By Dr. Alicia Barber
By now you’re likely aware of the local general election results, but if not, you can find the unofficial results for Washoe County on the county’s Registrar of Voters site here and the Nevada Secretary of State site here. Keep in mind that those pages only show the County returns for all offices including state and federal races, so if you want to see the results for the entire state, click here.
The results for the City of Reno races will be officially declared in a Special Reno City Council meeting on Friday, November 15, when the newly-elected City Council will be sworn in and the new six-ward configuration for Reno city government will go into effect. You can find that meeting agenda here.
Six City Wards = Six Neighborhood Advisory Boards
One of the most critical questions for me is how soon the City of Reno can get the Neighborhood Advisory Boards (NABs) fully reconstituted (and in the case of the new Ward 6, constituted). Membership on many of the NABs has significantly dwindled with the imminent shift in ward boundaries, leading to frequent cancellations due to lack of a quorum. As a reminder, that new six-ward map can be found here.
As of today (11/11/24), the City’s Neighborhood Advisory Board information page still shows the old five-ward configuration, so I hope that can be updated ASAP. Other City pages also need to immediately reflect the new six wards, from the New Residents page to the Land Development Projects page and Newsletters sign-up page.
I seem to recall that each NAB used to have its own City webpage, complete with lists of its board members (and number of vacancies), the ward map, upcoming meeting agendas, and other relevant information. Considering the important role that these NABs serve, I’d like to advocate for the return of those NAB-specific webpages, and also for an immediate City of Reno social media campaign to promote the number of current vacancies on each NAB and explain how to apply to serve on them.
A city ward is an interesting geographical division, situated somewhere between our immediate streets or neighborhoods and the city as a whole. The redistricting process attempted to define the new ward boundaries in ways that grouped together areas that were not only contiguous but shared similar traits and concerns, but each one still covers a wide and diverse swath of physical and socioeconomic terrain.
For that reason, it’s desirable for the board members of each NAB to represent as broad a cross-section of the ward as possible, in order to ensure that its members truly represent the interests of that geographical area. The NABs, as each ward’s citizen body, are a space for residents to discuss their concerns, goals, and priorities, and help build a shared sense of place-based community. And now that the City Council will no longer have an At-Large member, each of the six Councilmembers will be accountable to the residents of an individual ward and will act as the primary advocate for their concerns and interests. So it’s critical to hold them to that, and bolstering the membership and civic engagement of the NABs is a good place to start.
You can apply now to serve on your ward’s Neighborhood Advisory Board via the city’s general Board and Commissions online application found here, so if that interests you, it’s time to take action and get that paperwork submitted.
Preview: November 13, 2024 Reno City Council meeting
All public City meetings for the week of November 11 can be found on the Current and Upcoming Meetings page. There’s a Council meeting this coming Wednesday, November 13, so let’s check out a few development-related items on that agenda.
Item D.1 – Downtown updates for the month of September. As you can read in the Staff Report, this update defines downtown as the Business Improvement District areaand measures progress with respect to three strategic objectives:
- Strengthening Economic Conditions
- Improving the Built and Natural Environment
- Enhancing the Downtown Experience
You can read more about the metrics and highlights for each in the Staff Report.
Item F.2 – Bella Vista Ranch Phase II PUD Amendment. Staff report here.
Item F.3 – Calvary Chapel Zone Change. Staff report here.
Item G.5 – Election of the Vice Mayor. As you can read in the Staff Report, this occurs every November (even before election results are finalized). The Vice Mayor holds the office for a year, performs the duties of the Mayor in his/her absence, and acts as Mayor if the office of Mayor becomes vacant, until the vacancy is filled.
Be sure to skim the full meeting agenda for other items of interest to you. You can attend the Reno City Council meeting in person on Wednesday, November 13 beginning at 10am or virtually by registering here. Comments can be delivered in person, by submitting an online public comment form at Reno.Gov/PublicComment; (2) emailing [email protected]; (3) leaving a voicemail at 775-393-4499; or 4) participating in the meeting via Zoom.
A major step for the Lear Theater
The Historical Resources Commission meets on Thursday, November 14 at 4pm, when they will receive and review the Historic Structures Report on the Lear Theater (501 Riverside Drive) recently completed by Architectural Resources Group, and discuss possible recommendations to Reno City Council regarding next steps for the building. You can access the agenda for that meeting here and the entire report in the meeting packet found here.
This is an exciting and much-anticipated step, as the report includes a full condition assessment (not surprisingly, it’s in fair to poor condition), treatment and work recommendations, conceptual alternatives, and some preliminary cost estimates for several options (ranging from $17.6 million to 21.8 million, with numerous exclusions).
The study describes and evaluates four conceptual alternatives:
Option 1: Building Stabilization
This option is intended to prevent further deterioration during the building’s short-term vacancy by preserving its significant architectural features, protecting its structural integrity, and addressing any immediate concerns related to weathering or environmental exposure.
Option 2: Community Arts and Culture Center
This option would construct a flat floor in the large auditorium space (where the floor is currently sloped) to accommodate flexible seating for multiple uses including stage performances, dinner theater, meetings, and conferences, or banquet seating for weddings and special events accommodating approximately 250-300 guests, adding a banquet kitchen, dressing rooms, new restrooms, an elevator and more.
Option 3: Performing Arts Venue
This option would construct new built-up stadium seating on the main floor to seamlessly integrate with the existing balcony seating, to create a space suitable for “community theater” programming to serve the needs of local and regional artists and arts organizations. This would result in approximately 325 seats and would include a new concession area, dressing rooms, new theatrical equipment, elevator, and more.
Option 3A: Performing Arts Venue retaining sloped main floor
This option would add new theater seating to the existing sloped floor, staggered for marginally improved sight lines and result in approximately 297 seats.
The HRC will be discussing the report’s contents as they consider formulating their recommendations to City Council. This is a hybrid meeting that you can attend in person at the McKinley Arts and Culture Center or virtually by registering here.
Read the rest at The Barber Brief.
The Barber Brief is an independent e-newsletter and blog written by Dr. Alicia Barber on the Substack platform. It is reposted by This Is Reno with her permission.
