Economic topics dominate South Tahoe council meeting
By Kathryn Reed
South Lake Tahoe’s economic vitality is what Tuesday’s City Council meeting was all about.
A variety of agenda items, while separate and not even lumped together, all focused on the city’s future.
Carl Ribaudo with Strategic Marketing Group started the morning off Oct. 16 with a presentation about the economic impact of the South Shore Vision Plan.
Lauren Thomaselli with the city spoke mostly about the success of special events during the summer, but also some of the issues with putting them on.
How to proceed with area plans – which could be an economic stimulus – was resolved.
The last item of the day had to do with partnering with El Dorado County when it comes to developing a recreation plan for the area.
While not all the items required action, it was obvious recreation and entertainment are what the city wants to focus on. This council wants to be instrumental in crafting policy that would ideally be a stimulus for the area.
The five agree the state line cannot be a barrier, especially when tourists cross it without knowing what county or state they are in. But the electeds also are cognizant of wanting to do what’s right by the people who put them in office.
Even Ribaudo said, “Why not call it the California Core?”
So often the Stateline area is referred to as the “casino corridor” when the reality is most of the changes that are proposed are in South Lake Tahoe. This is where Heavenly Village and the gondola for Heavenly Mountain Resort are, and where one-day a project will be built across the street.
Ribaudo’s presentation in large part focused on lodging.
“We are out of sync with our competitors who have a smaller lodging inventory,” Ribaudo told the council.
Much has been said about how the South Shore, South Lake in particular, has more hotel rooms than it will ever fill. And many of those rooms come with a small price, which in turn drives the average daily room rate down. This dominoes into fewer tax dollars, mostly via transient occupancy tax.
When it comes to figuring out what to do on this side of the state line and at the Y, the council wants to simultaneously develop area plans. That’s the name of the new document the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency will require once the Regional Plan update is adopted.
The city and TRPA will share the costs of a planner to make this work. It’s still likely a consultant will need to be hired to do some of the more technical work.
That position is estimated to cost about $100,000. The money will come out of unassigned reserves.
It’s also possible that person could help the city as it develops a recreation master plan.
To that end, the city is contemplating jumping on El Dorado County’s coattails. The county has put up $10,000 for RO Anderson to assess the inventory of the county’s recreation components – public and private assets.
Coleen Shade, with the consulting firm, told the council her firm is also looking at the sphere of influence in regards to inventory, so places like Kahle are part of the equation.
The inventory tally should be done some time in November, if not sooner.
The city’s rec subcommittee of Councilmembers Hal Cole and Angela Swanson will be conferring with City Manager Nancy Kerry and possibly county folks to discuss further what the city could get out of partnering with the county in going forward with finding someone to come up with a recreation master plan.
In other action:
• A report on the rebar and concrete at the never-built convention center site shows it is structurally sound.
Only in government can they get away with hiring a private consultant to tell them what’s in their own back yard. In this case, an inventory of the county’s recreation components.
Simply incredible. Turn around and look for yourselves, and bring your notepad if you have trouble remembering.
I agree with Steve. This is also why a Park & Rec Commission is important to look into these questions,find answers & propose plans with a broad long-term vision. A Consultant will probably be hired from San Diego or somewhere far away from Tahoe…
We have to many hotel rooms? Get rid of the vacation rental homes in our neighborhoods and put people back in the hotel rooms where they belong. Return our neighborhhoods to Neighborhoods, where people live full time and call it Home, and raise their families without the constant onslaught of strangers. Pride in our neighborhoods would grow once again and spill into the rest of the town. A win for everyone.
Agree with Steven, vacation rentals in neighborhoods have played a big part in destroying the sense of community, and right to enjoyment of ones property.
They have become houses of debauchery, I don’t understand how anyone can turn a profit on them, as the people staying in them seem to trash them, must be a lot of repair bills eating into profits ;)
Makes the few of us full time residents feel like hostages in a commercial zone.
The economic presentation and powerpoint are very interesting and can be viewed at the city’s website. http://www.cityofslt.us/index.aspx?nid=84
for October 16th. There is also a powerpoint under the agenda that has lots of data about lodging, tourist spend and tax collections related to this. Its called SOUTH SHORE VISION POWERPOINT.
If you have the time and interest its worth watching. The facts are pretty sobering and all of the data is sourced.
