Opinion: Tahoe — a continual work in progress
Lake Tahoe’s natural beauty is not reflected in the South Shore ad campaign. Photo/Kathryn Reed
By Kathryn Reed
Park City is being held up as the latest poster child of tourism for the South Shore to emulate.
The theme of the ninth annual South Shore Tourism Forum was economic and community revitalization. Instead of a to-do list for the South Shore it was more of a tutorial on what the Utah resort community has done.
Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce, Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority and North Lake Tahoe Resort Association employees and members traveled to Park City in April 2014 to learn what that ski town has done to be successful. Ever since then there has been a litany of dog-and-pony shows to tout how great Park City is.
Tuesday afternoon was another chance for about 150 people to hear the same story that has been repeated multiple times since the excursion. Only this time it was two Park City officials who did much of the talking. This was after a lengthy video was shown of their town when the Tahoe brigade was there.
Ken Fisher, recreation manager, and Jonathan Weidenhamer, economic development manager, were the Park City officials who came west for the two-hour event at Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel on April 21.
Park City is an old mining town that in the 1950s was practically a ghost town with boarded up businesses on Main Street. Now it embraces that history which is evident by walking through the downtown.
One of the more revealing comments from the duo was prompted by a question from Ty Polastri with Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition. He asked what authentic elements they saw on the South Shore.
An awkward pause and chuckle ensued.
Heavenly Village has been full of people all winter even without snow. Photo/LTN file
“I think the authentic experience is the vibrancy, the people,” Fisher said. “I love that you have a campground on the main street. And obviously the lake.”
But he admitted he would not publicly say what he would rather see the campground land used for.
They were both most impressed with how Heavenly Mountain Resort’s gondola starts from the center of Heavenly Village. What they’d like to see is the energy of the village carried all the way to the lake.
The problem, they didn’t have to point out, is that it’s like walking or driving through a ghetto near the state line going from Highway 50 to the lake.
They smirked at the names of some of the hotels that reflect a bygone era, and scooted by how some of those lodging establishments look.
Then they commented on how their recreation center is a true community gathering place. That isn’t true of South Lake Tahoe’s or even Kahle in Stateline. They did have good things to say about the operators of the city owned ice rink.
It was the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics that spurred revitalization. (Winter is Park City’s main season, unlike Lake Tahoe where summer dominates.)
But what was lacking in the presentation was how Tahoe – any of the shores – could capture a bigger piece of the winter market.
Leading up to those 2002 Games and afterward Park City taxpayers approved a slew of bonds that primarily fund recreation and arts. There are restaurant taxes, higher property taxes for second homeowners, and additional sales tax beyond what the state mandates.
Taxes for the “right” reason will get voter approval. Photo/LTN file
Todd Poth with Getaway Reno-Tahoe said how the South Shore isn’t about to tax itself to have what Park City has. It has a ton of public art, free public transit and embraces its mining history. It has a performing arts center and other venues for people to gather.
But the reality is people on the South Shore will tax themselves. Just look at the $55 million Lake Tahoe Community College bond that was passed last fall and the $64.5 million Lake Tahoe Unified School District bond voters approved a few years ago. Those are for facilities. Voters approved Measure S for recreation. South Lake Tahoe voters approved an increase in hotel and sales taxes.
This community has demonstrated it will pay for what it believes in.
Douglas County Board of Commissioners this month gave direction to staff to come back in June with ordinances that would raise nearly $4 million a year. This money would be used on the South Shore Vision and in the valley. The dollars could be leveraged to obtain grants so the total pot of money to invest in the county is even greater.
A 2.5 percent utility operator fee (natural gas, electricity, landlines, and a portion of cell phones), 0.05 percent fuel tax and 0.25 sales tax are likely to be approved this summer. State law allows the county to implement all of these taxes by ordinance without going to the voters.
Douglas County is moving forward with the South Shore Vision. Rendering/Design Worshop
“Figure out your vision. What’s the prize? I think you can build a better place if you figure out what it is,” Weidenhamer said. “Doing nothing is a terrible choice.”
He admitted it will be hard and that some people will be mad, but that is a side effect of progress and change.
The problem is that the South Shore has not figured out what it wants to be. Instead of looking inward for self-reflection, for authenticity to grow upon the reasons we all moved here or stay here, the community looks elsewhere for answers.
Plenty of consultants have come through with ideas. Pretty drawings have been composed of what the area could be. The same “leaders” trot out the same ideas and yet nothing changes. At some point one has to question whether it’s ineffective leadership that is stalling progress, or perhaps the wrong ideas are being presented, or perhaps the will of the people is being ignored. Or maybe it’s the rules that are in place – like being the only place in the country that has tourist accommodation units and commercial floor area as commodities – that are hindering forward movement.
