native who is new to Reno says he doesn’t understand why police officers get so little training before entering police forces across the country, sometimes even less than what beauticians go through..

“You know, we sent you to school more to do hair than we do to protect and serve the lives of citizens and people. I mean, it's not an easy job. You literally have to be a superhero. Seriously. If you really want to be a cop, you literally have to act like a superhero. You got to let somebody shoot you first or shoot at you first, before you fire, you literally have to go in like a fireman,” he said of the risks involved in being a police officer.

He doesn’t believe it will be possible to get rid of police, as some activists and protesters are demanding. “People commit crimes. You know what I mean? But we do got a lot to learn about how to be police officers. We really do got a lot to learn because they're horrible at it. The way they behave towards certain cultures of people, we know the deal. We know the deal. There needs to be way more schooling before you're given the badge and the gun and given the right to be on the streets. You definitely should have a psychology degree because you deal with mentally ill patients and a lot of different people. You definitely should have a social psychology degree. And if you're willing to go through that work, you can make it there. 

“This is not really an easy job,” Arthur (in center of photo, in front of the Believe sculpture, said of police. “It requires solid people. You can't have these flimsy people who might get mad one day, because the dog pissed on their shoes, because they're angry or their kid's not acting right, or their wife is cheating on them. You know, it's horrible, but it's true. You're having a bad day. You messed up. You're not cut for this job. You can't make it here. You can't cut it. You have to get rid of the ones that can't cut it.”

Avoiding Police as Best He Can

Arthur says he tries to avoid police as best he can and tells his family to do the same. “I mean, even a traffic stop could end up in my death. You know what I mean? I'm only 40 years old. I fear for my sons as they leave the house, you know, they could be in the wrong neighborhood. Just jogging, stopping to look at a construction site, you could get gunned down.  It's a horrible reality. It's a very harsh reality. So yeah, I don't like the police at all.”

Is there any police officer he would appreciate? “ I'll tell you what, when I see a cop who will pull his gun on another cop and tell him to put his hands up because he just shot an unarmed man, he’s under arrest, I’ll love that cop to death. That's what a good cop is. He abides by the law in all situations. I'm with that,” he told us.

“The worst that's going to happen is you're going to leave there with your pride and dignity stripped of you,” he said of having a very low profile if ever you do have an interaction with police and giving advice to younger people.  “And it's going to hurt because you're going to feel like you're nothing. And that's pretty much how they are.going to treat you. They're going to come over and slam a couple of y'all down. Probably put a couple of y'all in cuffs, detain you for a few hours and treat you like trash, really, but do your best not to provoke them because they will kill you. They will kill you and then say they fear for their life. How ironic.”

It’s a Catch-22, he says, being Black whenever you deal with police.” They have to give you the small charges,” he says anytime Blacks are stopped for whatever reason, and the endemic racism which leads to mass incarceration. “They have to give you the misdemeanors. They have to because if they don't, then it doesn't make sense with the narrative. So every time you show up in court, they hit you with a certain resistance. Now you got like six, seven of those piled on. Now I can start giving you jail time for it. It doesn’t even look like a problem.”

He says these charges and jail time you’ve had to do fit the narrative, which he says leads to excuses for police killings. “You look like a threat. So now when they do have to kill you, it's justified because you're a problem. ‘He's always been a troublemaker type.’ So they do that. It's a great jacket to put on a person that way when you're trying to describe him that way. And they can't even defend themselves. I mean, let's be honest.”

The narrative is that when a police officer shows up in court and says, I feared for my life, I have to be demonized. So I'm the only one unarmed, but yet he's afraid for his life. He's afraid for his life and in court that stands. So they have to fit the narrative.

The Kaepernick vs. Trump Example

Arthur says the trajectories of former NFL star turned civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick and Donald Trump speak volumes.

“Kap lost his whole career for just taking the knee, a silent protest. But he was called a terrorist by this country. Our president said ‘get that son of a bitch off the field,’ literally his words. But he didn't say that when you saw this man kneeling on George Floyd's neck, he didn't say get that son of a bitch off the force. Put that son of a bitch in jail, he didn't do that. He didn't do that. So if I protest being killed or my son's being killed, or my family being killed, if I protest that quietly, by taking a knee, I'm a terrorist. When I break stuff because you didn't listen to me being quiet, now I'm a threat to society.”

