To those that feel things aren’t moving fast enough in this town, I would suggest to step back and not get caught in the instant gratification mindset. If you haven’t been paying attention over the past 20 years, THAT’S WHAT GOT US IN THIS SITUATION! Evenly paced moderate growth is the answer to our future.

I know that I have seen some positive changes recently in this town. Although it took longer than planned, I feel that Lakeview Commons AND the events held there this summer (at no cost to the city!)have been a resounding success. I’m also seeing sidewalks appear before my eye’s when moving about town. Imagine that! And the council has been actually going out of their comfort zones to attempt bringing our town into the present (med mj issues, and Snow-Globe).

Everyone wanted things to change, and they are. Things can’t be done overnight but change is here, and with the current council openly addressing issues, change will continue.

We have a new head in Nancy, budget issues being taken care of, Lakeview Commons in place and people enjoying Lake Tahoe and more communication from our elected officials. Are things perfect? Of course not, but I see great strides in getting there.

I suggest that people attend the city council candidate forums that are coming up. Ask them how they’d change the things that you want changing, hear what they’re saying. They weren’t very well attended last time but perhaps more will show up now?

This a a very sad, messy and complicated distraction from the crucial work we have ahead. We cannot allow ourselves to become mired in speculation, personal attacks and un-civil discourse. It is crucial for us to continue the trend of positive changes like Lakeview Commons, sidewalks, bike lanes, etc.

We, as a community, have reached a hyper-critical crossroads. Finding solidarity as to which course WE THE PEOPLE (not only bureaucratic organizations) should set to secure a more stable & sustainable future is of paramount importance. No matter what shape economic revitalization takes, the infrastructure needs to reflect & protect the stunning physical environment. From crumbling roads and lack of sidewalks to dilapidated motels and ailing shopping centers, parts of this town look like a 3rd rate resort from the 50′s. Economic conditions have constrained sources of funding for these needed upgrades. Grants are scarcer & much more competitive but I believe there is a work around IF…and this is key…a majority of our community can come to agreement on what we want the future economy and infrastructure to look like. Only then will private capital start flowing and that in turn will help secure grants as matching funds and community solidarity are mandatory to qualify for large grants from private, non-profit & government sources. I freely admit this is an over- simplification and I have no background in economics or finance, but I’ve heard and read this from those well versed in these disciplines. If anyone has expertise on this, ESPECIALLY CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES, please chime in.

From Loop Road to lake access, snow globe to sidewalks, coordinated traffic signals to community gardens and public transit to parking, these are the kind of discussions we need to have happening community-wide. Until WE THE PEOPLE find a high level of consensus & solidarity on a direction & plan to improve economic, environmental and social parity, the revitalized economy and infrastructure we ALL desire will remain clouded by the dust of our squabbles

The City Council has failed to make our lives any easier or less expensive. Everything they touch, from the infamous hole to the parking garage hemorrhages money. Every new program they enact just causes more misery and pressure on local businesses and residents.

How can anyone trust a City Council when the Grand Jury says a council member violated the law by keeping $900 and that debt has never been repaid? The actions of the City Council do not support the claims made in this article.

In fact, we cannot know what is really happening with our City Council unless a forensic audit is done to untangle the incredibly complicated financial dealings of the City. I believe that when such an audit includes all unfunded liabilities, it will show that the City of South Lake Tahoe is $50M to $300M in debt.

This Council is like a drunken relative who denies they even have a problem. City official will tell you they are audited each year, but those audits depend upon phony information provided by the City and are therefore bogus. Their audits ignore unfunded liabilities like roads, pensions, and benefits. Only a forensic audit will look at real numbers and show just how bankrupt we really are. Until that happens, the Council will keep kicking the can down the street and marching at the front of each parade as if they are actually doing something helpful.

Dissolve the city, turn it over to county control, end the duplicity and redundancy, the plethora of poor decisions and shortage of competent and qualified leaders.

Tahoe City and Incline Village do just fine with such better government. If it can be done there, there is no reason it can’t be done in South Lake Tahoe.

I know Claire means well but this is a bit over the top. I started envisioning marching bands playing glory glory and the whole town following behind.

Tom Wendell:

Thank you for your excellent post. I believe you flawlessly articulated the direction where this community needs to focus its attention if we are ever to achieve a stable economy and sustainable future. Learning from the past is extremely important but without execution of intelligent and productive applications from those experiences nothing truly has been learned; one only remains mired in unproductive excuses, rationale, and criticism. It is my hope that this community will collectively find that higher level of consensus and solidarity to which you referred so we can direct and plan for our future economic, environmental and social parity.

