Reno Street Audio

While coronavirus is extremely deadly, people are still suffering from other serious medical ailments. The Community Health Alliance is now working with Uber Health so the most vulnerable patients in Washoe County can be taken for free to their own vital medical appointments. In this podcast episode, Scott King attends a recent relaunch of CHA with a new CEO, Reno councilman Oscar Delgado.

Wendy Stolyarov, a progressive, is running for Sparks City Council Ward 1 in Northern Nevada touting several new ideas including what she calls a mutual aid card. After recognizing a need to do more for her community she says she now wants to represent those whose voices are not being heard. This is part of a series on local candidates running for office in the 2020 cycle and speaking on the issue...

Britton Griffith, a former city of Reno Commissioner, is one of the candidates running to represent Reno City Council Ward 1, perhaps the most competitive local seat being contested this year in the Biggest Little City. This is part of our series of interviews of candidates running for local office to hear their ideas on the issues we care about, including helping those without stable shelter and...

Tayler McCurley, a University of Nevada, Reno, graduate, recently launched a private Facebook group called Silent No More: Breaking the Stigma One Story at a Time, with her friend Dakota Brown. It’s so important to deal with our mental health these days with everything going on and all the uncertainties swirling around us, and difficulties we are facing as a society. Both Tayler and Dakota underst...

As part of our special series on local candidates, Our Town Reno reporter Scott King interviewed Elvira Diaz who is putting her hat in the political ring, for the Ward 3 council seat in Sparks, Nevada. She is long time advocate on a range of issues we care about, such as reaching out to those in need. In this episode, she outlines some of her priorities in these increasingly coronavirus affected u...

As part of our special series of interviews with those currently running for office in Reno, our reporter Scott King interviews JD Drakulich, who is running for the council seat representing Ward 1, now held by Jenny Brekhus. Drakulich is a realtor, and he’s also the President of the Board of Directors for the Eddy House, which gives services to youth and young adults without stable shelter in Ren...

As part of a new series, we are interviewing some of those running for local office, to discuss their ideas surrounding homelessness, gentrification, the affordable housing crisis and now coronavirus in the Biggest Little City. Our first interview for this series is with Ward 1 incumbent Jenny Brekhus. Due to social isolation, the interview with Scott King was conducted over the phone and wasn't o...

We went to an encampment earlier this week in downtown Reno to find out if those living without shelter were concerned about coronavirus. Robert likened it to napalm, Elizabeth was worried about her MS, and Emily who is fleeing an abusive relationship was more concerned with the stereotypes people have of their neighbors without stable shelter. The reporters for this episode are Scott King, Lucia...

“We need to find someplace these people can set up camp and be safe." Art Gillespie, a recovery success story himself, is now helping those who are being displaced from one encampment spot to another in Reno, Nevada. This episode also concerns displacements and whether proper written notices are being given before the camp displacements and cleanups take place, and whether there any shelter spots...

“The way the homeless are treated in the state [of Nevada], it’s like, we shouldn't even be alive or we should be lepers on an island somewhere. I don't get it. I've never done anything to be treated the way I've been treated [here].” Bryan, a former business owner, has been homeless in Reno since being evicted and becoming blind. He still works despite all the difficulties but bounces around from...

Derrick Pillors was waiting for the overflow shelter to open up when we met him in downtown Reno. He has plenty of ideas on how Reno could help those without shelter. Why not have an empty warehouse converted into a gym with showers for those on the streets, he asks? Why not have the casinos organize free monthly barbecues for the community, including the homeless? He says he recently stopped gett...

Angela arrived in Reno in 2019, walking all the way from Ridgecrest, California, with her husband. The journey took her twelve days and once in the Biggest Little City, they separated, and her life derailed further. A mother of four, she says, she isn’t allowed to see her kids until they turn 18. She keeps that motivation as her main goal to keep going. Shortly after arriving, however, the setback...

