Davis touts his experience for SLT council

To the community,

By now you have your voter information laying on the table trying to figure out who to vote for. It’s difficult to make a clear decision with the clutter of information. It feels familiar to me because when I was a councilman years ago, votes, especially controversial ones, weren’t always clear with the dozens of calls, emails and speakers trying to convince me their position was right.

In baseball if a player hits the ball four times out of 10, he’s a hero and gets his picture on cereal boxes. As a councilmember, there is an expectation that you should get it right 10 out of 10 times.

I was proud that we balanced the budget, and designed and built the voter directed Redevelopment project No. 1 that now provides many jobs that were not there before and over $2 million to the general fund. When the mud slide closed Highway 50 in 1997, I drove to Sacramento with the chamber exec to get help from Caltrans and the governor before other cities even thought to reach out. It saved our town $1 million per day for each day we opened sooner.

I felt good going to Washington, D.C., to represent our city in order to get grants for public works projects. However, like you, I’ve read the grand jury reports about the bickering and infighting on the council. I’ve watched the dysfunctional atmosphere eat up valuable time and energy. I’ve seen the “hole in the ground” become an embarrassment. But that project can be a great opportunity with a well-balanced council in place. That’s why when I was asked by good people to get the city going again, I said yes. After six years away, I’m asking for your vote and asking you to pick two other honest, clear thinking people to balance out the council and get our city back on track. My contribution will be my experience because I can hit the ground running and I’ll use my understanding of the very complicated budget to turn things around. I think you’ll find that I’m the “right leader at the right time”.

Tom Davis, South Lake Tahoe City Council candidate