A reader asks why has not only the name removed from the Deed Restriction correspondence discussion but why the county’s letter was edited and information removed. The simple answer is that I was asked to remove it. The long answer, and a discussion of the philosophy of this website is in this article.

Our Mission

    Washoevalley.org is a community website dedicated to improving communication between neighbors and providing a forum for information and opinions about our common locale in the hopes of building a sense of community and preserving our wonderful lifestyle. Residents should be able to ask questions, have different points of view and share ideas without fear of recrimination or just plain bad manners. We are trying to build relationships, not walls.

 

Bucking The Trend   
    If you want to stand nose to nose at your fence and yell your point of view until the most stubborn yeller wins, this site is not for you. There are millions of other sites on the web where you can do that. This site is based on old-fashioned American principles of mutual respect, compromise and civil behavior.  Reno columnist Cory Farley talked about it just this week.

 

The Edits   
I edited the county representatives letter because evidently there are some in the community that will actually bully and belittle anyone who doesn’t agree with them. Shocking, but true, even here in New Washoe City where we are all supposed to be accepted for having our own ideas. The passage in the letter that was removed might have provided unsubstantiated, incomplete and misleading ammunition for someone, in my opinion as benevolent dictator of this site.

 

Our Promise   
    This community website will not knowingly be used by neighbors to mistreat neighbors or to inspire uncivil behavior. A name was used as this was in the public record (which, I should have realized, really isn't that public). Normally, I print approved comments anonymously to encourage discussion and I will now try to do it with living private individuals mentioned in public records.

 

My Experience   
Recently, a huge, steel warehouse building some call a barn was built 2 doors down from our house. We were shocked and asked, how can this be possible in a residential neighborhood. We received several passionate (yelling in writing, really) letters and it was made clear that our neighborhood is horse friendly and anything, absolutely anything, for a horse is great. This reminded me of several years ago when we were driving around New Washoe City looking for a house and my wife said, “Oh no, look at the junky yards!”, while at the same time I was thinking, “Cool, I can do whatever I want in my yard!”. Our CC&R’s (not that they matter anyway- not that there's anything wrong with that) end one door down, I found out. So I needed a little reminder about our community, so what, big deal. I still wave to my neighbors.

Moving On

    We urge you to support the washoevalley.org experiment in promoting neighborliness and a sense of community here in our beautiful valley so please keep reading and contributing material.