Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve spent a few moments today giving ThisisReno a preview of what will be covered at tomorrow night’s State of the City address. The city is hosting a community engagement fair and sports expo tomorrow at 4 p.m. at the Reno Convention Center. Dozens of exhibitors are set to appear, including most city government offices as well as the Reno Police Department, LIME, Reno Aces, Wasting Arrows Archery, the Reno Bike Project, and the Truckee Meadows Parks Foundation.
Reno City Councilmembers and Schieve start their speeches at 6 p.m. Details: https://www.reno.gov/government/state-of-the-city
Here is what Schieve had to say. (Comments are paraphrased for readability.)
What is the state of the city?
The state of the city a big engagement event. It is meant to get local government outside of city hall. Government buildings may not be comfortable for everyone, so this is an opportunity to engage with what is happening in the city.
The state of the city is also our report card. It is where we’re going and what are our challenges and accomplishments from the last year.
What are the positives?
We have lot going on in the sports realm. Truckee Meadows Community College is doing a new sports complex, casinos are making investments into restaurant brands and e-sports, and we are history in the making with what we’re seeing out of Nevada basketball.
Sports has shaped Reno overall, and we have to continue to be innovative as a city.
Building permits up by 21% for housing, and there are 1,600 affordable housing units coming onto the market. The Sage Street complex and what the Community Foundation of Western Nevada are doing for affordable housing needs to be recognized.
Where do we need to improve?
Housing.
The tough part about housing is that it’s such a dire need in our city. There’s not enough time to talk about it comprehensively, so a public forum will be announced to discuss the region’s housing issues.
We need this so people can really hear about initiatives taking place, including many partnerships and what some developers are doing to work on the issue.
A forum will get all of us on the same page. There are a lot of different players involved, and we need all these people in the same room, with the public, to talk openly about the issue.
