RFI: Reno NV area

[Dog Guy]

I was born in Reno and never left, so I've been here since it was a very small town. I think Tony Mayer pretty much has the sense of things. Reno itself is nothing to write home about. It's everything that's within an hour's drive that makes it worthwhile. There are highways leading North, South, East, and West out of town, plus the highway to Pyramid Lake. Each one leads you to a different environment any time of year. If you like space and an opportunity to recreate, it's hard to beat. And it's your land: about 87% of the State is BLM or USFS. Friends who have moved to Alabama and Texas have said you don't know how important that access is until you go where you don't have it.
It's weird what you can't find some times in terms of services or goods, but for the most part it's big city-ish enough to get by. The special events are pretty varied if you like that sort of thing. Crime is climbing. We're also getting the huge influx of Californians that are following the tech industries that have moved in after Tesla built their battery factory East of town. To many of those jobs are warehouse or simple assembly in support of "tech companies", as opposed to truly tech jobs with good pay. TNK had that part right, along with is take on local politics. I'm very concerned about the lurch to the left politically. Banning evil assault rifles and taking on the NRA were big selling points in the Democratic Party primary, and the dems won the governorship plus firm control of both house of the legislature. Don't count on historic attitudes towards gun ownership being a good predictor of the future.
Weather is pretty good. When it gets hot, the humidity is usually single digit or maybe up in the teens. We whine about how muggy it is when we get to 30% RH. We don't see much rain, and snow doesn't usually hang around too long after it falls. Occasionally we get walloped by winter, but it's generally not a continuous grind. Summers have been trending notably hotter, and fire smoke has been nasty the last few years.

[TNK]

Once upon a time, a good, hard Northern Nevada winter would drive away the Californians. But there has not been such a winter since 2004-05 when we experienced nearly 90 inches of precipitation, most of it in December and January, and the Truckee River flooded with a quick rise in temperatures.

The winters have been a warmer and the snow less frequent since that time, although a few years have gone above average, but not to the extent to drive away the fair weather denizens of Reno. It is too bad. A good, hard winter sends away the riffraff.

I liked it here when Reno was hit very hard by the Great Recession. It is estimated at least 7,000 people moved away. But now they are moving back thanks to crony capitalism and people who only want to make a quick buck before they move on to the next tech boomtown.

Were the new money to help revitalize the downtown core and clean up the urban blight, that result would be more acceptable than what is happening now: Urban sprawl, heavier traffic, and an increase in crime. No one gets it as they make the same mistakes California did.

My only hope is the history of booms and busts in Reno will cycle again, and we will have an awesome correction to the current madness.

[TNK]

https://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2018/opioid-grant

Presented without comment.

[Dog Guy]

From the article:
"The Reno Police Department plans to include special enforcement teams and gang units to deploy programming around educating the public on gun violence. They will specifically target high-risk individuals and career criminals using intervention methods to talk to people before crimes happen. The department will explain to them the consequences of engaging in firearm violence and help them become more aware of the severity of crimes." Ya know, I've noticed that this is the heart of the problem over the last five years (the timeline referenced for Reno's surge in violent crime): the influx of California thugs and bangers who just haven't had a good explanation of how bad their behavior is. I feel safer already.

[TNK]

The night before last we had a good snow storm in Reno. As a result, there was a traffic jam east of town on I-80. Commuters going to Fernley were stuck in traffic for over 5 hours. It was 5 hours of gridlock, nothing moved while authorities dealt with accidents on the icy interstate.

For those of us who live in town, and stay in town, the icy roads that quickly appear after a storm can be avoided. But if you bring your California attitude over and think a 2 hour commute to work each day is no big deal, you will be disappointed when the roads turn deadly. Yet, the developers keep coming over the hill and selling people a bill of goods.

Buyer beware.

[luckyman]

The night before last we had a good snow storm in Reno. As a result, there was a traffic jam east of town on I-80. Commuters going to Fernley were stuck in traffic for over 5 hours. It was 5 hours of gridlock, nothing moved while authorities dealt with accidents on the icy interstate.

For those of us who live in town, and stay in town, the icy roads that quickly appear after a storm can be avoided. But if you bring your California attitude over and think a 2 hour commute to work each day is no big deal, you will be disappointed when the roads turn deadly. Yet, the developers keep coming over the hill and selling people a bill of goods.

Buyer beware.

By the time I make it to Reno I will be retired so have a zero commute. I’m not sure about “my California attitude”; I was born and raised in the mountains of West Virginia so can maybe be described as “refined hillbilly”. Actually @OlongJohnson or somebody here had a specific term for hillbillies that done went to live the city life, but I conveniently forgot it.

I’m hoping I still remember how to drive in the snow; I learned to drive on sometimes-snowy mountain roads but haven’t had to do that in probably 15 years now.

Not sure about “developers selling people a bill of goods” either, seems to me people do just fine selling themselves a bill of goods all on their own.

Unfortunately I know quite a few of my fellow Californians who are moving just to get in on cheaper-than-SiliconValley housing prices and the next booming place, and don’t even consider California that bad of a place. Of course by California they really mean “bay area plus LA”. Those are the people that scare me. But keep in mind if you paint all Californians with the same broad brush you are probably sweeping up a good 30% of good people into the trash bin along with the 70% who you might feel belong in the trash.

[OlongJohnson]

Actually @OlongJohnson or somebody here had a specific term for hillbillies that done went to live the city life, but I conveniently forgot it.

Here I am, scanning the thread trying to figure out what you're referring to. Don't think it was me.

I actually grew up in the country, learned to drive (late at 13, but I didn't actually live on the farm) on a 40-year-old John Deere and was working the field for pay a half hour later. Carried air guns in the woods unsupervised most of my childhood, and nobody ever put his eye out.

Then I went to LA for almost 20 years and thought it was awesome. Still love that town and many of the people in it, just hate the government that's taken it over. It wasn't nearly as bad when I got there, and my buddies and I would drive around the not-yet-screwed up corners and talk about how the place must have been paradise in the '60s.

So I kinda resemble that remark, whatever it was. In reality, I love the energy of a really big city. I love a real, functional complete neighborhood. I love the peace and beauty of a wilderness. It's 'burbs that make me struggle to love the world.

[luckyman]

Here I am, scanning the thread trying to figure out what you're referring to. Don't think it was me.

I actually grew up in the country, .......

Then I went to LA for almost 20 years and thought it was awesome. Still love that town and many of the people in it, just hate the government that's taken it over. It wasn't nearly as bad when I got there, .....

Ha ignore me then. In my head I must have just connected you to the term,thinking you also matched the definition. I guess I now have no idea of either what the word is or who on here introduced me to it. Must be getting old [emoji3]

[TNK]

http://www.ktvn.com/story/39835069/d...-home-security

Reno continues to slide into the new normal.

[luckyman]

http://www.ktvn.com/story/39835069/d...-home-security

Reno continues to slide into the new normal.

Horrible incident. Yeah, I fear I will never again have the sense of complete safety I had in my youth. Nowhere is truly safe.

At least the somewhat-positive mention of a firearms range, and the tone of the Sheriff’s statement are much better than the “we don’t have any real criminals here, only misunderstood individuals with access to those horrible assault revolver pistol things” narrative I would expect to see in my paper.