Letter: Consider S. Tahoe council incumbents’ records before voting

To the community,

The City Council election is less than a month away. Who will get the gold ring on the city’s merry-go-round? There are two incumbents on the ballot. Hal Cole and Bruce Grego. Cole has served on the council 16 years. He poses as one who has done no harm in serving. No harm, no foul.

But his record says otherwise. Repeatedly he has supported redevelopment (RD) schemes that have put the city in a hole financially. In 1995, he voted to take all the TOT money in RD area one and use it to service the RD debt. TOT is a general tax dollar. Over the years $40 million have been taken from the general fund to service RD debt. The RD long-term debt is $200 million. No wonder the streets are crumbling and that there’s no city hall.

Bill Crawford

Cole voted for the city’s parking garage, a loser from day one. And he was the cheerleader for the convention center deal. His name is on the contract.

Cole, in 2000, voted for and pushed hard for Measure S, which has been political chaos for 12 years. Also, he and others put pressure on the city attorney to rush the adoption of the first contract on Lakeview Commons, which ended in the city losing a lawsuit. Money was lost and the project was delayed a year. Cole has done great harm.

The incumbent, Bruce Grego, sacrificed his integrity on the alter of greed when he colluded with the city manager [at the time] and the assistant city attorney [at the time] to cut a $937.50 city check for Grego. Cole, to his credit, said Grego should return the money to the city. I wanted Grego censure, but couldn’t get the vote to do so.

Don’t forget to vote.

Bill Crawford, South Lake Tahoe

PS: T.E. Lawrence wrote, “Old and wise means tired and disappointed.” Amen.