The Boy Wonder of Sparks

Councilman Donald Abbott reminds everyone and anyone within listening distance he was the youngest person ever elected to the Sparks City Council. Who do we blame for that, you the voter, who seem to have been sold a bill of goods by “The Donald.”

Abbott lives with his mom, Donna, who he trots out to events, takes out to dinner, posts on social media, and acts as his cashier at Donald’s fundraisers, smart move, you have to tell Donna to keep the change.

Abbott is on the Sparks Senior Citizen’s Advisory Committee and the Washoe County Senior Services Board of Trustees. What has Donald done for seniors? No, we mean really, what has he done. Please tell us, and we’d appreciate facts, we were unable to find any articles via a media search.

We’ve asked several senior activists who are engaged in the Sparks community, and they couldn’t tell us one thing other than, “He takes care of his mom, Donna” and “he’s a nice boy.” We commend him for taking care of his mom, but there’s a whole lot of seniors in Sparks that he seems to be doing nothing for.

Abbott called into the Washoe County Senior Services Board until his opponent, Chris Garvey, showed up earlier this year and now he physically attends the meetings. He drops by the Sparks Senior Center and has lunch with his mom and wanders through the rooms greeting seniors. Based on that, we know Abbott has a career at Walmart as a greeter if he needs one, if Walmart decides to bring the program back.

Abbott is in the middle of Older Americans Month, and we’ve gone through his social media pages we can’t find any posts about festivities and events for the month seniors might enjoy. How involved was he in the process? It would appear not so much. The City of Reno is promoting dozens of senior events during the month, and yet it appears the City of Sparks has allowed Washoe County to do the heavy lifting. Thank Donald.

You’ll note Abbott asked once on social media for volunteers at the Sparks Museum and Cultural Center, they are very needed. Abbott is a trustee at the Sparks Museum. Abbott allows voters to think he is a historical advocate but that seems to be only for photo opportunities.  We were entertained when we saw Chris Garvey’s Facebook page. Her photo in front of the empty lot that used to be Immaculate Conception Church on Pyramid Highway with a big Abbott campaign sign behind her, but it gave us pause. Garvey is holding a brick from the church that was demolished in 2022, by the developer who purchased the property, Silverwing Development. We can’t find where Abbott ever raised a stink about it, commented on it, tried to protect the historic church, but why would he the developer was a contributor to his campaign, and many other campaigns in Sparks.

For those of you who didn’t follow the destruction of this historic church, that was added to the National Register of Historic places in 1992, but being on the list did nothing to save the building. The late state architect, Frederick DeLongchamps, who built some of northern Nevada’s best known landmarks. He designed over 500 buildings in the state, including the State Capitol in Carson City and the Second Judicial District Court in Reno, that Washoe County is now allowing to fall into disrepair. Where was Abbott calling out Silverwing and trying to save this historic Sparks building, he was probably at a restaurant opening posting a photo. Immaculate Conception Church in Sparks was one of DeLongchamps lesser-known buildings, and the Catholic congregation that used the church moved to a new location in early 2000.

Alicia Barber, a local historian, and publisher of The Barber Brief said tearing down the building would be a great loss to Sparks.

"The loss of any building listed in the National Register of Historic Places is not to be taken lightly, much less one designed by Nevada’s premier architect, Frederic DeLongchamps," said Barber. 

There was a promise to sell the bricks from the building, so people could have a remembrance but that idea sort of flew the coop. It seems a few people managed to buy a brick and Chris Garvey nabbed one since she was married in the church per a social media post. Garvey posted a photo and commented on the money Abbott had taken from Silverwing Development. We wonder since the lot belongs to a developer and Abbott parked a campaign sign there does this mean he’s got an ‘in-kind’ contribution?

Picon thinks you should toss a brick at “The Donald” and vote for anyone but an incumbent in 2024.