RAD's New Infographic is Rad!

The Regional Alliance for Downtown has released a new info-graphic (shown below) highlighting downtown Reno's great neighborhoods. The info-graphic is not  a map, but a guide displaying each of our unique downtown neighborhoods and why they kick ass.

For the first time ever outside of downtownmakeover.com, central Reno's neighborhoods are featured side-by-side as one cohesive unit. The beauty of these districts is they are all walkable. It's about 2 miles from Midtown to UNR.

I attended a couple of RAD's economic development committee meetings, where most of the graphic was conceptualized and designed, and I can say first-hand, this was a lot of back-breaking work that took nearly five months to complete.

To not only get neighborhood leaders on the same page, but also the University of Nevada Reno and casino stakeholders, was quite an accomplishment. In the end, everyone involved with the project is stoked about the results. This kind of collaboration that transcends the Merchant Association level, is what I would like to see more of in the future. Our neighborhoods are intricately tied together in one form or another. The fact that all of these neighborhoods are progressing forward in renewal, revitalization and redevelop helps fuel each of their individual efforts. For example, many of the new residents moving into the West of Wells area help to support commerce in Midtown...and the commerce and shops in Midtown make living in West of Wells that much more appealing, because it's all walkable. Many of the people who work downtown also live downtown or in the surrounding neighborhoods featured in this info-graphic. The reason many of us live downtown, is because of the revitalization happening in ALL of these districts, simultaneously. As Midtown has grown, West of Wells has really cleaned up its act and reduced crime year over year for the past four years. At the same time, downtown has transformed from strictly an entertainment strip to a true neighborhood with hundreds, if not thousands, of new residents downtown the past 10 years.

In addition to feedback ollected about the neighborhoods and how they should be represented, a survey was done of over 1,000 downtown residents, and these results were included in the graphic as well.

Despite what the C.A.V.E.s say (Citizens Against Virtually Everything), 90% of the people living downtown are happy with their neighborhoods, 44% eat out 1-3 times a week, most are right around the same age as me, and 56% walk as their primary mode of transportation.

There are more people living downtown now than ever before, as evidenced by a now-full Palladio, Arlington Towers and Montage. It's hard to find a home in Midtown for rent or sale. There are even more amazing projects under construction in Midtown and downtown.

In other words, it was time for an info-graphic like this to come out. I'll be re-aligning my neighborhood guide to match RAD's branding and efforts over the weekend, so also look for big changes to this site as well! You can pick up a full-size graphic over at RAD's website, here.