In September 2017, Trump told a group of supporters in Alabama, "wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when someone disrespects our flag to say, 'get that son of a bitch off the field right now.’ Out. He's fired. He's fired."

Arthur says he’s proud of Kaepernick and young leaders here in Reno leading a new charge against systemic police racism and brutality. “I'm proud of them. I thought it would take at least 20 more years before this happened. I thought I would be in my old age before this happened, but I'm proud of it,” he said.

Our Town Reno Interview, June 2020

"We're Just in the Dark," the 2018 Reno PD Killing of Phillip Serrano

Not Even a Fatality Review Hearing

Mitchell Bisson, a Las Vegas-based Attorney, is working for the family of Phillip Serrano, the 44-year-old who died after being shot by Reno police on September 23, 2018. Bisson says he is still very much “in the dark,” about what happened that night, beyond initial media reports and a video subsequently released by the watchdog group Reno Cop Watch on social media. 

The video shows a white truck slowly inching toward a half dozen police already on the scene, followed by shouting, and a deluge of gunfire.  Bisson says in Clark County what’s called a fatality review hearing is usually held within a year, which includes the presentation of an internal police investigation.

“Usually we can take that to talk to the family, to figure out if there's an actual claim here. Unfortunately in this case, we've just been left in the dark. So we are going to have to file a lawsuit just based on the minimal information we know, and the video that exists. It seems like they're trying to point at obviously his truck with some headlights on it, as being a deadly weapon and that they had no choice. I mean, I don't think that that'll hold up in court. I don't think there was truly any risk at that point, especially a risk of serious harm that they thought they were going to get run over by a truck that's going maybe two miles per hour after they'd already been talking with him for a good 20 to 30 minutes. I just don't think they're going to have an explanation, but man, we've been waiting for something, any type of answer,” Bisson said expressing his own frustration with the delay. Nearly two years after the killing, there has been no report released by Sparks police and the Washoe County DA’s office.  In the Reno/Sparks area, the neighboring police force investigates killings by the other, before anything is released in coordination with the District Attorney’s office.

“It just seems something seems off in this situation that it's literally been almost two years since this occurred. We're up against a statute of limitations. Typically, we like to get the information, a little more information to really figure out what their story is, but it almost seems like they're trying to delay giving us information. Something is off about that. It's all confidential investigatory material. So the longer they delay it, the longer we are all sitting here with no answers.”

A screengrab of the initial video Reno Cop Watch released: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=236650857196335

Civil Rights Lawsuit in the Works

We tried calling Sparks PD for an update on the investigation but no one answered the phone. 

Serrano’s daughter is going to be a co-administrator of her father’s estate, and Bisson is preparing a civil rights lawsuit for wrongful death and multiple violations of civil rights.  He says he is thinking of filing it at the federal court in Carson City.  “That's where the parties are going to be more local. We're going to have to go up there to depose the police officers. So we just figured we should do it up there,” he said of his current strategy.

After the Black Lives Matter protests and updated reports here on Our Town Reno, long awaited investigations in local police killings of Miciah Lee and Rolando Brizuela were finally released.  Bisson says he appreciates the growing concerns for these cases which he says leads to pressure on police departments and the District Attorney. 

“The fact that awareness is happening is good because now you actually have some uproar, you have some community support versus you just simply have a family who lost a family member going up against the police, trying to get answers. Back in the day, you'd never get the answers, especially if you didn’t file a lawsuit, they could just, you know, string you along, not give you the info, dragging on until you can't bring the case. And then you're out of luck. Now there's enough community support that they almost have to start giving answers.”

He says he feels many more people are looking into local police killings currently. “It's always been,  a few people here and there willing to fight the police or bring a claim against the police. A lot of people get scared though. They're worried that, ‘hey, the police are going to come out and try to tarnish my family's name or they're going to come and there's no way we'll win this.’ But the more support we have, the more people see the reality of what goes on in these police departments, the more people will be confident in actually asserting their rights and making sure that the police are held accountable. So at the end of the day, I think this public uproar is needed. It's absolutely necessary.”

