First, a tip of the hat to Councilmember Naomi Duerr, who shone like a beacon of competence amidst the typical governmental fog yestrday. Consider this Picon’s rare moment of unqualified praise.

The city's initial disappearing act with the meeting video late last night - likely to be explained away as "technical difficulties" - was swiftly followed by the video being restabled after public outcry. The public comments on the Plumas Redevelopment (aka the Lakeridge Tennis Club empty lot) triggered the need for a developer to actually have to work with residents becasue someone on the dais wants to run for mayor, and know this group votes.

In a display of bureaucratic bungling that would be comedic if it weren't affecting vulnerable seniors, Washoe County has managed to turn a planned renovation of the 9th Street Senior Center into a case study in administrative incompetence.

Despite months to prepare for the center's remodeling, the county's solution for its seniors? Cold sandwiches and subpar salads for ten days and counting. When caught serving cold meals, officials attempted to quietly slip these changes into TRIO's monthly meal calendar, hoping no one would notice. But the seniors noticed - and they spoke up.

As Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District bids farewell to Chief Charles Moore, he's leaving with a characteristic bang rather than a whimper. Moore, known for his candid leadership, has lifted the curtain on what appears to be a carefully orchestrated fire regionalization initiative spearheaded by Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve and Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson.

Behind the scenes, State Senator Skip Daly and the mayors have reportedly been architecting a controversial regionalization plan, with Commissioner Alexis Hill eagerly vying for influence. We reached out to a number of people, and off the record, those conversations reveals a potentially troubling tax structure that could double-burden unincorporated Washoe County residents - a detail that sources say Hill dismissed with a revealing comment about Verdi residents' affluence so they won’t notice.

Look who's talking about "unwavering commitment" to all us Renoites. Councilmember Taylor's latest Contribution and Expense campaign report reads less like public service and more like a "Who's Who" of development dollars. Let's peek at the receipt for this shopping spree, shall we?

Picon was sadly amused today to get an update about the Senior Volunteer Fair on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, from 10AM to 12PM, according to the flyer Washoe County Human Services Agency pushed out about a month ago.

Washoe County sent us a reminder at 9:02AM that the Senior Volunteers fair is TODAY, September 21st from 10AM to 2PM.

But, wait, then they issued a correction at 9:37AM that the fair is on January 28th from 10AM to 2PM.

Eight days of sad sandwiches and counting, while Washoe County's highly paid staff keeps serving up excuses like they're going out of style. Permits, then frozen pipes, next they'll blame it on Mercury being in retrograde.

Let's talk about numbers, shall we? While the median Washoe household scrapes by on $81,531, our crack team of sandwich architects is pulling in six-figure salaries faster than they can say "cold lunch."

What is it with the City of Reno’s “Gang of Seven” and the former Community Assistance Center (CAC) buildings on Record Street. Are they embarrassed that the building was allowed to fall into decay on their watches? Well, frankly, they should be, but hey it is only taxpayer money, so they don’t care. Are they afraid they will haunted by the memory of former Mayor Bob Cashell after allowing the buildings to fall into ruins. They should be, Cashell was proud to open the CAC in 2008.

Local homeless advocate, Lily Baran, has brought great ideas forward for these spaces to help homeless women and children, but no matter how good the idea the Reno City Council just don’t listen.

Watch in amazement as the City of Reno's "Gang of Seven" performs their most spectacular illusion yet - making developer deals vanish before elections, only to reappear like magic in 2025.

What's that behind your ear? Oh, just another zoning change.

Renoites start paying attention to what the City of Reno Government is up to. Remember the city put all their developer buddies, builder pals, and lobbyist BFFs on hold in 2024 so they could get reelect.

Wannabe Mayor Councilmember Devon Reese, splitting hairs finer than a Vegas showgirl's eyelashes. So you didn't get an "ethics violation" - you just got a special invitation to a "deferral agreement" and mandatory ethics training in 2023.

Potato, po-tah-to... Violation, deferral... What's in a name? That which we call an ethics breach by any other name would smell as... interesting.

Well, folks, here's your contrast in senior advocacy. Washoe County Commissioner Mike Clark is blowing up Facebook attempting to get Washoe County seniors some decent food to eat, not just a cold sandwich, calling the press; bringing the food to county meetings showing department directors and staff what is being fed to seniors.

But in Sparks their senior advocate Councilmember Donald Abbott is mounting his own press campaign, touting himself, crafting heartfelt Valentine's cards (how quaint), to be handed out to senior citizens in February. Councilmember Abbott makes sure there are enough valentines to accompany Meals on Wheel deliveries as he mentioned on KOLO yesterday. Hey, Donald, heads up, we think the seniors would like some food they can eat, a hot meal instead of five days of cold sandwiches which we ponder if the “meal” meets state or federal guidelines. But where the heck are you? That’s right you’re on KOLO TV Morning Break with Katie Roshetko talking valentines and not food. Find a spine and bring up something important, no it’s all Abbott self-promotion.

