Letter: Failing policies come to our community, increased taxes cannot

Dear Editor: As a bon a fide Tahoe local (I’ve lived in Tahoe for the majority of my life - I left after high school to go to college and decided to return home to start my career and raise a family), I’ve learned and seen that it usually takes working two jobs or one job more than 40 hours to make a go of it. I’ve seen many characters come and go here due to the transient nature of a tourist town.

Some love it here so much that they are willing to do what it takes.

Then some complain the minute they get here and want to change a town they don’t yet understand and don’t appreciate those who were here working to make this a better place long before they came to town.

Recently, others have come due to the pandemic, as remote workers from high-paying jobs in big cities left there because they didn’t like the lifestyle, crowds, crime, drugs, and overregulation. They have inadvertently taken up much of our rental housing market and caused some of the higher rents, due to supply and demand. Oddly, they often try to impose those same failing policies when they come to our community. This includes the rise in TOT (tourist occupancy tax) and attempting to raise the minimum wage.

Both are absolute job killers for local workers and employers. Have they not seen all the businesses closing?

Some, have even pushed for the unconstitutional Basin User Fee to reduce tourism. This completely unfair and most likely illegal "Vacancy Tax" petition is the most recent in a batch of bad policies to come from our newest carpet bagger. This person has also been one of the main instigators and author of just about every bad idea listed above. He doesn’t seem to see the irony and hypocrisy of coming here and taking up one more home in our housing stock and then complaining that there isn’t enough housing, then he tries to literally and figuratively shut the door behind him.

Most of us were not aware of Councilmember Scott Robbin’s intentions. It has turned out that he is an injustice collector. He is a self-proclaimed subject matter expert on every subject. As soon as he got to town, he started complaining about the jury system because he was outvoted on a case by the rest of the jury.

He angered the police and Barton Emergency by accusing them of not handling an assault victim to his standards. He infuriated the firefighters with his own opinions on how to handle the Caldor fire. He criticized the snow removal teams during our heavy snowfall winter while he was on an expensive European vacation in one of his favorite countries. He would close the airport causing over $20 million in required repayment to the FAA.

He has misunderstood who pays for marketing/advertising, thinking it was the city council funds when it is not. He has attacked the Tahoe Transportation District, thinking he knows better. He has stuck his nose in the Nevada government telling them what to do and even used a littered Forest Service beach in Nevada as well as a photo from a beach in 1960 and a photoshopped photo of Emerald Bay showing a large, packed freeway down to the water.

He was unaware that this 4th of July was the first time in a couple of decades that our motels were not fully booked because of his manipulative, unauthorized speaking as if it was on behalf of the city council. He has attacked both Chambers of Commerce. He is on tape threatening the Lodging Association.

He has caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra work by the city staff and caused hours and hours of expensive staff time because of his long-winded diatribes and confusing motions at city council meetings. He has improperly contacted TV stations in Sacramento and the Bay Area to create anti-tourism pieces that have hurt the workers here because of fewer visitors. He narcissistically uses Instagram and Facebook videos to push his agenda. Just count the number of times he uses "I" and "my" in his posts. He and the truth are far apart as he accuses anyone who disagrees with him of being anti-housing, antisemite, racist, and anything else he can come up with.

Worse yet, he has divided our community by trying to make it all about Republicans versus Democrats when it is about fairness and common sense versus very, very far-out Berkeley copycat policies. I know many Democrats who disavow these crazy ideas. I guess he would call them traitors for not vowing allegiance to him. This man is a millstone around the political futures of the council members who vote with him. Further, his endless whacked-out policies are destined to hurt our workforce and community overall. His ideas make zero common sense. If we are all so bad, why doesn’t he move to Mammoth or somewhere else and destroy their town?

We need to tell everyone we know to NOT SIGN the Vacancy Tax petition. It is bad policy by a bad councilman who I believe sold the city of SLT voters a false bill of goods, to get elected.

Justin Davis
South Lake Tahoe