Reno Street Audio

Many people don't realize there is an informal economy and mutual aid society of sorts that continuously operates in tent cities. Gracie Gordon interviews James, a Baptist from Alabama living along the Truckee River, who helps others by fixing their bikes. He says he's "fixing to move" though because he's heard of an oncoming police sweep.

Troy says he’s been in Reno since 2006 and without stable shelter for the past three years. He says he used to be a carpenter who helped build houses, but his disabilities have made it impossible for him to pursue that line of work anymore. One of his prized possessions is a small solar panel he uses to charge his phone. He avoids shelters, he says, because he doesn’t want to be told when to wake up, and also likes to stay with his girlfriend and a dog he’s been taking care of he calls Squeaker. Our street reporter for this episode is Richard Bednarski.

After experiencing roughly 13 years of living on Reno’s streets, Linda, 70, says she wants to leave the Biggest Little City. She recently survived a stroke, but says she will not stay in local shelters anymore.

“They're not nice. Everybody fights to their teeth. I'm staying out on the streets where I’m safe,” she said. Although Linda is among the demographic most susceptible to Covid-19, she remains unafraid. “I'm 100% safe. I have taken the test eight times and negative eight. Now I can leave Nevada safely,” she said.

She's survived fights, thieves, and mistreatment by others, so she is fearless in a way. But she says she does suffer from “loneliness.” She says people like her gather along railroad tracks, but when the group gets too big, it attracts unwanted attention.

She says she feels she’s one of the “mentally ill,” but has given up on seeking out resources as well. It’s too much of a hassle, she says. She says she burned her hair.

Where will she go? She doesn’t want to say, but her rolling suitcase seems neatly packed and she’s by the downtown bus station. In this episode, we will also hear from Tony who says he tries to find harder to access spots not to bother anyone or to get booted in police sweeps.

”They go on the other side of the river, where all the parks are, so the police kind of leave us alone here,” he said. Unlike many others living in their tents, Tony says he keeps very little so he’s able to quickly adapt to any situation that may come his way.

He says some of his neighbors sometimes try to go into local shelters on cold nights, but have to wait hours and sometimes get turned away, so many give up even trying. Our reporter for this episode is Gracie Gordon.

“Currently, I'm homeless. I got my own little camping set up," Darius said when we met him on the streets of Reno. He said he’s found ways to get early morning day labor without needing an ID, which he says was recently stolen. People don't always realize what an ordeal it is to get an ID back when you are also trying to survive moment to moment. Biggest Little Streets is that rare podcast which gives the microphone to people detailing how they are trying to get back on track, amid a life affordability crisis.

Our reporter Gracie Gordon goes to two skate parks in northern Nevada to get an update on the skateboarding scene which perseveres despite COVID-19 and occasional winter storms. She interviews Chase McMullen, a veteran skateboarder who says he used to be a troublemaker, but now he’s working on an Instagram page full of videos and photos to support, inspire and motivate younger skateboarders. Gracie also goes to the North Valleys Regional Park to meet with Eddie Washington, the founder of the Reno Skate Alliance.

Elaine Voight, who takes no salary for herself, has been helping ex-felons rejoin their communities in northern Nevada by helping them navigate the uphill battles they face when released from prison. The paralegal began another group called “Friends and Family of Prison Inmates” in 2002.

“The goal for this group was to provide understanding to those who have been left behind when a loved one goes to prison. I know from first hand experience what judgments are carried over to the families and the shame, frustration, anger and sense of abandonment the families are trying to work through. After a few meetings, we realized that those leaving the prison system were experiencing the same feelings but from a different perspective,” she writes on the My Journey Home website. Listen to her interview with Richard Bednarski as she gives an update on the type of help she now provides and how get to this point.

Reporter Richard Bednarski goes into the church kitchen of Cowboy Tom as he prepares holiday meals for groups helping those without stable shelter in northern Nevada. What started as a small catering business grew into a community wide initiative to help others struggling.

Ashley, a mother separated from her children, has been staying at Barbara Bennett park in downtown Reno by the tennis and basketball courts and the Truckee River for the past several months and has been without housing for the past year. She used to work in housekeeping but she says a broken foot derailed her life. Reporter Scott King finds out more about her difficult journey.

As part of our series of street audio postcards, Scott King interviews Rico who was carrying around tree branches after others asked him to try to make some DMT with root bark. He says he lost his way after losing three brothers in short succession, but that he's a good soul. “I’ve been in Reno for approximately six years and I would sum up my experience in Reno with patience, pain, and love,” Rico said. He says he hopes to soon enroll at TMCC and take classes like psychology, philosophy and languages like Hindu or American Sign Language. Those classes will prepare him, he says, to take on a position as a life coach, aside from his pursuits as an artist.

As a graduate student at the Reynolds School of Journalism, Scott King spent his entire 18 months as an Our Town Reno reporter. From podcast episodes to share your story at the downtown library sessions, from night time street photography to documenting early morning police sweeps, Scott has been from tents to motels to the river and alleys of Reno interviewing and listening to those who live on the streets of the Biggest Little City. In this episode with current grad student Richard Bednarski, Scott, a former Peace Corps volunteer from Cleveland, shares his on the street reporting insights.