The Urban Blog

Streetfilms on Putting Transit in Conservative Terms

This great video on Streetfilms about William Lind’s book Moving Minds:  Conservatives and Public Transportation shows the importance of knowing your audience when trying to make an argument for public transit, particularly rail based transit.

With Reno considering building a light rail system on Virginia Street (which they should do), it will be important for people who want to see such a system built to really think about the way they can win at the ballot box.  In the last election voters soundly rejected a measure that would have increased sales tax just to keep the bus system operating at pre-downturn levels.

Last Call… In reno?

Not as in, Reno’s done for but… downtown Reno may be getting a closing time.

City Council has asked for one prominent downtown bar, Second Street Bar (which is slated to become Gringo’s following an expansion in progress… more on that later), to close at 4 am and they have agreed to it, in exchange for getting a sidewalk abandonment to install a wheelchair ramp.

This blog has brought up the topic of closing time in Reno before – it’s a scary concept as a Native Nevadan, something vaguely unsettling about bars closing, however… it’s a good idea.

Downtown Reno nightlife can occasionally be quite intimidating and even can turn violent.  A commenter on Facebook mentions seeing a glass smashed in someone’s face.  This author has witnessed head butting.

Closing all the bars at once, or just arbitrarily cutting people off at a certain time, isn’t necessarily a requirement in having good civil order.  Closing all the bars at once might create a worse situation as the rush to last call creates binge drinking, followed by a drunken mob on the sidewalks outside the bars and then a mess of cars driven by drunks as the commuter partiers return from whence they came. 

Bars should take a good look at what being in business does for them, and the community, and then decide when to close.  A 4 am closing time is a pretty reasonable cutoff even in an entertainment district.  A city need not market itself as a 24 hour party zone, after all.  Some bars downtown are already well aware of this, and already close.

A series of staggered closings and “wind-downs” might be the best policy.  Serious debauchery is called to be good and done with by 2.  This might mean no more loud music, no more cocktail service, and any place that wants to stay open needs to have food onsite.  All drinking would cease by sometime in the 4 O’clock hour.  Police presence between 11 pm and 5 am would be stepped up.

It’s important to remember that the cause of this discussion even happening, is public nuisance.  Thus the creation of a more safe, sane and civil environment is the desired outcome – not a set of arbitrary regulations that merely push undesirable behavior elsewhere while leaving behind a ghost town.  Creating an attitude of civility, respect and some restraint, while still keeping the festivities going on late would be a winning proposition for Reno.

By the way, the owner of Gringo’s is a genius for picking the name.  Someone named Tom Cladianos might not naturally be expected to be doing a Mexican restaurant.  We don’t really know what will emerge in that location.  But for anyone looking at the name as a grammatical faux pas writ large, there should be a section in the menu that at least makes clear:  the owner of Gringo’s is a gringo.  It’s grammatically correct.

Reno: Woolworth’s Renovation Rendering

Downtown Makeover linked a while back to a NNBW article stating that the Woolworth’s building in downtown Reno is slated to undergo some changes – ripping off a bunch of bad facade to bring it up to more modern standards, and to make the building marketable for retail and other uses.

It’s about time!  Recently a commenter over there mentioned having seen people already working on the building.

A tiny amount of digging around on the internet found the Collier’s page about the building.  If you look at the flyer for the project, you can even get a look at what the building will look like at night empty and lit up.

Woolworth’s Building after Renovation – Reno, NV source:  Colliers Int’l

Reno: Redevelopment Strategies Get a Good Hearing At City Council

This blog has been harping on the approach to redevelopment in Nevada, and in Reno in particular, for a while.  While it is encouraging to note positive developments such as Aces Ballpark, the movie theater complex, the West Street Market, and the kayak park, it’s somewhat disheartening to find that downtown, all over, businesses are barely able to stay open.  Retail is almost nonexistent downtown, and several blocks of Virginia Street, on one side or the other (thankfully not both sides) are severely blighted.  There are vacant buildings all over the place.

