Ward 5: The Meeting That Wasn’t

City of Reno Ward 5 Cancellation of the Neighborhood Advisory Board Meeting last evening.

Only in Reno do you cancel a hybrid meeting—yes, hybrid—25 minutes before it’s set to start because of “no quorum.” Think about that. Residents showed up in person, people were ready online, and yet somehow the City of Reno couldn’t round up enough board members to click a Zoom link or dial in by phone?

Ward 5 residents dutifully schlepped downtown, navigated parking headaches, and wove through City Hall’s sidewalk homeless scene just to be greeted by a notice of cancellation. The message? Your time is disposable.

And let’s not forget: Ward 5 is largely northwest Reno. Holding NAB meetings at City Hall already puts a wall between residents and their neighborhood board. Canceling at the last minute just adds insult to injury.

Neighborhood Advisory Boards are supposed to be the place where residents can connect, question, and hold their councilmembers accountable. Instead, the Ward 5 NAB has become a masterclass in how to waste people’s evenings or avoid meetings altogether.

Here’s the real question: if you can’t manage to keep a hybrid meeting afloat, how seriously are you taking public input? Because from where residents are standing—outside a locked meeting room—the answer looks pretty obvious.

Ward 5 didn’t just lose a meeting. They lost trust.