Meyers CCC center about to get $13 mil. overhaul
By Austin Fay
MEYERS — The California Conservation Corps Lake Tahoe Residential Center is moving forward with its estimated $13 million facility improvements.
Construction includes renovation of the minimalist 84-corps member residential areas, new dining hall, gymnasium, and classrooms for corps member use.
The CCC in Meyers will begin renovations this summer. Photo/Austin Fay
Bids for the project open May 26.
State estimates for construction and renovation of the 42,719-square-foot Lake Tahoe Residential Center is set at $13 million. That’s approximately $304 per square foot.
The CCC project has been a long time in the making; state bonds that were released for use nine years ago are funding renovations.
It will likely take two building seasons to finish the project.
From 1989 to 1997 Tahoe CCC was headquartered in the Meyers location, and has since relocated twice. Once was to Echo Summit and then back to the Meyers building. The latest relocation to Meyers was five years ago, which meant expelling two local businesses and relieving the economic burden of a then-struggling senior living facility.
The agency also must believe it is a private entity by the way it conducts itself. Apparently the officials in Meyers and Sacramento who did not return multiple phone calls have forgotten it is taxpayer money that pays their salaries, keeps the organization running and will foot the construction costs.
I can’t believe they’re spending 13 mil on that building already. Did it cost that much to build it in the first place?! I went in there when it was new and I was looking for a place for my mom to live. It looked brand spankin’ new, really nice. Hardly anyone BUT CCC has ever used it since then! That was only a few years ago–what could they possibly have to do to it that’ll cost that kind of (taxpayer) money?!
It’s a shame the CCC didn’t respond to the reporter’s calls. This building has a significant impact on the area and the CCC has done a very poor job communicating what is going on.
In addition to forcing out the two local businesses, all that former commercial space next to Liras is now lost. What was a small retail/commercial hub for our tiny town now offers nothing for the community but no parking signs.
The new construction will be a helpful stimulus to the contractors who win the bids, but this project could have been so much better for the area.
So what do you really know about this, lady? In your comment you act as if the C’s don’t do anything. They get more done on less money than anyone else in the basin. And probably in the entire state. With this taxpayer money, they do great things.
Nice snide, useless comment by Austin at the end of the article. Who do you think you are? Cranky old Andy Rooney?
All I know,fpogen, Is what I said. 13 million dollars is a lot to spend on a building that is essentially a dormitory that was brand new about 5 years ago. I never said anything against the CCC or what they do.
You sound angry.
Agree with dogwoman,that Yanks Station been redone more than a few times.
Are The CCC boys throwing Fits in there from Bored or What?
The CCC spent alot of our money to buy the place which was totally remodeled for the senior care. It was spotless. In the few short years the state has been in charge of the place it has been totally trashed. The same thing happened to the old Echo ski area lodge. It was in fairly good condition when the CCC moved into that building and it was totally trashed when they left it. The CCC is a money spending joke that is nothing more than alternative sentencing for a bunch of losers. They were also in my neighborhood 2 years ago and it took them 6 month to do 1 week job. I can’t tell you how fed up with this bunch of tax dollar wasters I am.
This is what I know about the CCC. I have a friend who was in it years ago back when it was up at Echo. She had a bad home life, so she left home, with no high school diploma, basically with nothing and got into the CCC somehow. She learned skills, how to work in a team, worked on her GED, and eventually got enough of a base for her life that she went onto UC Riverside to earn a translating degree and works professionally in our court system today.
This is what the CCC tries to do to prevent people from turning to bad things in their life. The community and state get work out of them as well. They are for the most part young people who don’t realize they need a hand up.
But to take a building that was in good shape and trash it to the point it needs 13 million in repairs!??? That’s ridiculous. Its time to set up some new rules, have these kids who live there instead of trashing it like a dorm, teach them skills to fix up a building as well. Any damage they do to their room they are responsible for, just like any other adult.
But that only makes too much sense. Or maybe someone in charge there can tell us what happened, are these “repairs” really “upgrades”?