Opinion: Vail turning South Tahoe into company town
To the publisher,
Based on Vail’s commercial moves in town, i.e. buying a vacation home rental property and soon I surmise we have an octopus in our midst with tentacles reaching to put a lock on the business community to be the big shot around town.
[Mayor] Hal Cole, bless his heart, once upon a time said he didn’t want South Lake Tahoe to be another Vail or Aspen. Well, head’s up Mr. Cole. It seems we are doomed to be a company town divvied up between the likes of Marriott and Vail. The bottom line is this – when profits roll into these organizations the money will fly out of town. We’re in the money export business. In the process, small business will be driven out. Also, judging by recent events, Vail’s tentacle reach into city government.
Finally, these are events, trends, and conditions. Using the above to judge the direction commerce is going in town, be prepared for the octopus to squirt loads of ink around here.
Bill Crawford, South Lake Tahoe
How true you are Mr. Crawford. It has taken over the City Mgr position and what he is trying to do to the City Employees is horrible, he wants to take all of their benefits like health Ins, and retirement and lower salaries by 18% and turn the town into and $8.00 town where only the rich can afford to live and play.
He has the employees so scared of their jobs that no one will even say anything for fear of losing their Job. The People need to wake up this council and rid the city of this S.O.B. or your doomed to failure under his direction.Wake up Tom Davis and Hal Cole
before he makes you all look like fools.
Well at least if South Lake Tahoe is going in a new direction, Vail is most definitely an improvement on which to set a higher standard. It’s got class.
And if Crawford doesn’t like the new city manager, he should be pointing the finger at himself. He was on the city council that hired him.
I bet there are a lot of people hoping Vail will take on “The Hole” as soon as it’s out of foreclosure.
I asked a few weeks back if anyone knew if Gordon R. Lane is actually Randy Lane of “The Hole”. I read the third trustee sale notice (foreclosure) with the name Gordon R. Lane and wife. This new one is a $3.3 million property at Cedar and Manzanita. The other 2 were a house near Zephyr Cove and one in Al Tahoe. Maybe things aren’t so rosey for Randy personally either!
Without revenue sources or higher taxes, budget cuts are necessary, in all areas. Where do you think the salaries and benefits for city employees come from? The new City Manager seems to be looking at the situation realistically. If Vail Resorts can infuse this town with some optimism, in place of the “hole in the ground”, the dismal look of the Y and run-down properties, I say Go for it!
Bill, do you really like Alhambra north with snow and a lake. Maybe San Jose doesn’t need Oracle, Microsoft, and countless other large corporations either.
GM left Detroit and of course the city blossomed.
Bill, Grow up! What do you expect with a major highway leading from the Bay area through our town? Perhaps some of you anti business groups should be moving on to greener pastures. This town is ripe for development and I love it!
X LOCAL ! Who dat fearing name exposure???
Marsha,
Do you realize that there are 130 Retirees that are all seniors now and are on fixed incomes that retired knowing that they would be on Medicare and that the Health Ins. from the city would only be a supplemental Ins. to help defray the cost of what Medicare would not cover?
Is it fair that the City can now just DROP the Ins. that people who worked there for 20, 30,or 35 years and gave up raises and other benefits so that they could protect there future in old age ? IS THAT FAIR ?
This City Mgr. has never worked in a Government Agency in his life and you expect him to come in here and solve all the problems of the City in one fail sweep, the City Employees are doomed if the Council allows this to happen. They are getting rid of the experienced employees and keeping the one’s that don’t have a clue but will work for lower wages just to have a job.
The City is a training ground for people to learn and then go find a better paying Job.
The down fall of the City all started with Kerry Miller, he and the Council’s are respondsibil for the HOLE in the GROUND and the loss of all the Motels that were paying into the T.O.T. I could go on but I’m sure you must be aware of it.
Alex Campbell
What does it matter what my name is, the truth is the truth no matter what the name.
South Lake Tahoe needs to create a business environment where we’re not reliant on one huge corporation to get things done! The whole concept of creating a positive business environment was clearly beyond the conceptual thinking of the previous Council and City Mgr!
As the environment now exists, South Lake Tahoe is ripe to be “plucked by Vail”! Vail’s M.O. is to run and control a whole town! That’s what they have going at Vail, CO and they clearly are trying to that here in SLT, CA!
