Around the Arch Blog

The City of Reno and the Reno Redevelopment Agency are striving to help local businesses experiencing challenges during the economic downturn. One way they are doing this is by helping small business owners secure financing. 

Last Wednesday, the City Council approved a contract with Nevada Microenterprise Initiative (NMI), a private non-profit agency, to administer the Greater Reno Opportunities for Business (GROBusiness) Program. It is funded entirely by the City’s Community Development Block Grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The GROBusiness Program is offered to qualifying new or expanding businesses in the City of Reno. Additional services through NMI include counseling and guidance to assist with maintaining a viable business, technical assistance, ongoing training, networking, and oversight. For more information about the GROBusiness Program contact the Nevada Microenterprise Initiative at 775-324-1812.

 To learn more about programs and services available visit www.reno.gov, click on Newsroom, then Current Issues, and Recovery & Reinvestment or www.reno.gov/Index.aspx?page=2037.

The City’s new Finance Director Mary Ann Parrot brought her budget team to the podium to be recognized for this honor. The budget team includes Jill Olsen, Gayela Emory, Kim Kilgore and Robert Miller. The Government Finance Officers Association awarded the City of Reno Finance Department with the Distinguished Budget Award for fiscal year 2009-2010.
This award recognizes the high caliber of the City of Reno’s budget documents. These documents provide a clear understanding of the City’s finances allowing citizens and others to be fully informed.

Several online services at www.reno.gov will be unavailable as the City of Reno conducts network maintenance and upgrades.

The interruption to online services will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday, March 26. Every effort will be made to lessen the downtime and to restore these services as quickly as possible.

 The following online services will be affected and may last through Monday, March 29:
• Sewer bill payments
• Parking ticket payments
• Service requests through Reno Direct
• Class registration for Parks and Recreation
• Sewer estimates
• Registration for golf tee times
• Reno Connect email notifications
• Webcams

The online filing of police reports will be affected yet is only expected to be unavailable for a three hour period. Additionally, emails sent to all reno.gov email address will experience a delay in delivery to the recipient.

 We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

Reno Council Member Dan Gustin and Code Enforcement Manager Alex Woodley talk about move to take down about 1,000 flyers from telephone poles and how the City plans to stop this illegal advertising in the future. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpH53MtNXWM]

The Recover Program is all about economic development and helping small businesses get off the ground. Learn more about the program and loans that are now available. [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGPCYxUdoTM

It is now easier to connect to the City of Reno website. The City has changed its web address to “reno.gov.”   Why?   Simply put, shorter is better.

“Reno.gov” is easier read, type and remember!  Plus, the change is part of an overall cost savings measure that saves up to $40,000 a year.

Simply type “reno.gov” into your web browser and you will be connected to the City’s website where you can perform a number of transactions online saving gas or stamps and time! Read the rest of this entry »

Other cities have streetcars and light rail systems…is the City of Reno poised to have them too?   Work continues to make it happen!

The new head of the Washoe County Regional Transportation Commission told members of the Reno City Council a number of significant transportation projects are continuing to move forward including efforts to build a mass transit system along Virginia Street that could include street cars and eventually a light rail system. 

RTC Executive Director Lee Gibson said work continues with the area’s congressional delegation in Washington D.C. to secure as much federal funding as possible for the project.

 The Reno City Council has already approved a four phase concept to implement the plan as well as seven steps to move the project forward. 

The first phase of the project is underway with the introduction of Bus Rapid Transit in the downtown core.  The new RAPID buses began service in October of this year and Lee notes so far, the new buses have increased ridership by 10 % from downtown to the Meadowood Mall from a year ago.      

To learn more about this project go to the newsroom on the City’s website at www.cityofreno.com

The Reno City Council will meet again on January 8, 2010 at 1:30 PM in the Reno City Council chambers to discuss ways to shore up a projected shortfall of $3.6 million in the current Fiscal Year 2009-2010 budget. Another budget session is set for January 27, 2009 to deal with an anticipated bigger shortfall of $16 million in the following fiscal year, Fiscal Year 2010-2011.

In the first of what will be a series of budget workshops over the next several months, City Manager Donna Dreska and Finance Director Mary Ann Parrot told members of the Council today the projected shortfalls are the result of continued declines in revenues and that the City needs to implement long-term solutions to balance the budget in subsequent years. Read the rest of this entry »

Reno prides itself on being a unique, 24 hour town.  That is why many of us love living here!  But some are spoiling the downtown scene by drinking too much and creating all sorts of problems.  What’s the solution to these rowdy, sometimes annoying and sometimes potentially dangerous people? 

If you think  you have a solution that would make the bars, restaurants, downtown residents and downtown businesses happy, you might be a perfect fit to serve on the downtown Alcohol Advisory Committee. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re thinking about expanding your business or starting a new one, you already know how tough it is to get financing right now. Fortunately, thanks to action taken by the Reno City Council today, you now have another option if your business is in the City of Reno.  Check out the small business loan program that will now be administered through Nevada Microenterprise Initiative (NMI). Read the rest of this entry »