Piper: ‘Attract businesses that have higher paying jobs’
Teresa Piper
Publisher’s note: Lake Tahoe News asked the six El Dorado County supervisor candidates a series of questions. All are the same except for one that is specific to each candidate. The responses are being run in the order they were received by LTN. One candidate chose not to answer the questions.
Name: Teresa Piper
Age: 51
Occupation: Customer service and accounting
Education: Majored in business and accounting, Los Rios Community College campuses
What elected, civic, nonprofit boards or groups are or have you been affiliated with and in what capacity?: President/recreation director for Gold Ridge Forest Homeowners Association; treasurer for El Dorado Nordic Ski Patrol; president of the El Dorado County Republican Woman Federated; and member of Golden State United Food and Commercial Workers 8.
Traffic is horrible on Fridays and Sundays throughout the county. Will you commit to not voting for any big subdivisions unless there is a plan to widen Highway 50? Why or why not?: U.S. Highway 50 is maintained by Caltrans. This is not in the El Dorado County supervisors’ control to commit to widening Highway 50 or any modification for that matter. Since the community of Placerville supported the current configuration of Highway 50’s realignment versus a cut and cover option, the bottlenecks at the three traffic signals are unavoidable. The 20-year plan to correct the seasonal bottleneck in the Camino area needs to be implemented not just for traffic flow but to save lives. The special interests that have been in the way need to be exposed and let this plan progress. I believe we are still the only county that provides a fee per unit at development for traffic mitigation. As a county supervisor, I would vote on any development and project that has been approved by the Planning and Development Department, passed by the Planning Commission, and has met all requirements and complies with the General Plan.
What is your opinion on a proposed November initiative to control growth?: I am personally in favor of the petitions that are designed to keep our zoning in alignment with the land use designations of the county’s General Plan and protect the county’s resources, fix community regional lines.
What are your thoughts of making Lake Tahoe its own county?: Lake Tahoe struggles to maintain itself as a city let alone trying to take on the unincorporated areas and eliminate the support services from the county.
What entities would you not take money from?: I would not accept money from any entity or individual that expects something in return.
What would you do to boost the economy?: Attract businesses to relocate here that have higher paying jobs. We don’t need fast food or any more minimum wage. We need more businesses like an Internet based business or a Blue Shield Campus. There are companies looking to relocate out of the Bay Area and Silicon Valley due to extremely high overhead and housing costs.
What is the No. 1 issue facing District 5 and how do you propose to resolve it?: The biggest issue for the whole county is the economy, with it being most evident in District 5 since this district relies so heavily on the tourist dollar. When the economy shrinks, the entertainment dollar becomes the least significant in the family budget. We need District 5 to begin supporting itself on the local economy, (as I stated in answer 10) with better paying jobs. Then there would be more residents to build the tax base, and our tourism dollars can become a bonus in good times.
Supervisors meet only once a year in Lake Tahoe. Do you believe this is fair representation? Why or why not?: I would work hard to have the BOS meet in Lake Tahoe two or three times during the good weather months. Right now, most Tahoe residents have no way to participate in BOS meetings, planning meetings, etc. Lake Tahoe has become marginalized.
Would you have voted for Red Hawk to be built and to divert Caltrans funds for interchanges? Those decisions are still negatively affecting the South Shore. Is there anything you would do to change the status quo?: Lake Tahoe casino traffic was failing badly at Lake Tahoe before Red Hawk was built. Online gambling has to be a big part of that. People don’t even have to leave home to gamble. Las Vegas has managed fairly well with a bad economy by strongly emphasizing family activities and resorts. Look at the big Embassy Suites complex right below Harrah’s. They are packed all the time due to family-friendly food and activities.
Would you support having more tax dollars from the county coming to the South Shore? Currently, more dollars leave the basin than come back.: As long as there is a gambling area, you will have a lot of transient and low wage workers who take more from the infrastructure than they contribute. Sports of various kinds could be pushed really hard, especially in the Meyers area — cross country skiing, X-Treme sports, ice skating, indoor training facilities and things like Squaw Valley only on a smaller scale. Attract families and sportsmen who have money to spend on more pricey sports. How about more charity golf tournaments and sports challenges? Initially, more dollars would have to come from other parts of the county, but I think with proper marketing the return on investment would be reasonably quick.
The county and city of South Lake Tahoe have a long history of not getting along. How would you propose to improve the relationship?: Communication is always the key to any relationships success.