Recently, La Bussola boutique was evicted from its storefront.  La Bussola responded to this incident with a public statement posted on God Hates Reno, and the business’ owner, Meredith Tanzer, was lucky to have just recently opened a bar on 4th Street called Treehouse Lounge – providing a location for much of her former stock until it could be cleared out, and a business to run in the meantime.  She, however, cited problems with her landlord in the eviction and problems finding a new retail space downtown because of inflexibility on the part of property owners regarding reasonable terms of occupancy.

Also recently, Cavanaugh’s Fine Furniture announced it was closing.  In the Reno Gazette-Journal, Richard Oppio, the store’s owner, cited the inflexibility of his building’s owner, The City of Reno, in adjusting his lease rate downward to help him in a time of down sales.

So we’ve seen that the RDA is capable of good, even great work, and it’s clear they’re not slackers.  But, working to improve the overall business climate in the city seems to be something they don’t consider their mandate today, as evidenced by a recent exchange between Councilwoman Sharon Zadra and Redevelopment Director John Hester, at the 10/7/09 City Council Meeting.

Zadra asked Hester if the RDA was doing anything to help the downtown business community in terms of helping them identify what would be lucrative business opportunities for them in these down economic times.  She didn’t go into detail but with what we know from the two previous examples, let’s say a furniture store accustomed to dealing in particularly high end merchandise is on the rocks.  This is due to the recession and the fact that nearby residences aren’t filing up nearly as quickly, nor with the sort of clientele, upon which the business plan for the store originally rested.  Does the RDA as an entity function in any kind of advisory capacity?

Hester’s answer was telling.  The RDA, he said, is helping prospective businesses in the West Street Market to identify sources of funding and business assistance.

Zadra at that point had to follow up.  No, she meant the entire downtown business community existing within the bounds of the redevelopment district.

Hester replied that the RDA will sometimes help an interested party determine whether they could obtain financial assistance through the city’s Opportunity Growth Fund (OGF), and will put them in touch with UNR’s Nevada Small Business Development Center (NSBDC).

After I was done viewing the meeting, I went in search of a web page about the OGF.  Multiple search engines do not display a summary web page about this resource – they display PDF files which are minutes or agendas from prior meetings where it was discussed.  The NSBDC is focused on providing technical assistance to small businesses statewide.

Big projects – big developments like the theater complex and the ballpark represent important lynchpins for downtown in the form of attractions.  It’s possible that a model like the West Street Market provides some glimpse into a future for other blighted properties. 

But the problem today seems to be the lack of a methodical approach on the part of the RDA to organizing a groundswell of entrepreneurship to help fill the vacant real estate downtown.  RDA could well act as a broker – helping property owners access funds to assist with beautification and tenant improvements, while helping entrepreneurs access funding and other resources. 

In the case of Cavanaugh’s, a furniture store located in a city owned parking garage, if the business plan had been altered in line with Zadra’s question, the store itself might have been able to function as a draw to downtown pulling customers from around the city looking for a different product.  Yes, it takes something on the part of the business owner to identify that market and that opportunity or at least go looking for it and help finding it.  But, to use an old advertising slogan, you could have heard a pin drop at news of La Bussola’s closing, and Cavanaugh’s closing, if you were on the line waiting for the city, or the RDA, to say or do something to help either.

There are other unanswered questions.  What exactly is Downtown Reno envisioned as?  Is it an evening entertainment district?  Bars and restaurants don’t seem to be having trouble.  Is all that to be encouraged at the expense of any kind of decent daytime street life or retail activity?  Is the new “ballpark retail” currently under construction some sort of panacea?  Will the myriad of business associations downtown merge or otherwise give way to a single downtown association capable of providing what the RDA will not, or cannot?

That the discussion is happening in council meetings is a good sign.  The future success of downtown Reno depends on the discussion producing some positive results.

In Defense of “A Little West of Center”

It’s been hard to keep from talking about the obsession (a healthy one at the moment, fine with me) that Reno has with its image at the moment.

