Social Safety Net
Looks like we ruffled some feathers at Washoe County HQ. All we did was ask about these mystical "safety net services" they're fond of mentioning. Googled it. Nada. So, we did what any curious cat would do - filed a public records request.
Cue the bureaucratic shuffle. First, we get a non-answer. Then, Mr. Marc De La Torre from the County Manager's Office gets official, calling it a "self-explanatory descriptor." Self-explanatory? Descriptor? Sure, if you're fluent in government gibberish.
Mr. De La Torre's response.
It’s a legitimate question, you know, to have Washoe County Government’s Bethany Drysdale Media and Communications Manager respond to a media query from KOH, regarding REAP bussing homeless from rural communities to the Nevada Cares Campus. In her response Ms. Drysdale referred to “other safety net services” Washoe County provides.
Daily Media Report from Bethany Drysdale.
If Washoe County is going to use a bunch of platitudinous nonsense such as “safety net services” you need to be able to step up and name them. The services that is.
We believe the individual answering us is the same Marc De La Torre who left the County Manager’s office and became one of the #2s in the Washoe County Registrar of Voters office in the fall of 2023, and then quickly moved back to the manager’s office. No one at Washoe County ever explained the hype around his “move” to the ROV and then the silent return to the manager’s office.
Media from Washoe County October 2023.
Here's a wild idea: If you're going to throw around terms like "safety net services," maybe, just maybe, you should be able to name them? California seems to have figured it out. We suggest Washoe County take some notes?
California DDS website.
Pro tip for Washoe County, when you say something that can’t be backed up, don’t go low with “not a title of a record.” Next time, try this revolutionary approach: answer the question. Oh, and if there is no answer, fess up.
And, yes, we can all figure out what “safety net services” could and should be so that’s why we just couldn’t understand why Washoe County didn’t simply list a bunch of services and send back to us, real simple.
But hey, thanks for the English lesson on "descriptor," Washoe County. We're sure that'll come in handy next time we're searching for the county's invisible services.
A word or phrase used to identify or describe something
A descriptor can be a word or phrase used to identify or describe an item, such as a subject or document, in an information retrieval system. For example, an index term is a type of descriptor.