Daniel, who lives in and out of homelessness, has gone through many recent trials and tribulations, including having his ID stolen and getting arrested for sitting in an empty parking lot, where a motel recently got bulldozed down. Working in construction for the past 14 years, he’s grateful he still has a job that keeps him somewhat afloat. At times, it allows him to not only look out for himself...

Muhammad didn’t want his picture taken, but expressed his views on staying at the Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission, as part of their services helping those without shelter. “I'm there right now only because I got caught on crack last month. They took my car and all my property that was in that car. I lost maybe $2,500 in property last month. I'm on SSI and that took a toll on me,” he said. Homeless shel...

“This is really such a blessing,” Michelle Nullius Filius Couyette said of living at the Village on Sage Street, a collection of squeezed in $400 per month dorm units inside containers on land donated by the city of Reno. “I am happy for this opportunity and I really hope more people can take advantage of this. If you meet the criteria, come down and see what you can do with a little space.” The C...

Rudy Leon, a scholarly book editor, two time burner and Midtown resident, who currently lives on about $30,000 per year, recently launched her campaign website RudyForReno. She says she is the one candidate who understands what it’s like to have most of her income go to her housing. This is a podcast version of an interview q and a which ran on the Our Town Reno website and Facebook earlier this m...

When his apartment in Santa Rosa, California, went up in flames during the 2018 October fires, Miles Vinson was forced to move. It was an unexpected turn of events, but Vinson is taking advantage of his fresh start in Reno. “Thankfully I didn't lose a lot [in Santa Rosa],” he told Our Town Reno during a recent Share Your Story session at the downtown Reno library . “But I was already breaking my o...

Tex went back to Texas, where he’s from in the western Midland-Odessa area, after his mother died there, but now he’s back in Reno, where he’s lived on the streets before. He found out some of his friends had died while he was away. “They died out here freezing to death because they had nowhere to go,” he said. “The shelter, I don't care if they have space, I will not ever go there because it's no...

Gordon Gossage is an entrepreneur and burner at heart, who wants to create a new space combining art and housing for the homeless, while also attracting other artists and hi-tech workers. The reporter for this episode is Lucia Starbuck.

Lee says he sees himself as a leader protecting those around him without shelter, and that the sense of community is vital to surviving life on the streets in the winter. “We all do something to pitch in. Some bring food, some bring blankets, some bring medicine, whether it be a bottle to help keep us all warm at night or a little bit of pot. You know what I'm saying? It's real out here. 90% of th...

Paul lost his job as a carpet installer after getting in a fight with his boss, and then lost his place to stay. In an economy turning to high tech jobs, creating higher and higher rents, he now lives away from his girlfriend and dog in his SUV until he figures it out. He discusses his challenges and outlook on a life turned difficult in this episode reported and produced by contributor Michelle B...

Issues surrounding people without shelter seem to be reaching a boiling point across the western United States, including here in Reno. Is society criminalizing poverty or are we showing empathy, or a bit of both? For the Biggest Little Streets podcast, several weeks ago, Our Town Reno reporter Scott King went to City Council to meet with at-large councilman Devon Reese. In Fall 2020, Reese is run...

In Reno, while many people criticize how the local City Council treats those living without shelter, they also disagree on solutions which should be pursued. From handing out donations, to holiday meals, to consistent help, to wanting safe grounds for camping, or more recently suggesting citizen’s arrests, those who show concern can sometimes offer diametrically opposed solutions. Michelle Baker r...

For the past five years, Melissa says she provided for her four kids by working as a cashier at Dollar Tree. But earlier this year, unable to pay for housing anymore she says she became homeless, and then lost her job. When reporter Scott King met her at the downtown library in Reno, her husband, Michael was on a computer filling out job applications. He spent time in jail over the summer complica...

We are at the downtown Reno library where people living without shelter line up to use computers, get away from the elements and try to find new direction. We now also have Share Your Story time with Our Town Reno. A man who wanted to stay anonymous walked up to the table recently with a major dilemma. What happens when Child Protective Services gives you a deadline to get into a treatment program...