Above, a screengrab from the City of Reno website recently updating police use of force policies.

Seeking an End to Qualified Immunity

The Las Vegas based lawyer says it will be interesting to see how police departments react. 

“You seem to have some police departments that will come along with this and they understand what's happening. They see the issues, but then you have police departments that take the opposite road and see this as an attack. And hopefully that's not the way it goes. The police departments start going on the defensive here because at the end of the day, they’ve already got all these built-in immunities and privileges. So hopefully they will be a little more willing to come to the table to show their cards and to answer for what they've done.”

What Bisson would like to see are drastic changes to what’s know as qualified immunity. This legal precedent currently shields government officials, including police, from being held personally liable for constitutional violations, such as excessive use of force.

“That legally created doctrine alone is what gets these police officers off. They're able to basically, if, as long as I, the judge rules that these police officers, when this incident happened, if there wasn't a previous case, almost exactly like it, where an officer has already been found in trouble for it, they get off. And a lot of times these federal court judges like to kind of gloss over the cases to where they're not creating the law, that future cases could point to. It’s all a gross miscarriage of justice that these police officers are allowed to basically just kill almost whoever they want and not even give us an explanation.”

He wouldn’t be surprised if the DA rules the Serrano killing to “be justified by Nevada law,” as was the case recently in the killings of Lee and Brizuela. 

“They're just trying to pull the wool over our eyes, say, ‘hey, this was justified. Nothing to see.’ They always do that,” Bisson said, but he explained it doesn’t prevent civil action.  “Just because they may say it was legally justified on a criminal aspect, the civil rights violations are a whole different ball game. There is less, you actually have to prove in a civil action. “

In the wake of the protests, Reno PD updated its use of force policy, including “restrictions on shooting at or from vehicles.” “You've seen it in the past where, you know, an officer's firing into a vehicle and oops, they didn't know there was a kid in the car as well,” Bisson said. “Once you're shooting into a vehicle, you don't know the trajectory of that bullet. Once it goes, hits the glass, it can move around. There's just a lot of potential for problems when you're shooting into a vehicle without a clear sight. And especially in this case with Phillip, I mean, I don't know. I believe he was shirtless. He didn't have a gun. They were called there for a mental disturbance. The family called for help. But instead they sent, man, if you've seen the video, they sent a boatload of police officers to surround him. And the minute he started creeping forward, they just unloaded. And I just don't see at all how that's justified regardless of what the DA wants to say.”

Our Town Reno reporting in July 2020

Minko's Project: Direct Action to Help the Homeless in the Name of a Lost Friend

In the Name of Jordan Alexander Mackenzie –Allen Lindstrom Nicknamed “Minko”

On Mother’s Day 2019, May 12th, Jordan Alexander Mackenzie –Allen Lindstrom, 23, who came from a broken family, was fleeing police when he jumped into the Truckee River at the 2nd street bridge and drowned. He had lost his mother, who like him lived in outdoor encampments in the Reno area, a year before, of an apparent heart attack.

Media headlines called him a “thief”, but Sasha, who was homeless herself as a kid and teenager, and who had “taken him under her wing” for parts of his youth, when she befriended him when her life was going well, disputes this labelling.

“He was stealing from Walmart, but it wasn't because he was a robber or a thief. It was because he was most likely trying to get something for someone, clothes or food or tampons. I mean he was always looking out for somebody else,” she said of Minko, who helped others in the encampments which regularly get swept up in police operations. He had been living without stable shelter since he was 12.

“They were accepted by a community, you know, they don't turn people away because of their race, or their background, or what they've done in their life wrong. They found a community that accepts them for who they are. And they enjoy that, that makes them feel wanted and loved,” Sasha said of people like Minko who live in tent cities. She decided to name her new initiative in Minko’s honor and says “he would be proud.”

Advocating for a Safe Camp Ground

Like others such as the local group RISE, Sasha is advocating for a future local safe campground, where it’s legal to sleep. She says she understands the challenges of setting it up but remains optimistic.

“I've done some research and urbanized camping is something that's coming, it's slowly coming into acceptance across the country,” she said during our phone interview last week. “I think the reason that people are so standoffish with it is because society doesn’t really seem to know how to take care of people that have gotten to that point in their life. You know, they look, they have judgements, they form certain opinions that aren't necessarily correct.”

