Improving bike and pedestrian facilities around South Tahoe Middle School is going to the focus of several meetings this month.

Lake Tahoe Unified School District, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, South Lake Tahoe and Lake Tahoe Sustainability Collaborative community mobility group will conduct a series of public outreach opportunities for community members, parents and students to help identify opportunities to create safer, more walkable and bikeable routes around STMS, Bijou Community Park and Lake Tahoe Community College. The project is funded by the On Our Way Grant from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

The first outreach event will be Oct. 16 from 7-9am at STMS. Interested people will walk the project area and identify safety concerns during the morning drop-off at STMS. Parents are encouraged to attend. Meet in front of the school.

The second event will be Oct. 16 from 5:30-7:30pm in the multipurpose room. A public workshop is to introduce the project, identify opportunities and discuss challenges for walking and biking in the area.

Project alternatives will be discussed Nov. 19 from 5:30-7:30pm in the multipurpose room.

By Ovetta Wiggins, Washington Post

Just days after a teenager unfurled a Confederate flag at a high school football game in Howard County, Md., teachers began reworking lesson plans to discuss the student’s display and the school’s decision to discipline him.

Their talking points: What is free speech? How is the action different from the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed several students to wear black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War? What does the flag represent? Why does it mean such different things to different people?

“It felt like a good time to talk about the issue,” said Callie Casper, a government and human geography teacher at River Hill High School. “Some kids wanted to talk about it, sometimes I brought it up.”

Teachers across the country routinely must delve into racially sensitive topics such as the display of the Confederate flag and the recent killing of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo. They also tackle politically charged subjects such as same-sex marriage and immigration reform. It is a fine line to walk, they say, as they try not to offer their own personal views while provoking critical thinking about the issues everyone is talking — and tweeting — about.

“It is a part of what social studies teachers do. They address topics as they come up naturally through class discussion, related to current events, and as a part of the curriculum,” said Mark J. Stout, a curriculum coordinator for the Howard County Public School System. Stout sent an e-mail to social studies teachers in the school district to discuss lesson plans around the Confederate flag incident. Stout included the school system’s policy on teaching controversial issues, the superintendent’s statement calling the flag a “powerful symbol of racism, hatred, and unspeakable acts against humanity” and news articles.

Read the whole story

Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce in partnership with South Lake Tahoe is offering a Create Your Business Plan workshop.

It will be Oct. 22 and Oct. 29, 9:30am-noon. By the end of the two sessions participants should have a completed draft of a business plan.

The cost is $25 for both sessions for chamber members, $50 for non-members and free for Tahoe Tactical Team participants.

The classes will be at the chamber offices in Stateline.

For more info, email michelle@tahoechamber.org.

To the community,

My wife and I bought a retirement home in Tahoe in 2002, in part because there was a college in South Lake Tahoe. I have been on the LTCC Foundation Board since 2009. I am writing to urge everyone to support Measure F to modernize Lake Tahoe Community College and increase the educational opportunities offered there.

Right now, South Tahoe High School has better labs and facilities than our college does. LTCC’s current campus is 25 years old, and after years of state cutbacks, the maintenance and replacement of roofs, heating, and other physical systems cannot be done without your help. We need to repair, upgrade and modernize the college so we can prepare students for transfer, or support them in earning their associates degrees, and possibly one day we may be able to graduate them with four-year degrees earned right at LTCC.

Community members who participated in LTCC’s long-range planning process last year said they wanted to see our college become a true “destination” college. Tuition at a California community college is about $1,300 per year, while at UC Berkeley it is $12,972 and at Stanford $44,184. A community college is simply the best buy for two years of college.

Many students graduating high school want to be away from home when going to a college. We are a great destination community, which is what drives Heavenly, stores in the Stateline area, restaurants, hotels, sports shops, bike shops, etc. It makes sense to have the college support this in a similar way, but our students will stay here throughout the year, and not just on weekends or vacations. We offer all that Tahoe itself has to offer and LTCC can better attract students from around the state and beyond if it’s modernized, has the latest technology, has up-to-date classrooms and labs, and looks as appealing as the rest of Tahoe does.

