Opinion: Time to do something about public transit
Publisher’s note: Gloria Hartoonian read this letter to the South Lake Tahoe City Council on Feb. 8, 2011. It is being reprinted with her permission.
Good morning Mr. Mayor and City Council Members,
Developing an attractive and efficient public transportation plan is essential to the future of South Lake Tahoe. If we do not, 20 years for now it will be clear to all that we are still a 1950s kind of a place. The center of town will still be a four-lane interstate crowded with cars; and just as we do not have enough parking now, so then, we will not have enough parking either.
Mayor [Hal] Cole is right: you never can have enough parking.
Visitors and locals should always be able to drive their own cars. For one thing, in case of fire, people need to get out of harms way and the city does not have the resources to do this. But affordable, reliable and attractive public transportation as an option has got to be developed and sold to the public. Other tourist destinations have accomplished this — including delivering families with kids and all their stuff to where they want to be.
Where the center of town is located should be our choice — a place, for example like Ski Run Boulevard — with all the potential that’s there. The center of town, as it is now, has been imposed upon us: it is Highway 50 with its millions of cars. Twenty years from now will it still be so?
I am encouraged by Mr. [Bruce] Grego and Ms. [Claire] Fortier’s willingness to tackle this vexing problem because our future depends on radically changing the transportation scene as it has always been endured.
Gloria Hartoonian, South Lake Tahoe
One big problem with public transportation taking everyone to a central spot is our over whelming mass of vacation rentals, which have overtaken our neighborhoods! How are people going to get from Ski Run to Montgomery Estates? We will need a hugh fleet of electric vans to transport people everywhere. Of course now with the real estate market way down and million dollar vacation homes short selling for half their value, why don’t we take back our neighborhoods, make vacation rentals illegal, and group all the tourists down around Ski Run to Heavenly Village? Put all the motels back in business on HWY 50. With all the increased business, hopefully the motels would fix themselves up.
We should work with the other communities and bus systems around the lake, to create a bus system that goes around the lake with limited stops, in under 2 hrs, maybe have 2 of them going at a time, so you know that you can catch the big lake bus, at least every hour.
In South Lake, the bus should go Stateline to the Y, eventually it could add in Meyers, and down the road maybe Pioneer Trail; which, I believe, still needs places (shoulder) for a bus to stop. Have the Trolley do the Emerald Bay run in the summer.
Forget about going into neighborhoods, that’s turning your transit system into a taxi.
The bus should come by every 15 minutes, 20 max, Stateline to the Y, be reliable for a least a couple years, so people will learn the system and begin to trust it, tourist and local alike.
Oh, and center of town is probably Al Tahoe Blvd to Stateline, with LTCC (also US Forest Services), Health Dept., Police Station, and the Courts on that road, it makes it feel like the beginning of the city, then you have El Dorado Beach, Campground on the Lake, Senior Center, the library, Ice rink, Rec Center & Pool. Further down is the DMV and Building Services Dept. Hope that is all accurate, as I went off Google maps on some of it.
So what is left out? The building Dept & City Hall? Anything else I’m missing?
Very well said, Gloria. I’m glad you agree that locals and visitors will always want to drive their own cars; not all locals live in the center of town, convenient to transportation, and most visitors come to see the sights and do activities on their own. We Americans are an independent sort and not all will agree to being herded by public transit. Many of us do not live on public transit routes, even if a super-efficient system were developed. If those of us who live in the boonies can be encouraged to efficiently plan our drives into town to our various appointments, business meetings, volunteer and recreational sites, it surely beats waiting for transit to pick up, drop off, pick up, drop off to get to each destination on our list until personal exhaustion takes over. Efficient personal errand planning saves on personal auto gas, wear and tear on cars, and ultimately, wear and tear on the individual(s) and public highways and streets. So muc of this responsibility depends upon the individual.
Another great quote for Mr know it all.
There’s nothing to tackle,there’s no one really riding those wheels to no where.
A weekend destination has a hard time paying it’s staff,and the failed businesses and dark store fronts are testaments of bad management, foresight.
Simple events that keep us alive to some degree,celebrity golf, the fireworks,paddle wheel races ,no one goes to,few bike races,and tons of charity events.
Why are we always raising money for charity? Why no steady income?
Where’s all the people gone to?
How come all my neighbors have moved away,the second home owners don’t come anymore because they won’t pay even more for a crusty sea monster that wants to make Tahoe their home from their boats.They just stay home rent the place out, pocket the cash, let you fix the crumbling roads.
For years, I watched, read about all this BS, fuss OVER THESE OLD PROJECTS, THAT DIDN’T FILL OUR CUPS OF COFFEEE OR OUR VAULTS.They were BILLED IN MARKETING BS, THAT NEAVER TOOK OFF, LIKE MOST THE OTHERS THEY STILL HAVE ON THE DRAWING BOARDS OF YESTERYEAR, YET TO BE PROVEN,TO SIT RIGHT NEXT TO THE OTHER GREAT IDEAS OF COB WEBS.
The Ridge Tahoe,the Four Seasons on Keller,the Embassy on ski run,the Village most tourists and locals a like pass by after a quick browse at prices and the rip off garage,army parking forces in the shopping center.
People from far, near, got the picture.
These places were suppose to stuff our pockets full good paying jobs,the only ones I see are the illegals, cleaning up after a few crackers came to town, spend 20 bucks ,left their trash in the parking lot for the three wheeler rent a cop to stare at.
New signs,new buses,new chair lifts,new lodges, haven’t done a thing for the bigger part the residents.
When are we going to have a Save South Lake Tahoe Charity Sell ,let the county take over this mess?
You can sure hell tell, the county doesn’t want help throw this bunch ideology a life ring on a sinking vessel,they love seeing them drown in their unreasonable principles, bad decisions.
“can you blame them?”
How do we pay for this? Maybe we should raise the TOT tax and use this increase. After all, the system will be designed to move the tourists around. But, what system is in place to moniter and collect the TOT even now? NONE!! There is no system in place to moniter how often and for how much each vacation rental is used! Remember B Gorman? We let the owners/managers decide how much tax they want to pay. This is CRAZY! If we are not going to track each rental and collect what is due, than cancel the whole program and get the tourists out of our neighborhoods!! This whole program was approved, based on collecting the tax. How are we collecting tax on foreclosures, that haven’t paid what is due? The county and city departments, more likely 1 person each, responsible for vacation rentals, should be watching the pre-foreclosure and trustee sale notices and any short sales on the market. If the addresses are a vacation rental, all TOT due should be collected immediately and a lein should be placed on the property if TOT is not collected.
HMLT, you bring up my pet peeve: The pay to park garage, talk about cut off your nose to spite your face. Placerville’s garage is free for I think 2 hrs, bring people in to spend money with free parking, they might drop 100’s, otherwise like me, they will say forget that, I’ll go somewhere else, like Harrah’s, maybe I’ll look at the shops in the casino, grab a bite to eat, play a little slots, and oops, now it’s too late to walk to those shops over at the village, maybe next time.
Make the Village and Heavenly subsidize it,at least part of it, they are the ones gaining from it.