SLT council discusses idea of not having rep on TRPA board
By Kathryn Reed
South Lake Tahoe City Councilman Bruce Grego’s desire to send a message to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency by not filling the city’s seat on the Governing Board was voted down by his colleagues, but not before the idea was well vetted.
Grego’s contention is he believes the bi-state regulatory agency interferes with land use issues and stalls progress.
Bruce Grego
“They have been here 40 years and it’s the same garbage from them year in and year out,” Grego said at the Jan. 25 council meeting.
Mayor Hal Cole said having a city rep on the board is necessary, especially if the Tahoe Valley Community Plan is going to get approved.
Councilman Tom Davis said the problem is the board is “tilted to non-basin residents.”
Councilwoman Claire Fortier said, “I think everyone here harbors some kind of feeling against the TRPA, but now is not the time (to protest).”
Councilwoman Angela Swanson called the appointment potentially the single-most important one on their agenda.
Once the discourse was over, Grego agreed to make a one-year appointment and to have the council revisit the possibility of leaving the TRPA seat vacant if things don’t change in the coming year. Fortier was unanimously appointed to the Governing Board.
The other one-year appointments are:
Angela Swanson:
• California Tahoe Conservancy
• Cal Tahoe JPA
• Waste Management JPA
• Tahoe Transportation District, alternate
Hale Cole:
• City Selection Committee
• Abandoned Vehicle Abatement
• Recreation (Measure S) JPA
Bruce Grego:
• LAFCO
• TTD
• League of California Cities
• Waste Management JPA, alternate
Claire Fortier:
• Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
• Cal Tahoe JPA
Tom Davis:
• Airport Commission
• Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority
• Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce, non voting
• South Lake Tahoe Lodging Association, non voting
• TRPA, alternate
• League of California Cities, alternate
Irvin Coe was reappointed the citizen rep to Clean Tahoe. City Manager Tony O’Rourke was directed to pick a staff person to be on Clean Tahoe.
John Collins will resume being the representative on the El Dorado County Commission on Aging.
O’Rourke and City Attorney Patrick Enright will be the PADMA members.
I have always felt the representatives on the TRPA board are too wide spread.
Those in Southern Calif. have a very different view of the local problems than those who live in the basin or next door.
It all political, so what do you expect!!!!!!!!
Not showing up to participate as part of a governing body that directly affects what happens in your jurisdiction?
Isn’t that like people who decide not to vote because they aren’t happy with who is in office?
My words for people who can’t even bother to vote and try to effect change is: If you don’t vote, you’ve lost the right to complain.
Same goes for the Council/City if they don’t even participate in the GB.
There are a lot of people around who don’t seem to know the difference between how it IS and how they would like things to be. You have to acknowledge and deal with what IS before you can change it.
Disengaging is never the appropriate response. I agree that too much of the board are from outside the region; perhaps that’s the change we should work toward. As difficult as this agency can be, I would not want to have lived in what the developers had planned for us in the ’60’s; expressways, bridges, keys-style living all around…………think about it.
Good grief. Did this guy get his law degree out of a Cracker Jack box?
Are you kidding me?? This really shows Mr. Grego’s level of awareness. Are drive-up windows really the City’s top priority right now. Good Grief. When is this clown’s term up?
Wonder if Grego does not show up in court if he does not like how the procedings are going.
His term expires at the end of 2012.
The old adage “keep your enemies” closer would be a quote for Mr. Grego to use.
Come on Bruce, that’s a re-run of Terry Trupp’s campaign promise more than 30 years ago and it backfired then.
What the City needs is an intelligent voice on the TRPA Governing Board. I’ll bet that Grego was one of those kids who tossed the monopoly board across the room when he was losing!