As the college expands thanks to Measure F, so do significant jobs for our community – faculty, administrators, and facility maintenance and servicing, and support businesses we use in the community – injecting significant ongoing money into our economy.

In addition, Measure F will also directly help our community in that:

• The college plans on spending $107 million in construction from Measure F including matching funds from the state. All Measure F funds will be used for construction projects – none for the college administration or faculty salaries.

• Fifty percent of students graduating South Tahoe High School who go on to pursue higher education attend LTCC. It is essential to keep the college up to date so that our young people can lower their costs in the first two years of higher education.

• Under the new California rules, locals can take a course once, but with the College’s Connect Education program, the college will continue to increase the number of courses for the community, and these courses can be repeated.

• A vibrant college also increases the prestige and desirability of our community for both professional careers and the retirement community. My wife and I would not have retired here without the college.

Measure F will cost $25 per $100,000 in assessed valuation. For the average assessed value of a house in South Lake Tahoe, the annual cost will be under $70 per year, or around $5.90 per month. Not a bad return on a small investment for all the benefits to our community.

Please join me in voting yes on Measure F this November.

Bob Cliff, LTCC Foundation board member

There will be a California avalanche workshop Oct. 18 at Lake Tahoe Community College.

This day long workshop is intended for all backcountry snow enthusiasts who spend time in or around avalanche terrain, whether just beginning or seasoned veterans.

The presentations and panel topics will include recent updates to avalanche forecasting and communication.

Cost is $15. The class is from 9am-5pm.

For more info, email reichel@ltcc.edu.

By Parimal M. Rohit, The Log

A recently approved law in California aims to finally address the state’s loose governance of recreational boaters navigating its many waterways. Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a boater safety bill requiring all boaters in California to be in possession of a vessel operator card and pass a safety course.

While the new law will help shore up safety concerns on California’s waterways, there are many common sense and basic steps recreational boaters and other aquatic users can take to ensure a safe coexistence.

Co-authored by state senators Bill Monning, D-Carmel, and Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, Senate Bill 941 specifically requires recreational boaters to pass a sanctioned boating education course and obtain a vessel operator card in order to operate a motorized boat.

Both Monning and DeSaulnier pushed the bill as promoting boater safety and helping prevent common accidents.

Read the whole story

Tahoe Regional Young Professionals’ 4th annual Winter White Holiday Party is Nov. 22 at 6:30pm at Riva Grill.

This annual holiday party will raise money for the Sierra and Child Family Services’ Project 44, and raise awareness of the changes being made by TRYP in our community. Project 44 seeks to connect caring people with vulnerable children through a partnership with Foster Family and Adoption Services. South Lake Tahoe needs 44 households for foster children.

The event will include a silent auction, food and drink, door prizes, raffle, and the coveted winter white costume contest.

Wet Woodies will be available all night for only $5.

Tickets start at $20 for TRYP members and $30 for non-members. They may be purchased by emailing TahoeTRYP@gmail.com or online.

Firefighters are still working to completely contain the King Fire that is burning east of Pollock Pines in the Eldorado and Tahoe national forests.

It remains at 98 percent contained, with 97,717 acres burned. The estimated containment date has been pushed back to Oct. 8.

Extreme terrain is slowing containment, specifically in the Rubicon River Valley on the southwest flank of the fire. More than 2,000 are still working the suspected arson that has destroyed 70 structures, including 12 houses.

There will be a community meeting Oct. 6 at 6pm at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Camino. Fire managers will provide current information on the status of fire suppression and repair. The Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team will brief attendees on their ongoing assessment of post-fire conditions and potential post-fire issues.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Sometimes it’s the small things that can brighten your day.

A sign separated the two parking lots. Photos/Bill Kingman

The original Red Hut Waffle Shop and the Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church are neighbors on Highway 50 with a common driveway between their parking areas, as seen in this snapshot taken 20 years ago.

A warning.

Then the church posted this cute sign, below right.

Today, their signage still amuses.

— Bill Kingman

Publisher’s note: Lake Tahoe News convened an editorial panel of seven community members to come up with this endorsement.

An elected board, while comprised of individuals, ultimately is a team. They don’t have to agree – in fact 5-0 votes are not necessarily a sign of a healthy board – but they do need to play nice together.

