Sierra Spirit gets funding from city
April 25, 2007
The City Council today reluctantly agreed to fund the downtown system with $60,000, but complained that the city was funding a larger portion than they should, and that the beneficiaries of the bus, primarily businesses downtown and casinos, should hold some of the responsibility for funding it. Sharon Zadra felt is was absolutely essential for the service to continue downtown. I tend to agree. BUT, if you want to increase use of it, you have to make it sexy. Sexy for Las Vegas is the Deuce bus, a sleek double decker that travels up and down the strip much like our Sierra Spirit but in a larger capacity. It’s extremely popular and successful, more successful than their monorail embarrassment. I feel sexy for Reno would be something similar to what the city of Davis, California uses for its inner-city metro line. Check these buses out! Perhaps if we switched out our yellow short buses out with retro red double decker buses, ridership would go up.
Center Street Improvements
April 25, 2007
As part of my route today I walked down to 8 On Center, on Center Street, and walked to downtown on Center Street. I must say, Center Street is really starting to take shape. The 8 On Center units look great at street level. Landscaping is done. A little birdie told me that the 8 On Center crew has plans brewing for the empty lot and beige house lot across the street from 8 On Center, including some kind of community square. Then, the white house on the west side of Center directly north from the beige house is getting a total restore, including new porch, new porch columns. Further north, several new businesses have cropped up, utilizing Center Street’s quaint old homes as offices or store fronts or restaurants. The Carriage Stone Apartments for Seniors is a nice addition. The coming Children’s Museum will help revitalize the north portion as well.
Construction Updates
April 25, 2007
The Montage is now adding its two upper floors to the existing tower using a huge crane; the space on Second and Sierra (with the black boards over the windows) had their doors open today during construction, and I was impressed with what I saw peeking in, including exposed brick, intricate wood arches, booth seating being constructed tells me it could be a restaurant; Insanely wide sidewalks are being poured on the west side of Palladio, wide enough for outdoor seating for sure; the basic curb/street layout for Grant’s Landing is complete, they should be pouring the streets any day now. And finally, peeked inside Ceols, next to Starbucks on Virginia and California, looks great with a large bar, several tables and classic bar decor with lots of wood and brass. On a side note, when I walked by City Hall today with my dog, Sharon Zadra was on her way inside and stopped to talk about German Shepherds with me for about five minutes. Even gave my dog a doggy treat. She’s nice, my first time meeting her.
Downtown in Pictures
April 22, 2007
A few pictures from a dog walk. We have a pretty downtown.
Grants Landing Pics
April 22, 2007
Added a couple of pictures of Grants Landing. The entrance is taking shape with a median and curbage.