She says since it doesn’t exist yet, you can’t just go to City Hall and ask for a permit “to do a campground in the middle of the city for homeless,” even if it would make sense to many like her.

 “It's a crying shame because most of the time, these are really good people,” she said of trying to help those like Minko before it’s too late. “They usually end up on the streets from really sad circumstances, things that are either out of their control or that they don't realize are going to put them in that circumstance until they already get there. And it's not that easy getting out,” she said. “It might be the only lifestyle that they have found that they are comfortable with.”

A recent encampment under the Wells Ave. bridge as it was being disbanded.

A Lack of Understanding

To those who say the homeless should just get a job, get in line for resources, get off drugs, get medication for mental health issues, Sasha says it’s rarely that simple. She prefers a more gentle, caring approach, which empowers people, rather than making them feel as a problem to society.

“I don't think that these people are getting connected with the resources that are available to them because people expect them to come looking for them,” she explained. “You know, people are like, okay, well, there's food stamps and there's programs and there's housing and there’s rehab and all this. But once you've reached that point in your life, I mean, how many do you really expect are going to come looking for that? You know what I mean? So with Minko’s Project, we have a different approach. We want to bring what's available to these people. So instead of waiting for them to come knock on our door, we go through the encampments and we hand out water, we ask people if they need help, you know, if they might be available for certain resources. We ask if they need help, like getting online to print out applications or to try and connect them with those.”

Another often heard complaint is trash, even if trash containers are taken away when there are encampments, rather than placed conviently.

“Every time I've ever gone walking through those encampments, they've all got their trash bags, and it's sitting next to their tents or whatever the case may be, but there's nowhere to take it, you know? So we go through the trash bags and try and help alleviate that problem,” she said.

Whatever the season, there are tents in Reno, with people living in them trying to be as discrete as possible. “The homeless are not a different class of people,” Sasha said. “They're not someone that is there there to mooch off of people. They're not trying to use anyone. They're just in a circumstance that that's where they found themselves in life.”

Logistics of a Safe Campground and of the Non-Profit

Sasha says people could have belongings, “but not a ridiculous amount,” and register with the campsite, and put up their own tents themselves.

“They would get checked into their spot and we'd have showers so that they could take showers. I'd like to have like a rec hall, a kitchen so that we could do free meals. And, it would be a place where other organizations could come and offer their services as well.”

Eventually, Sasha would also like to help those on the river with yoga and meditation.  “Those are the things that I'd like to be able to start promoting to these people to promote self wellness. I think that's the only way to get these people to change their mindset is to promote something like that. You know, you tell somebody that they're crazy and they need crazy people pills. They're going to look at you like you're dumb and walk away. You tell them that, you know, maybe meditation and yoga and a couple of extra bottles of water in your day. it really does go a long way,” she said.

As for the non-profit, Sasha said she is looking for a space close to the river to base herself out of, as she says her home office is starting to crumble under supplies. She says she’s open to any suggestions or help to continue with her momentum.

“I think it takes the compassion of another individual to show love, to showcase that they care enough, to help that person,” she says of people living in tents who others will criticize, and see as a problem, she sees as a worthy, beautiful life, just like Minko before his tragic death a little over a year ago.

Reporting by Our Town Reno in June 2020

Evening South Reno Crosswalking for Black Lives Matter

The Genesis of a Crosswalk Movement

How does one become an actor in society, an organizer, a change maker? A local example is M.S., a Filipino American who had been previously involved in diversity campus protests in California and who recently came back to her Reno hometown. She says she was surprised by the number of people coming to protests in downtown Reno following George Floyd’s killing.  She was closely following discussions on the Reno Sparks Black Lives Matter Facebook pages, but wondering what else she could do herself.

While taking a break at her work she said she overheard two older white women talking about police. “It was just a snippet of their little conversation,” she remembers, “but at that point I’d been lighting candles myself, trying to talk to people but something in that conversation really just made me angry for the rest of the day. I also saw that people kept asking, ‘Is anything happening? I see there are protests downtown.’ People kept sharing Black death, more news articles. I had the idea to call on people in South Reno. I had no idea how I was going to do it. This is the rich, white part of town,” she said of her thought process.

