Living in Reno Tahoe - We love this place
BY SCOTT MORTIMORE
photography by David Siegel

THERE ARE EVENINGS WHEN STACEY CROWLEY REALIZES WHEN IT IS ALMOST TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. Often, Crowley and her husband, Tim, will stroll from their home in old southwest Reno. They know the route well. The attractive homes of the old southwest give way to the Truckee River. The evening’s light softens as they stroll past the Truckee, its waters a soothing murmur.

“We have four friends along the way that we’ll sometimes stop and visit on the way to downtown for one of the Friday night concerts in the park,” Crowley, a 35-year-old work-from-home architect. “We really enjoy the walk. One of my favorite things about living in this area is our neighborhood, and being so close to so much.” Then, they head to a downtown area that has been infused with energy and purpose over the past few years.

“You have to remember that where I grew up (in the Detroit suburb of North Bloomfield Hills, Michigan) there wasn’t a lot of open space. It’s so different in our area. In any direction, after only a few minutes, you have such great access to open space, or to great things to do.”

“Since I’ve moved to Reno, there are things I have access to that I never did when I was growing up.”

Crowley isn’t alone. Over the past few years, Reno has become a destination that is redefining itself with imagination and possibility. It’s become a great place not only to visit and recreate with the abandon that the slogan, “America’s Adventure Place,” suggests, but it’s also a great place to live and work.

“It’s so different in our area. In any direction, after only a few minutes, you have such great access to open space, or to great things to do.” – Stacey Crowley

Thanks to a regional and national branding effort that is just kicking into high gear, the region is coming to represent a hub for businesses that realize their workers are their most important commodities. These businesses are increasingly looking to northern and western Nevada as well as Lake Tahoe as an area where their bottom line can prosper – and where their workers can also grow in real and personal ways.

Highly trained, well-educated individuals are moving to Reno because of what it offers, as well as what it represents.

“The availability of things that are important to a young professional, to a family, to a person in mid-career, to a person who is finished with one career but is looking for more challenges, they’re all here,” says Jeff Griffin, who served as mayor of Reno from 1995-2002 and has lived in Reno twice. Griffin moved from the Bay Area to Reno in 1975, and then, moved away from Reno following his term in office to serve as a regional director for FEMA. He lived in the Bay Area and then Bend, Oregon, before he and his wife, Marna, realized that all roads eventually lead back to Reno.

“That’s one of the things you don’t truly appreciate about Reno unless you leave for a while and then come back: you have great options, and it still has that small-town feel. The area has great job opportunities, a great education system, great health care, great cultural and recreation assets that you just don’t find in other places.”

Then Griffin chuckled, remembering his days sitting in traffic in the Bay Area, either in the early 1970s, or in 2003 in his new post with FEMA.

“I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be than right here. It’s an exciting time for the city, and for the region.”

FORMER MAYOR OF RENO JEFF GRIFFIN photography by David Siegel

“I left the Bay Area 32 years ago for Reno, and then I returned to the Bay Area, and believe me, it only takes about two minutes of being back in the Bay Area to say, as your car comes to a complete halt on the freeway in rush hour, ‘Now I remember why I left here,’” he says. “Reno is so much different. We don’t have, relatively speaking, traffic or crime here. The taxes are generally low. We have the type of system of government in this area that encourages citizens to become involved in the issues, to have a say in the future of the place.”

“I have many friends in the Bay Area who would love to come here. I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be than right here. It’s an exciting time for the city, and for the region.”

Why is it such an exciting time? A number of factors are fueling the region’s renaissance.

For starters, there is the region itself. Like a character in a Wallace Stegner novel, the sense of place in Reno – with its surrounding mountain ranges, the easy access to Lake Tahoe, the Truckee River – is stronger than ever before.

“When you say Austin, Texas, or the Silicon Valley, or Salt Lake City, there is a definite picture that comes to mind,” says Steve Hull, a former high school principal and school superintendent for Washoe County. Hull is a Reno native, though he moved away as a teenager, received his education at UC-Santa Barbara, launched his career in education and then returned to the area – along with his family and four children – in 1990.

Today, it is Hull’s job to help the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN), the Northern Nevada Development Authority (NNDA) and Nevadaworks, which coordinates workforce development in northern and rural Nevada, in their efforts to recruit and provide a skilled workforce in six targeted business sectors throughout the region.

