CITIZEN WATCHDOG

(Watchdog: A person who investigates and reports on things for other citizens in order to arouse them from complacency.)
click here.

25. The ever-increasing size of SUV monster truck-cars is a problem that is out of control. Drivers of these vehicles have an unfair advantage in accidents. If the vehicle is longer and higher than a standard 4-door car, drivers should have to prove they have a "need" for such a dangerous "weapon"... and take a rigorous licensing test.

24. Reno Gazette business reporter-editorializer, John Stearns, writes articles that are well researched, close to being on the mark, but are almost always punctuated with some sort of comment defending the self-serving agendas of the fat cat Special Interests.
He recently commented (or was it "reported") that: "... (Sam) Dehne's delivery sometimes leaves a lot to be desired..."
He probably must have meant to say that: "The fat cats think that the content of Dehne's delivery sometimes leaves a lot to be desired..."
He is a clever writer... The bowling stadium investment (by RSCVA) was a gutter ball...

23. A basic starting rule for all govt workers who handle citizens' money (taxes): Spend it the way they would spend it... as if it were their own money (that they had to work for). With this concept firmly inculcated into their brains, subsequent decisions have a slightly better chance of being safe from fraud, waste, and abuse...

22. So what if Reno gave a Convention and nobody came? Most citizens who own homes in Southeast and Southwest Reno would rejoice. What authority gives the RSCVA the right to reek havoc upon entire neighborhoods with its ignorant numskull decisions... that perpetrate cancerous growth with no analysis of the horrible negative impacts? Up and down Virginia, Moana, McCarran, Peckham Streets it looks like a devastated refuge evacuation zone. Double trailer 18 wheelers tearing up the streets and diesel vehicles of all shapes and sizes polluting the air hour after hour. Atlantis saloon construction chaos blocking off streets and blasting dirt into the air that citizens have to breathe!

21. When flight after flight is added at the Reno Airport, nothing is ever said about the cost to 10,000s of nearby residents who lose sleep due to the all-day, all-night shriek and thunder of jet engines. What about the lower property values for suburban Reno and Sparks homeowners in in the airliners' flight path? And what about the destruction of entire neighborhoods?

20. The Washoe county commission is getting ready to create its own Community Relations (propaganda) machine. How long until it grows to the size of the $$$million dollar behemoths that Reno city hall and the Reno Airport have? At the instant of creation it will (already) have 3 people and an unknown budget... thus far focusing around some smoke and mirrors bean shuffling.

19. The Juvenile Justice Blue Ribbon task force wants a larger facility to hold minor offenders - to replace Whittenberg Hall. Where to get the money? There is a simple solution. Go to the culprits who are creating the need for a bigger building. The developers, the casinos, the businesses. They are what is bringing more kids to the area. They are called "Impact Fees"... to pay for negative aspects that are attached to cancerous growth policies... the need for more police, road repair, fire and police protection, jail space... and space for juvenile delinquents. "Incarceration" is becoming one of the biggest businesses in Northern Nevada.

18. One reason there is little interest in fire department consolidation and its potential tax savings... is that city hall will just waste any tax savings on another of its pet projects... like the huge Propaganda Machine it has created.
18a. Would they maybe return saved taxes to the taxpayers? When pigs fly.

17. So Reno's impostor of a mayor (he continues in violation of section 1.080 of the city Law) is going to "testify" for the U. S. Gambling Commission. "Hey, Mr fox, how are the chickens doing out there in Reno?" will he tell them about how gambling has helped pollute the air, and ruined the roads, and made Reno government a disgrace to democracy? Will he tell them that gambling money bought his way into the office he is (wrongfully) holding? Don't hold your breath waiting for pigs to fly...

16. Hypocrisy Personified! The Nevada Boxing Commission of boxing amateurs said they were giving Mike Tyson "One last chance..." when they reinstated his boxing license (after the "ear bite"). This is total BS; because they knew he had attacked 2 citizens when they gave him "One last chance...". This is about greed... about $$$ for the casino moguls who push their buttons.
Now Tyson... and the blood money the casinos lusted for... are gone. Tyson is in jail.

15. A slap in the face. Reno city council appointed one of its surrogates to head the Northeast Neighborhood Board. However, he does not even live in the Reno! It gets worse... when the city tries to annex his property (into Reno), he fights tooth and nail to stay in the county. Another negative indictment of Reno city hall ...

