Mural in works to spruce up convention center site
By Kathryn Reed
This week work will begin on an 8-foot-high mural that will be erected in front of the foreclosed convention center project in South Lake Tahoe.
Normally Scott Blumenthal and his team from Dreams & Visions Art Company would do the mural onsite. However, with the fence being so close to the edge of Highway 50, the painting is being done elsewhere.
A mural will be put up in front of the fence near Stateline by March 1. Photo/Kathryn Reed
The plan is for the 600-foot-long piece of artwork to be assembled by March 1. Along Stateline Avenue, the first side street drivers see coming from Nevada into California, will have a bit of a face-lift as well. It will have a mural saying, “Welcome to South Lake Tahoe, America’s Year-Round Playground.”
The city is paying $10,000 for the South Lake Tahoe company to do the work. (The business relocated to South Tahoe from Long Beach last year.) City employees will be responsible for putting it into place.
“Hopefully, it will make people smile. It will be a definite improvement,” Blumenthal said.
He said the background will be scenery – with things like the lake and mountains. The foreground will be images of all things related to recreation that people can do in town – hiking, biking, skiing, fishing, horseback riding and more. It will also depict animals that are native to the area.
“The theme is the four seasons of South Lake Tahoe,” explained Gene Palazzo, South Lake Tahoe Redevelopment Agency director. It’s his budget from where the money is coming from to do the project.
He credits City Manager Tony O’Rourke for the idea of the mural. Blumenthal was one of two bids on the project.
The mural will go in front of the current fence.
The city is still looking into constructing a walkway in front of the 11-acre site. Bids for that project have not gone out.
It will do no good to put a dress on a pig it will do no good and it just makes the pig mad.
Maybe we should have a contest to determine the theme for the mural. A suggestion mite be 2 people passing money under a table.
Why doesn’t the City spend the money on something concrete? Like fixing a pothole or another needed repair? Why are they paying for a cover up when I am sure that the college, high school, grammar school, or others would donate a mural? It couldn’t be anymore amateurish than the Cities due diligengence in making sure Randy Lane and cronies had the financing to build it.
NO more cover ups of the City Councils poor judgement and performance like the Lovell/Jinkens Lakeview Commons or Redevelopment!
Suck it up and deal with the problem in an adult responsible manner! That’s what you are elected for!!!!!!!
It’s starting to look more like Oakland up here everyday. $10,000 would have gone a long way towards keeping the sidewalks clear for women pushing baby strollers down HWY 50.
Spending 10k on something that be is only supposed to be temporary seems like a huge waste of money. Does this mean the city believes the fence will be there for years to come?
What about making the walking safer? Put a gate on each side of the mural area that says..no walking. Cheaper solution to keep the pedestrians away from the fence.
Since we’ve already awarded the contract and have to spend it….Can the mural be made to relocated once the “hole” is completed?
What a horrible, pathetic further waste of public funds. The city’s streets go unrepaired and in need of new paving while nonsense like this mural are approved. And simultaneously, city bureaucrats always claiming a budget crisis with their need for higher taxes.
May I suggest instead, the installation of a dunking booth at this location with daily mandatory participation by council members and others who were behind this convention center debacle. The weather lately has been ideal.
Taxpayers can only hope the State is successful in putting these redevelopment agencies and their costly scams out of business and restore more sensible use of tax dollars.
Behind the temporary fence, and behind the temporary mural, and possible temporary sidewalk, there is still the ever present “Hole”, which seems to be increasingly permanent.
In government money this amount is chump change. What was the estimate to build a temporary sidewalk there?
1. The hole ain’t going away anytime soon.
2. The job was given to a local company.
3. Anything will be an improvement over the current fence that has been erected for how many years now?
4. Tourists might even see it as progress ;)
Yeah we have a lot of other things that could use money in our community, but lifting spirits can go a long way for tourists and locals alike, not ideal, but it is a positive move, and 10k is no where near the normal government fixes for things!
What the F is wrong with these people? Our city leaders need to wake up! With all the budget issues in this town, state, and country, how is this needless expenditure necessary? I can’t believe the stupidity involved in the decisions this city manager and council are making! I am absolutely beside myself with disbelief. IT NEEDS TO BE STOPPED!!!!
So if they are putting a $10,000 mural in front of the hole they obviously don’t plan on anything happening in that site for a very long time. This whole thing just keeps getting worse and worse. Glad they used eminate domain on people to build a hole, remove the side walk and then slap a mural in front of it (sarcasm)!!!
Harveys must be happy, something to cover up that ugly site when coming and going from the casino. Maybe Harveys should pay for it? Maybe the casinos pushed O’Rourke in to it? Total waste of our tax dollars, AGAIN!!
I think this is a good use of city funds. Our town thrives on tourism, bottom line. Making the heart of our tourist area prettier will contribute to a nicer experience for our guests. That translates into return visitors and additional dollars for our city to fix pot-holes, sidewalks, etc. With the Amgen Tour of California coming, we will be getting national and international attention. A pretty fence vs. a concrete barrier will look a lot better to our potential guests. Additional visitors means more customers for our hotels, restaurants, shops, etc., which means jobs and income for our residents. Yes, the hole needs to be fixed and this is a band-aid, but a band-aid at a key time when the world will be watching us.
Hmmmm. I’ve been wondering for some time why a mural project hadn’t started here. Maybe it could be a contest or a school project with only money spent for paint?
Tourists will just look at the mural and figure that now for sure that hole is permanent – I mean who would be stupid enough to try to make it pretty if it was going to go forward as a project? Fill some potholes, I already know of 2 families who won’t be back after tearing up their tires on potholes they couldn’t avoid. Way to spend money, new City Council……
Can’t win for losing!! Good use of funds to improve the view and provide jobs, even if only in the short term.
Finally the truth of the concept of brains the people elected…
This more than proofs just how “out touch they really are”.
People, if you still really believe these council members can get us on the right road to prosperity ,you are sadly seeing the true ignorant come to life.
Beyond good taste ,rationality…..”unbelievable!!?
I question the use of the term a “local company” for the mural? They re-located here from Southern California last year? When, in December after getting the job? Was it properly bid? Is there a proper contract? Did local firms bid on the mural (eg; John Holland, Angies Signs, Signs of Tahoe, Dollar Signs, etc.)? Were the college, Tahoe Art Guild, etc schools asked if they wanted to paint it?
Just another example of short sighted waste by our City to mask the problem they created, rather than correcting it!
You just have to love the fact that the City Council thinks that ‘hiding’ this hole will make it go away. Kind of like sweeping dirt under the rug.
More and more people are leaving Tahoe and more businesses are closing due to a huge lack of vision on the part of the council. We need to find a way to make people want to come to Tahoe. Holes in the ground and unfinished projects certainly don’t create an inviting feeling in our community. Tahoe needs to re-invent itself or die a slow and painful death.
If we get rid of the redevelopment agency, the city budget would be 500,000.00 less than now. The new gov. has proposed that, lets hope it happens.
How about asking some local kids at the elementary schools to put their creative minds to work and do the painting? It could be a field trip for the kids. They could make a difference if there was a theme to it too. Just a thought.
Taggers do it for free…..sell them the cans,don’t patrol for a week ,watch it turn into what you would never expect.
Turn on some amps…Dance the night away in the Hole of Dreams.
“Let The Children Play,How Wonderful”
Modern Art…….Some of the stuff is pretty impressive.