The lipstick-on-a-pig comment gets uttered not infrequently when it comes to the rabid tenor adopted by local electeds and their boosters when they speak of downtown Reno. It’s a tired refrain.
We remember back years ago when Mayor Hillary Schieve touted her “aggressive approach to cleaning up downtown.” That approach persists, as has the chatter about the approach.
The paradox is when, a month or so ago, Schieve called downtown conditions a crisis, but just this week she heaped praise on Jacobs Entertainment and the “miraculous work” they’re doing downtown—work that most are still filing in the “who knows what to expect” category.
What was stressed was Jacobs’ investments into west downtown. What was not stressed was the years of promises Jacobs has made about what was transpiring and when. In 2017, Jeff Jacobs said projects were coming “in a few years.” In 2022, a community meeting by Jacobs’ representatives was widely panned as strangely unproductive and uninformative.
This past week’s cooing and purring by certain Reno City Council members—the same ones who’ve received cash directly from Jacobs—was what we saw when the Sarrazin Arms swaparoo occurred and was touted as an affordable-housing coup. We did the math. The swap netted five new affordable housing units. It also further opened up west downtown for whatever it is Jacobs has planned there.
The “baffling” development agreement city officials bent over backwards to approve largely gives Jacobs leverage to do what it wants. Based on Wednesday’s council meeting, the plan is to improve the J Resort and add a new festival location. The community still impatiently waits for word about what west downtown will ultimately look like.
Sure, Glow Plaza is nice, when it’s in use. The Sands needed a revamp and a new steakhouse, apparently. And we’re sure everyone is excited to see a dozen or so of Jacobs’ European sports cars on display in a fancy garage, a promised deliverable announced at this week’s council meeting. Apparently we need another automobile museum in downtown Reno.
Perhaps when the Jacobs development is completed, it will be a great place to visit for events and whatnot. Unfortunately, nearly a decade later, we still have dribs and drabs of a cohesive plan for what is to occur downtown and a lot of vacant lots. We’re not too much more informed from the 2022 meeting when company representatives were blasted for offering few details on downtown plans.
While Jacobs gets a pass and a pat on the back for the vacant lots and concepts of a plan, council members are slapping lipstick on a pig everywhere else in downtown Reno—such as the $1 million refresh program for the majority “dead and inactive” facades at the city’s core. Perhaps the combination of vacant lots and vacant-looking buildings was too much to praise away.
We applaud the city’s leaders for the fervor they have for spinning downtown Reno as a choice destination for, well, we’re not sure who, on the one hand, but then criticizing the area as being in a “crisis” on the other hand. Such mutually exclusive characterizations must be mentally challenging to parse from week to week.
But the fact that downtown conditions are considered deplorable by so many while also claiming all is well in the city’s urban core suggests rose-tinted glasses are back in fashion.
Especially among certain council members.
– Bob Conrad & Kristen Hackbarth
