Financial concerns stall walkway by convention center
By Kathryn Reed
Money was the overriding concern of South Lake Tahoe City Council members as they went back and forth with what to do about the unsafe walkway in front of the rebar and concrete known as the convention center.
What staff brought them last week were two ideas – one a covered walkway, one an uncovered – for the stretch of asphalt from Stateline Avenue to McP’s Pub. Uncovered would cost about $200,000, while a cover would be almost an additional $100,000.
What any walkway will mean to cyclists remains to be seen. Photo/Kathryn Reed
After much deliberation, the council unanimously agreed it wants staff to bring back more alternatives – ideally less costly ones. They also want to know what Caltrans has to say about the ideas because the right-of-way belongs to the state agency. They even said Caltrans should be dealing with this.
“This should have been done at the beginning with the building permit,” City Manager Tony O’Rourke told the council Feb. 8. “This should be the developer’s cost.”
But prior councils apparently didn’t think so, that’s why this council is left with the decision about how to make the strip of asphalt less of a liability to the city if someone were to be seriously injured or killed there.
The signs saying “don’t walk” are not effective. The cement barriers abutting the fence allow enough space for people to easily walk along the highway.
Councilwoman Claire Fortier repeatedly asked about placing concrete barriers in a manner so pedestrians had no room to walk. But her idea did not resonate with staff.
No matter what walkway is built, the mural along the fence is still going to be erected. However, it was noted, depending on what walkway might go up, the mural could be obscured.
“This should have been done at the beginning with the building permit,” City Manager Tony O’Rourke told the council Feb. 8. “This should be the developer’s cost.”
Tony, Now you see what’s wrong in this Town and County.
We’ll it’s only part of the problem really, but ya gets me drift …
☞ hmmm is that spelt…
Weelll, it’s only part of the problem really, but ya gets me drift …
Rearrange the existing barriers to prevent pedestrian passage. Don’t waste another $300,000 in scarce public funds for a walkway, plus an unneeded costly mural putting lipstick on this pig.
And what would it cost to fill in the hole then you could just walk across
What were the directions given to the “Staff” which led to such an expensive uncovered walkway? Also, didn’t the council authorize $10K to paint the fence? My question is why wasn’t the local group which painted some of the untility boxes with sports scenes for free contacted? They did a great job at the couople I’ve seen on Hwy 50 depicting snowboarders. Wouldn’t they have done the fence for free if the city had purchased the materials.
Now the wind has blown down part of the wooden barricade wall. Someone can easily “fall” in now. Can anybody say “lawsuit”? This whole thing has been incredibly poorly dealt with. Randy Lane shouldn’t be allowed to do ANYTHING in this town again.
Oh let’s just do nothing and wait until someone gets injured. Isn’t that what it took to get a cross walk down there?
It’s so sad to read about how the city-deciders stall on doing what’s best for the community and visitors. While the minions struggle to find solutions the council stalls and does nothing.
Convert that lane of car traffic into a combo sidewalk and bike lane. Divert through traffic around the not-a-convention center or behind the casino belt in the meantime. That might make walking and biking much safer on that stretch of the highway. Use the money that would have been spent on moving the barriers to make it happen!
Cheap Alternative: 7 or 8 No Walking On This Side of the Street Signs in Red and White. No one needs to be on that side of the street. Real Cost = a stencil, paint and labor. Why is this such a hard issue? Dollars saved = 4 city employee jobs plus a cover.
There is a safe place to cross with the light to get to the other side, and a safe place to get back, in order to miss construction areas…block the unsafe area and use signage to discourage people. If they are insistent upon using the construction area as a byway it will be their own decision.
At some point….there is enough “State” owned land to completely bypass the downtown and go through Pioneer and out the back ….Like Breckenridge. This actually makes sense. Years ago, we sent our city leaders to Breckenridge to study this option to see if it would help with our huge traffic clogs. If you think people complain about the many unfinished projects, you should hear them complain about the traffic. Breckenridge had the very same problem and Colorado built a bypass road. Breckenridge is now a “walking town”…it is safe for everyone to ride bikes and walk as well as drive in a timely manner. All other traffic uses the bypass.
City Manager Tony O’Rourke is right. The previous council, with Cole and Davis screwed up by not requiring a walkway to begin with! If the city is so worried about being sued by tourists who ignore signs, take the opportunity to close down the entire HWY 50 corridor, and re-route the traffic around the casinos and Heavenly Village. This creates a huge pedestrian area in front of the Village and will keep traffic moving with less signals. What do you say Tony?
I’m curious about the pool of companies that the city gets it’s bids from? These are the worst prices I’ve ever heard of. What is the process for bidding a job? Are all encouraged? or is it a secret club that you have to be invited to belong?
Tony Tony Tony!Be very careful passing the BUCK$ on to the “Friends of Developers”
lol….show me the $$$$$$$$$$$!