She says she spam posted on the Black Lives Matter Reno Sparks group, and despite lots of comments, just a few other people, including a dad and kids, and her own older sister showed up initially on a recent Tuesday night at 7 p.m for the first South Reno Crosswalking for Black Lives Matter protest.

On the first night of the ongoing protest, M.S. had a sign that read “Red Light. Na’kia Crawford” to honor a Black teenager who was killed at a red light in Ohio on June 14th. “My hope was that people would Google her name if they didn’t know who she was.”

Photo provided with permission to use by South Reno Crosswalking for Black Lives Matter. Another participant, Sarah Brabo, emailed us this message as to why she was taking part: “What is important are the facts. Black and Brown people are being killed for the color of their skin. Transgender people are being killed for who they are. The poor [are] being killed because of how the system displaced them. And the natives of our country, I don't even know where to begin with all of the oppression that they've had to deal with. I get off work and I go out to that crosswalk with my sign and my daughter and we do everything we can to get the message across. Enough is enough. Black lives matter and racism is real. I hate to say it [but] the people of Reno are so blind to it, because they don't have it in their face all the time. I spent 14 years in Jacksonville, Florida. Racism is real. The cops are not protecting people, they are protecting their best interests. Wake up Reno. I know you live in a bubble but that bubble has burst and you need to see what the world is like.”

A Combination of Support and Intimidation

As the first protest began, M.S. remembers there were honks of support as her small group walked through crosswalks at the busy South Meadows and Double R intersection. She said the group was nervous, but that it felt good.  

There were also acts of intimidation.  “People did rev their engines at us. People would look at us in the eyes, or they would completely look away. I usually stayed the longest in the road. ”

One driver she says sped up when the light turned green and almost hit her.  Another time, when the group was in the middle of the crossing, a guy ran a red turn light in a black pickup truck “to try to hit us,” M.S. remembers.

“I wouldn’t underestimate the capacity for hate and violence out here either. The fact that people ignore it so much, is that if anything bad does happen in Reno, the first thing someone will say is ‘that’s my city’ instead of talking about what happened,” she said of local police killings of minorities.

“On day one, I witnessed a black pick-up truck that ran a red light while we were walking on the crosswalk in front of him,” another participant Jamie wrote to us in an email. “On day two, I interacted with the police officers who were sent to us. On day three, I was involved in two in-person confrontations (as in, the parties were on foot and not in their vehicles) with people who either rejected or questioned the movement. I look forward to seeing what the future days will bring.” Photo provided with permission to use by South Reno Crosswalking for Black Lives Matter.

Police Show Up and the Importance of Saying Names

On the second night, M.S. took a break, but said there were more people, with more kids. Protesters started yelling “Black Lives Matter”.  There was more honking, fists inside and outside of windows, friendly nods and waves.  There were also middle fingers. Someone also allegedly reported people “were throwing stuff at cars,” and police briefly showed up.

M.S. went back on the third night, with a megaphone, and safety vests for the kids, as about a dozen people protested. The group got yelled at from a parking lot by an angry man, and some kids seemed to be mocking them, but then eventually also joined the protest.  Saying names over and over became a new hallmark.

“The names I specifically wanted to include were Miciah Lee [killed by Sparks police in January 2020], of course, he’s someone that was taken from us here, and still overlooked. [We also chanted] Camron Ramsey, who is currently missing from Sun Valley, since May 29th, and I think that information should circulate way more than it has been now.”  They also chanted names of other Black men, women and trans women recently killed across the country.  “Saying these names feels empowering.  Personally, I feel it’s a way to uplift their spirits.”

Participants also chanted “South Reno, Pay attention. South Reno, End the Silence,” and got supportive honks and fists in the air.

Another black pick-up truck with an American flag on the back did circles, speeding through and did U-Turns to scare off the protesters.  “I know gas is cheap right now, but he could have used it for something else,” M.S. said.

Some of the crosswalks participants have been crossing repeatedly are often empty at other times, in a car heavy traffic area. “There’s huge risk in just standing in front of a car. People get impatient. We want everyone to go home alive,” M.S. said of continually adapting protest strategies and staying as safe as possible.

