"The Path Forward."

(Hah! Like the title? See what I did there?)

(Oh, real quick forenote: I don't know what Change.org's whole "Hey want to chip in some money?" BS is about. I'm not asking for any money.. Don't fall for it. I'm not getting a dime. We don't need it for this petition. Don't bother.)

Anyway. Yesterday was a big day. After a month of writing, spreading public awareness, and creating this petition, I had a meeting with City Staff. It was on the record. Literally. Fil Corbitt was there the whole time recording audio with no objections from staff.

To get to the point: This needs to hit council agenda for a vote, and we need to be there making public comment when that happens.

(For you tl;dr people, skip ahead to the bottom, but read the deets if you're so inclined.)

Nothing at this point has changed. There is concern. There is promise of action to be taken. But it hasn't happened yet, as far as I am aware.

Two days prior to this meeting, I had an informal walk with Mayor Schieve and Councilwoman Duerr from McKinley Park to the Auto Museum and back. It was pleasant. It was a breath of fresh air. I think it's safe to say they are both concerned. And once I was able to point out and explain it in person, SHOWING them the issue, with a locked wrought-iron fence staring at us in the face, they both got it.

That walkway is part of the bridge. The bridge needs replacement. When it gets replaced, that locked walkway was to be expanded, staircase removed, and made ADA-compliant.

• If this walkway is lost, the AT&T easement is lost.
• If the easement is lost, the whole block's riverwalk is lost.

It was deeply concerning to me that Public Works proceeded to remove meters and were in the process of building the temporary cycle track on 1st Street... and neither the Mayor and Councilwoman or councilwoman were even aware they had started work until we were standing there. Public Works released that memo on the 14th of August and began work immediately.

• No public hearing.
• No process through council.
• No public notices to changes of the street handed out to neighbors, as far as I am aware!

Think about that. Public Works had not even thought to personally notify the mayor of our own city that they were proceeding, beyond a basic memo. I was shocked. It felt like they were ticking a box on a checklist of legal requirements and that's all that mattered to them.

Last night, after the meeting, I had to chill and spend time with a friend, decompress, and relax. My friend wanted to check out the food at Guadalajara Grill (the property with the obstructed walkway) because he wanted to try out their food, and so we walked from my place to there, and it turns out Public Works already painted and installed the flexible delineators.

I was shocked. After all this time, with so many past excuses of "oh well, we can't just put cycle tracks everywhere! I mean we have to do feasibility studies and reports and send this to consultation," etc etc.. and here they just willy-nilly laid down track for cyclists within a week.

It breaks Public Works own Design Manual standards.

2-3' Buffer or landscape barrier (and that's for when you're going WITH traffic, not opposing it)

No buffer, just a stripe. Two sharp 90° turns as though we can stop on a dime after crossing mid-block. To say this was slapped together with minimal thought to dynamics of bicycle riding is an understatement. Very little thought or consideration was given to the needs of people using bikes as their transportation method.

And once you get to Lake street? Then what?

And if you're coming north on Lake Street to get to this "cycle track" (which I can barely call it one) ... they want you to make sharp turn? No special warning to eastbound cars who might need to make a right turn that you're turning sharply onto a parallel "road" for bikes? That's a collision waiting to happen right there. This was not done well at all.

But. Let's talk about the meeting.

The City Attorney was on the attendee list but did not make an appearance. That was disappointing. The mayor had specifically stated in Council Chambers that this was to be a "walking tour," but no one wanted to leave the Caucus Room. "I think we all know what it looks like," they told me. 🤦‍♂️ The whole POINT of this meeting was to show staff, in person, on the scene, what is going on.

"We're here to listen to you."

The first half of the meeting was me presenting my case in clear certain terms the evidence, documents, and legal basis for why I think the City could beat this. They informed me the City Attorney disagreed. Okay fine, we can agree to disagree. Not important.

I asked them if they knew about the 1972 legal agreement before permitting the fence. The answer was "no."

Iris from One Truckee River was there to observe and become informed, but she did have one important question. She asked them: why was the walkway blocked off to begin with?

