If you’ve spent five minutes on Nextdoor lately, you’ve likely seen the name Shaun Mullin—keyboard warrior, neighborhood watchdog, and unofficial spokesperson for everyone sick of seeing Reno carved up like a real estate buffet.

This week’s target? The Hello World project—an ironically named development that’s about to say goodbye to sanity in Ward 1. The proposal? 50 units and just 32 parking spaces, conveniently crammed onto Reno Avenue. Because apparently, the new urban planning motto is: If they don’t have a place to park, maybe they’ll just disappear.

July 15, 2025 will go down in history—not for anything civic, legislative, or remotely government-related—but because SPOOGE officially launched its line of ultra-premium, sparkle-infused skincare products, including one we didn’t know we needed: glossy sunscreen for your butt cheeks.

Yes, you read that correctly.

And leading the glittery charge is none other than the Mayor of Reno herself—who, is also one of SPOOGE’s co-founders.

Yes. Chris Hicks’s office has a full‑blown Public Information Officer (PIO)—paid by you, the taxpayer—spitting out press releases like pros. From launching a Twitter account in 2015 to promoting “felonious rioters” and Reno High pandemonium, it’s slick spin 24/7.

Picon had been told by an employee inside City of Reno Government the announcement there would be employee layoffs would be coming in early July 2025 - sure enough our intel was correct and the press release was issued yesterday regarding eight city employees positions being cut. Our inside intel said they knew all along these cuts were necessary but Mayor Hillary Schieve and Councilmember Devon Reese didn’t want the announcement to come until the council was on their summer break. Basically the City of Reno let the City of Sparks climb out on that limb with layoffs alone, while Reno allowed the scenario to appear they would not have any layoffs. We ponder if Sparks City Manager Dion Louthan will have a few harsh words for Jackie Bryant the next time they have coffee.

Tonight's developer-sponsored meeting promises all the transparency political contributions can ensure.

Ladies and gentlemen, step right up to tonight's 5:30 PM spectacle at Lakeridge Golf Course, where the fine art of "developer-sponsored community engagement" takes center stage. Yes, it's another one of those mandatory dog-and-pony shows where deep-pocketed developers get to explain why their latest vision for your neighborhood is actually a gift to humanity.

Tonight's headliner? None other than the consulting maestros at Wood Rodgers, who we're pretty sure will be pitching the merits of allowing yet another Master Plan amendment. Because if there's one thing Reno needs more of, it's surely more amendments to plans that were supposedly well-thought-out the first time around.

If you happened to stroll through Caughlin Ranch tomorrow and catch a “Concerts on the Green” show, you may have noticed a curious name among the sponsors: Beth Smith, Washoe County School Board Trustee.

Now why, exactly, would a school board trustee be sponsoring a concert in an upscale neighborhood?

Let’s call it what it is: a developer-funded PR push disguised as a community forum. And much like the City of Reno Ward 1 and Ward 3 forums we bet this won’t be recorded or documented either.

Wood Rodgers, the consulting firm paid by the owners of Lakeridge Golf Course, is hosting a “community meeting” to talk about proposed changes to the site—including a Master Plan amendment that could reshape the neighborhood. But here’s the real story: this same firm is a major donor to multiple Reno City Council campaigns.

Recently, Reno’s Ward 1 and Ward 3 councilmembers held community forums—but don’t bother asking for a recording or meeting notes. There aren’t any. That’s right: no recordings, no transcripts, no official records.

These forums are pitched as chances for residents to connect directly with their elected officials—sort of like NABish meetings, but stripped of any formal accountability. And without documentation, what’s discussed simply vanishes into thin air. No public record. No follow-up. No way to hold anyone to their word.

As the City of Reno and Washoe County shake hands over the idea of a new parks district, residents are right to ask: what’s really growing here—green space or government?

The City of Reno has signed a $223,550 taxpayer-funded contract with PROS Consulting to explore a new Service Plan, a first step toward creating a park district. This sounds nice on paper—more trails, open space, and recreation—but let’s not forget: this is also the first step toward new taxes.

Apparently, it's still 2020 for Councilmembers Devon Reese and Miguel Martinez, who are hosting virtual community forum meetings. Either they’ve forgotten the world reopened… or they’ve finally accepted that no one’s showing up to their in-person events. We lean toward the latter.