Photo provided with permission to use by South Reno Crosswalking for Black Lives Matter.

The Importance of Being Involved and ReImagining

“We’re people that are open to dialoguing, and going into community spaces and having hard conversations with people,” she says when others call her “woke”, “revolutionary” or “a radical not willing to budge from positions,” jokingly or not. “We’re going to get your initial reaction by being loud, being upset, being angry.  It’s especially important when you are a non-Black person to do it consistently,” M.S. said of her approach.

One of her favorite quotes is by activist, author and philosopher Angela Davis: “You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.”

As someone who cares for others, M.S. says self-care is also important, while she consistently goes to work, checks headlines, protests, thinks of future actions and organizes. Letting go, she says, is also crucial.

“Decentralizing is really important in movements.  Going forward the hope is that people translate this energy into their homes, into their workplaces. If we’ve got people talking, that was the goal. What people choose to do with that, that’s out of my hands now. It seems like this is bringing people together, with different backgrounds and motivations for doing this. We do have those connections now.”

She says there are differences on whether elections can have an impact.  “Abolish and defund, that’s meant very literally, it’s to reimagine,” she says of her own vision for a much better future.  On a personal note, she has felt threatened when she sought help from police in the past due to an abuser in Reno, and says she now avoids police whenever possible.

Our Town Reno Interview in June 2020

Seeking the Truth for Nico Sedano, Killed by Reno PD in 2018

Another Long Awaited Investigation Released, Is Sedano’s Next?

Last week, just a few days after Our Town Reno published an update on the July 2018 Sparks police killing of Rolando Brizuela, the Washoe County District Attorney’s office released its long awaited investigation along with that night’s body cam footage. The report absolved the two police officers who shot and killed Brizuela of any wrongdoing or criminal charges.  But even after reading the report, many in the community wondered why a man had to be shot to death on his own property following minor disputes with several neighbors, and why the situation couldn’t have instead de-escalated to where no one was killed.  

Another local police killing for which the investigation has yet to be released by the same Washoe County District Attorney’s office is of Nico Sedano.  Reno PD killed Sedano in March 2018 several months before the Brizuela killing.

Media reports said police shot at a vehicle rushing at them following reports of a burglary at Peckham Lane and Neil Road.  No officers or other civilians were injured.

A relative of Sedano’s says she’s been told the investigation will soon be publicly released, but that they are still waiting.  She said they don’t have a lawyer representing the family, due to a lack of funds, so they are very much in the dark as to what might be causing the delays.

The family held a fundraiser to be able to bury Sedano in Mexico, but had no other funds available for representation.  The relative said another man was with Sedano the night of his killing, who recently got out of jail, but that he who won’t tell the family anything. 

Above a video of recently released body cam footage in the Brizuela killing by Sparks PD. In Sedano’s killing by Reno PD, the family was told there was no video available.

No Answers, Names Of Officers, Videos, and Details Which Don’t Make Sense

“It just doesn't make any sense because he had, you know, he had no weapon, he had nothing and two officers loaded their guns on him,” the relative told us of what she was able to piece together from media reports and dispatch calls.   

She says it took almost two weeks before the family was allowed to verify it was Sedano’s body, and that she counted dozens of bullet holes in his body.  “He had bullet holes everywhere,” she told us. “I mean, from the palms of his hands to the bottom of his feet.”

She says the family was told cameras weren’t working in the area and that body cams weren’t being used.  “They had an excuse for everything,” she told us.  “Like supposedly there was no video at all.” 

“Supposedly he hit an officer with the car, that's why they shot him,” she told us of the version of events she’s been able to constitute herself. “But I asked for the hospital report for the officer, because that's an injury on the job. You have to go. And he said, it wasn't that bad, that they didn't have to go to the hospital. I'm like, but that's protocol. Everything doesn't add up. It just doesn’t make sense.”

Media reports said that at the time of his killing Sedano had just become a young father. The relative said Sedano had previously gotten in trouble with the law, but she never expected another encounter would turn deadly.

