measure

As a sitting Council Member and Board Member of Lodging Association, I urge voters to vote Yes on Measure P – “P” for Play and Recreation. This would increase hotel taxes by 2% throughout the City. The Lodging Association is supporting this measure because Recreation is our economy; investing in our economy will encourage more visitors and visitors to stay longer, which in turn supports the rest of our local economy.

Measure P will be a key initiative on the City of South Lake Tahoe’s Nov. 8 ballot as a tourist-only tax to help rebuild the area’s aging Recreation Center.

Without raising taxes on local residents and businesses, Measure P will bring an estimated extra $2 million a year to support the community. The Lodging Association has voted unanimously to support further recreation in South Lake Tahoe. If passed by a two-thirds vote, Measure P will increase transient occupancy tax by 2 percent to 12 percent.

The Board of the Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce (Tahoe Chamber) has announced its position on seven local ballot measures in the City of South Lake Tahoe and Douglas County.

Yes on Measure P

I've never met anyone that likes taxes, but we pay them to fund the things we need in our lives: fire protection, law enforcement, education, roads, and services, just to name a few.

In November, Measure U is before the voters of South Lake Tahoe. A "yes" vote will add an extra 1/2 percent to the sales tax on non-food items purchased in the city limits. Currently, the tax is eight percent so the increase works out to be an extra five cents on every ten dollars purchased. It is estimated the tax increase would bring in an extra $2.5 million to the City.

Boys and Girls Clubs from across the country will be having "Lights on Afterschool" on Thursday, October 20 as a way to highlight the importance of a safe place for kids to go after school.

From 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., the students who attend the Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe (BGCLT) will show how they feel about the club by designing the future building that will house them.

For more than a decade, Branch has been writing about life in Nevada’s Great Basin Desert with an audacity, lyricism, and wit that is uniquely his own, and on Thursday, October 20, he brings that humor to Lake Tahoe Community College at 8:00 p.m.

The LTCC Writers' Series event with Branch will be held in LTCC’s Roberta Mason Library. This event is free and open to students and the community.

Nobody likes more taxes, but voters in South Lake Tahoe will be faced with approving a new tax that would provide funding for one of three areas that have been deemed a necessity in the community, housing, roads or facilities.

The 1/2 cent sales tax proposal is different than most as the voter gets to decide exactly how it will be spent. That works out to be five cents on every ten dollars spent on non-grocery items and would bring the sales tax in the City to 8.5 percent.

"These are needs we cannot fund without funding from the tax increase," said SLT City Manager Nancy Kerry.

5:00 p.m. update: A small fire that broke out west of the Heavenly Gondola Sunday afternoon has been contained. CalFire will remain at the scene for mop up operations.

An area about 40 feet by 25 feet burned before fire fighters responded and put it out. The original call came in at 3:56 p.m.

Montreal Road in South Lake Tahoe, previously closed to allow fire fighters to get into the area, has been reopened. The gondola had also been shut down for a short time as a safety measure.

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El Dorado County Superior Court Judge James Wagoner ruled today against the lawsuit filed by Jason Collin on July 14 to stop the Loop Road measure from being submitted to the voters November 8.

"I'm obviously disappointed in the ruling today," Collin told South Tahoe Now. "I still have a lot of concern about an initiative being pushed forward that has fundamental flaws and misleads voters."

I am running as a candidate for Lake Tahoe Community College Trustee in District 4 because I believe a good education is one of the most important services a community can provide to its citizens.

Lake Tahoe Community College is in an extraordinary and unprecedented position with the passing of Measure F two years ago. I am committed to the prospect of offering students an affordable four-year degree program, upgrading our current facilities, building the University center and exploring the possibility of on campus housing for students.

The annual SnowGlobe Music Festival is here to stay, at least for now.

During Tuesday's South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting, promoter Chad Donnelly went before the elected officials, asking them for a three year extension of the annual festival until 2019 (though they would ultimately like a deal until 2027), and more money from the City to help with the costs of garbage pick-up and transportation for the three-day event which runs from December 29-31 each year.

What the City gave him was not quite what he was asking for as he got more cash, but less time.

The following is a reprint of a story South Tahoe Now carried on the 4th of July weekend in 2015. With the anticipated traffic on roads headed out of the Lake Tahoe basin on Tuesday, we felt this information would be helpful.