“At some point, those areas all reached the perfect time where they were growing and they were developing a strong identity for their region, or their particular city,” Hull continues. “This really is the perfect time for Reno. It’s all about this area maturing at its own rate, and realizing what the area has to offer.”

Sand Harbor, Lake Tahoe. (Paul Hamill) Blue sky, big air. Pro skiing at Lake Tahoe. (Keoki Flagg)

Hull, who has always loved the outdoors, doesn’t have to run through the list of outdoor activities that are available in the area. More than a dozen Lake Tahoe world-class ski resorts are located within an hour from the Reno-Tahoe International Airport. Heading west, or east, heading north or south, within 90 minutes of Reno are more than 50 golf courses, from monstrously challenging 7,000-yard-plus layouts such as Montrêux (home to the PGA Tour stop, the Reno-Tahoe Open) to historic, stately venues such as Washoe County Golf Course, whose tree-lined fairways were once walked by the likes of Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

The Truckee River has also become a key anchor to the region’s outdoor portfolio. After years of not fully realizing the Truckee’s beauty, the past few years have seen an unprecedented surge in the Truckee’s use. The City of Reno’s Truckee River Whitewater Park at Wingfield, a thrilling 2,600-foot-long whitewater run featuring 11 drop pools, is located at downtown Reno’s Wingfield Park. It is home to the annual Reno River Festival in May, where overflow crowds of spectators for four days make their home along the Truckee’s banks while professionals and citizen kayakers engage in a variety of adrenalin-rushing competitions.

In addition, mountain bikers and hikers find the nearby mountains, from 10,776-foot Mount Rose on the southern flank of the Truckee Meadows to 8,266-foot Peavine Peak to the north, home to excellent views and lung-testing climbs. In the winter time, Mount Rose becomes a playland for backcountry skiers and snowmobilers looking for the ultimate challenge.

“Everything is just so easy to get to,” says Chris Vargas, a former star quarterback at the University of Nevada, Reno in the early 1990s who, following his professional career in the Canadian Football League, moved back to Reno and is now raising his family in the area. He’s a partner in a locally owned wealth and financial planning firm in Reno. “I love to ski, and I love to play golf, and how many times can you do that in a single day? I can remember going up to Mt. Rose (ski resort) to ski in the morning, and then playing golf in the afternoon, and then calling one of my friends who lives out of state and telling him, ‘How great is this? Where else can you do this in one day?’”

The same sense of endless opportunity applies to the area’s arts, culture and nightlife offerings. One of downtown’s most unique features is the Nevada Museum of Art. The four-level, 55,000-square-foot, Will Bruder-designed museum offers a wide array of programming, events and exhibitions that have truly become a focal point of the community and an important factor in downtown Reno’s redevelopment. Within walking distance of the river and its parks and the public events such as the city’s highly successful Summer Concert Series are a number of impressive condominium projects that promise to further redefine the experience downtown Reno offers.

“This is a moment in time where there certainly is a critical mass building for downtown,” Griffin says. “You’ve got a place for young professionals to live and work and play, right downtown. Young professionals want this kind of experience, and Reno is working on providing it.”

For Crowley, who moved from the Bay Area and the promise of quick ascension in an internationally recognized architectural firm about three years ago, the Reno-Tahoe region has all of the pieces needed for greatness – great place to live, great place to work, great place to recreate.

“It’s the beauty, the water, the open spaces, that make this such a truly great place to live.”– Stacey Crowley

“There’s so much more to the place. You have no idea.”

CHRIS VARGAS photography by David Siegel

It’s all a matter, she says, of bringing all of the pieces together in a way that will sustain all of the quality of life indicators that people find so important.

“How can this place continue to grow and still maintain its quality of life, and make it, ultimately, an even better place to live?” she asks. “It’s important that we remember that it’s the beauty, the water, the open spaces, that make this such a truly great place to live.”

To that end, EDAWN and other organizations have embarked on a branding and marketing effort that could be among the most unique campaigns ever attempted. Among the goals, says Julie Ardito, director of public relations for EDAWN, is to better distinguish Reno-Tahoe’s offerings to specific groups and individuals that, if they decide to relocate to the area, will bring with them a similar kind of “critical mass” in terms of the abilities and talents and skills that Griffin was referring to when he spoke of the bricks-and-mortar revitalization effort in downtown.