“I just want to know.  They won't even tell me who the officers were. I want to know why and what happened, why they felt so threatened that they had to unload that many bullets,” the relative told us. “I mean, one bullet would have been plenty. You know, I just feel like they're over excessive. They didn't have to do all that.  I just feel like there's other ways to stop people, you know?“

Since Reno Police were involved, the protocol locally has been for the Sheriff’s Office to become the lead agency, working with investigators from the Sparks Police Department and the Washoe County District Attorney’s Office, which then reviews their investigation and releases it to the public.

The relative says this process clearly lacks independent oversight and that the long delays in releasing investigations creates more distrust. She concluded the interview saying she doesn’t feel that even when the report comes out that we will know the truth of what happened that night in late March 2018.

Our Town Reno Reporting in June 2020

Social Media Accountability for Racist Business Owners in Reno

A Consolidation of Local Information on Social Media

Facebook posts singling out neo-nazi tattoo artists, outrage over racist incidents on Twitter feeds, people calling others out on Instagram for intolerance, hatred and bigotry — these have all been commonplace in the past few years on the Reno social media scene. 

As these platforms grow and people become more savvy in using them, while national and local conversations turn to racism, never though has this information been so consolidated and organized.

One example is the Accountability for Reno Businesses Facebook page. Its About section says it all: “This page is to Hold Local Business Owners and People accountable for Racist acts.”

“I feel like that accountability is at an all time low,” the creator of the page explained to us during a recent interview.  “So I don't think that people who hate other people should be benefiting from those people either. It doesn't make any sense to me and it doesn't make any sense to most of us,” he said of why he recently started the page. 

Recent posts show a screen grab with a comment by a local realtor talking about MLK Day and “cramming ‘special events’ down every American’s throat.”  

A screen grab on this page is called a #ReceiptAttached, either a screen shot of a comment/message/post or a video of an incriminating act.  “These are requirements,” the website indicates. “We must have PROOF to back claims… We must stay Factual.”

Another recent post shows a tile contractor in Carson City using the n word in a Facebook post.

“Our focus right now is where it needs to be,” the page creator who wished to remain anonymous told us. “The focus is on business owners who are outspoken about their hatred for others, and that is not professional, nor should it be accepted.”

A post on the /Reno Reddit thread concerning Tammy Borde, the owner of the Chocolate Walrus lingerie store in Midtown Reno. We sent a message for comment to the Chocolate Walrus Instagram page but didn’t hear back. Her social media conversations concerning George Floyd have been widely shared on Reno social media in recent weeks.

More Publicized Cases

Another widely circulated case in the community involved the owner of the Junkee Midtown thrift and antiques shop Jessica Schneider, who backed away from social media comments she initially made after protests erupted in Reno, apologizing and re-apologizing, and then announcing she was stepping away from her store’s social media accounts and focusing her attention on ventures she is currently pursuing outside of Reno.

Staff have said they were faced with death threats while continuing to work at Junkee despite organizing walkouts and a series of heated meetings with their employer. Since then, there has been a #boycottjunkee hashtag going around in Reno.  Several shoppers we talked to in Midtown said they hesitated in going to what used to be one of their favorite local stores, and that they were trying other options first. 

Is change possible for someone once they’ve been outed on social media we asked the creator of the  Accountability for Reno Businesses Facebook page?

“I think that any change is possible,” he said. “But the problem here is that, don't disguise it for something else, meaning, don't say, ‘hey, I'm pro Black Lives Matter’ because you want to save your profits. Be sincere about it. It's not hard to accept others for who they are. If you’re not being sincere, your apology is just going to fall flat. It really needs to be the case where they need to just really be reeducated. At the end of the day, they have to be held accountable in some way. So that accountability will be a loss of profits. At the end of the day, we're not going to sit here as a community and allow you to profit and live a great life while you're over here, hating the very people that give you those profits. ”

Multiple accounts have been discussing what has been going on at Shea’s Tavern and on the social media of their owners. We reached out to the Instagram page of Shea’s Tavern to get a response, but did not hear back.

Community Contributions

The Facebook Accountability for Reno Businesses page also encourages community contributions accompanied by these hashtags: #BLACKLIVESMATTER #STANDUPRENO #THETIMEISNOW “No one should benefit from being Racist. Being Racist is a Choice of Ignorance not a Right of Pride,” the page reads. 

