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Hot Items this Week
- Special City Council Meeting, 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Reno chambers, Reno City Hall, 1 E. First St. According to an RGJ article, it has come down to deciding to pay the baseball developers $1 million, or keeping flower baskets up this year and keeping our primary tourism corridor clean. I know it may seem trivial, but the downtown flower baskets are the best aesthetic features downtown has right now. If you get rid of those, and then start cleaning the streets less, and downtown will get real ugly. Keeping downtown beautiful is essential to hold onto the tourists that are currently returning to Reno. If tourists see downtown slip and slide into dangerous territory, some of them will not come back. People WILL notice the flower baskets and other features are missing. DELAY THE PAYMENT TO THE SK BASEBALL in order to keep downtown fresh and clean.
- Downtown Alcohol Advisory Committee, Thursday, 2:00, 7th Floor Conference Room, City Hall, 1 East First Street. The committee will discuss how other cities regulate alcohol and decide which ones to study to create a model for downtown. Any bar owners downtown and anyone interested in downtown should attend this meeting. My thoughts? I am never a fan of excessive regulation, and I doubt it will solve the problem of all the drunk aggressive panhandlers during the day which tourists actually notice. If Reno is seen as an overly regulated city, it might ward off 20-and-30-something tourists who like coming here to drink all night and never cause a problem in terms of police calls.
- Townhouses at Holcomb Place - It's rumored they have now sold all their units. It looks like $160,000 was the magic pricepoint.
- Montage Sales - After the tidbit I wrote on the Montage - a couple folks (including a current owner) have come out of the woodwork to verify the sales happening there. I guess the downside to this is, if the units really are selling for that low of a price, the building might go down in value and thus pay less in property taxes in a time when every cent of property tax counts and matters. The upside is more folks will be living downtown. Thoughts?
- Aces Attendance - >9,092 at the Aces game on Sunday! It's great to see so many folks supporting the Aces in season 2.
Comments:
Post your commentsPosted by: Carol G - 5/17/2010 6:46:54 PM
So happy to hear sales at the Montage. Look forward to having more neighbors in downtown. Good for business! Good for those of us that have committed to downtown living.
Posted by: Blake Crosby - 5/18/2010 11:57:28 AM
I have been to Cali, I used to live in Cali, I used to party in Cali, and thankfully downtown Reno is NO Cali. Just check out Broadway and Columbus in SF at 2 AM. It's like brawlapalooza. Reno is smart to have no closing time. People trickle out all night long, and we hardly have the gang problem Cali has. The shooting at W 2nd St Bar was a rarity, but that bar is infamous for attracting thugs, but close that down, the thugs will find another place, maybe 210 North, maybe Tonic. It's just an unfortunate fact of nightlife. Renoites want a lively downtown and they want tourism, so guess what, you're going to get rowdy drunks and thug tourists. You can't screen tourists at the border folks. And quit picking on the bars, the casino contribute just as much to rowdy drunks and thug tourists. You want a peaceful, quiet downtown, go move and party in Sparks or Yerington. Downtown Reno nightlife now is about as good as it gets folks for a city this size.
Posted by: Anakin-Marc - 5/18/2010 11:00:43 PM
Just a thought, and I'm hoping I don't step on any toes with this, but regarding maintaining the flowers and keeping downtown clean, 2 thoughts come to mind. First, RPD and Washoe County Sheriff both have community service as far as I know. Why not use people serving community service to maintain the streets and flower pots? Also, the homeless shelter. Money is poured into the shelter to feed and house the homeless. Why not make it a requirement that in order to use the services of the shelter, those who are physically and mentally able to have to pay for those services in the form of community service downtown cleaning and maintaining the area? It would also go towards solving some of the panhandling issues since the panhandlers would be actually working instead of standing on the streets begging. Maybe they could even be paid some amount for their services, with the costs of feeding and housing in the shelters deducted.
Posted by: robin - 5/19/2010 4:57:09 PM
Montage cannot be replicated for 3X the current price/sf ft. Look at the Palladio...selling new in '06/'07 for close to $400/sf, built on free land & still developer bailed on construction lender. Do not anticipate any new condos downtown for a very, very long time! For anyone wanting a nice new condo in central Reno with great views & amenities this is their chance...providing they have access to cash. Don't expect Montage foreclosures any time soon as cash buyers generally do not default!
Posted by: Doug O - 5/23/2010 7:46:39 PM
I am a tourist (come to Reno twice a year) and I have noticed that the panhandlers are getting more aggresiv e. This last trip we were heading to Harrah's from the Eldorado in mid-afternoon when we decided to turn around due to the large number of panhandlers and one was getting aggressive with an apparent tourist. Reno needs to deal with this issue or soon no tourist will come back to downtown. We are already looking for other areas to travel to and cut back to once a year in Reno.
Posted by: Bugsy - 6/2/2010 11:26:31 AM
Hey Doug O, Unfortunatly the city dosn't deal with the homeless problem very well. When I walk pass a aggressive bum, I stand up to them because they use their intimidation to get what they want. They are weak people and will cave when you stand up to them. So, when they walk up to me, I just tell them to stay off the junk and get a job you bum. They will be shocked and leave with their tail between their legs or will just get mouthy. Its sad but I have to do my share of tough love to show these rats that their behavior is not accecptable because the city wont show them....Thats probably another factor why tourism is down