While hopeful that our new City Mgr. will construct a more positive business environment, he does seem to be doing Vail’s bidding. When Mr. O’Rourke makes noises about changing the scope the project now known as the “Hole” from having a Convention Center (the whole purpose of the project!!) to just having a “Conference Center”, he seems to be laying the groundwork for just any old real estate development?! Something perfectly suited for his former employer Vail Corp. to just swoop on in and take over?! Hopefully there’ll at least be an open bidding process?!
This City Mgr. has never worked in a Government Agency in his life and you expect him to come in here and solve all the problems of the City in one fail sweep, the City Employees are doomed if the Council allows this to happen. They are getting rid of the experienced employees and keeping the one’s that don’t have a clue but will work for lower wages just to have a job.
I think his lack of government experience is the biggest positive he has going for him. All our experienced government lifers sure aren’t proving to have any ability for fix our problems, only to create more. I welcome Mr. O’Rourke’s fresh view.
Doesn’t anyone know if Gordon R. Lane is THE Randy Lane of “The Hole”?
It is like the new version of the textile industry in the 1900s. Cheap disposable labor, people living is crappy tenement housing, all money goes out of the community, industry gets special tax exemptions…
So yeah this kind of an ‘industry town’.
DOES ANY ONE THINK IT COULD GET ANY WORSE?
Sorry X you could be Kerry of Miller Time or any # of insiders.
South Lake Tahoe City Manager Tony O’Rourke has public and private experience as outlined in this story: https://www.laketahoenews.net/2010/07/south-lake-tahoe-hires-city-manager/.
To say he has no government experience is a lie.
Kathryn Reed, LTN publisher
I am sick to death of people thinking a corporation is bad. OOOOOO! It’s “Big business”! Be afraid! Oh no! AAAAHHH!
Those people need to grow up. “Evil” corporations actually provide Jobs, opportunity, and growth. Imagine that.
Should Marriott, Embassy Suite’s, or Harvey’s leave because they are “corporations”? Should they take all of those jobs with them? According to you, they should.
This town has the death shakes. We are dead because we keep freaking out over who may or may not be behind something or if a “corporation” might be coming.
What you fail to realize is money doesn’t appear out of no where. As for all those motels providing T.O.T funds, well, that wasn’t happening very efficiently, either. Remember the Block motel and it failing to pay $100k+ in T.O.T. And there was a few more that closed because of the same issue.
Don’t forget, we need people to want to come here in order for their to even be a T.O.T revenue source.
This town is dead and a corporation would be a big benefit. People need to be more sophisticated and mature and stop thinking businesses are bad. You sound like 5 year olds.
X See admin March,05 at 3:44 PM. X did you LIE intentionally ? please explain.
Frank don’t get too sick!
Maybe a nuclear fusion cobalt reactor would be more realistic?
We Could just slip it right into the hole the other corprations left us?
I can’t understand why the feeling are gone!
We have to deal with issues that former policy makers made. A contract is a contract so pay the piper and move on. Let someone try. DW thanks for connection and or correction. lou
How is it that in earlier, more dynamic economic times we were O.K. with Bill Harrah and Harvey Gross being the provider of the ‘company town’ approach, to the extent that the buying & selling of motels rested on the sellers’ ability to convince the buyer that the “Clubs” were interested in providing “heads on beds”.
Once that realization was gone, the real slide began, feuds began, entertainment was relegated to the back seat by bean-counters . . . leaving what we’re dealing with now . . .pointing fingers without proper historical perspective.
That perspective may be needed to adequate focus on the future, to avoid similar miscalculations.
That the Clubs ventured into the category of exporting gaming left a vacuum that could be filled by a Vail, but I would note also that they only purchased a hospitality/ convention company to manage the affairs at the Convention Center (CalHole ?), as they did not have the financial wherewithal to take on what ended up to be the second Marriott property instead . . .
The other writer is correct that this town may be “prime” for takeover, but it may not be Vail – it may take more innovative directions to necessarily transform the economic woes here. . .
Hey Steven, Yes Gordon Randy Lane is the same as the one from the hole. I love to hear that he has other things in foreclosure.