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’s Spectacular Halloween Blowout!

I was in Reno for some personal business this weekend and had the luck to be out and about on Friday night, which was Halloween.  Now, I am costume challenged.  I always have been, and during those times since becoming an adult, I have thanked my lucky stars for being a Nevadan, so that I can plead Nevada Day as the reason I am not wearing a costume.  “Halloween?  What’s that?” I’ll say, and then especially when I’m not in Nevada, I have the opportunity to tell a stranger a story, and possibly even sing a song.  Not a perfect replacement for a stranger seeing me dressed up as something clever, but at least I’m trying to do something entertaining.

Which makes me not really notice Halloween most of the time.  In Seattle, where I hang my hat the majority of the time, the neighborhood I live in which is full of hipsters and homos some of whom are both, certainly puts on a costume for the day, and I get to dress up vicariously through much more clever people, who may have actually remembered all summer long the flash of inspiration they had that one day in May, and worked to assemble all the pieces well enough in advance that perhaps all they need to buy is makeup.

I’ve no conscious memory of Reno ever having done that in the past, however.  Carson City is pretty famous for its Halloween displays and trick or treating at the governor’s mansion.  But Reno has never appeared quite so inspired… or family friendly.

This year, however, was different on at least one count.  It seems as though a sizable percentage of the city’s adult population decided to dress up, and then having done so, to go downtown and really make a scene.  Driving & walking around downtown Reno on Friday night reminded me of my one and only trip to Boston, which coincided with Halloween.  Boston takes this affair very seriously.  People are in costume for about a week, it seems.

All manner of folks were out in force that night in Reno, and it probably had at least something to do with Halloween being on a Friday.  The skies were clear, the weather was good, and the spirits were high.  Take note, Biggest Little City.  Halloween in Reno (or Nevada Day, officially celebrated on the Friday closest to the 31st) should acquire an infamous regional reputation.  People should come from far and wide to don their best costume and have a blast roaming the streets of downtown, crowding the gambling tables with their costumed selves and generally having one hell of a good time.

If you say “but Halloween won’t be on Friday every year!” I need only remind you that when I was a kid, we trick or treated on the 30th, so we could sleep off our candy hangover on the 31st.  There’s precedent.  You all know what to do next year.  I’ll be watching.

Overlooked: Holland Finds New Home

This just in from Sagebrush:  The Holland Project has found a new home, at 30 Cheney Street, across from Maytan Music.  The new space is "temporary" and not suitable for rock shows, but at least they have some digs.

Reno needs a sustainable, long-term, community oriented, all-ages art and music venue - and Holland has strived to be that project.  All has not gone well for the group.  A noise complaint from a nearby neighbor led to a red flag on a fire code violation in the space the group was occupying - a space handed them by the City of Reno, of all things.

It's been awhile since councilman Aiazzi suggested the City bring all its real estate holdings up to code to help Holland get back into the groove, among other things (also reassuring would be the notion that the agency responsible for the fire codes keeps all its facilities up to those standards... but I guess that would be an unrealistic or somehow unattainable goal)

At any rate a win for The Holland Project.  This effort could well have faded into the ether completely suffering such a setback.  Instead they continue to work on it and continue to maintain their blog, which is a fun little art-school read to be sure and is full of festive diversions.

Community-based and community-oriented efforts which work to weather on and continue to grow despite setbacks and with little regard to profit or material gain, are the fabric of a community's cultural offerings.  If Holland can succeed in their efforts, they will truly transform Reno's all-ages scene.  It's worth keeping an eye on and supporting in any way you can.

Reno: Farmer's Market Plan

An RGJ article today outlines plans for the permanent farmer's market that has been discussed for downtown Reno after the trial run of the Friday markets last summer.

The proposed project would convert the mid-block section of West Street between First and Second into the permanent market.  This would include the old carriage houses for Ross Manor, which would be opened back up and turned into vendor stalls.  Adjacent vacant brick buildings would join in.

At first glance this looks like a great project.  I have some serious concerns about the future of the Green Room.  The Green Room has been a great bullwark in downtown's music scene - with a liberal booking policy that benefits the artists directly, great bartenders, and a great vibe, they have been a driving force in the turnaround of the kind of denizen the nightlife on that corner attracts.

Butcher's, Baker's, Candlestick-maker's Alley

From watching Seattle for so long I can say that something is truly lost from a city when gentrification and nightlife interests find themselves at odds.  Nobody from the Green Room is on the record in the RGJ article.

There are plenty of other buildings downtown which would make a great location for a new Green Room.  In fact, the acoustics in their current space are not particularly great - the cavernous nature of the former garage which serves as their performance space, is its primary selling point. 

The City must show that quality nightlife attractions are first-class citizens in its downtown redevelopment plans and work with the developer, the Green Room, and other downtown landlords to assure that this great advance in one area does not turn into a setback in another.