Instead of getting to the heart of the matter, (that it was because there have been a string of disturbances, assaults, assailings and territorial disputes of people camping out and claiming that walkway as their own turf), the response Iris received was basically that "we installed fences originally to control the area, then the adjacent property owner installed his own two gates on his land."

That's the best way I can transcribe it, because Mr. Wilson from Public Works didn't even get the facts straight. Mr. Schenk did not in fact install "two gates"—just one. So even he is not fully understanding of the facts of this matter. I tried to correct him, but you know how that goes.

Anyway, the next piece was me expressing my dissatisfaction with how my Reno Direct Service Requests are being handled. I feel like I practically have to depose staff responding to my requests, who seem to implement every tactical dodge in the book to deflect and divert attention away from the heart of each complaint.

• They change the subject.
• They misinterpret code.
• They fail to address code completely.
• They misapply one code for another.
• Deny, deny, deny.

I told them, the dream of the Riverwalk is decaying, one administrative decision after another.

That's when Councilwoman Duerr stepped in and defended staff, explaining that many strides toward improving walking along the river were being taken, to which I agree. I agree that much hard work has been done, such as the amazing improvements made for the Riverside Drive Park Berm Project. Absolutely astounding, top-notch work. And I told them all this to their faces. If y'all haven't walked along that new improved river path, go check it out!

But that's not what I was talking about, I told her. Powning District is not "The Riverwalk." The Riverwalk District is from Arlington to Wells Street. MD-RD Zoning. ("Mixed-use Downtown Riverwalk District" if you check parcel info on WRMS)

It seems the moment you hit Center Street eastward, things change. Seriously, compare the western portion of Truckee River Path / Tahoe-Pyramid Trail and compare it to the condition east until you reach Sparks City Limit at Galletti Way. It's pitiful. It's abyssmal. There is this sordid juxtaposition of the beauty of a "natural" riverbank—(in reality, it's engineered by Army Corp of Engineers, but it is beautiful!)— but on the other hand... encroachments, gated-off properties, tight corners, forgotten parks, barbed wire, dilapidated parks, dead birds in lighting cages with exposed wiring, lack of ADA compliance, etc.

So even if City Staff means well, we all have to recognize that the moment you start leaving downtown, the place is decaying. And in my firm opinion, staff seems to be applying every administrative dodge in the book not to take the difficult but needed action to address all these grievances.

It's not them as individuals; it's the institution.

See, I don't want to get on a big long rant here; I want to get to the point. The point is, I think there's been so much turnover, so much downsizing, reorganization, merging of code, and new faces showing up, that the institutional memory of plans was simply lost. Confused. Forgotten.

Example: Title 8 "Public Peace, Safety and Morals" (which involves code enforcement) defines a fence as a structure:

"Fences, fencing screen walls and/or retaining walls. Self-standing structures designed to provide semi-privacy, security, or bank retention between grade separations." (8.22.030 - "Definitions")

But Title 18, (formerly part of the Redevelopment Agency's development guidelines—now merged into RMC as "Land Development Code") does not see a fence as a "structure."

So when I complain to Code Enforcement that the fence along the river path at the National Auto Museum "results in a visual barrier of the river corridor," and I point out it was built too close (30') to the river, violating 18.04.101 - General Environmental Standards, subsection (d) Setbacks from the Truckee River, which states:

"No structure [...] shall be erected [...] within 50 feet of the banks of the Truckee River" and cannot be granted an administrator exception because it "results in a visual barrier to the river corridor." ((3)c)

... they come back and say "The planning department does not consider a fence to be a structure."

But I didn't ask Planning to review this. I complained to Code Enforcement.. y'know..? the people who enforce code? So if Title 8 defines a fence as a structure, but Title 18 does not, then how is Code Enforcement able to do its job? See the issue?

I didn't get a chance to say all this during the meeting—nor do I think it would have gone anywhere. There were more important things to address.

The Vision

As the petition states, letting go of this measly 8-foot-wide fence and locked gate has massive downstream (hah, there I go again with puns) impact. Acts of Congress. Federal Funds. Army Corp of Engineer requirements for public access. It's not just about getting detoured around the block. This is massive shit.

