Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve delivered her third State of the City address last month.
It’s been quite a year for the Biggest Little City.
The city is trying to move forward after the ousting of former city manager Andrew Clinger over sexual harassment allegations.
The city council also attacked the city’s housing crunch and a growing homeless population.
Leading that fight is Mayor Hillary Schieve.
Schieve told KNPR's State of Nevada that the housing situation is one of her biggest priorities. The part of the problem, according to the mayor, is the lack of product.
The city can help by streamlining the process for builders.
“We can come in there and make some zone changes make some ordinances and really streamline the process for builders to get and put product into our market,” she said.
But the problem isn't just houses, it is also affordable houses. Schieve believes the city can help address that part of the housing crunch by partnering with developers.
“The city might not have a lot of resources financially, but we certainly have a lot of land,” she said.
Schieve said private-public partnerships will bring more affordable housing to the area.
“I think because the need is so great we are seeing so many developers come forward and want to be a part of the solution," she said.
As far as the homeless population, the city of Reno is working to solve that problem and improve the downtown area at the same time.
Schieve said the business improvement district for downtown will allow 60 ambassadors to come downtown and help homeless people find the services they need.
“Once we have those ambassadors in place, they are able to provide wrap-around services, get them housing, get them into our shelters and really come in with a process, get them into the system so we have seen cities do it that have been highly successful with it,” she said.
She said the city of Reno looked to Sacramento as a model for improving the downtown's business area and dealing with the homeless population.
The cleanup of downtown Reno became a big priority after the city conducted a survey of residents and they overwhelmingly wanted the downtown area improved.
“The biggest thing they wanted to see was a clean, vibrant, and safe downtown,” Schieve said.
During the Great Recession, downtown motels became dilapidated and filled with people who had few choices of where they could live. Schieve said the city had to get strict about those buildings because they were hurting the city.
But they also had to find places for people, who were calling the motels and old buildings home, to live. The city, charities, and developers worked together to find them places to go.
A fight that is still going on in Reno's downtown is over strip clubs. Schieve said the city council decided on a moratorium on strip club applications. But she doesn't think pushing them out of the urban core is the right thing to do because it just pushes them into a different neighborhood.
Schieve believes the clubs should be carefully watched over instead and some of the issues that have gone on inside the clubs need to be addressed.
Overall, Schieve believes efforts to improve downtown Reno are going very well.
"It is pretty miraculous," she said.
New housing and retail are taking over once dilapidated buildings and the city is emphasizing art and culture in the downtown.
Schieve said Reno is the gateway to the Black Rock Desert where the annual Burning Man Festival is held every year.
She said downtown has now some of the art from that festival.
“We’ve got a lot of positive feedback," she said, "A lot of national feedback. It is something that I think we’re very, very proud of.”
While Schieve is happy with the progress being made downtown, some of the trouble the city has had has been within the walls of city hall.
A sexual harassment scandal last year forced a city manager out of office. Schieve said she is taking a "deep dive" into the case and what the city went through.
She has proposed creating a 24/7 hotline for city employees to report misconduct.
“I’m looking at every single way we can make them feel comfortable to come forward," she said.
She also wants to get feedback from city employees about how the city could improve how it handles issues like harassment.
Hillary Schieve, mayor, Reno
