Letter: Time for locals to support LTCC
To the community,
Measure F on the ballot this November is just as critical to the future of Lake Tahoe Community College as it is to the strength of the entire South Shore community. Imagine our community without a decent and competitive academic center like the college.
Jeff Cowen
From grandpas to graduates, the college intersects the lives of nearly everyone. And while many voters remember the new campus being unveiled as if it happened yesterday, the main college buildings are a quarter of a century old. As the college has aged, learning technology, student demands and the need to diversify offerings have leapt ahead.
The kind of investments needed at LTCC will cost money and much of it must be raised locally. The evolution of tax policy in California and across the nation means that if we want a good college in our midst, we have to be the ones to step up and share the cost.
As a business owner, I recognize the need to cut from large state programs and expensive bureaucracies, but that does not mean that local needs simply disappear. Although there are matching dollars available from the state, Measure F is the way to unlock them and provide for our own future. The bond measure requires a local body to manage the money.
Can we afford Measure F? The measure would increase property tax for the average property owner less than $100 per year. That’s about the going subscription rate for cloud-based storage or a few magazines. The college is ailing and at a crossroads. Vote yes on Measure F for a more secure, locally-funded future for one of our community’s most critical assets.
Jeff Cowen, business owner and candidate for LTCC Trustee Area 2
That’s just silly. You can support LTCC and not support Measure F. They are not mutually exclusive. The college is terrific. The proposed tax is ill conceived.
Vote no on F.
The College is great, but does that mean I’m willing to pony up money each year for it, no way! I am a student at LTCC, but I do not support Measure F and see no proof that the community should either. The College is one of three on the quarter system, why are we still in the dark ages? Wouldn’t semesters save money? Let’s take a look at the past ideas the College has had and how well those turned out:
Gymnasium: How often does it get used? I see a few retired classes held there once or twice a week, but no basekball games, sports usage, etc. If you build it, they won’t come!
Art Gallery: I walk by this gallery on a weekly basis, no one is ever there. Who is funding this ongoing liability?
Student Center/Cafeteria: Completely useless – the only food served at LTCC is from a coffee cart run by an outside vendor.
Ledbetter Garden: How many hundreds of thousands were poured into that venue and there is never any use.
Student Library: Beautiful space, way too large, and needs to be better utilized.
How many more buildings/projects will need funding only to see them sit empty. I would like to know what percentage of students are online? Many of the students I know take lots of classes online and I’m willing to bet at least half the enrollment is from online. You haven’t been fiscally responsible in the past and that won’t change by building a few more buildings.
Do your homework LTCC, none of your projects pan out.Vote No on Measure F – the College has Failed!
Vote no on F. Many people in this community or struggling to pay their mortgage/rent and put food on the table. I know several senior citizens on fixed incomes that would be hurt by this tax in addition to their utilities, food, gasoline, insurance constantly going up. Yes, the wealthy can afford this tax, but not the average person. When the economy improves and we have well paying jobs in this community, maybe then people will be willing to pay for a Measure F.
Am I reading correctly that with matching funds the college will spend $107 million on improvements over 10 years? When I look at the list of projects, it seems pretty underwhelming for $110 million. For that kind of money I would expect more than what is on the colleges project list.
NO Jeff ! NO !
The answer is NO !!
Tahoe property owners are no longer the “Golden Goose” for everyone’s inflated wish lists.
When the College comes back with at least a 50% reduced and revised bond measure then maybe – depending on what’s in it.
As a business owner probably with kids – YOU are welcome to pay for this ……
Yes on F
Tired of comparing the cost to the same as a magazine subscription or coffee. Many people stopped getting these extra’s because they can’t afford the extra costs and pay their taxes, too. Most people don’t have that extra money to spend!
Yes, the college is ailing, but this is due more to administration overload and self promotion than a few yards of chipped concrete, repair of a boiler, and a leaking METAL roof.
“If you build it they will come” is from a movie about baseball and the supernatural.
The college already is pretty spectacular, doesn’t look 25 years old and is having large problems keeping the student count above 1500.
Perhaps a bond issue is necessary at some point, but not now, and not 50 million.
What chance, in the current California economy do you think there is to get the second 50 million the college says they need in grants????
The college needs to learn how to walk before they can run, and I have no faith in the current leadership.
Wasn’t it the current President that said publicly that there was no way there were drugs involved in the disappearance of the girl at the Snow Globe event last year? What was she thinking? Did she attend even for an hour?
That is an example of the kind of realism being applied to the concepts a programs and projected results behind Measure F.
VOTE NO on Measure F
Everybody that buys a ticket knows its a rave party. The CC has let this event destroy the playing field. It’s hard to believe this is going to happen again with the promise of a new field. Vote no to stop the insanity, its too much money for too long.
“The college needs to learn how to walk before they can run…”
That’s hilarious. Apparently you have no idea about the history of LTCC’s progress and success.
Kevin-
You are so wrong. I have been there witnessed it all, and if it had been done differently, we’d not be where we are today with the deferred maintenance and all the other problems.
What don’t you know about all the failed programs and vacant space in the existing structures?
You convinced me Cowan. In fact your logic was so powerful I want to be the first to recommend a follow up bond issue after this one passes for maybe a hundred million or so. Chump change if spread out over 90 years.
Though I don’t know if we can become a 4 year institution so how about the West’s premier destination three year college.
Get real Jeff.
A hundred here, a hundred there. Have you looked at all the bonds we have to pay for already. ENOUGH!
Vote NO ON F!