town

Jenn Boyd of Weidinger PR hosts this wide-ranging panel discussion from the Elevate Your View: Leadership Lake Tahoe 2014 summit. The panel features Dana Williams, former mayor of Park City, UT; plus Carl Ribaudo of Strategic Marketing Group and Carol Chaplin of the Lake Tahoe Visitor's Authority's Tahoe South campaign.

PANEL DISCUSSION:
Jenn Boyd Introduction (0:35)
Dana Williams on transforming Park City (6:06)
Carol Chaplin on what Tahoe South is doing to promote itself (10:00)

The following is an opinion article and does not necessarily reflect the views of South Tahoe Now:

It was once a plumbing supply store. It was once Johnny's Basque Restaurant. It was once the Vali-Hi. It was once the China Wok. For a short time, it was Godfather's Pizza. Most recently, it was a series of Chinese buffets. But that was then.

The building was torn down last week to make way for the future home of SUP Tahoe and South Shore Bikes.

South Tahoe Now sent a questionnaire out to all of the candidates for El Dorado County Supervisor. We will be posting them in the order received.

1) What do you see as the Number 1 issue facing residents of District 5? Outside consultants, developers and various other alphabet agency’s telling us the same thing over and over again on what we need. The County and community has already done the work on what decisions need to be made with the final decisions being made by the residents of our area.

The Food Bank of El Dorado County was in South Lake Tahoe on Wednesday to accomplish two things: Distribute emergency food supplies to locals in need, and to hold a meeting with South Lake Tahoe agencies who assist people living with hunger.

In 2013, the El Dorado County Food Bank distributed 1.8 million pounds of food to county residents with a value of $3,000,000. The agency is not county funded and gets their food from donations, private donors, growers, businesses and the USDA.

Children not 5 years old by the time school starts in the fall are unable to attend kindergarten due to a new state law, but the Lake Tahoe Unified School District will have Transitional Kindergarten (TK).

The Kindergarten Readiness Act, signed into law by Gov. Schwarzenegger in 2010, changed the kindergarten entry date from Dec. 2 to Sept. 1 so that children enter kindergarten at age 5. The law phases in the new age requirement by moving the cutoff date one month a year for three years, beginning this fall for children born between Nov. 2 and Dec. 2.

Mothers will be the star passengers Sunday, May 11 on a special edition train ride from Nevada's capital, Carson City to the 1860's boom-era mining town of Virginia City. Tickets are on sale now for a window seat into Nevada's Old West aboard the historic Virginia and Truckee Railroad. The ride features storytelling, history and lore, shopping, a long stem rose for mom, and brunch opportunities in Virginia City.

Organizers are expecting a large turnout at Saturday's anti-puppy mill demonstration in Reno at the corner of Neil Rd and S. Virginia Street from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

"The event is being called to show the Reno and Sparks City Councils and the Washoe County Commission that citizens mean business when it comes to a ban on the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits in retail stores in Reno, Sparks and Incline Village," stated Billy Howard, Founding Organizer for the popular initiative Puppy Mill Free Reno/Sparks/Washoe.

The result of months of work and public input on the Tahoe Valley Area Plan will be unveiled at the South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting on Tuesday, April 15. There are three concepts that were discussed during previous workshops and presented to the Planning Commission on March 13: A Greenbelt Concept, A Town Center District and a Healthcare Campus District.

Since March 3rd, trash pick up times in South Lake Tahoe have been moved to two hours later in an effort to reduce wildlife problems and clean up, according to South Tahoe Refuse, protect our unique environment.

While it's too early to tell if the later times will keep bears out of local trash, both Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care and the Bear League say they feel it will make a big difference.

Crystal blue skies and a bright yellow sun shone down on the golden girls of Lake Tahoe Saturday as the communities of Meyers and South Lake Tahoe turned out in force for a welcome home parade.

Olympic gold medalist Jamie Anderson of South Lake Tahoe landed another major slopestyle victory at the Burton U.S. Open Friday. Anderson clinched the TTR World Snowboard Tour slopestyle title with her win at the snowy Vail Mountain venue. Canadian Spencer O’Brien took second and Isabel Derungs of Switzerland third in the women’s final. Canada’s Mark McMorris took the victory for the men with Norwegian Stale Sandbech taking second and Candian Max Parrot third.

