Leaves & Transit
Hello to all! It’s been a while since my last newsletter. I enjoy writing these but, like many things in this chaotic second pandemic year, it’s taken longer than I hoped. For me, the year has been family and friend focused, making up, at least a little, for lost time in 2020. These shared times have filled me with gratitude. I am also filled with optimism as the pandemic retreats and, hopefully, we are all on a trajectory more of our own design. Exciting times to come!
And so without further delay . . .
Ward 1 Issues
I migrated to this newsletter from the NextDoor site, where I often responded to neighborhood-specific issues and concerns. While I’ve tried to be Ward 1 focused, over time I’ve increasingly used this newsletter as an opportunity to discuss citywide and regional issues (more at the end of this newsletter about my upcoming citywide focus). But with respect to Ward 1, if it is late fall leaves are always a topic.
We are the City of Trembling Leaves and those do come down with the season. It is long and sometimes meandering, but Walter Van Tilberg characterized about three generations of Renoites past and present in his acclaimed 1945 novel:
In Reno, however, this universal importance of trees is intensified, for Reno is in the Great Basin of America, between the Rockies and the Sierras, where the vigor of sun and the height of mountains, to say nothing of the denuding activities of mining booms, have created a latter-day race of tree worshippers.
But concerning this year’s leaves, the City sweeps those up and other debris when it does street cleaning. Here is some detail, complete with a schedule (click the map): The City also has a truck with a vacuum hose that sucks up leaves. This effort is separate and apart from the sweeping program. The City does not operate the vacuum truck on a set schedule because, according to the Public Works Director, it is uncertain when the leaves will fall in any given year. Every year people reach out to me inquiring if it is OK to rake leaves into the cutter. The party line is NO.
While the City has some responsibility for leaves that fall from parkway trees (those trees on the land between the sidewalk and the back of the curb), it does not provide a leaf pick-up service. As mentioned on the website page, residents are urged to bag leaves and put those out with the garbage. Waste Management customers get stickers for excess waste such as leave bags every year. I check my mail every day for the stickers as they arrive about this time of year.
Customers also get four free trips to the Commercial Row transfer station. This is another opportunity to dispose of leaves (I’ve made two trips already this fall with leaves and other items). And a friend told me she puts her leaves on the Craigslist “free section” and some people come pick those up who want them for mulch.
This isn’t to say, though, that if you do rake your leaves into the street the City won’t pick those up when the vacuum truck makes it to your block. Or that the piles will not get worn down to mush by cars and get picked up by the sweeper. The goal of all this effort is to prevent leaves from clogging the storm drains flowing under the streets and to the river. That can cause spot flooding. However you decide to deal with fall leaves, please keep planting and caring for trees in the spirit of the City of Trembling Leaves.
Pinehaven Fire – 1 Year Anniversary
The first anniversary of the Pinehaven Fire coincided by a day, with the 11th anniversary of the Caughlin Fire. Both incidents started in the same area, threatened the same neighborhoods, and involved NV Energy's power infrastructure. For me, it was a time for reflection on a decade of increased wildfire risk and to think about what the future holds.
The 2011 fire occurred a year before I was elected and at that time, the City had laid off about a third of its workforce, including firefighters, due to the Great Recession. While those layoffs were not indicted in the damage that resulted from the fire, I think it did hinder the City’s ability to respond more proactively to the increasing threat of wildfire.
Fast forward to 2021, and firefighting resources have been restored (albeit population numbers have also increased, as has the suburban built environment threatened by wildfire), and the City is better poised to prepare for wildfire risk. It is an issue that must be front and center in western communities like Reno. I started working for local government in 1993, and I cannot think of a parallel government service with more changed dynamics than firefighting.
This Is Reno did a piece about the first anniversary and lessons learned.
Jacobs Entertainment
They got their deal and incentives in a 20-year agreement. One of the more substantive deal points is that while your sewer rates will be going up, Jacobs gets a personalized cut rate on his fees. Please remember this because you will hear much about sewer costs in 2022. The inequitable distribution of costs between ratepayers and developers like Jacobs, the unknowns about major expenditures for the infrastructure to convey and treat wastewater, and how those expenses are allocated is and will continue to be a front and center issue for me.
Veteran reporter Anjeanette Damon’s investigative piece on Jacobs reveals a lot about city hall. If you read one story about local government to end the year, this is it. It continues to be a topic of conversation.
Speaking of topics, many local ones are not being reported upon these days. This is Reno and ProPublica (Damon’s new outlet) require reader support to do their work. Please consider supporting them. There is a growing body of evidence that when local issues are not being reported upon there is a loss of governmental accountability AND increases in debt spending!
Whip & Catalytic Converter Ordinances
The City Attorney’s Office proposed a few ordinances recently to address emerging issues. The first one pertained to bullwhip use. I first learned of this subculture activity in July, but evidently it has gone on for several years. While a lot is unknown about whip users, it is an intimidating behavior and the noise it creates does, to the untrained ear, sound like nearby gunfire. When the ordinance came to Council for final adoption, I did not support it primarily because I wanted the ordinance to apply citywide.