Three new message signs were unveiled in South Lake Tahoe this week, just in time for the holiday weekend. Since the fourth of July is a big tourist draw, it is the perfect time to test out all the message signs can provide to those on the road.

You may have noticed the bulldozer and tree removal activity adjacent to the Community Playfield on Al Tahoe Blvd this week.

Work has begun on the Community Playfields Expansion Project, one by the City of South Lake Tahoe to bring two new playfields to the area next to the current soccer field at Lake Tahoe Community College.

Under half of the registered voters in El Dorado County turned out in the polls Tuesday for the Presidential primary race that also chose a county judge and a few measures adjusting the county charter and growth in the county.

50,477, or 46.11 percent of the voters, voted in the June 7, 2016 election.

Measures needed to pass by a majority:

Measure A passed by a 2,600 vote margin with 53.02 percent of the vote. The preamble of the County Charter will be changed to new wording.

On any given day of the year, one can find live music in South Lake Tahoe, and this summer's lineup has just increased by 33 with the schedule for the free Heavenly Music series being released.

This is our fourth year, and we've expanded," said Dreu Murin of Dreu Murin Productions.. "We searched all top bands in the area, Bay Area, Las Vegas and Sacramento. This is going to be exciting!"

Heavenly Village has added staging and lighting in order to create a more effective stage for the acts. If the crowds at the opening weekend are any measure, the move was a successful one.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday enacted California’s most significant new tobacco regulations in decades, signing laws that will place tight restrictions on use of the increasingly popular e-cigarette and make California the second state to raise its smoking age to 21.

Brown signed five closely-watched bills, which will also expand smoking restrictions in the workplace and on school properties.

But he vetoed one measure that would have allowed cities and counties to impose local taxes on tobacco products.

The South Lake Tahoe City Council will have item on their agenda May 3 that will not only affect local residents, but tourists as well. They are contemplating some tax initiatives that could appear on the November ballot, initiatives needed to pay for much needed city improvements including roads, facilities, replacing an aging fleet, a remodel of the recreation and swim complex and more.

The City of South Lake Tahoe clears Class 1 Bike/Multiuse paths after major snowstorms, and they are asking for the public's opinion about how they spend snow removal funds in their newest citizen survey.

The Lake Tahoe Community College and Lake Tahoe Unified School District Boards of Trustees will hold the annual joint meeting on Tuesday, March 22, 2016 at the college's board room, starting at 6:00 p.m.

During the meeting, discussions will be held on several common agenda items.

South Tahoe Middle School Multi-Purpose Field Lighting

The agenda for the Lake Tahoe Unified School District Board of Education on Tuesday, March 8 is a full one. Board members will be addressing the new state law concerning immunizations, new lights for the soccer field at South Tahoe Middle School, a conditioning room and new flooring at South Tahoe High, student privacy, finances, a 4.5% raise for employees, and discuss a tuition agreement with Douglas County Schools. The meeting begins at the District Office at 5:00 p.m. with closed session, with the public portion beginning about 6:00 p.m.

Immunizations

The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) will “make a real difference for families and communities” struggling with drug addiction, U.S. Senator Rob Portman of Ohio said Saturday. He spoke about the bill, which has bipartisan support, in a weekly Republican address.

“This epidemic does not discriminate,” Senator Portman said. “Zip codes don’t matter. It’s affecting our cities, suburban areas, and rural counties. Young or old, rich, middle class or poor, black, white, Hispanic or Asian. The grip of addiction affects all of us.”

Closed due to declining enrollment since June of 2004, Al Tahoe Elementary School could reopen if a $9 billion bond measure passes in California this November. There is now an increase in enrollment in grades K-5 in the Lake Tahoe Unified School District, with an average grade size of 300, compared to an average of 274 students in grades 6-12. Its because of a growing lower grade population and a movement towards children starting school at the age of 3 that Al Tahoe would be used to house the younger students.

The following is the ski, snowboard and weather report for Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24, 2015 for South Lake Tahoe brought to you by Lake Tahoe SkiBum.

What does a Prosperous Tahoe look like? What does prosperity mean? How can we measure it? The Tahoe Prosperity Center (TPC) mission is uniting Tahoe's communities to strengthen regional prosperity. How do our governments, businesses and communities fit into that goal? What can we do to ensure Tahoe's residents are prosperous?