The community seems to have overreacted incredibly negatively to the idea of the tourism slogan being “A Little West of Center” as brought forth by the agency that did a lot of good brand research for the RSCVA lately.  This has been praised elsewhere and includes a new logo, which is a good logo and the concept “Reno-Tahoe USA” is a great concept as a starting point.

In fact, with just the logo and Reno-Tahoe USA, the RSCVA is positioned well to craft a range of regional marketing taglines targeted at specific visitor demographics that highlight the diverse mix of destinations and venues Western Nevada has to offer.

However, the outrage, which seems overdone on the part of many people, over (the rejected) “A Little West of Center” slogan is really unbelievable.  People’s reaction:  overwhelmingly “What is that supposed to mean?” is always played to paint the advocate into a corner.  Mayor Bob Cashell’s quip “What do they mean, Virginia Street?” was actually funny but still I think the aversion to it comes from people naturally, in their mind, associating the phrase with its source “A little left of center”, which many leaders in and around the Reno area may be repulsed to believe anyone would think of their area.

Reno wears its relative conservatism on its sleeve a lot, which isn’t really a bad thing except when it provokes knee-jerk reactions like this.

Facts are, it’s a pretty socially liberal place, with plenty to do for drinkers, gamblers, gay people, artists, and really anyone who wishes to live in an unconventional manner.  But the conservative “out west” attitude that prevails in the enjoyment of going out in the mountains and shooting at cans, or wanting to keep base costs of government services low, pervades and infuses a natural skepticism of pretty much all of the advancements and trappings of modernity even as it seeks to take advantage of those advancements.

Hey, it’s what I think of when I think “A Little West of Center”  Frankly, it would have done Reno ok.

I’m happy to not be the only person writing about Reno’s twitchy attitude.  Gay Rodeo of God Hates Reno busts forth with the proclamation that:

“Nope, we’re just assholes apparently.  Countless people I’ve encountered that either move here or visit mention this, the tenseness, the bravado, the needing to prove… something… in this town.  I mean, look at this website.”

One day I was walking across Liberty Street on Sierra headed down to California Avenue from downtown proper, and some guy in a pickup truck honked at me because I wasn’t walking fast enough!  In the crosswalk!  While the walk sign was lit.  I like to imagine him imagining himself being associated by power of suggestion with a bunch of tree huggin’ hippies thanks to this slogan created by some San Francisco elites who misjudged his town by way of said slogan.

It did set people off, so just as well that it’s gone.  What comes next is anybody’s guess.  But at the end of the day, I’m not going to be the only one scratching my head on occasion when I witness things like this, and saying to myself , “What in blazes?”  Perhaps one day Reno will collectively take a good deep breath and relax for a second.  Until then we observers will have plenty to marvel at.

The Curse of the Lack of Discipline: Where is the Line Drawn in Public Affairs?

The Reno Redevelopment Agency is broke.  After having committed the City of Reno to a million dollars a year more in subsidies to the developers of the baseball stadium in Reno for the next decade, they have essentially run themselves out of the ability to take on anymore projects from a reliable funding source, ie, taxes that are levied as per the special Redevelopment District.

That’s sad, as we’re coming to learn, because there are a lot of projects that are on the table right now – and which may have to be dropped if someone can’t get real creative, real fast.

Perhaps one of the most important of such projects is the Facade Improvement Program, which was to focus on improving facades along a couple blocks worth (give or take) of Virginia Street frontage.  Mike at Reno Realty Blog calls the street NVA in reference to North Virginia, with SVA being the opposite direction, a method of identifying the street this blog heartily endorses.

The approach that was taken was that the RDA would take on the project as a demonstration project, doing about a half million dollars’ worth of work, to improve one of the worst spots in downtown – what I call the “Center Block” – the west side of NVA between 2nd and Commercial Row.  This blighted block has much former casino facade, papered over as liquor store and pawn shop facade.  Today it’s worse still.  There’s casino facade papered over as liquor store facade papered over as a bakery (granted the bakery just opened, and let’s all go and try some of this dude’s bread, post haste, and regularly I might add if he’s any good.)