What is your vision for Meyers and how will you make it a reality?: Make Meyers the center of very varied sporting opportunities. Push it as a destination in itself. It doesn’t seem to have much of an identity outside the area and needs some good marketing as a “getaway” that isn’t too expensive for the sports-minded family. Meyers could also be the center of small manufacturing businesses that are related to sports. Craftsmen employees would be at a wage level where they could afford nice housing and not be an even bigger draw on services. What Meyers doesn’t need is to pay $20,000 in consulting fees.
Why should someone vote for you over someone else?: I am the candidate with a plan and passion to implement the plan. I will not just be the third vote. I have a home in Tahoe as well as Pollock Pines and I am deeply invested in both communities.
How do you expect to work with the current board, in particular with Supervisor Ray Nutting since you have accused him of threatening you?: I will work with the whole board in a respectful and professional manner.
What do you do for fun?: I participate and enjoy all of the outdoor activities that my district offers.
Tell us something about yourself that people might not know: In 2008, I worked with the local committee in Pollock Pines where residents and business owners defeated the proposed homeless shelter. We didn’t defeat the shelter just because it was going to be in our backyard. The grant proposal, which I read, benefited the landowner and did nothing to solve the county’s homeless problem. After five years, the landowner could evict the shelter and benefit from the millions of dollars in improvements with no pay back. This is one example of getting involved and working to better my community. I am committed to making District 5 be all that it can be.
Sounds like a candidate from west slope. We need a Lake Tahoe supervisor.
Plan? What plan….pretty vanilla responses…don’t tell me what you believe…tell me what you are going to do! How will she help attract higher wage jobs to the region.
Agree, she doesn’t know much Tahoe or seem to care
Agree, not a Tahoe candidate.
Lake Tahoe struggles to maintain itself as a city let alone trying to take on the unincorporated areas and eliminate the support services from the county. – This statement speaks volumes about how the rulers of El Dorado really see us here at the Lake.
While I’m unimpressed and find this commentary riddled with inaccuracies I will focus on what I think is most egregious.
I think it’s been abundantly clear to everyone for a long time that South Lake Tahoe doesn’t need any more minimum wage paying jobs but needs living wage paying jobs. How exactly would Ms. Piper attract businesses to relocate here from the Bay Area and Silicon Valley when the Tahoe basin doesn’t have the needed fiber optics infrastructure for those Bay Area and Silicon Valley businesses to operate? It’s something like having a car but no gas.
So Ms. Piper, what is your plan to bring in the needed infrastructure so that more businesses like internet based or a Blue Shield Campus can come to South Lake Tahoe and then hire local individuals so those people have the opportunity to make a living wage that will enable them to buy a house, raise a family, and be able to pay the entrance fees to participate in all the outdoor activities that District 5 has to offer?
Perhaps Ms. Piper’s thought process was for relocations to take place down the hill and not on the hill.
South Lake Tahoe needs a South Lake Tahoe Supervisor or our status as El Dorado County’s unwanted stepchild will get even worse! VOTE TAHOE!
Spoken like a true politician. She didn’t answer any of the asked questions and skirted around the issues.
It is my understanding that Ms. Piper is trying to replace the previous supervisor, Ray Nutting, who is under investigation for violating the law. As a home owner in the same subdivision in El Dorado County as Ms. Piper, I know for a fact that she is incapable of following the rules of the property owners association in which she resides and currently has a notice of violation against her from El Dorado County. Is this the kind of person we want as our supervisor? I believe not.
I don’t trust people who use their children or pets for photo opportunities. Reminds me of the commercials for attorneys on the Reno TV stations posing with their horses.
This vote will come down to numbers and turn-out, the new district has a majority of voters on the west side. Why was the BOS allowed to redistrict local control away? This is the question. The rest of it should be summarized as the basin has never had a large percentage of high wage jobs, it is retail, tourism, service jobs and some various businesses. Government is the source for many of the higher wage jobs, this will continue and is common wherever large amounts of government land is. The private sector job growth will continue to be in the west county into the future and the basin will continue as a primarily second home and tourist destination.
She is a west slope resident. I have zero interest in someone from the west slope. We need someone who will represent the interests of Tahoe. If she had any clue she would know that the residents, especially long time ones don’t want Meyers ruined. This is one of the last REAL TAHOE towns left and we like it that way. Save your upscale and costly ideas for Heavenly or some other corporate BS.
She didn’t answer a single question. Basically says Red Hawk didn’t hurt Tahoe, and Tahoe has gambling anyway. Interesting, doesn’t even know that we’ve lost 1000s of jobs in the gaming industry. Doesn’t know a thing about Tahoe and the impact to El Dorado County. A no vote from all Tahoe.