Businesses: New shelter a disruption

They spoke.

They paid.

They associated.

They participated.

They hung tough.

In the end, they won some and lost some.

Business owners on Fourth Street in Reno watched in dismay as the Reno Homeless Shelter after 10 years of acrimonious debate arose in their historic Lincoln Highway neighborhood.

Their most recent victories came as the 40-member Reno Sparks Corridor Business Association settled a lawsuit brought by the group against the Reno city government.

"In the end,we got the better lighting, and better police protection.An agreement that this would be the only campus, and that the homeless must queue inside the buildings, not out on the street.We required that restrooms be put in the center.

The campus was originally designed without restrooms! They didn't want to deal with that," says Gaye Canepa, president of the group.

The owner of Fred's Auto Repair, Canepa says problems are commonplace outside the campus that opened late last year.

"Now we have all the car campers in the world.We have massive camping under the Wells Street overpass.We report it and nothing happens.

Or the car gets tagged and then moves a block down the street,where it's legally parked again," she says.

A priority, she says, is street lighting on Fifth Street.

"The street people run from the light.

They don't come out until late afternoon."

Another problem:

"One business owner near the campus finds his parking lot used as a public outhouse," Canepa says.

Mike Sullivan, owner ofWindy Moon Quilts at 440 Spokane St.

and vice president of the business association, says,"The female clientele doesn't appreciate panhandlers, homeless and trash in street.

On Spokane Street we're seeing less of the homeless since the Morrill Street shelter closed.

But those near Valley Road are inundated."

Merchants agree that other business impacts following the homeless center's opening include shoplifting, breaking and entering into vehicles and buildings and frightened customers.

They fight it with fences,walls and video cameras, says Canepa.

"But no one is closing or leaving," she adds.

The business association also wants a police precinct station, staffed around the clock complaining that the current substation inside the National Bowling Stadium is manned part-time with a rotating staff.

The police department also assigns a county deputy and a city officer to work in its crisis intervention program and its homeless evaluation liaison program, says Doug McPartland, commander in charge of central district.

"The police presence has picked up," Canepa allows,"But we need a full-time presence."

Part of the agreement with the city calls for quarterly meetings between city officials and the merchants' association.

The next meeting may be in March.

The merchants' group has a wish list for future development.

It wants residences built.

They think the neighborhood, situated on the border of downtown and the university, is a good location for high-density housing up to 14 stories tall.

A new city redevelopment district includes the East Fourth Street businesses.

In a redevelopment area, taxes resulting from property improvements stay within the district to pay for public projects.

But this time, the merchants want to be present at the planning from the start."We want our own board and chairman on the committee," says Canepa.

Many East Fourth Street businesses date from the days when the Lincoln Highway brought tourists rolling into Reno from across the land.

They still enjoy a clientele built over the years, says Canepa.

"The whole street has a neat history," says Ed Scalzo at Forever Yours furniture.

"They're so busy building the new that the old is forgotten."

The store does $1.5 million a year in sales, says Scalzo "But I hear someone opens on South Virginia and does $3 million to $5 million the first year."

But despite the ongoing fight over the facility for the homeless,merchants are optimistic about the climate for their neighborhood.

Retail stores moved into the ground floor of Fourth Street Partners at Wells.

Streets are cleaner after the sheriff 's department assigned work crews to the task.

City Vista is good dwelling development, says Canepa.As is Pac West, affordable housing for seniors, and filled for five years.

The group knows what it wants to be: the funky little shops, the services downtown doesn't offer.

Places like Big Ed's Alley Inn and Nevada Fine Arts, D-M Western Store and Windy Moon Quilts.

And, things are looking up.

"Recently I've been contacted by four entities looking to buy, to buy and build, to lease, to renovate," says Canepa."It's a wonderful sign."