“The brand and what it represents is really an opportunity, a competitive move on the region’s part to bring to the table all of the strengths that we have in our area, so that we’re all working in tandem,” Ardito says. “You can’t ask people to come here and not deliver the goods. So we’re asking skilled workers and corporate decision-makers to think differently about greater Reno-Tahoe, and what it has to offer.”

Tom Fitzgerald, CEO of Nevadaworks, says the campaign is targeted at a special type of business, a special type of professional or worker, a special type of individual who sees Reno not necessarily as a bottom-line business decision but rather, as a partner in a certain type of lifestyle and attitude.

“What people don’t realize about our area is the freedom it offers.” – Tom Fitzgerald

“What people don’t realize about our area is the freedom it offers,” he says. “We have a 24-7 lifestyle here, and a person can literally get a job for any time of the day or night that they want. Skiing might be just as important to the person as work, and they want to find ways to do both.”

Fitzgerald pauses, and recalls his drive to work on this particular April day. After snow earlier in the week, the sun is out in full force this morning.“Today is a stunning day, and there are people who know that work is important, but being able to get out and enjoy a day like today, whether it’s skiing or hiking or anything else, is also important,” he says. “There is a perception that all of our jobs in this market are only gaming related. That is why the EDAWN campaign is so important. It’s a way of saying, ‘You’re here in this great place and also take a look at the great jobs that we have here.’”

From his own experience, Vargas knows this to be true. He admits that when he came to Reno as a skinny freshman from Woodland, California, near Sacramento nearly 20 years ago, his plan was to get his degree and return to his hometown.

“…you venture into the community, you can see this place has the best of both worlds.” – Chris Vargas

“At that age, you’re not too ingrained in what the community has to offer,” the 36-year-old father of two says. “All you know of the town is the campus and that’s about it. But as you grow older, and you venture into the community, you can see this place has the best of both worlds. We’ve got great schools here. The University of Nevada is a great source of pride to me, personally, and it’s a great selling point for the community. It’s an excellent university.

“I’ve grown so proud of this area. When I was playing football in Canada, when I’d hear people talk about Reno, I’d always tell them, ‘There’s so much more to the place. You have no idea.’ I feel so strongly about what Reno has to offer, I even convinced one of my teammates from Canada, a wide receiver named Matt Clark, to move here.”

For a city, Reno still maintains a “small town” feel. – Chris Vargas

The Truckee River at its most extreme. (Brian Johnson) Nevada Museum of Art. Old West meets modern art.

For all of the beauty, recreation and business opportunities, Vargas says that more than anything else, what strikes him about Reno is its psyche. He says that for a city, Reno still maintains a “small town” feel. It is something he experiences in business almost every day.“You have all of the professional opportunities here that you would anyplace else,” Vargas says, “but what really distinguishes Reno is that it’s not so terribly corporate that it has lost its identity. This is a business community where a handshake really does matter, where if someone gives you his or her word, that’s their bond.”

For Crowley, Reno has represented a happy confluence of personal and professional factors that have left her feeling that she is experiencing one of the more personally professionally fulfilling moments in her life.

“I had friends here, and I kept coming back here, visiting them…trying to find excuses to keep coming back…until I finally moved here,” she says, with a gentle laugh.

With a master’s degree in her field, as well as an undergraduate degree in architecture from one of the nation’s most respected programs at the University of Michigan, Crowley has all of the necessary “vocabulary” and experience for design and building systems that one would expect.

But what sets her apart – and what makes her such a strong emblem of what Reno hopes to attract, and to become – is her ability to take her profession and make it something more. Not only for herself, but for the community. It is a subtle, organic thing, something that brings to mind the line from Frank Lloyd Wright that architecture “makes human life more natural and nature more humane.”

“In Reno, I feel I can really participate and affect where we’re going.”– Stacey Crowley

As she works from her home in old southwest Reno, deeply involved in a number of efforts in the community to help Reno down a path of “smart growth,” Crowley, also an avid cyclist and outdoors person, knows she is living in a special place.

“I think that’s probably one of the biggest differences between now and when I was living in San Francisco,” she says. “In Reno, I feel I can really participate and affect where we’re going. The connections you feel here are so strong. They run so deep. I think that’s what living in a great community like Reno is all about.”