It’s pretty evident by anyone who travels elsewhere that the South Shore is tired looking and that there is no “there there” – as in no soul, no wow factor (other than the lake), no defining event or visual that says Tahoe. There is the lake, but it’s been pointed out for years that the body of water has not been marketed as well is should have been or could be. Access points are not well marked. Think about visiting Tahoe for the first time. Would you know how to get to the beach? Lakeview Commons in South Lake Tahoe and Tahoe Commons in Tahoe City are the only obvious places. A vast swath of the shoreline is visible on the West Shore but it’s rocky and every “private” sign on all the docks is not welcoming.
We have this incredible jewel, but it’s like a museum piece that is locked behind a gated wall. Bringing the lake to the forefront may be our answer.
This is the 2014 ad campaign which is similar to 2015’s. Photo/Duncan-Channon
Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority is trying to do just that with its summer 2015 ad campaign even though it is continuing to keep with the comic book-like characters instead of the true natural environmental that is so stunning. And, of course, gaming is still part of the mix. And it should be. But maybe it’s time for the marketers to emphasize the natural beauty of the lake – not a caricature of it – (have you seen the ads for Colorado and Montana?) – that also touts recreation, and then have separate gaming ads with a bit of that scenery. Because, really, no gaming destination is as beautiful as Lake Tahoe.
Or maybe the current ad campaign reflects the South Shore perfectly – colorful, a bit schizophrenic, without a true focus and a message the masses can’t understand. LTVA’s summer campaign message is “Summer rules your face”.
The real difference between here and Park citu is that the city keeps .5% of the real estate taxes on people who live in town and there is a 1% for second. Hom. The have 1/3 the residents and have a 90 million dollar general tax funding,
Should have asked how much revenue is generated through the tax on lift ticket sales. Well done.
The LTVA advertising for years focused on the natural beauty of the lake. What about the blue campaign? Nobody liked that either. We have tired old motels with no town center. We have some great recreation, entertainment and scenery. We have had regulations that went beyond stopping growth it stopped change. TAU’s and coverage are antiquated ideas that prevent the very change we need. Too many people are fearful of any change. This community couldn’t even rationally deal with parking meters. There really is no community it’s just issues based alignment. The community is hyper critical about any new idea, they seek and demand perfection they can’t live up to in their own lives. Who wants to risk putting up a new idea to be crapped on? Government agencies have by and large failed the community for the past 30 years. It only took us that long to get some sidewalks.Until recently they have lacked any sense of urgency. Until this community is prepared to have a mindset that change can be good it doesn’t matter how many good ideas are trotted out. Everybody is waiting for the grand vision we can all agree on. Guess what that will never happen ever. How about we start somewhere anywhere and go from there have an open mind and see where we go. At the end of the day this community fears change Park City does not.
Kenny – I agree…. we need to tax the lift ticket sales…. PERIOD. Sorry Slapshot that your views are so negative while there is hope that we can learn something from Park City successes. I do not like the LTVA advertising…. we need the WOW factor of the natural resources of Lake Tahoe. I really did not like the Tahoe-Blue theme – think it sounds like bad English. Seems like other states present their natural resources supported by great ideas, programs and possibilities. We can really learn more from Park City.
AND, so true — how does a new tourist find a public beach at South Lake Tahoe? We need to focus more on opening up beach access and resources at those areas. We need to publish this information once it is available. Camp Richardson should not be the only place to go to have fun & food on the beach. We need to OPEN UP BEACH OPPORTUNITIES so folks can visit, spend and enjoy the lake in South Lake Tahoe.
Amen, Irish Wahini!
Our greatest asset has been walled off from the public.
And the branding used to be “America’s all-year playground”. It communicated there is something for everyone no matter what the season. It was on the City’s letterhead, on the front page of the Tribune, announced at the top of the hour on the radio stations, etc. It also didn’t focus on any particular age group. We should be attracting young people, older folks, and families, but instead the ad campaigns seem to present a “party” image that might not be appealing to families.
The image developed by Design Workshop for the Nevada casino corridor is essentially a match for a design they did nearly two decades ago for the California side. I guess Nevada is ready to move forward, but the California folks need to continue with “analysis paralysis”.
There is so much that can and should be done. This area has so much potential. But until the regulatory structure changes, and residents feel they are part of a community, nothing will change.
Just my two cents.
We should be promtoing the beauty of the lake, the surrounding area,our beaches,hiking trails and all the good things Tahoe has to offer
The “party town” image needs to be toned down.
“Summer rules your face”??? What does that even meen?
OLS
Summer rules your face and idiocy is in place!
It seems that many here are misinterpeting the campaigns that the LTVA are running as promoting parting, all of them are mmostly promoting the outdoor life like SUP, hiking biking, boating and the beaches and as an after thought a craps table. You have to remember Park city has a 7.5 million dollar marketing budget, ours os 4 million(none of which the city or residents pay for)
I hate the cartoonish feel of the adds also it needs to go.