This post started out being somewhat about the money the RDA doesn’t have, which is funny, because money the RDA could spend, if it keeps a few RDA employees, is all over the place – if they get smart about raising it.  In particular the facade plan, which seems to be in limbo at the moment – recommended for reprioritization, could take advantage of CBDG funds.  If it’s not the same thing, the property owners and small businesses inhabiting those properties could also qualify for SBA loans to secure financing for their individual storefronts.

This is where the RDA could shine.  As a junction point between private VC, public bond and “A” loans, foundation money, and spillover tax revenue; and entrepreneurs, business owners and building and property owners in target districts.

One thing that’s been missing all along – a methodical, programmatic approach, is just one thing.  Another thing is the lack of foresight with the allocation of funding resources to projects.  Projects sit in the imagination of some plan or official for 25 years or more, and it’s frequently an emergency, or some stroke of luck which allows them to proceed.  It’s not just the RDA that takes this approach.  A few years ago some friends sold their house to escape an assessment district on their place to replace the sidewalks and resurface the streets in their neighborhood that would raise the property tax for the year by a considerable amount.  The question most naturally springing to mind was, “Why wasn’t the City trickling this money into a fund over the past 20 years.”

It’s the same with so many projects, blighted properties, and missed opportunities in Reno today and over the years.  This is one reason to celebrate that Reno is now committed to truly subsidizing the baseball project, the second phase of which is due to begin construction, the developers tell us, any day now.

Corus Bancshares Seized by Regulators

In a long-anticipated development, Corus Bancshares, which owns several severely distressed condominium developments nationwide including Reno’s excellent Montage project, has been seized by federal regulators.

Bank seizures have a habit of occurring after close of news cycle on a Friday.  Speculation has been rampant regarding the fate of the company’s projects, which sit largely abandoned in housing markets once thought to be red hot, in states like Florida and Nevada.

Reno will be likely impacted by whatever becomes of the company.  The Montage project has failed to fill many units.  Housing built during the bubble of the first decade of the twenty-first century was terribly overpriced.  The building until now has continued to be managed by its principal developer, Fernando Leal, who according to some accounts has continued to work aggressively to fill the building.

It will be interesting to see which entity owns up in possession of Corus’ troubled assets.

More About the Goings-On of Reno City Government

There’s been a low background hum hanging around in blog and newspaper comments regarding the ouster of Mark Lewis from the City of Reno Redevelopment Agency.  That hum has it that Lewis has done the exact same thing in other cities he’s worked in as it will likely be found out he has done in Reno.

It’s documented quite well in the Stockton, CA, newspaper.  Stockton it should be noted is the city Lewis was fired from as City Manager.

The right internet search such as “mark lewis stockton fired” should get some articles like this:

www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060118/NEWS01/601180336

and

www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051016/SPECIALREPORTS10/510160314

both of which pretty well document Lewis’ past exploits in other cities in Alaska and California.

I’m willing to, and so I do, pay the RGJ archive when I want to know something from the past.  So I did a search on the RGJ archive to find out if the fact that he was fired from Stockton was an item in the time frame in question.  This was a matter of the public record:  An article dated February 15, 2007, makes vague references to his successes and controversies prior to getting fired from his previous town.  At the bat for Lewis was Charles McNeely, former City Manager in Reno.  Kyle Weiss’ attitude from the comments of my last post may sum up why this wasn’t a big deal at the time.  The disposition of the redevelopment administrator is not something most people, even those that like to read up on redevelopment, really get fired up about.

In the end though, what we have is the lack of public oversight of the position of redevelopment administrator.  In the future the council should hire and fire department heads with the City Manager getting a vote.

Reno: Redevelopment Director Mark Lewis Sacked

The latest casualty of the economy, says the City of Reno, is (now former, I guess) Redevelopment Agency Director Mark Lewis, who was let go in an allegedly cost-cutting measure recently undertaken by the interim City Manager’s office.