14. The outlandish Atlantis gambling saloon and the bank that is financing its grotesque cancerous expansion... are now starting a full-prong propaganda attack (tv, newspaper, radio, ads)... to force citizens taxes to pay for expansion of the convention center (with no parking available)... to fill Atlantis's new rooms... and thus pay their "private" debt. THIS IS CLASSIC CORPORATE WELFARE.

13. The Convention Center boondoggle gets worser and worser. The casino-stacked RSCVA wants to double the size of the building; at a cost to the taxpayer of some $100,000,000. What Reno project has ever come in anywhere near budget? But that is not the only berserk blunder in their number-crunching. Those geniuses forgot to remember that there will be no parking available for conventioneers... unless RSCVA spends maybe another $100,000,000 buying land and building a garage. Maybe that's what they get for letting their greed cloud any sense they might have...

12. Businesses, Casinos, and Resorts (and government) should not be allowed to profit off of the misery and grief they cause regular citizens... from the noise, danger, blight, and pollution they create and exacerbate. EDAWN is perfect example. So is the Atlantis Casino and its outlandish sprawling expansion.
There should be a tawdriness tax levied on all these fat cats.

20. The final nail was driven into former Reno city hall whistleblower, Norris Bacho's, coffin. After blowing the whistle on city hall in 1997, Bacho was summarily fired... which eventually led to his demise. You can read more about that farce by "clicking" here. Apparently 2 wrongs (the city's and Bacho's) make a "right".

19. The lordly fat cats sit in their posh homes up on the Reno hills... and watch the citizen-proletariat grovel in the blight down below.

11. How brazen does it get? The person currently acting as Reno mayor is once again asking his cronies for contributions to his campaign... even after it is over. Not much chance for a huge Conflict of Interest there... Sure. "Say, Jeff, what special favors can we expect from you for THIS contribution... THIS time?"

10. Don't you feel sorry for these elitists who have such a hard time figuring out what to do with all their spare time? "Whatcha say we take (another) safari... to some exotic place and kill some more rare animals?" Some 15,000 of these strange bedfellows converged on Reno in January to discuss just such "problems"... and glorify each other.

9. The "big-time" beckons?? Sam Dehne, publisher/editor of The Reno Citizen, is being toasted/roasted(?) by that epitome of Insider Insultors... "Sheepdip". (Two shows - Jan 22 & 23, 8PM, Reno Flamingo Hilton).
The cover of their fancy glossy Program portrays "SAM DEHNE SPEECHLESS"
Curiosity has overcome indifference... so we gotta be there.
Post report. The Roasters portrayed Sam As Uncle Sam... suit and all... defending the 1st Amendment. Sounds more like a glorification than a roasting.

8. And while we are at it, more kudos deservedly go to Willie Albright of the Spark Tribune. His insightful probes into the backgrounds of often seemingly mundane stories are something that citizens should be grateful for. He knows how to keep his ear to the ground... exposing the often repulsive antics of various governmental TAX-funded bodies... such as the Reno Airport, Reno city hall, the EDAWN, the RSCVA.

7. Intrepid Reno Gazette reporter, Bobby Anglen, deserves some heavy-duty kudos... for his excellent investigative journalism. He has been recently exposed Reno city hall cronyism, attempts at coverups, and general mendaciousness. One wonders how much more tenacious he could be... if his top-brass bosses at the paper gave him free reign...
7a. His latest report exposes some Reno city officials "secretly" discussing the building of a $$$multi-million dollar city hall complex on the river.
7b. Could this be a temple dedicated to the self-aggrandizement of their egos... and citizens' pocketbooks? These officials reportedly discussed this bone-headed scheme out of the view (and knowledge) of the citizens... in gross violation of the "spirit" of the Nevada Open (Anti-Secret) Meeting Laws.
7c. How far might they have gone with this brazen idea... absent Anglen's dedicated scrutiny?

6. Reno city hall's tax-funded brainwashing department is now starting a Citizens Academy. This group of hand-selected surrogates (who are actually surrogates of other city council surrogates) is being propagandized into trusting city hall. Council claims that anybody can be a member. Invitations/applications were mailed out to "participants"... likely to the usual elitist cohorts and cronies. Anybody receiving one of these forms is asked to write The Reno Citizen (please click here to respond with your story.). We won't hold our breath...

Y2K at the Reno Airport? There is a fairly good chance the airport will be shut down for an unknown period of time. Little has been said about computer problems with radar, ground control equipment, xray gear, escalators, elevators, heating, burglar & fire alarms, phone systems, accounting software & pc's, parking garage clocks, and "stuff".
And of course these problems extend beyond just the airport... electricity, oil and gas lines, water and sewer systems, telecommunications, trains and other transit systems, medical equipment, alarms, smoke detectors, automatic locks and fire sprinklers, traffic lights, banking systems, public records, they all have those nasty chips "imbedded" in them somewhere. And there is even rumor that peanut butter might run out.
Only January 1, 2000 will tell... and even then citizens/travelers might not know for a long time...

