Parking Games and Political Ploys: Washoe County's New Rodeo Clown Routine

Washoe County email, Friday - June 20, 2025 urging staff to ask their supervisor to work from home during the Reno Rodeo.

Washoe County might want to invest in mucking boots — not just for the fairgrounds, but for the growing pile of bureaucratic nonsense it keeps stepping in. This week’s rodeo stunt? A memo quietly urging county employees to work from home because gasp... the Reno Rodeo makes it hard to park.

Let’s get this straight: After over 100 years of the Reno Rodeo, now it’s too difficult for county employees to do their jobs from the office? Welcome to the Wild West, folks, where public servants apparently clock in from the couch when parking gets inconvenient.

But here’s where it really starts to smell funny: this little memo lands just in time for a special Washoe County Commission meeting tomorrow at 3PM — the one where Chair Alexis Hill will try to quietly jam through a property tax hike during one of the most congested times of year around the county building.

Coincidence? We think not.

Let’s call it what it is: a backdoor voter suppression tactic, with a side of boot-stomping arrogance. If you’re a resident hoping to speak up against the tax hike — good luck. You'll be left circling the block for 45 minutes while Hill and company breeze in with reserved parking and pre-written talking points.

Is this politics at its most cowardly hiding a controversial vote inside a parking nightmare and cross your fingers that the public just gives up. And who will back her play? All eyes are on Commissioners Mariluz Garcia and Clara Andriola.

Garcia, who’s got not one but two opponents lined up for her 2026 re-election, may want to think twice before raising taxes while residents sit trapped in their cars with the AC blasting and no place to park. And Andriola — hand-picked by Governor Joe Lombardo — might be handing the governor an early headache if she supports a tax hike while he’s trying to build better support in Washoe County.

Taxpayers pay for government workers to show up, not sit home because the livestock show came to town. And they certainly don’t pay to have critical public meetings stacked with obstacles meant to keep them silent.

So here’s a question for Chair Hill: If this tax hike is so righteous and justified, why not hold the vote when the parking lot’s empty, the room’s full, and the people are watching?

Until then, maybe the rodeo should lend the county some of its gear. Because when you're trampling transparency and dodging accountability, you’re gonna need something stronger than cowboy boots.