Several South Lake Tahoe residents showed up at the presentation of the Tahoe Area Plan at the airport on Thursday. Most agreed that the area known as the "Y" needs to be changed with an area plan, but which direction to a take to a final plan is where people differ.

The evening consisted of a presentation by John Hitchcock, who is on loan to the city from the TRPA for this project as Planning Project Manager. After he spoke the group broke out into three breakout sessions, each focuses on one of three choices presented as the future concept for "Y" area.

South Lake Tahoe, the tight-knit ski community big on Olympic athletes will honor its three USA team members in a city-wide celebration, Saturday, March 15.

Jamie Anderson, Maddie Bowman, who won gold for snowboarding slopestyle and freeskiing halfpipe respectively, and Hannah Teter who placed fourth in snowboarding halfpipe, will be lauded at Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort.

The Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board has approved a grant of $704,000 to the Truckee River Watershed Council for three watershed restoration projects that will correct detrimental impacts to streams and meadows from roads and historical logging activities.

A new delivery service in town debuted their company at a ribbon cutting ceremony on February 11 at the TahoeChamber conference room. Tahoe Restaurant Delivery & More invited guests to try their vendor's various menu items during a buffet style luncheon which included sushi, sandwiches, cookies and noodle dishes and more.

Over 100 members of the South Lake Tahoe community attended the 3rd Annual Tahoe Chamber Community breakfast on Tuesday where they shared their visions of what was needed for success.

Those attending broke up into group discussions on a few topics including what they felt small businesses in the area need in order to be better prepared. Since the event was put on the by chamber, there was also discussion was about what the TahoeChamber.org could provide to improve their member's experiences.

There are a few upcoming Chamber events to highlight:

On December 28th, Coldwell Banker Select Real Estate in Zephyr Cove decided to give back to the pets in the community by hosting a Holiday Pet Food Drive, yielding big results. Leading up to the 28th, close to 600 lbs of dog and cat food were donated to pets in need. In addition, many pet toys and other items were donated, on top of $170 in check donation.

An unidentified man was pronounced dead at the scene after being struck by a SUV in front of Whiskey Dicks and the Town and Country Center Wednesday night around 8 pm.

The SUV was being driven eastbound on Highway 50 by 19 year old local Uriel Ortiz. Ortiz was not under the influence and appeared to be driving the speed limit.

They knew something was amiss when they couldn't find the home on Saddle Road listed on their vacation rental home contract. A group of 15 college students came to South Lake Tahoe to enjoy the three day SnowGlobe festival, where their time would be spent at the concert, enjoying the town and kicking back in a fully furnished ski cabin. But the lodging situation wasn't as expected since they fell victims to a "craiglist" scam and paid for a rental home that wasn't real.

You've most likely seen the bins around town, covered in wrapping paper and notes asking for toy donations for Christmas Cheer. The call for toys being needed for children in the South Lake Tahoe community went out, and the community responded.

Benjamin Wade and Christian DeLeon were hired as the new LTCC soccer coaches at Tuesday night's Lake Tahoe Community College Board meeting. Both coaches will head up the newly established intercollegiate soccer program at the college. Wade will be the men's head coach and DeLeon the women's.

Dubbed the "All Star Panel," a group of long time local residents shared stories of a South Lake Tahoe most of us never experienced. The seven panelists have lived in Lake Tahoe a combined 600 plus years and shared some great stories with the overflowing crowd at Camp Richardson Lodge on Tuesday evening. In fact, the number of long time locals in the audience was very evident since their combined years of living in Lake Tahoe was over 1880!

Dave Wakeman, South Lake Tahoe resident since 1947

Mayor Tom Davis touched on more than a couple of dozen points during his State of the City Address which was presented to an overflowing full house at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

Among the Davis's highlighted city successes for the year:

Linear Park - Over $600,000 was spent on a paved bike path, landscaping and an additional 22 lights on a stretch from Wildwood Avenue to just before Pioneer Trail.