5. Winter Olympics in Reno? Hmmm.. Reno doesn't have the good-old-boyism, the chicanery, the coercion, the collusion, the bribery, the down right mendaciousness that Salt Lake City has?? NOT!
Let's at least keep a small finger on this hypocritical insanity. Click your mouse here for more.

4. A citizen files a complaint about gross violations of the Open (Anti-Secret) Meeting Law, and the Nevada attorney general gets it right... chastising local government agencies and ordering them to tell the truth on its agendas. But as is so often the case, the Reno Gazette mis-reports... making it sound as if the investigation was the attorney general's initiative... which it wasn't.
4a. Currently the attorney general is investigating (only because of a citizen's complaint) to see if EDAWN is a government agency. It is more than obvious that it is... even having "Authority" in its title and receiving huge sums of public taxes to pay its bloated operating expenses. (Click here for more on secret EDAWN)
4b. EDAWN has been having secret meetings for years... an abject violation of Nevada Laws.

3. Why does local government even bother with window dressing public-input meetings? Dozens (sometimes 100s) of citizens show up to object and protest... and city hall ignores input.
Example: the annexation of huge numbers of innocent "island" citizens into Reno. These people want no part of Reno, and yet they end up being "kidnapped".

2. It did not take long for Washoe commissar Ted Short's (true) colors to show through. Short ran on the platform that citizens should vote on important tax issues... specifically the Reno Railroad Trench Tax fiasco. Just 2 weeks into his term, Short voted against such a proposition proposed by Washoe commissioners Sferrazza and Galloway.. in direct contradiction to his campaign vows.

1. Reno city hall's policy of body-snatching continues unabated... as it annexes innocent Washoe citizens. The key factor is that those citizens simply do not want to be "kidnapped" and controlled by Reno government and its nasty Noodlehead disconjerkutigulation. What a negative indictment of Reno city hall !

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19. What do Furbies and Internet Stocks have in common? People will pay ANYTHING to get them.

18. It is rumored that... as incentive to continue serving Reno, American Airlines will now receive free fuel in Reno, free maintenance, free landings, plus $1,000 per passenger who disembarks here.
"Free" as in YOUR taxes.

17. The Reno Airport and the Nevada Air Guard are brazenly mutilating the 3rd Amendment of the U. S. Constitution: "No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner."

16. The Reno Sparks Convention Authority (the notorious TAX-financed RSCVA) wants to squeeze $105,000,000 more out of the TAXpayers to almost double the size of the Convention Center. (And that doesn't even include any money for the land and the building of a Parking Lot... although it does include a lot more blight for the citizens of Reno.)
Does anybody want to bet that that $105,000,000 won't escalate to... oh maybe 3 times that? Don't forget the TAXpayer-funded Bowling Stadium that skyrocketed from a projected $25,000,000 or so to some $90,000,000 or so... at last guess!
16a. Oh, and how does a less than doubling of the size of the Center (300,000 sq ft to 500,000 sq ft) result in a more than 6-fold increase in "precious" room nights (75,000/year to 575,000/year)? Strange sounding math there...
16b. One more thing... ALWAYS remember who benefits $$$ financially from the TAXpayer-funded ubiquitous cancerous sprawl and blight throughout Reno: the casinos... the construction industry... and other various fat cats. But not the ordinary citizens.
16c. Oh, oh... let's not forget that no tax funds (likely more $$$10 of millions) have even been set aside for parking.
16d. TAX TAX TAX! Soon there will be no money to "spend".
What are they thinking? Where do we find these "geniuses"?

15. The 3rd Amendment of the United States Constitution states VERY PLAINLY:
"No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner."
The diabolical Reno Airport Landgrab against innocent citizens violates this Law even further. It is stealing the homes AND land away from the citizens for quartering (building) of an entire military base!!!

14. The Reno News & Review's cover with a Wanted Poster for 2 County Commissars was great... but it should have included the local mayors and numerous other elected officials... who have participated in the Railroad trench pork-barrel scheme.
14a. A long-time, well respected, assistant Reno city attorney was summarily "let go"... ostensibly because he refused to go along with city hall's bogus scheme to cover up the fact that the current mayor is acting as an impostor as he violates Section 1.080 of the city's Law. (see #4 below)