The vision of the Riverwalk was to be a closed loop. We haven't finished building that loop. If we lose this, we lose the Riverwalk. Is City Staff saying this isn't important? Or that the vision has somehow changed? When did all this leave the Master Plan? Never, as far as I am aware. Pete Sferrazza, Jeff Griffin, and Bob Cashell worked a cumulative amount of 33 years to bring this Riverwalk to life, along with countless City Staff before the current people in charge.

Are we saying we are to undo or "reimagine" that work as something... different? Something less? Something not important? Could this simply be that because the current staff don't see the full picture, and don't know the city's history well enough, they could just be reinventing the wheel to be a square?

So I pivoted at this point, and shifted from "lawyer mode" to "designer mode."

I wasn't here to be all "negativity" I told them. "I'm a designer. I'm a dreamer. And I'm a fucking NERD. I am here to come up with solutions, so here they are." (I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point.)

So I got up on stage, had Ms. Singh facilitate the computer for me, and I proceeded to lay down the track for the future, showing slides I had prepared, one by one, showing the possibilities and opportunities that lay before us if we don't lose sight of the original plan. I showed them the Riverwalk Eastern Gateway concept that I came up with. (page 6)

• I showed them, if we widen the blocked walkway, replace the bridge, extend the Riverwalk, build a footbridge, we lay the foundation for Herb Simon to develop his property into another "Palladio" type structure, and incentivize Grant's Landing (official page here) to develop its mixed-use river corridor frontage.
• I told them, with that footbridge, people visiting NAM could park at 300 E. 2nd instead of their on-site parking lot. That means we could convert part of that parking lot into an event space which would give hella space for NAM to hold those concerts and block parties they hold without clogging up the river corridor or deactivating frontage like they are right now!
• I told them, this footbridge closes the gap in the long sought-after bikeway route to connect UNR Gateway to Midtown!

Item after item, I laid down the tracks to turn this isolated, blighted, dangerous, creepy, but beautiful area into a hub of commerce, activation, and become gateway into downtown on the Riverwalk.

And I told them the most important thing: I didn't come up with this myself. It turns out it was already thought of... 31 frickin' years ago. The COMMUNITY developed this plan. All I did was realize there was something wrong by noticing little details leftover here and there, connected them in the way that made the most sense to me. Then I discovered the original plans.

Here's where things got interesting!

I started getting asked questions. That's good. That means I've got brains active and thinking.

I started getting objections. That's good. Ask any salesperson and they'll tell you when a customer objects it's not because they're not interested; it's that they like it but see issues. Work through those.

We briefly talked about my UNR Gateway improvements. Talked about the benefits. I raised red flags about Biggest Little Bike Network design problems that that we need to address before it's too late even though that project's design is "complete."

They asked questions pertaining to subjects that would have taken way too long to explain, so I filtered it, stuck to what was pertinent for this conversation, and told them "there are more details, but if we keep communicating, I can tell you more later."

When the meeting concluded and I was being escorted out, I got the usual question. The Liaison said to me "Wow. Wait, what is your background again?' (I get this a lot.) I'm just an artist who games, delivered mail, and now I make cars for a living; go figure. I'm nothing special. Well.. okay maybe "special," but that's beside the point. 🤪

So... where are we now? What do we do next? What are the next steps?

We are precisely on the same upward slope of the hill we need to pass before things get easier. We need to keep pressing. It ain't over yet. This needs to become a Council agenda item. We need to keep spreading word, seek endorsements, petition, show support, and when this does become an agenda item (which I very frankly think it will, very soon) then we need give public comment at City Hall.

And then we can have tea. (God, I miss The Isles Tea Shop. Remember that place? We need that magic back.)

Anyways!  Like I said to someone on Reddit last night: It's ironic that 8 measly feet of fence has had the same impact as The Eddy moving in on the Believe Plaza. Its impact might not be as immediately apparent, but it is precisely the same deal. We're at risk of losing public space, piece by piece, we're battling this porcupine defensive reaction to homelessness. We're experiencing a shift in philosophy. Structural reorganization of our municipal institutions. 

8 measly feet. Think about it!