I still don’t understand why you voted to allow the collective to move to the old Lorraine Bakery building, against the recommendation of the City Attorney? You speak of your vision for the city. Do you not see that the collectives are a form of blight? They attract transients and illegal activity. When we were running for City council together the collectives were here so I understand their presence was something that was allowed before your tenure but you had an opportunity to change that when City of Angels was kicked out of their current location by their landlord. This was the Council’s golden opportunity to remove some blight from the City. But instead you voted in favor of the move only to change your mind and recind the vote two weeks later. I would expect our Council would make more informed decisions. You had every opportunity to educate yourself about law enforcement’s concerns regarding the collectives before voting in favor of the move. Not to mention that no consideration was given to the local families who have to drive by the collective everyday taking their children to school or soccer practice or just grocery shopping. At a minimum you should have required him to move to a location that does not have Hwy 50 frontage. What kind of image do you want for our City? When you drive through town and see collectives and head shops on every corner, families and tourists quickly realize that this is not a family friendly town. Is that the image that the Council wants? Had I seen what I see today when we moved here I would have probably chosen a different place to move. Now we are set with a house, jobs, and kids in school so it isn’t that easy to just up and move but you need to think about what is fair to the City’s residents. Now we have a heroin problem. Seems to me that our town’s lax attitude towards illegal drugs has attracted drug dealers and now we are seeing problems with harder drugs too. I’d rather see a vacant store front than one selling marajuana. I know nothing about the bribery charges against your fellow council member but logic tells me that you should be thinking about the reasons why you and three other council members voted in favor of the move. You must have had a pretty compelling reason to vote against the City attorney’s recommendation.

A majority of SLT residents voted for legalization in the last election, but a small yet vocal group of bigots prefer we change our town name to something like Redneckistan, arrest everyone we don’t like, deny them bail and investigate anyone who has anything to do with them. These bigots would do well to consider moving to North Korea or Iran where they and their un-American values and beliefs belong.

All my Marine friends tell me once a Marine, always a Marine, so I have to wonder about Mr. 4-mer-usmc being a fake. I suspect he is actually a Nevada Sheriff’s deputy and son of one of the council members, Tom Davies. I wonder what his boss at the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department thinks about 4-mer-usmc telling people they should leave Tahoe. I think I will call and find out.

Steve,

Your Marine friends did not lie to you, once a Marine, always a Marine. I signed up for the Corp in 1961 and served until 1966. However, if you’d like to telephone the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department regarding my status as a Sheriff’s deputy please have at it: I’m sure they can use a good laugh on a Saturday afternoon.

And Steve, I’m sensing a slight paranoia emanating from you—you might want to have that checked.

Semper Fi to all SLT’s current and former Marines.

Mr. Kubby:

Thank you for offering your respect to all Marines.

Regarding marijuana, my preference would be that all efforts and energies be directed head-on toward federal legalization of marijuana and controlling the sale of this product in the same manner as alcohol and tobacco. PEOPLE ARE NOT GOING TO STOP USING MARIJUANA, for either medicinal or recreational purposes. A template for control and distribution has already been established by the ABC; federal and state sales taxes could be collected; and I believe that the tobacco manufacturing companies are ready, willing, and able to begin production of a new product on which taxes would be collected for the revenue generated, and there might even be a few new jobs created. The current financial resources dedicated to enforcement and incarceration connected to illegal marijuana could be better utilized elsewhere, and in so doing the profiteering associated with marijuana could be eliminated.

What I think needs better publicizing are any existing movements demanding that the federal government eliminate marijuana from their list of dangerous drugs and for the feds to just legalize it. People wanting to use marijuana in either a medicinal or recreation manner would then not need to sneak around and they would be able to obtain a safe, controlled product from a storefront and not off some street corner with those monies going directly into the hands of hard core drug dealers or drug cartels. Like I said before, people are not going to stop using marijuana, just like they didn’t stop using alcohol during prohibition. A workable solution for marijuana needs to be identified, however the concept of legalizing marijuana may not be viewed favorably by the drug cartels and drug dealers.

In conclusion, one could really say, BUY AMERICAN! LOL!!

Thanks for the valuable information regarding legalization. I’ll make a note of that.

I can appreciate your being a resident since 1972. We (my spouse and I) wanted to move up from the Bay Area in 1976 but due to obligations related to a family member’s health we didn’t make it until 2001. Have never regretted moving here for one minute, and have sure NEVER regretted leaving the Bay Area!

it’s amazing that you people worry so much about the Pot

but you don’t seem to give a damn about the HERION problem

Greater citizen involvement is EXACTLY the prescription for cleaning up and improving our community. This site and the posts it spawns play a viatl role in exposing issues and generating suggestions. The number of posters citing evidence of a local heroin problem is very disturbing and illuminating. I was not aware of how bad this problem actually is. We MUST stop this before it gets worse.

Fortunately, we live in a community where we have a growing number of involved citizens who take time to inform themselves and share their observations and suggestions. We don’t need to look far to find examples of citizens getting involved: It was local residents who witnessed the tragic accident that seriously injured local cyclist Adam Rose and called for help and were instrumental apprehending the drunk driver. It was locals who gave immediate aide to the two motorcyclists injured on Hwy. 50 recently. The community response to the Angora fire needs no explanation.

We need to harness this growing trend in citizen involvement to generate community sourced solutions to the numerous issues that confront us. The best way to get consensus on how to reinvent our economy and our future is to have the ideas and solutions come from those who have the largest vested interest in seeing this community thrive.
That stakeholder group is:
WE THE PEOPLE!

Thanks for providing the links Kae. Very enlightening and sobering articles and posts. I missed them as I was on a road tip at the time.