More worthless costly studies?? We all know they are unnecessary. Remember all the telecommuters that are going to move to the basin because of all the green improvements to the schools??
The new sidewalks and curbs should bring millions of new tourists to town. I think all we need to do now is set back and wait for the onslaught of tourists and the fat bicycle wallets.
A report on the rebar and concrete at the never-built convention center site shows it is structurally sound.
“REALLY DID ANYONE DOUBT THIS BE THE ANSWER?”
The real damage is and will be for sometime, the fall out in the business that are gone,because of a one missing Non-performance Bond sticky issue, but they are back to be re-elected,keep turning screws for a certain few agendas ,that’s too much!
Agree with what’s written about second home owners, plus too many time shares ,still building these eye sores.
The numbers have been added,subtracted, multiplier to whatever theories ,the over priced Gods Of marketing put on the bottom line to success,tall tales that never pan out to find gold nuggets after the water clears, what-else to keep a few ignorant few trying give the Think Tank A WISE Answer.But at what cost?
There’s not enough finance,TOO MUCH T.R.P.A RULES FOR ANYONE TO JUMP THROUGH THE RINGS COST FOR BOTH LOCAL ,OUT-TOWN investors.
Our COUNTRY STILL SUFFERING MANY, MONEY PROBLEMS,OVER PRICED ENERGY COST, THIEF being controlled in Washington loyalism that take the laws to highest court laws,people just can’t get ahead have all that surplus money to visit here like the thriving days in the past that the older old locals witnessed.
Take this FREE test that anyone can do here, without a cost to anyone.
I like to go business,dinners where there’s other people.
Grab the car keys between Tuesday to Friday go your best hangout….there’s no one there,who wants to sit ,drink,eat,party alone?
Not a person there except few employees hoping they don’t send them home,this town can’t ever make enough money with weekends, Holiday events, have a sound core finical growth for all who live here.
That Simple.
THERE’S NOT ONE THING THEY BUILT OR PLANNED TO BRING THE JETS, TRANS SYSTEM BACK TO 50% USE IN THE LAST 20 YEARS!
RE Vacation Rentals – call the city or CL Raffety in the county as soon as there is a problem. I called daily at times till the owners realized I wasn’t going to quit till they had their permit revoked or they changed their ways and started screening their tenants better. It will help – just pick up the phone! And I agree – NO VHRs in our neighborhoods. They should be on 50 somewhere.
Recreation inventory ? Recreation Master Plan ? Agree with some of the implications above – these are, if you really think about it, totally irrelevant. . .we and the owners of various sports enterprises all know what we have, in much the same way one can determine that there are TOO many motel rooms – the crux of the matter is that we don’t have enough VISITORS to patronize them.
We are in a which came first, the chicken or the egg (?) situation, when we don’t identify what it is we want to be when we become ‘grown-ups’. . . so many opinions are left to develop (all of the above) when no one asks the right question: what kind of place do we want Tahoe to be ? . . .To become ?
Any reasonable restaurant business plan knows where they are, how many they can comfortably handle, what dishes distinguish them from others, and how many “turns” they need at the meal times they choose, to make a “go of it” – not Tahoe.
What we really need is a marketing campaign – not promotions, not events (dependent on both the last one & the next) – something that’s not just ‘wishin’ & hoping’ all the time. Harrah & Gross knew their market, tailored their offerings to ATTRACT the clientele needed to sustain a 24/7 staff, season in, season out – for decades !
Absent a purposeful charratte process, Tahoe will continue to languish “in the weeds”, with a lack of significant direction. . .no $ 800.00 tours of places that have “made it”, no recreation inventory, no recreation master plan (or plan “update”) , and certainly not the political process in place now, will give us a vision that will work on as many levels as are necessary.
It all starts with IDENTITY. . .who are we?
That is the only relevance for any future.
Suggestion to City and County: Instead of hiring a consultant to make an inventory of the area’s recreation assets, call the Visitors Authority and Chamber of Commerces and ask them. That’s what the private consultant is going to do, they have already given you a free hint by disclosing that “Kahle” should be included.
Then use the $10,000 saved toward fixing the roads.
Who pays for the study get the results they want.
You pretty much said it Steven! But just have to reiterate-too much inventory, get rid of the vacation rentals! And what’s this addiction we have to consultants? Esp. consultans with no track record of success!