Letter: Not a fan of Curtzwiler’s
To the community,
I’m glad that you are opposed publicly to Mr. [Kenny] Curtzwiler’s attempt at supervisor. As I recall back to late October, or perhaps early November, he made a proposal that I contend was absurd. Curtzwiler said that to raise money to repair our city streets, we should assess an added tax against Heavenly Valley lift tickets. I was floored.
First, that wasn’t going to solve the problem that was the City Council misdirecting money away from street repairs and into other areas. Second, Heavenly Valley, run by Vail Resorts, would surely sue the city and prevail. Mr. Curtzwiler is a reckless bum, that has no place in any public leadership role.
Right now we need people to step up and run for our City Council. Is there anybody out there ready to take on a leadership role to run our city? These people presently on our City Council are not willing to make the tough decisions and lead our city. I know Mr. Curtzwiler is running for a countysupervisor seat. But I am most worried about the city of South Lake Tahoe right now.
Daniel Harvey, South Lake Tahoe
The Best way to fix the city streets is to form Assessment Districts Program Throughout the City .
The City really messed up when they stopped the City Overlay program in the 90s.
We used to pave several miles of street every year with a program that would cover the entire City in 10 years, but the Council would not fund the program as was needed because the cost of Asphalt was getting higher and they would not increase the Overlay Program funds as Asphalt prices increased, and they needed the money for there pet projects and to hell with the roads.
I am not a Curtzwiler supporter, but I wanted to speak to your comment about taxing Heavenly Valley/Vail lift tickets.
When the City approved the building of Heavenly Village & Gondola, they waived the taxation of lift ticket sales on the California side as part of the deal. Not a very bright move – but then, neither were decisions resulting in “TaHole” wither! There should have been a “sunset clause” to that piece of negotiation! It would be worthwhile if the City could re-enter negotiations with Vail on the issue of taxation of lift tickets sold on the CA side – no matter what City expenses it would pay for!
Yes, we need new leaders for both the City and the County, and there is still time for smart, ethical, visionaries to step up – at least for City Council.
There is a sunset clause on assessing fees on the Gondola and there always has been one. If my memory serves me I think there is around 7 years left. That would be the time to renegotiate the deal and it should be renegotiated. I agree Vail would prevail in any lawsuit and it would cost the city if the city breeched the contract.