Looking beyond gambling, South Lake Tahoe weighs its future

On the eastern edge of South Lake Tahoe, across the street from the high-rise casinos in Nevada, sits the foundation of what was meant to be a $400 million convention center, hotel and retail complex.
That was before developers ran out of money nearly five years ago. Today, the 11- acre site along Highway 50 is a concrete wasteland locals call "the hole in the ground."
"They just abandoned it," said Ulysses Juarez, 23, one of a group of young skateboarders who climbed the chain-link fence earlier this month to practice their moves.

For some, the crater symbolizes South Lake Tahoe's inability to recover from the recession and a decade-long drop in casino gambling. The one-two punch brought high unemployment and a dramatic decline in population, as many single-family homes became vacation rentals.
Now, however, residents and officials feel the town is starting to find its way forward. They point to a series of recent developments:
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