The Urban Blog

Reno Will Have Its Baseball Stadium

"Congratulations, gentlemen - you have baseball."

After a series of lengthy and occasionally entertaining proposals, the Washoe County Commission today voted to approve the redirection of the rental car sales tax money to the proposed Minor League Baseball deal in Reno's Freight House district.

The project has now been approved by every entity needing to approve it to qualify for the money under the legislation that was passed in the legislature.

This project came together extremely quickly, and there is some question as to the makeup and timing of a stadium authority, which needs to be created in accordance with the legislation, which will very likely happen during the next legislative session in 2009, a year after the groundbreaking and a few months before the team's inaugural season.  I'm looking forward to the groundbreaking.

Finally:  The team should be called the Silver Sox.  The team name is a great tradition reflecting the region's history and the state's nickname.

Reno Council Considers Helping Holland Project

One tidbit left out of all reports I've seen thus far on the Sept. 12, 2007 Reno City Council Meeting, was Dave Aiazzi's calling for the City to investigate the feasibility of funding the building improvements to Holland Project's "temporary" location at Keystone and ReTRAC to (a) help the project in its efforts to secure a location to operate from regularly and (b) because it seems quite strange indeed that the City would own a building which does not meet fire code.

I agree with the councilman on this.  That the City would have placed the project in the building without having evaluated its fireworthiness in the first place is a grievous omission.  But the enlightened self-interest which seems to have motivated Aiazzi to make this recommendation on the City's behalf is perhaps the best example of good government I can think of:  With so many city-owned buildings sitting vacant and the very real fear of vandalism in vacant buildings, would it not benefit the city to spend the $30 - 40K necessary to get its own building up to code, in order to qualify its occupancy by an interested party which would presumably be looking out for the building and the neighborhood.

Holland Project looks to be a positive force for Reno.  This venue problem has not taken them out of the picture, they continue to pursue other options.  They have worked to secure alternate venues for their events and have kept on going looking for a suitable location. 

Council and staff would be well advised to find the money, bring the building up to code, and offer to help get the Holland Project back on solid ground while it builds its own base of support.

Reno Farmer's Market Idea Pile

I'm sure you're aware by now that when I start chewing on a problem, an idea usually appears eventually.  I've been doing some thinking about the permanent farmer's market.  There are so many angles to this problem that I think it's important to cover many facets at once at least once in a while.  I hereby introduce the concept of the idea pile.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to add data to this pile:

• If you've attended the Friday markets, what do you have to say about it?
• What would you do to get some kind of local, permanent, everyday, agricultural-focused marketplace operating?
• What products and environments would you look for as a customer of such a market?

This post is all going to happen in the comments.  I'll get the discussion started there.

I'll be keeping this post on top for awhile - The people working on the project have found this post so it's a great place for your input.

Reno: Permanent Farmer's Market Not Happening Overnight

Reno's great new website is primarily great because of the video - which does have its rough spots ("Episode description coming soon!"), but at least they get the programming from Reno 13 up there on what appears to be a schedule.  "Around The Arch" does a good job talking about what's going on in the downtown area.

One subject in the most recent episode is the farmer's market.  Ann Louhela, from Nevada Grown's Nevada Certified Farmers Market Organization, was on talking about the City Plaza farmer's market, which has been in operation for a couple of months now.  Of course the subject of a permanent market came up - with the discussion starting around San Francisco's farmer's market, which Louhela said must have taken 20 years to build up to where it is today.  Translation:  This permanent Reno market is not coming soon.

One thing that was revealed in the interview was that the end-to-end economics have to be healthy for something like this to work.  Host Sharon Spangler mentioned Fallon Goat Cheese; Louhela's response was that they had gone out of business.  And they need a new cheese maker.

A permanent market in the nearest densely populated urban area presents tremendous opportunity for agricultural business, but the transition from weekly markets to markets open every day creates a whole new set of logistical challenges that will take time to solve.

Short term the priorities should be:

• Getting as many locals and tourists as possible to show up every week through marketing the programmed entertainment and top seasonal items
• Finding an indoor location before the weather turns cold so that weekly markets can be held year round.

It will take new entrepreneurialism to get a farmer's market open 7 days a week.  Anchor tenants will need to make a solid business out of being located in the farmer's market to sustain the ever changing panoply of peripheral vendors who add the real color and provide the curiosity draw.  If you've been meaning to start a butcher shop, flower shop, produce stand, or bakery, now is a great time.

One final note:  A great fall draw for a market in Northern Nevada would be fresh, unshelled piñon nuts.  These are truly a Nevada delicacy and having them show up regularly would do a lot to establish a driver for more scientific management of the remaining old-growth piñon stands.

One For The Record Books: LVRJ Agrees With Ninth Circuit

... and The Urban Blog agrees with LVRJ.

From the R-J:

The artist stopped in Northern Nevada in 2002, aiming to sell some paintings to earn enough money to visit his sick mother in San Francisco. But whenever he tried to set up an easel in the town of Sparks he was arrested, according to his lawsuit.

Under a Sparks ordinance, selling goods in parks or Victorian Square is prohibited without a permit.

The city makes First Amendment exceptions for items that are "pre-approved" by city employees if they are determined "to convey and express an obvious religious, political, philosophical or ideological message," according court papers.

Legal machinations ensued, until finally:

Last week, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court "has been clear that the arts and entertainment constitute protected forms of expression under the First Amendment," the 9th Circuit panel pointed out. "Against this backdrop, it is clear that White's self-expression through painting constitutes expression protected by the First Amendment. The city's argument that the message conveyed must be either explicit or implicit but obvious in order to merit protection must fail."

The R-J commends the decision, and so does The Urban Blog.  When walking around in a city one should expect there to be musicians and painters hanging about with an open case to throw money into (in the case of the musicians) or pieces of art for sale (in the case of the painters)  Many years back an article appeared in the RGJ about a boy who loved to juggle and wanted to juggle downtown by the Riverwalk and ran the risk of running afoul of city law because performing outside in a public place was against the law.

These types of laws and regulations endanger the usefulness and character of a city's public spaces, in addition to the obvious constitutional violations.  A municipal government has a right and an obligation to restrict nuisance behavior but that is a different matter altogether.

One question that arises however is whether business licensing requirements exist and how to deal with them.  Is a painter a street vendor?  If a substantial source of income is going to be derived from street vending of music or art, does that make it a business subject to the same rules as all other businesses?