Reflections on Going to Nevada

I had been living in California, since 1989 San Francisco, then 1995, Santa Barbara for 6 months, then onto L.A.  I had some terrible experiences with my health care diagnoses and treatments in San Francisco, so I went on to Santa Barbara, where the county health in my case was adequate, but I found the people snobbish.  I moved to L.A., where I had good living conditions downtown, good food, but again lousy healthcare.  Indeed, both in San Francisco and Los Angeles, I had to seek second-opinions out-of-state because in my case the situations under the healthcare systems in these two cities I ran into were life-threatening!  I do not have a death wish!  So, I began to think about leaving the state and living elsewhere.

The cities I found more to my liking were El Paso, Texas, where I'm now residing, Omaha, Nebraska, where I just came  from (and it's cold there!); and Reno, Nevada, to where I wouldn't mind returning some day (but not now!).  I found the healthcare  in El Paso, Washington, DC and Omaha acording to my standards, but did not use a medical  facility in either Raleigh nor Reno.

In any event, this item is about my stays in Reno, Nevada over a period of two years, amounting to about 8 months.  I got to know the natives and many retirees over at the Downtown Senior Center and on the buses and at the libraries, where I used the computers.

The good things I remember about Reno.  Good quality, affordable housing; great food, the best I've had at any senior center in the cities I lived in in California; Washington, DC, Raleigh, North Carolina, Omaha and El Paso.  I'd say, by the way, that El Paso Downtown comes in second!  Good quality clothes, etc. at the thrift stores, especially St. Anthony's, though I heard the Salvation Army has reaally good stuff, too.

For seniors, there's the Lifelong Learning Center developed by the University of Nevada, Reno.  It's ok, but certainly not the qualitiy of offering and not the availability of their programs for all seniors who are enrolled in the Center.  But they are changing as demonstrated by the new catologue they've just put.out.

There's plenty of free entertainment, mostly on the weekends downtown, but I must say it's offerings, e.g., country music by groups from the California Central Valley, is only average and hackneyed.

A wonderful transit system--the best for a mid-city.   I noted that the townspeople and tourists really don't mix with the University students; and the young people and old people stay pretty much within their respective age groups. And, there's lots of old people.  With over 14% unemployment, those able-bodied who can get out, do so--and that's from all over the state, but especially Vegas (I talked in Reno with people fleeing Vegas), but their housing prices just rose (so did Washington, DC's prices)..

What grabs you as you walk down Virginia Street downtown is how few people there are of any age.  I talked with natives who said, "Yes, the crowds were here in the '80's, but not anymore!"  Of course, with the blossoming of Vegas, you can appreciate how Reno has suffered.

But the most outstanding feature of Reno is its old people.  I talked with several who were in their 90's and walking around sprightly and talking intelligently, coherently.  I was especially impressed with a 96 year old gentleman I met at the Senior Center.  My impression is that people live long in Reno.

The biggest problem I see for Nevada, which has a lot to offer old and young alike even amid this deep recession is that the state over the years has catered to the casino technology where bets are made at tables and payoffs occur at casino slot machines and cashiers.  As I see it, casino gambling technology is almost passe.  The gambling of the future is online, computer controlled--where the place of betting could be anywhere in the world.  The state of Nevada is contemplating, I heard, serviciing online bets and gambling for which they would collect a fee, much like transpires offshore in the Bahamas.   

 Goodbye, Nevada, for now!