The creator of the page says he takes the accuracy of what he is doing very seriously, as he knows the influence it can wield. 

“Social media has become the morning paper, everybody gets up and the first thing they do, they pick up their phones and they are right to social media. I’ve had people that have talked to me from certain other small businesses that are really behind what we're doing, because we can't let these people benefit off of the people that they hate. We're all human beings and accountability is for everyone,” he concluded.

Our Town Reno Interview in June 2020 

"In the Dark," The Killing of Rolando Brizuela by Sparks Police in 2018

No Information Whatsoever

Initial media reports said the two officers involved in the killing, Brian Sullivan and Eli Maile, were initially placed on leave. We called Sparks PD to find out more about this leave, and whether there had been any further internal discipline, but no one was immediately available to answer our questions. Recent records indicate Sullivan has had a rising compensation with Sparks PD, to over $200,000 in 2019, while Maile was last listed as a “Fire Prevention Inspector” for Sparks, according to Transparent Nevada.

Sullivan was also recently listed as part of the Sparks Police Protective Association, which describes itself as a non profit organization for active duty and retired police officers in the Truckee Meadows.

As is operating procedure for killings by Sparks police, such as the Miciah Lee tragedy this part January, the Reno Police Department and the Washoe County Sheriff's Office took over the investigation. As is also the case with Miciah Lee, there is still no public report or release of any body cam footage. There have been posts on social media indicating Sullivan might have been involved in Lee’s killing as well, based on overheard police call signals, but there has been even less transparency on that case, or open knowledge about the officers involved in the Black teenager’s death. We were unable to ask this question to Sparks PD since their Public Information Officer was not available for comment.

Peter Goldstein who is representing Brizuela’s wife says he is in the “dark as well.” He says delays in the case he finds “without explanation” are mounting.

The Lawyer Representing Brizuela Does Not Understand Delay

Peter Goldstein, who is representing the plaintiffs, says he has been told the report by the Reno police department has been completed and turned over to the Washoe County District Attorney’s office, and that the deputy district attorney on the case also completed his review. The investigation, he says, is now in the hands of Washoe County District Attorney Christopher Hicks for “his determination as to whether or not the officers are going to be charged. Now it's going to be almost two years years since this happened. And, we believe that they've had more than an adequate time to do these investigations and there certainly is no need for a continued delay,” Goldstein told us in a telephone call this week.

In April, the North Las Vegas City Council unanimously approved a $1 million settlement to the parents of Gonzalo Rico who was shot and killed by North Las Vegas police in 2018, in a case where Goldstein represented Rico’s parents in the federal lawsuit.

In the Brizuela case, however, there has been no movement. “Not one bit of information has been provided to us as to what would be the impediment to completing it,” Goldstein said. “We’re concerned about the body cam footage, and all the tests, ballistic investigations that they purportedly did.”

Delays, Goldstein explains, can cause problems to seek the truth.

“The longer it takes for them to produce it, the more difficult it is sometimes to locate witnesses and verify information. They took everything from the residence of Brizuelas that day. They took boxes of inventory, items from them, some of which they know what they took, some of which they don’t, that’s never been returned.”

The coroner’s autopsy report on Brizuela’s killing has also been blocked pending the release of the investigation.

New Hearing Next Week Related to Case

A hearing related to the case is scheduled for next week, with more delays being sought. Goldstein hopes the magistrate judge instead requests that the report, ballistics tests and body cam footage are quickly made available.

“I mean the body cam footage is going to be very, very telling,” Goldstein said. He said he understands a family’s and a community’s frustration in getting answers especially now with all the protests related to the George Floyd police killing in Minneapolis.

“It's kind of a breathtaking moment for this country, in terms of understanding the excessive force cases involving police and minorities and in fact, I mentioned that their motion, the fact that they're asking for more time even now, shows that they're completely oblivious to what's going on in this country and how we've been too deferential to police, investigations and prosecutors. So, if this was really a situation where the video cam the body cam from the officers showed that they had no reasonable belief that their lives were in danger, no bodily harm or death, they had no right to use deadly force. Now would the body cam show that of course. So why would that take two years? There’s never been an explanation for that.”

Our Town Reno Reporting June 2020