Beware the Poverty Industry!

A look back at some of our week's reporting and recent Zoom appearance on a local TV station.

On TV

We were interviewed for different segments of a News 4 story on San Francisco developers thinking of turning a local motel (the Reno 8 Motel in artist rendering above) into transitional housing … but wait for it, with a reported $290 per week fee. We aren’t experts and haven’t even reported on this ourselves, but if ever mainstream media calls, we are always willing to help with possible contacts, sources, background we may have, or in this case being interviewed.

Not sure our message which we relayed via Zoom interviews was entirely conveyed in the report, but we want to say it here, beware of those who under the veneer of saying they are helping others, are actually in it only for the profit. When it deals with the poor, it’s called the Poverty Industry. Here’s an excellent book on the topic. It can include those taking advantage of complicated federal programs and subsidy opportunities, who may appear to be helping, but if you dig a little under the surface, sadly, their first inclination was probably, “ok, how can we make lots of money from this situation?”

Nighttime Street Photography

One of our reporters, undergraduate journalism student Gracie Gordon, sent in a difficult series of photos of neighbors sleeping on sidewalks in plain view in downtown Reno, on our main streets, some of them without blankets, some of them with wheelchairs or shopping carts by their side, which we released on our various social media channels, including the full set on our Instagram. This created deep sadness but also neighbors vowing to yet again roll up their sleeves to create both urgent outreach as well as fight for systemic change.

A Short Documentary on a Sweep in Sparks

Graduate student reporter Richard Bednarski produced a short video documentary on last week’s sweep in Sparks which included interviews with advocates Natalie Henriques and Dwight George, as well as with Matt and his partner Mel, who spent a night incarcerated, after “resisting a police officer.” Sometimes you have to see it to believe it. Residents of the encampment mostly moved to other nearby encampments, many back inside Reno. They said the Sparks tent village had been a positive community, but that, alas, it was swept away by bulldozers and armed police directing the process with aggressive body language. Couldn’t they have just picked up the trash, sent social workers instead of police, and let people stay in their tents?

Podcast Episode with the Eddy House Outreach Team

Our podcast episode is an audio walk along with the Eddy House, and a meeting with Matt, who has been living in a tent with his husband since losing a warehouse job during the pandemic. Find and subscribe to our podcast by searching for “Biggest Little Streets” where you get yours.

Accessible Housing Substraction

Above the Renova Flats is a remodeled replacement of the bought out Crest Inn, as part of the massive Jacobs Entertainment buyout. We got plenty of comments across our channels, as we pointed out the motel destructions have led to 1,500 fewer rooms, and lots of parking, new weirdly placed sculptures and unused dirt lots everywhere.

Downtown Makeover wrote in March of last year: “In the next phase, Jacobs Entertainment will renovate four motels including Townhouse, 7-Eleven, Castaway and Sarrazin Arms. It's nice to see them keep these four motels instead of demolishing them, and keeping them affordable.” Well, so  much for the Townhouse. The Jacobs group has promised cheerleaders another update of its grandiose plans soon.

A recent taste from Nevada Business in June 2020: “Like everyone, we have been impacted by this pandemic, and it will change our development timeline,” Jacobs said. “Nevertheless, I am optimistic that by this time next year we will be opening phase two of Reno’s Neon Line along West Fourth Street. Additionally, we are committed to the future development of our master plan including a residential component that contains 10% affordable housing.”

We won’t be invited if there’s a news conference, and we won’t be sent the press release, but we will make sure to keep tabs on these and other developments.

If you have tips for stories we should pursue, or would like to contribute your own, never hesitate to contact us through our website’s form. Until next week in your inbox.