They’ve finally brought down the old Reno Police Department headquarters on East 2nd Street, a building so long abandoned it might’ve qualified for sainthood had it stood much longer without plumbing.
The City Council, ever eager to swing a wrecking ball at anything with memories or masonry, gave the nod earlier this year to have the place torn down. They say the idea is to erect a shiny new headquarters for the Reno Fire Department, which has been wandering the desert since 2008 like a band of municipal Israelites.
The old cop shop, built in the ’40s, has spent its golden years being abused by the fire boys for training. By the end, it looked less like a public building and more like the set of a spaghetti Western shootout, with broken windows, smashed walls, and enough debris to make a raccoon blush.
But don’t think for a minute that this is just civic housekeeping. Nope.
It is the Reno City Council at its most industrious—kicking out the folks with badges from one address and calling it progress–while Reno’s homeless population keeps growing faster than City Hall’s excuses. You might say the Council’s got a taste for creating homelessness, whether you sleep on cardboard or carry a badge and sidearm.
Now, the boys in blue have moved to Kuenzli Street, and the fire folks are promised a new station by 2027—assuming the Council doesn’t get distracted by something shinier or costlier. Maybe a gold-plated roundabout or a “Zen garden” made entirely of recycled council agendas.
For now, East 2nd Street stands quiet, the rubble fresh and the promise bold. But if history is any teacher—and she usually is—it’s safe to say that in Reno, the only thing more certain than taxes is that the City Council will find a way to fix things until it’s broke.
The Old Blog in the Desert 