Let’s be honest: when a councilmember holds a community conversation and the only attendees are a Neighborhood Advisory Board, someone from AARP, a couple of seniors and one other under 50 it’s probably time for some self-reflection. But instead of asking why nobody shows up, Reese and Martinez have decided to dodge the answer entirely—by going virtual.

In a June 5, 2025 Facebook post encouraging residents to sign up for emergency alerts, the city offered some unsolicited life advice: stop doomscrolling on your phones. Because nothing says "quit your doom-and-gloom scrolling habit" quite like signing up for government emergency notifications that will ping your device.

It's June—graduation season, wedding season, the time when Reno actually remembers it has beautiful weather. Yet somehow the city's communications team decided this sunny month was the perfect time to assume their residents are all trapped in endless cycles of bad news consumption.

Eliminating citizen input while brewing up council coffee klatches at the City of Reno.

The City of Reno has discovered a brilliant new approach to public engagement: eliminate it entirely under the guise of fiscal responsibility. The city's moratorium on Neighborhood Advisory Board (NAB) meetings represents a masterclass in democratic doublespeak—claiming to save money while simultaneously launching a replacement program that serves the same purpose but with far less citizen input and accountability.

The official line is cost savings, but the real savings appear to be in avoiding the inconvenience of actually listening to residents who might have opinions about how their neighborhoods are managed.

Three Candidates, Two Spots, Zero Citizen Representation

The Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority board nominations currently under consideration perfectly illustrate everything wrong with how Northern Nevada's political establishment operates. Three candidates are vying for two open City of Reno positions, and each one raises serious questions about whether anyone is actually representing the interests of Reno, Sparks, and Washoe County residents—or if this is just another exercise in political back-scratching and insider dealing.

Let's examine this trio of candidates and ask the uncomfortable questions that our elected officials apparently hope we're too distracted to notice.

It started like something out of a Reno noir: an older gentleman, known for his political chatter, wine enthusiast, who enjoys conversation and an occasional glass of wine at local haunts, had an altercation at Whispering Vine on 4th Street. He felt wronged. Not physically harmed, but reputationally bruised. And like any modern citizen with a gripe and a little faith in journalism, he reached out to someone with a microphone: a local podcaster with a reputation for being plugged into the Reno political scene.

But what happened next didn’t feel like storytelling. It seems a bit like strategizing.

Ah, 1565 Plumas Street. A quaint little address with a not-so-quaint backstory.

Let’s rewind to June 8, 2023, when the City of Reno Planning Commission heard Case No. LDC23-00058—better known in some circles as “How Many Units Can We Squeeze Into One Parcel Before Anyone Notices?”

On June 5, 2025 at 6:00PM at the Reno City Council Chambers the Reno Planning Commission is once again being asked to perform municipal magic: transforming a landlocked property with a single access point on an already congested street into a development that somehow "harmonizes with the surrounding community."

If this sounds familiar, it's because it's become the city's standard playbook. Developer identifies unsuitable lot, city staff waves the magic wand of "housing need," and suddenly traffic nightmares become acceptable trade-offs for density.

In 2021, the residents of Lakeridge were blindsided. The Reno City Council approved a development that locals said would permanently alter the character of their quiet, golf-centered neighborhood. To add insult to injury, a former city councilmember even implied that only the “entitled” lived in Lakeridge—and that it was time for that to change.

It was a message that didn’t just sting—it stuck.

If you've ever sat through four or five light cycles trying to turn at Plumas and Mt. Rose during rush hour, you already know the intersection is a mess. Congested, slow, and poorly timed—it’s one of those Reno traffic nightmares locals dread.

So what’s the City of Reno’s big idea? Cram 39 housing units onto a small lot right near the jam. Because nothing says “smart planning” like piling on density without a clue how to support it.

So let’s get this straight: the City of Reno is shelling out $200,000 for a mural on California Avenue—by an out-of-town artist, with no design submitted, and somehow no one on City Council knew about it? Until it came before the council last week. But let’s remember public art brings tourism to Reno, or so we’re told.

Reno City Councilmember Kathleen Taylor—fresh off her 2024 council win backed by local Republicans—has now launched an "exploratory campaign" to consider a run for mayor. Translation? She’s running, she just wants to see who’s gullible enough to hop on the bandwagon again.

Let’s rewind: Taylor courted Republicans and posed with the party base. But now, with her eyes set on the mayor’s office, we’re wondering if the Nevada GOP is about to be the ex who keeps coming back for more.