The ban area was entitled “downtown” but encompassed a large swath of the urban core. While proponents explained that the ban pertained only to City-owned lands (like parks) and streets, that explanation became logically difficult to reconcile with the exclusion of outlying suburban parks and streets. Proponents explained that these areas should be excluded because more people own horses and livestock on their private property in these areas and may use whips in association with animal ownership. Virginia Lake is curiously just outside of the ban area (and is now redistricted into Ward 1), so I will be keeping an eye out for the activity to migrate there as geographic specific ordinances tend to push activities into areas where they remain legal.
The whip ban grabbed a lot of attention, including an article by a journalist who recently relocated to Reno from New York and who has been writing some interesting pieces about her new hometown. I’d recommend following her as her “fish out of water" perspective on Reno is humorous and insightful at times.
The City Attorney’s office also came forward in coordination with the Police Department with an ordinance related to catalytic converter theft. These auto emission control devices contain some rare metals with a high resale value. This is a reasonable approach to counter a proliferating problem. It is of particular concern in neighborhoods like Old Southwest, where people keep their cars on the street overnight, as the theft of a converter can take minutes and be stealthily accomplished.
New City Council Ward Maps and Constituents
Regarding redistricting, that every 10-years process happened. While you’ll probably be hearing about state redistricting in the weeks ahead as it heads to the courts, redistricting City Council ward boundaries for a small and nonpartisan body like the City of Reno is a less dramatic endeavor. That is not to say that it does not cause some bruised feelings. You may want to watch the video here from the Council’s unanimous redistricting vote to see for yourself what goes on when partisanship is not a driving force.
While the City charter and state law provide certain parameters for redistricting, there is a subjective element to the process. A guiding principle is to keep areas of common interest intact within a district or ward. These can be neighborhoods, business districts, apartment complexes, common interest communities (also known as homeowners associations), and other locations. While it is generally a best practice not to divide areas of common interest, how to define one remains subjective.
The Ward 1 Neighborhood Advisory Board adopts a map that generally shows areas of common interest that are identified as neighborhoods. This is because much of the Board’s focus is about geographic areas within the ward, and the map facilitates a common understanding of Ward 1’s subareas.
Around 2016 when the Neighborhood Advisory Boards (NABs) re-formed, I urged the Council to also adopt a neighborhood identification effort to recognize neighborhood associations and the like. This was intended to be in the spirit of how a federal agency consults with states, local governments, and tribes when making decisions that might impact those entities. In a similar vein, a neighborhood association program would allow for City interaction with more localized stakeholders on any given issue, like a street improvement project. Neighborhood associations could also be consulted by those advancing private property development projects that come before the Planning Commission.
The five NABs follow ward boundary lines and are too large to discuss neighborhood-level issues and gather input in a meaningful manner. When I worked as a planner for the City of Albuquerque in the 1990’s, there were over 100 City-recognized associations. Some were highly organized and worked to develop affordable housing; others were solely for the purpose of hosting an annual neighborhood potluck. The level of organization was self- determined and varied. I left the Reno City Council’s redistricting meeting thinking that perhaps the process illustrated the need to rethink the neighborhood identification idea.
The end result is that for the remainder of my third term on the Council, I will have some new Ward 1 resident constituents but will also lose some that I’ve enjoyed serving. Ward 1 grew geographically larger as result of redistricting because it added fewer residents than other wards between 2010 and 2020. I get more constituents, which means more people to meet and hear from. I’ve already taken a field trip and reacquainted myself with some of these neighborhoods. A win!
Funding Transportation
You’ve probably been hearing about the bus system over the past six months. While it has been described as a labor dispute, like many things in these COVID times, underlying problems have been exacerbated, can no longer be ignored, and need to be addressed. To explain this acute situation, some context is necessary.
A lot of the complexity in the delivery of local government services and infrastructure is usually dictated by two drivers – 1) how something is funded and 2) the roles played by the local, state or federal agencies (or any combination of the three) involved in providing the service.
When I attended graduate school, Intergovernmental Relations was a required class. I went into the class thinking it was, to be kind, a dry subject. Yes, I knew from a prior civics class that we have different levels of government in the U.S. and that they have different roles. I left that class still not too impressed. But as the years have gone by, my appreciation for the nuance of intergovernmental roles has increased as those relationships essentially set the table for how any service is delivered.
Transportation is a bread-and-butter government service that is highly dependent on the different roles played by, and funding sources available to, federal, state, and local governments. The federal government has a particularly large role in funding our country’s transportation needs and allocates most funds to the states based upon population.
Federal transportation policy has, for many years, emphasized that “fiscal resources are constrained.” This places a burden upon states and local governments to prioritize their needs and how they spend federal transportation funding. This is an important concept because transportation needs, whether they are new roads, repairing failing ones, or constructing and operating a transit system, are essentially endless.
