Letters for September 19, 2002

Putrid parking
My husband and I enjoy the new movie theater by the river. We have been seeing movies there since the theater opened and, for the last year or more, I have been complaining about the disgusting conditions of the parking garage on the corner of Sierra and First streets. This is a garage owned by the city of Reno, which apparently, from its complete neglect, has been forgotten.

I cannot remain silent any longer after this last weekend. The stairwells are disgusting. You dare not use the handrails because they are completely covered with grease, dirt, food particles and who knows what. This weekend, there were even more cigarette butts, empty liquor and beer bottles and the horrific stench from someone using the area for a bathroom. The stairs are stained and cracked from total disregard.

Now we can move on to the elevators. The carpet probably cannot be cleaned, it is so badly stained. It appears as if the glass between the elevator and the outside has not been washed since it was installed, and the cobwebs between the glass and the elevators are so thick you can hardly see out of the windows anyway. The glass partitions around the vintage cars on each floor are just as filthy. Cars themselves are covered with dust and a few tires have gone flat.

I was born and raised in Reno, and I know there are some very difficult and costly problems when it comes to running this city. It was, as I remember, a charming city with shops and restaurants and lots of small businesses. I know that cities grow and change. We now have many empty buildings and vacant lots. Ever other street in town is torn up and hundreds of millions of dollars are being set aside to put a ditch through town. If we are trying to bring both local area tourist business to downtown and especially to the river area, I don’t think spending a few dollars and a little time to clean up the complete filth and disrepair this garage has fallen into would be money misspent.

Reno makes a part of its living on bets and wagers. I am willing to bet that the next time—or the time after or the time after that—when we go to the movies or to some other event downtown and use the parking facility, it will be in the same sorry state. Sad commentary on how the people who run the city … run the city.

Christene Piazzo-Larsen
Reno

Tahoe—it’s practically Sun Valley
Re “The Blue, Blue Grass of Home” [RN&R Calendar Pick, Aug. 29]:

I was just reading your Pick in the latest issue of RN&R and am somewhat perplexed (and I must admit a bit annoyed) by your reference, “… the demand for roots music is high, even at highbrow Lake Tahoe” in relationship to the Sept. 1 Norden bluegrass event.

I’m wondering what we “Tahovians” have done to make you think we are highbrow! Certainly the Reggae shows produced by North Tahoe resident Robby Palomsky’s Renegade Productions are not highbrow. The “boobs & feathers” shows of the south shore casinos may be tacky, but certainly not highbrow.

In the 10 years that I produced the Music at Sand Harbor festival, acts like Peter Rowan, Leon Russell, John Mayall, Dave Mason, David Grisman, Jesse Winchester, Commander Cody and Nicolette Larson were certainly not highbrow.

Even the North Shore’s Lake Tahoe Summer Music festival, which features classical music, includes some bluegrass, and our finest restaurants allow jeans and sweaters without ties or jackets!

But what really perplexes me is the association of what goes on in Norden, Calif., with Lake Tahoe! Let’s look at a map. According to www.maps.com, Norden is 26 miles from Tahoe City (North Lake Tahoe), and 55 miles from South Lake Tahoe. If you drew a 55-mile radius around Reno (or even a 26-mile radius), would you call the communities that circle touches Reno? I think not. I’m afraid you have fallen for the advertising hype of ski areas like Boreal, Sierra “at Tahoe,” and even far away Kirkwood, who refer to themselves as being at Lake Tahoe to capitalize on the internationally known name.

For those of us who moved here like I did 26 years ago from such “highbrow” places as New England or the SF Bay Area, much of the reason we chose this community is it’s casual nature and easy-going atmosphere! Highbrow? I don’t think so. Don’t let the prices of real estate fool you, we’re a pretty easy going bunch here at the Lake, except maybe when people refer to us as highbrow!!

Ed Miller
Wild West Communications Group
Homewood, Calif.