Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve outlined some of the city's biggest successes in 2017 and her priorities for 2018 in the annual State of the City address Thursday.
In the coming year, Schieve said we can expect to see emphasis put on improving outdoor recreation, bringing in more affordable housing, and building a more efficient transportation system.
Schieve mentioned the affordable housing shortage in Reno, saying "we're not out of the woods yet," but named several of ongoing projects, like the Park Lane development, as examples of progress. She said there are 4,000 new housing units in the pipeline for Reno, and a new affordable senior housing project under the purview of the Reno Housing Authority.
Schieve also touted some of the major changes to Downtown Reno, like old motels coming down and new businesses, like Apple, going up.
"The business improvement district aims to put ambassadors in the downtown core who will work on critical areas of focus like homelessness, cleanliness, and providing welcoming information for our residents and tourists," Schieve said. "Many people are noticing our downtown revitalization. I keep saying, 'You won't recognize downtown Reno in three years.'"
The homelessness problem, which has been a hot topic in City Council meetings recently, wasn't a major feature in the address, although Schieve did applaud what she called the "regional approach" to addressing the problem.
Schieve said public safety is also getting a boost. They want to add at least 30 more police officers by 2020. That would bring the total force to 360. And recently the city added a full time detective who works with the FBI to investigate child sex trafficking.
Schieve mentioned that fire resources are strapped as well as police, especially following a record-breaking fire season, but did not mention increasing the size of that department.
RSCVA Executive Vice President Jennifer Cunningham also spoke, painting a rosy picture of Reno's tourism industry. She said a new ad campaign targeting the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Seattle caused a major spike in website visits.
"Our city has finally become cool from a national perspective," Cunningham said.
New this year, the city held a "Community Engagement Fair" before the address, where citizens could meet and greet city leaders, police, and firefighters.
