Hope You Don't Need To Drive Anywhere For The Next Few Days
Happy Feast of Mabon, fellow Pagans! Yes, it's Fall again, and here in the Truckee Meadows that means just one thing; time to inconvenience everyone who lives in Reno by shutting the city down and turning the whole thing over to Harley enthusiasts. Just to warn you; if you don't live near or regularly visit Reno this post probably won't have any relevance to you, but hey, it's my blog.
Now I have to walk a fine line here, because Melissa's father is himself a Harley enthusiast. I know some of them, probably most of them, are actually pretty decent folks. But this week and particularly this weekend in Reno is Street Vibrations, and already the aggrivation of having thousands of bikers descend on my fair city is too much for me, especially in light of the fact that traffic downtown (where I live) is already a snarled mess because of all the construction projects. Add to that the shutting down of a major section of Virginia Street all week to make room for vendors and you've got the recipe for a giant clusterf***. But worse than that is the noise. Imagine a B-17 bomber running it's engines 10 feet from your bedroom window day and night for three straight days and you will have some idea of what the noise from this event is like. Plus, a lot of these guys ride like complete idiots. Last night I was coming home from the gym and I stopped at a light on Arlington Ave. in front of The Sands. Two guys on bikes were in front of me, and when the light turned green they gunned their engines and took off down the street, which is a 25 mph zone, at maybe 50 or 60 mph. One had to swerve and the other had to slam on his brakes to miss running over a couple of guys who were (legally) trying to cross the road in a clearly-marked crosswalk up the street.
Summer in Reno is a never-ending cascade of festivals designed to bring in enthusiasts of various types who will, it is hoped, fill the hotels, eat in the restaurants, and gamble, gamble, gamble. These events range from the relatively innocuous to the substantially annoying in terms of their effect on the lives of those of us who actually live here. Street Vibrations seems to be the most disruptive of these. I'm very familiar with the justifications for these events: they bring lots of money into the city. While that may be true for some people (none of that money ever winds up in my pocket, but never mind), I feel that Reno would be just fine without gearing so much of our civic existance toward events that shut down streets, congest traffic, severely tax our resources, create tons of garbage and bring in lots of lowlifes who treat this city like their own personal vomitorium. Reno is a fantastic place to live--great climate, world-class recreational resources, good quality of life. Instead of gearing everything in this city toward separating out-of-town visitors from their cash, why not focus more on building an even better community for the ever-increasing number of people who actually call this place home? I'm not saying we should get rid of these festivals entirely; to an extent, they're part of what makes Reno, well, Reno. I'm just saying maybe it's time to start thinking of this place as a great city in it's own right, and less of a destination for visitors just looking to party. It's just a thought.
Now I have to walk a fine line here, because Melissa's father is himself a Harley enthusiast. I know some of them, probably most of them, are actually pretty decent folks. But this week and particularly this weekend in Reno is Street Vibrations, and already the aggrivation of having thousands of bikers descend on my fair city is too much for me, especially in light of the fact that traffic downtown (where I live) is already a snarled mess because of all the construction projects. Add to that the shutting down of a major section of Virginia Street all week to make room for vendors and you've got the recipe for a giant clusterf***. But worse than that is the noise. Imagine a B-17 bomber running it's engines 10 feet from your bedroom window day and night for three straight days and you will have some idea of what the noise from this event is like. Plus, a lot of these guys ride like complete idiots. Last night I was coming home from the gym and I stopped at a light on Arlington Ave. in front of The Sands. Two guys on bikes were in front of me, and when the light turned green they gunned their engines and took off down the street, which is a 25 mph zone, at maybe 50 or 60 mph. One had to swerve and the other had to slam on his brakes to miss running over a couple of guys who were (legally) trying to cross the road in a clearly-marked crosswalk up the street.
Summer in Reno is a never-ending cascade of festivals designed to bring in enthusiasts of various types who will, it is hoped, fill the hotels, eat in the restaurants, and gamble, gamble, gamble. These events range from the relatively innocuous to the substantially annoying in terms of their effect on the lives of those of us who actually live here. Street Vibrations seems to be the most disruptive of these. I'm very familiar with the justifications for these events: they bring lots of money into the city. While that may be true for some people (none of that money ever winds up in my pocket, but never mind), I feel that Reno would be just fine without gearing so much of our civic existance toward events that shut down streets, congest traffic, severely tax our resources, create tons of garbage and bring in lots of lowlifes who treat this city like their own personal vomitorium. Reno is a fantastic place to live--great climate, world-class recreational resources, good quality of life. Instead of gearing everything in this city toward separating out-of-town visitors from their cash, why not focus more on building an even better community for the ever-increasing number of people who actually call this place home? I'm not saying we should get rid of these festivals entirely; to an extent, they're part of what makes Reno, well, Reno. I'm just saying maybe it's time to start thinking of this place as a great city in it's own right, and less of a destination for visitors just looking to party. It's just a thought.
posted by Yukon Sully | 7:01 AM
2 Comments:
amen! last week i was almost run off the road by about a thousand harley riders on some kind of ride together. i have no idea why the cops let them flag people off the road so that they can ride around in a tight group. don't we have an equal right to the road. another complaint: they are far too loud. new england is home to countless bikers. i have no problem with the guys that have bikes that are not intentionally designed to be heard 3 blocks away. harleys are far too loud. any car with an exhaust pipe that loud would be taken off the road by the state of mass. why are harley riders allowed to annoy everyone else just to inflate their egos with some "vrrrrm, vrrrrrrrm!!"? they should be forced to make their machines quieter or get off the road.
I wholeheartedly agree with this post. It touches upon most of what I've been (unsuccessfully) trying to convey. I do however have some good news: I think they’re in Sparks tonight because on the way home I saw I-80 East all jammed up. It’s unbelievable how many of these yay-hoos there are this week. Driving home up 395 I saw like 50 of them just cruising on by in-between the cars in the gridlock (that they created by being here). Now I wonder if they feel justified because they get such good gas mileage. Not me, I’m in a fatty V8…
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