As far as taxing lift tickets, i would bet that if we did tax them it would get lost in the general fund and not go towards promoting our area, as the city does not believe in attracting tourist here.
“it’s like walking or driving through a ghetto near the state line” – ghetto? Go to an actual “ghetto” in any big city and then apologize for comparing Tahoe to that. Assuming you make it out in one peice. Tahoe has blighted / low income areas, we don’t have a ghetto. For the benefit of all of us, please either write news articles that don’t have your opinion oozing out of them or just label them as editorial / opinion and not as “news”. That’s what Fox “News” does, you’re better than that Kae.
Emily,
It is labeled OPINION. That is the first word of the headline and it’s under VOICES, which is the op/ed section of LTN. Give the writer a break.
Pat
Here’s my perspective as a regular four season visitor to SLT and the rest of Tahoe as well. (Not as a local, but maybe a semi-local in spirit?).
There is a lot of agonizing about the shortcomings of SLT, especially in relation to other well conceived and executed mountain resort towns. I enjoy visiting most of these very much, such as Park City, Aspen, Breckenridge, Telluride, Sedona, Whistler etc. But I always feel there like I’m visiting a planned, if nicely so, contained resort town where lots of money flows from the many there who have it. No problem with that, it’s nice to have a beautiful and well planned town to go with your scenic wonderlands. Those are sort of the boundaries and definitions of those places in my view.
Except for the older part of Telluride, I’m not sure I’d call any of those “authentic”. For authentic mountain towns/resorts of a longtime nature, I’d put up the villages in the Swiss and Italian Alps. Those have been that way for hundreds of years, and still feel like it.
What SLT has that none of these do, as we all know, is the lake. To me, that’s more important than the fancy stores and perfectly synched architecture of the other resort towns. When we come up to South Lake, we normally do a lot of side trips all over, to north lake, west lake, Hope Valley area, Sand Harbor and the east side, etc. That makes it a Tahoe experience, but South Lake is our preferred base.
I think South Lake does need to further firm up an upscale resort district that’s still underway around Stateline, but it’s coming nicely if slowly in my opinion. That is not the whole town though. You can’t contain its larger area and linear shape into a compact resort town like Aspen or Park City. It’s too big, and thankfully has more variety of districts and income levels, and a working population beyond the resort aspect.
I don’t think you’re going to see the strip motels along LT blvd. razed for some fancy unified resort town look anytime soon. My main complaint was always the aesthetic tackiness of those, starting with signage and exteriors. There has been some improvement there, but more needs be done. Wayfinding signage and as everyone says, lake access information, is still lagging. Ubiquitous maps and brochures highlighting features in the resort core, along with paths for biking and lake access, are needed on signposts and as handouts.
Again for the resort core, it’s always needed better restaurants and some more variety in shops. There has been improvement there too, but lots more to be done. In Park City, Breckenridge, or Aspen, you can easily walk to many good restaurants, shops, and brewpubs/bars, and some entertainment venues as well. This has been more scant in SLT in the tourist core. Why that’s so, when it’s so close to the dining paradise of the Bay Area, remains a mystery to me. It does seem to be getting some attention lately though. I’ve enjoyed the new McP’s Pub and Cold Water brewery this year.
I still prefer Tahoe to any of these other places to spend more of my time (though Telluride has a grip on me too). While the town isn’t a perfect little utopia, it’s still great fun, beautiful, and the variety of outdoor activities is hard to beat. Keep on with the incremental improvements, and remember, there can be a tourist core, and the rest of the town. Treated separately but as part of a whole town, they can each fulfill their purposes.
ghet·to
/ˈɡedō/
noun
noun: ghetto; plural noun: ghettoes; plural noun: ghettos
a part of a city, especially a slum area, occupied by a minority group or groups
Sounds like Stateline to me.
Interesting that Park City would send two government employees here to tell us how to attract more tourists, potentially cutting into their market share. And I agree, an important question is does Park City tax lift tickets as a source for its large marketing budget.
Last spring, I had the opportunity to hear the former mayor of Park City at our Leadership Conference. They DO have some good ideas.
Re access to beaches, a visitor doesn’t care whether a beach is forest service, city, county or whatever. A widely distributed (visitor centers, campgrounds & lodging) slick brochure of beaches in the area might be helpful. I’m thinking of the list which appeared in the Action section of the Tahoe Daily Tribune April 16, page 15.
I’m in 100% agreement with Slapshot’s analysis.
“At some point one has to question whether its ineffective leadership that is stalling progress, or perhaps the wrong ideas are being presented, or perhaps the will of the people is being ignored.”
