The Opinion of the RGJ Editorial Board

A new set of laws to clean up downtown Reno is being considered that would outlaw spitting on the sidewalk, sitting on train trench lids and looking at mobile devices while using crosswalks.

“The proposed ordinances stem in part from a downtown action plan study that found the condition of the city's core is an impediment to housing development,” RGJ government watchdog reporter Anjeanette Damon wrote.

These laws being pushed by the City Council are a non-response to Reno’s housing problems and instead feel more like scapegoating the homeless.



The proposals being considered by the Reno City Council would ban:

• Spitting on sidewalks

• Climbing on structures not intended for climbing (meaning Burning Man art)

• Sitting or lying on train trench lids

• Sleeping on sidewalks or other public property

• Panhandling from medians

• And crossing the street while looking at a mobile device.

Let’s not kid ourselves – these laws target homeless people. As the ACLU rightly notes in a letter against the proposals, they are highly likely to be selectively enforced.

A family climbing a sculpture to take a selfie or a Hot August Nights tourist who spits will rarely be ticketed. In Denver after similar laws were passed, advocates found that enforcement disproportionately fell on that city’s homeless; the laws were simply used as a tool to move people around and did not involve connecting individuals with services.

The Reno Police Department has acknowledged the problem of simply harassing people. “A new Reno police policy advises officers to first give a homeless individual violating a new ordinance a warning and offer to connect them to whatever social services they need,” Damon reported. “If the individual declines to go to the shelter when space is available, the officer can arrest the individual.”

Sending people to a shelter, only works if the shelter has room. Toward that end, Reno is working on building an overflow shelter on Sage Street. But if there is not room, the anti-vagrancy ordinances cannot be enforced. And this highlights the fault in the ordinances:

If there is room at the Reno shelters, if those shelters are effective and if permanent housing options are available, then the laws are not necessary. If there is no room, the shelters are ineffective or there are no permanent housing prospects, then the laws merely add stress and harassment to already difficult lives.

These proposals are window-dressing that will allow the city to occasionally clean up the so-called undesirables downtown. They won’t create lasting change. Instead, they will divert law enforcement resources toward relatively trivial behavior and push homeless individuals into other neighborhoods. If only property owners with weed-covered lots and boarded-up buildings were targeted with such zeal, then the undesirability quotient downtown would really diminish.

Although downtown and the adjacent Midtown district face different challenges, it’s worth noting that Midtown blossomed from an eyesore to a vibrant hotspot without such laws.

Admittedly, spit on the sidewalk is gross and a rational justification could be made for some of these laws. But if the Reno City Council is serious about tackling housing issues downtown, it should focus on developing a long-term plan and set aside these petty proposals attacking the vulnerable in our community.

Editor’s note: This is the last editorial with this particular set of board members. We want to thank the public members who devoted many hours to discussing issues of importance to our community and helping formulate editorials. They did it with generosity and respect for opposing views. They were Allyson Rameker, Jenifer Root, Andrew Schadegg, Michael Siva and Dan Webb.