This incident was reported about a week ago by local bellwether Downtown Makeover reporting on a tip.  DTM was later able to refer us to a press release from Reno’s PR department, which was dated the day prior to the day that the news was reported on DTM.  It is unknown by me if the press release came out before or after DTM broke the news.

Regardless, something that was noticed and reported on by a website attracting hundreds of visitors a day was not followed up on in the mainstream press in so much as a mention or copy-paste of the release until a week later.

Mayor Bob Cashell, who one would expect to have had a hand in the sacking of one of the City’s highest appointed officials, is apparently out of the country and currently unavailable for comment.  Quotes from two councilmembers show that support for redevelopment conceptually, at the very least appears at least to have a dissenting voice on the council.

Still, this is certainly a grievous violation of public trust.

If it’s time to get rid of the director of the agency, then that discussion needs to be had openly in the public square.  When first hearing of this news, I was at first compelled to a knee-jerk reaction – a strong mayor form of government wouldn’t have this problem, I thought.  Then reading the RGJ article it occurred to me (as I was digesting that Cashell was out of the country) – it certainly could have.  All it takes is someone with a political agenda to depose an official for an effort to be mounted to do just that.

All well and good.  No strategy is static, no job is guaranteed, no approach is 100% infallible.  Here at The Urban Blog I’ve taken a very “the sky is not falling” approach to threats to redevelopment.

But that is beside the point.  The next time Reno City Council convenes, the first item on the agenda needs to be what to do about this.  The Manager’s office has overstepped its bounds.

Reno: Council Field Trip – Right Idea. Sites They Examined: Wrong Idea.

I’m a little late responding to the news that Mayor Bob Cashell took the Reno City Council on a trip in a chartered bus – with his own money – to visit the Ferry Building Market in San Francisco and Napa's Market as well.

The point of the trip was to gather ideas for what to do with the plaza over the ReTRAC trench in downtown Reno.  The plan that was in the works before the economy tanked was to build some retail on the plaza facing into the plaza that would create a draw to the area.  Mayor Cashell wanted to look into what some other cities have done with their downtowns for when the economy improves.

Watching a video posted to Youtube by the City, it’s immediately clear that the Ferry Building and Napa concepts for markets are not the right concepts for this space.  Both of those concepts are great concepts – concepts already being tested out with some interest in Reno.  Those projects use the meta concept that is responsible for the West Street Market and it is a concept that is worth encouraging.

The problem is that Reno already is working to build the asset these projects represent.  One thing Reno doesn’t have, however, is a pedestrian mall that spans several blocks and ties multiple edges together in a sea of color and crowds.

ReTRAC Plaza – and a fine location for retail development just beyond  (City of Reno)

I keep being taken back to memories of Boulder, Colorado’s Pearl Street Mall.  This is a wonderful space created on old Pearl Street in Boulder’s downtown.  On either side of it are retail and restaurant and office spaces, and the way this urban space comes together makes it a naturally inviting area to want to visit.

Retail happens on the mall – to be sure.  Painters, street musicians, flower vendors, beaded jewelry, and more are all available – out of public market tents and even some at the level of being sheds or kiosks.

The great thing about this concept is that the trench plaza in Reno is currently bounded by one street already named Commercial Row – and it is surrounded by perfect opportunities to develop retail spaces.  The hollowed out former train passage of the Fitzgeralds garage, Fitzgeralds itself for that matter, Old Reno casino, Masonic building.  There will be retail in any parking garage that is built on the site of the old soup kitchen and cabaret building.  Montage has retail potential.  Kings Inn.

Boulder Pearl Street Mall by Flickr user Xingu

The site is surrounded by testaments to the need to infuse public capital into the area to redevelop its commercial potential.  That (fixing up all those buildings) is the proper use for redevelopment funds.  The plaza needs some planters with small trees and flowers, a busker or two, a portrait artist or caricaturist or both, a news kiosk.  And those should be possible for not much money at all – the right price in today’s economy.