To the community,

In Mayor Claire Fortier’s June message to the community, she spoke of a trip to Monterey and Livermore sponsored by TahoeChamber.org. The mayor’s purpose of sending the message was to cheer the good things those cities have done to rebuild Monterey and Livermore. The mayor spoke warmly about Livermore’s rerouting a main artery. The later was a subtle endorsement of the purposed loop road in South Lake Tahoe without using the term loop road. The mayor contends that Tahoe is “… a place with a vision, not a quagmire of contention. Let’s hope we can realize that vision and not stall in fear or indecision.”

Bill Crawford

Of course the mayor may cheer for whatever she wishes to cheer for. However, her hopes and cheers should not stop discourse and discussion on any subject that’s vital to the general public. Contentions arise out of need. South Tahoe is a border town and often the state line divides us in more ways than one. Example: For whatever reasons the City Council and Douglas County reps have canceled planning meetings.

The bottom line is some folks fear discourse because they might lose the debate or have to compromise. It is vital to have discourse on the loop road because if it gets done, it will not ever be undone. Also, some rushed to start the convention center, the crater in the ground. Well, it hasn’t been done, and there is no vision in sight to undo what was incompletely done. We need a healthy dose of skepticism and caution to avoid another quagmire like the convention center.

Bill Crawford, South Lake Tahoe