Reno's blight initiative drew criticism when it removed 68 benches from a park it was renovating.
The city of Reno spent $10,000 on revitalizing CitiCenter park as part of its blight mitigation project. According to a story from Olivia Degennaro for the city's NBC affiliate, "The majority of the city's $10,000 budget paid for filling empty planters with large boulders and installing iron spikes around them; but critics of the project accused the city of trying to push homeless people out of the CitiCenter by removing the benches many of them sleep on."
While city officials claim this work was done to make the park more business friendly, advocates for the city's homeless say the removal of the 68 benches serves to try and push the city's less fortunate out of sight and out of mind. Complaining that, instead of trying to address the causes of poverty, this campaign endeavors to sweep it under the rug.
FULL STORY: Reno officials accused of classifying homeless as blight after removing downtown benches
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