Opinion: Time for the city to stop clowning around

To the community,

In September of 2000, Measure S passed and for 11 years it has been a mess. The latest episode is the city’s contract with a private party to operate the ice rink.

Both parties to the contract signed the documents without knowing the IRS rules that govern such relationships. Thus, the private party can’t make a profit because of the goof up.

Bill Crawford

But when we recall the screw-ups on the Lakeview Commons contract, the Measure S snafu is not a surprise. It is business as usual.

So now the city is attempting to tap dance around the IRS rules by turning the non-taxable bonds into taxable bonds at an unknown cost to the city. The architect for the fiasco is City Manager Tony O’Rourke, the knight in rusty armor, who preaches partnerships between the private and pubic agencies. Thus, the city rushed to close the deal on the ice rink while operating in the dark.

As an aside, at the Measure S JPA meeting on Dec. 5, a member of the board, Mayor Hal Cole, was 35 minutes late. It seems he doesn’t’ know the time of day. Nothing new there.

So where are we when we view the management of the public’s business in the city of South Lake Tahoe. I think the answer is provided by Frank Sinatra’s “Bring in the Clowns” which goes like this: “Bring in the clowns. Don’t worry, they’re already here.”

Bill Crawford, South Lake Tahoe