Letter: Is something better than nothing?

To the community,

On June 11, the City Council promised us tomorrow. That day the council approved the permit for part of the original plan for the Chateau project that was billed at $400 million. The plan present on the eleventh will cost under $20 million.

No one knows when what’s left of the Chateau project will be built. If ever. The process adopted on the eleventh, if continued, looks like a cut and paste piecemeal idea for a project.

Bill Crawford

Of course, the council did stipulate conditions that have to be met for the project to move forward. Such as bonds to protect the city’s interest. But the rub is, as of the eleventh, nothing was agreed to on paper. It remains to be seen what will be the result of negotiations. But if past performance by the city is a guide, things don’t’ look promising. The council is sitting on pins and needles to get something in the ground at the Chateau site. And that spells trouble.

The councilperson with the most at stake in the present deal is Hal Cole who was a heavy lifter for the Chateau in 2006, which became the embarrassing Hole in the Ground. Cole needs redemption for that mistake. There, it’s said, something is better than nothing. So let’s cut and paste tomorrow.

Bill Crawford, South Lake Tahoe