The “will” of too many SLT people is to either leave everything just like it because after all, “its good enough”, or else they’re just not willing to pay any money out of their own pocket for making improvements as was evidenced by the vote against paid parking and the elimination of that opportunity to generate monies which could have gone toward maintenance and improvements.
“Summer rules your face.”????? Give me a break.
One take away from this meeting was that Park City’s Chamber and Visitor group work well with the city. Something the two speakers clearly pointed out as a primary reason for their success. Our two Chambers and the LTVA do not work with the city, or the counties, or the environmental agencies. They do their own thing. The advertising is a perfect example. In a drought year, beautiful Lake Tahoe with all its water plays second fiddle to cartoon characters.
We can tax second homeowners, lift tickets etc. I am not completely against that idea. I would be pretty sure the additional tax money would get ground up and spit out though. What we really need is private investment. Does Park City have their worst assets in their best locations? I don’t think so. The downtown area is abysmal and awash with seedy motels catering to daily and weekly renters. Would YOU throw down serious money for properties in that area to develop higher quality accommodations? I know I had the chance and I didnt. I don’t believe in that area. It should be the absolute hub of this town, with a gorgeous public beach and restaurants and cafes. Instead we have trash blowing around and junk architecture.
Chicken or the egg? The 1960 Olympics ruined this town. All manner of horrible quickie garbage was built. Shortly afterward, TRPA was created and even though I generally agree with their mandates, it insured that we would be stuck in perpetual mediocrity with a tangle of rules that even they themselves have a problem unwinding.
I remember traveling to Park City years ago. I came back thinking that place is a glorified high desert wind swept dust bowl. No lake, just reservoirs with bath tub rings. Downtown is great and that town was built with current zoning and design aesthetic. Their Olympics made that town. Our Olympics shackled us with rubbish.
I have lived in this town for over two decades and I have seen progress. Painfully slow progress. Thanks to Tahoe Conservancy for almost always leading the charge. Things are getting better.
“Tahoe South”,” Summer Rules Your Face”, Lakeview Commons”is renamed from what it’s always been called as El Dorado beach.
USFS isn’t logging,”they are thinning the trees for a healthy forest”. Controlled burns are now “prescribed burns”.Watch the semantics and how it’s presented to the public.
Who thinks up ths stuff? OLS
Did everyone else fail to see that these snobs came to our little town with their noses in the air & talking smack about our town? Why were these stuck up snobs invited here? They didn’t even have the huevos to say what they really felt? “He asked what authentic elements they saw on the South Shore. An awkward pause and chuckle ensued”. Are we back in Jr. High School? “They smirked at the names of some of the hotels that reflect a bygone era, and scooted by how some of those lodging establishments look.” I’m sure the homeowners who worked very hard to buy their home down in the “ghetto” took offense to their comments. A few of the things people love about Tahoe is that everyone is friendly and still has the small town feel to it. Locals are constantly reminiscing about the way Tahoe was in days gone by (Then & Now stories). People don’t move here from big cities with hopes that some day Tahoe will be a big metropolis. They move here to get away from the city life. Locals are constantly complaining/remarking about the damage tourists do to our town. What do you think is going to happen when you make charming little Tahoe into Park City? Where will our wildlife go when we are like Park City? Back into the forests where there is such an abundance of food for them? What do you think will happen to the clarity of the lake when we are like Park City? Are people forgetting that Tahoe was nearly destroyed in the 1800’s when the forest was clear cut for the benefit of man? We complain when we have to pick up 4000 lbs of trash on July 5th, what will be said when tons of trash will need to be cleaned up on a daily basis? Oh wait, it will generate jobs right? Mom & Pop stores already cant afford the rent in Tahoe & Heavenly Village. So it will be big corporations that fill those stores, then more people will come and spend money, then the rich building owners will raise the rent and make more money. People desperate for jobs will come to make minimum wage, we will get more low income families in Tahoe, crime will rise. Where will we hide all of these new low income people. Oh, that’s right, in the meadows with our homeless population. This isn’t going to put money in locals pockets. Its going to continue to line the pockets of big corporations. Build it and they will come, & destroy. We all saw how successful “Tahole” was. How about working on improving customer service. Everyone is aware that customer service is either excellent or really bad in Tahoe. People believe it doesn’t matter how tourists are treated because they will come here no matter what. And if they don’t return, someone else will come in their place. If Tahoe continues to act like terrible hosts, we will continue to get terrible guests. People won’t be happy until they destroy all the majestic beauty that surrounds us. If you want bigger buildings, go back to the city.
P.S. What the heck is “Summer rules your face” supposed to mean anyway?
Lake Tahoe is so Beautiful ,I wish it would stay a forest,it is changing so fast,I pray to God it would just get better with people ,No one smiles much anymore,Do not break down people of Lake Tahoe ,Lets just smile more and be Thankful we Live here .God Bless you all,