In my view, Washoe County government agencies have not adopted this concept, for purposes of setting priorities, in a meaningful way. We seem to think that we can have it all. We can’t, and when it comes time for the rubber to hit the proverbial road - that is, deciding which projects to fund - the decision-making is opaque and too politically driven.
To this end, I have long advocated that the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) of Washoe County needs reform. It is a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), an agency recognized by federal law to advance transportation planning. Our MPO has a five-member board of directors comprised of two County Commissioners, two Reno City Council Members, and one Sparks Council Member or the Mayor. Seats on this body are coveted because the board has an outsized role in making transportation funding decisions. Other members of the Reno and Sparks City Councils and the Washoe County Commission have little direct input on major transportation funding decisions.
I believe this small board needs to be doubled in size to 10 members with the same composition as the Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Agency, another local agency. The five-member composition was one allowed by federal law years ago and would not be allowed today if the agency formed anew. With the expanded membership that I propose, different voices and views would be at the table to help formulate the region’s priorities.
One priority that is not being funded adequately is the transit system. Prior to being elected to the City Council in 2012, the RTC Board appointed me to the Citizen’s Transit Advisory Board. In serving on that board, I learned a lot about the system. My term coincided with the Great Recession when local sales tax, a primary funding source for the system, was cratering and services routes were cut in response.
While some of these services were restored post-Great Recession, the system still is not adequately funded. This is playing out in these COVID times and now with the labor unrest that has cumulated in a two-month long series of strikes by bus drivers.
People have seen a lot of improvements to the transit infrastructure over the years and this may contribute to misunderstandings about the system’s financial stability. This is related to the intergovernmental relations of transportation funding. The federal government almost always pays for bus stations like the newish ones in downtown Reno and Sparks and shelters likes those along the Virginia Street route, but operational costs are a local responsibility.
This labor unrest has been detrimental to those for whom the transit system is a lifeline. These are our transit dependent residents who cannot afford car ownership, or the disabled and elderly that are not able to drive. The bus system that has essentially collapsed is critical for everyday activities including work and medical trips. Most riders I’ve met are sympathetic to the drivers who endured difficult working conditions during COVID and are a long-term skilled workforce. Both drivers and transit riders are frustrated that RTC has been unable to get the system up and running. I’ve also heard from one employer who has been driving workers to job sites.
The core problem in solving the labor strife is that transit has not been a transportation priority for our community. This is sadly ironic because Washoe County citizens are generous in taxing themselves at the gasoline pump for transportation. In 2008 we voted for a fuel tax that will not sunset and escalates with a cost-of-living index (Clark County’s sunsets in 2026). This tax is presently around 38-cents per gallon.
I’ve advocated that the fuel tax needs to be capped and cannot continue to escalate unchecked. This is particularly true today in this time of high gas prices. This may take state legislative action (remember the discussion about intergovernmental roles – the state has a hand in this funding component), and as the Council’s attention turns to a legislative agenda for 2023, I will advocate for a cap. BUT, some portion of the fuel tax must be set aside to support the transit system, which is not the case currently.
This proposal is fair to consumers and will establish a less volatile funding source for the transit system. I know this is a long post, so I won’t go into the urban planning theory of why a transit system is a critical component of a transportation system and imperative for a flourishing region. If you are interested in that, here are links to two of my favorite transit thinkers, and you can read up on the topic yourself. Transportation for America is the preeminent advocacy organization for rethinking transportation priorities for improved livability outcomes. Jarrett Walker is a sometimes consultant to RTC Washoe, and a big thinker about how systems of all sizes should maximally operate.
Even if you are transit skeptical and inclined to think that most buses drive around empty (not true, we have an efficient system when operating), you benefit by living in a city with a functioning transit system (e.g., fewer cars on the street to add to congestion). Because I am not an RTC Washoe member, I cannot lead on the interim fix, and this has been frustrating as a City Council member because it is our urban residents who are being most harmed.
Me for Mayor
As mentioned previously, my focus has been increasingly on citywide and regional issues, and in 2022, this will translate into a campaign to be Reno’s next Mayor. If you’ve heard me say in the past in private conversations that I would not run for Mayor, I was only recently convinced of my eligibility to run so, please, excuse past statements to the contrary.
While writing these newsletters is probably not the most efficient use of time for a candidate (as few voters will read 3000-word posts), I think that they are helpful for me to articulate the priorities I want to bring to that leadership role. This newsletter’s theme is a “city planner who is a city council member” and it will not be a campaign instrument. Hopefully, you’ll be seeing that in other contexts, and I am excitingly awaiting my new election logo and getting back on the campaign trail. It is always a fun journey for me.
I wish you all the best to the end of 2021 and lots of positive thoughts for 2022!
Jenny Brekhus is the Ward 1 Reno, NV, City Council Member. When opinions and views expressed appear without other attribution, they are those of Jenny Brekhus and do not reflect official views or positions of the City of Reno or the Reno City Council, unless otherwise noted. This publication and any response it generates communicated through any channel may be subject to disclosure under Nevada Public Records Act if it substantively refers to City of Reno business.