Picon remembers the Sparks Library controversy involving The clash arose when Mayor Smith attempted to prevent the first Drag Queen Story Hour at the library, sparking a feud with Director Scott. This incident raised questions about Mr. Scott’s humanity since Mayor Smith was terribly ill at the time, battling cancer, passing away in 2020. This was the start of an ongoing feud with Jeff Scott vs A Whole Lot of Folks that continues to this day. Picon thinks it was this feud that cost Scott the WC-1 ballot measure loss.

Greater Reno/Mark Robison did some due diligence at the request of The Education Crusade, regarding why you can watch porn at the Washoe County Libraries but cannot watch porn at the Clark County Libraries. We question the whole “grant” issue and ponder why Clark County gets the same grants as Washoe County, but Library Director Jeff Scott professes they cannot limit access to the internet. If they do they will not receive the grants they needed to bring high speed internet to the Gerlach Library at a cost of $2.3 million. Frankly we’re not going to spend the amount of time needed to track down grant disclosures and limitations, but someone with more time than we sure should.

Turns out Washoe County forgot one teensy detail while shutting down the 9th Street kitchen - actually getting permits for the backup plan. Yes, folks, in a building that LITERALLY HOUSES the Northern Nevada Public Health Department, they couldn't get their permitting ducks in a row. You can't make this stuff up.

So now, our seniors are being served the "Washoe County Special" - cold sandwiches for FOUR STRAIGHT DAYS. Oh, and no soup because they don’t have the permitting to cook it.

Picon noted that media/press are asking questions as to the closure/remodel of the Washoe County Senior Center on 9th Street. You know, the facility that County Manager Eric Brown and his Human Services team are remodeling during the winter months in Northern Nevada.

Grab your parkas - Washoe County's putting on quite the winter performance. Picture this: elderly residents shivering outside a makeshift dining room in January because somebody thought winter was the perfect time to remodel the Senior Center. But hey, at least County Manager Eric Brown got his cozy $34,000 bonus. Who needs outdoor heaters when you've got all that warm bureaucratic air?

Our Town Reno just pulled back the curtain on the City's ReStore program, and what do we find? A spectacular show of making property owners' basic responsibilities vanish into thin air - using YOUR tax dollars as the magic wand.

First let us say, this is no reflection on Crak N’ Grill, we’re on the side of small business owners, and if the program and the money is available, go for it. What we question is the thought process of our overly-paid City of Reno elected officials.

Well, grab your popcorn and your protest signs, folks - the sequel nobody asked for just dropped at Lakeridge. And unlike most sequels, this one's actually more terrifying than the original.

Picture this: A five-story monstrosity that looks like someone played Tetris with storage containers and called it "luxury living." Local residents are calling it "jail house rock" - though that's honestly unfair to jails, which occasionally have better architectural design.

What started as a simple street abandonment in September 2024 has turned into Reno's longest-running political circus, starring our freshly-minted Vice Mayor Kathleen Taylor, who squeaked into office by the skin of her teeth.

Fun fact: She even managed to charm the Washoe County Republican Party into an endorsement. Talk about a magic trick. Picon ponders if she would have won against the very Democratic Frank Perez without it. We know of a few Republicans who leaned they were duped who want their votes back.

You've got two types of seniors at these meal sites. First, there's the social seniors who come to chat, play cards, and enjoy some company (bless their hearts). Then there's the folks who genuinely need these meals to, you know, survive. But don't worry - the county's got it all figured out with their totally unbiased survey!

How unbiased, you ask? Well, they strategically cornered the dependent seniors in the food line for glowing reviews in 2023. Funny how they "ran out" of surveys for everyone else... until they spotted a press badge, then suddenly surveys materialized faster than you can say "damage control.”

Oh, you Renoites crying "no politics, it's only 2025!" Bless your hearts. While you're trying to recover from your holiday food coma, Councilmember Devon Reese is already playing political musical chairs for the 2026 mayor's race. Because nothing says "I'm totally confident about my future" quite like scrambling for support a year early. Picon calls it “political chumming ,” throwing bait in the water to see what support you can catch.

Speaking of confidence... let's talk about that stunning Ward 5 victory. And by stunning, we mean Reese scraped by with 1,412 votes against checks notes ...who exactly is Brian Cassidy? Despite having a war chest that would make a Vegas casino blush and every developer, builder, and power broker in his pocket, Reese barely outperformed a guy whose biggest claim to fame was some local TV commercials for his small business. Talk about a profile in courage.

Oh, honey. Washoe County is doing that thing again where they think we can't do basic math or read between the lines. Let's break down this bureaucratic theater, shall we?

Picture this: Once upon a time, seniors got daily visits with their hot meals. Now? They're lucky if they get a lukewarm "here's your food, bye" drive-by. But don't worry! Commissioner Mariluz Garcia has written very important "opinions" about Washoe County Seniors in the RGJ. Slow clap

Breaking news from the "Better Late Than Never" department: Washoe County has emerged from its bureaucratic hibernation plan to send notifications to North Valleys residents about Swan Lake. Yes, the same North Valleys they've treated like their distant cousin at family reunions.

After a history of managing North Valleys issues with all the grace of a swan on roller skates, the County is attempting to show they care. Perhaps they found North Valleys on a map? Or maybe someone reminded them that these residents also pay taxes? County Manager Eric Brown even sent an email to the commissioners.