The current South Lake Tahoe City Council is not always respectful of one another. They don’t all look each other in the eye or actively listen. Their body language, at times, is atrocious.

Too often the same subject matter is revisited over and over again because a vote didn’t go someone’s way. This keeps the city from being able to move forward. The vote on the plastic bag ban is just one example.

While technically the recession ended years ago, the fallout from it is still being felt in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Not everyone has recovered in terms of jobs or the housing market. Summer was good to many, winter bad for most. But when 60 percent of Lake Tahoe Unified School District’s students receive a free or reduced lunch, clearly the people here are not doing well. That translates to 60 percent of the people with school-age children not being able to provide their child with lunch. Who knows what those families are eating the rest of the day.

South Lake Tahoe needs jobs that pay a livable wage. The town – and region – needs to attract people here who will spend money. We need infrastructure. We need businesses to invest in their product, including modernizing their buildings and signs.

First, we need to take care of more than 20,000 people who call South Lake Tahoe home. Then we can worry about the greater South Shore, the basin and those who visit.

Government can only do so much to help. A few ways the City Council can help include creating regulations that encourage redevelopment, not charging outrageous fees, enforcing the rules on the books so the town doesn’t look like a flea market, bringing like-minded businesses-residents together to form community service districts, marketing the area and not relying solely on the primarily Nevada-funded tourism agency, realizing recreation is more than a bike trail (though we like bike trails), and investigating new and different industries to supplement tourism beyond minimum wage jobs.

We believe the continued efforts of Brooke Laine, and the infusion of newcomers Wendy David and Austin Sass will help South Lake Tahoe be a more progressive town by the time their terms are up in 2018. We believe they are already leaders who have like-minded goals, though different approaches. We believe they comprise the team that will take South Lake Tahoe out of its morass of conflict and backpedaling and into a world of progress and prosperity for all, while bringing compassion and understanding to the process.

Laine has demonstrated her ability to be a voice of reason since being appointed in January 2013 to the unexpired term vacated by Claire Fortier. Laine was elected to serve on the council from 1998-2002.

One thing that makes her unique is she is and would be the only councilmember who has a full-time job where she is an employee not working for herself. She is more like most people in town – working for someone else. Laine has demonstrated the ability to do the city’s work efficiently and effectively. She is always prepared, having read the council packet.

As someone who was born and raised here, Laine brings a breadth of experience others cannot. She also has the institutional knowledge that is critical.

She can see both sides of an issue, does not come to meetings with blinders on, and truly cares about the town and residents. She is thoughtful in her approach to decision-making, is not swayed by whoever talked to her last and is not climbing a political ladder.

David has demonstrated she is a consensus builder. We need that now.

She is the only one who has the life experience of working with the less advantaged in our community through her endless volunteer and paid positions. She is the one interacting with those who are working three jobs to barely survive. She will bring to the council a depth of knowledge from a sector of the community that is not currently represented.

We expect she will be well versed in the rigors of the city in short order. She has the time and intelligence to be a contributing member of the council from Day 1.

Her tenure on the Lake Tahoe Unified School District board is an asset — she understands a board is a team. Plus, the district is an integral component of future recreation plans. She could be a bridge between the entities, as the city and district have not always seen eye-to-eye.

As with our 2012 endorsement of Sass, we’re still wary of his arrogance. It has not been tempered since he last ran. Still, we believe his strengths outweigh his weaknesses. We hope he embraces the team concept quickly.

Sass does his homework as evidenced by his thorough responses to Lake Tahoe News’ questions and depth of answers at forums, he cares about the economy, he understands numbers and he is without question the candidate who recreates the most. This last fact is important as the area puts more of an emphasis on recreation.

Plus, he has worked for major players like Heavenly Mountain Resort and Aramark. He is the candidate with the most big-business experience. We need that type of diversity on the council.

Lake Tahoe News believes Laine, David and Sass will be a strong team on the South Lake Tahoe City Council who will represent the best interests of residents and the concerns of the greater South Shore area for the next four years. We also believe they will complement the remaining two council members whose terms expire in two years.

Lake Tahoe News could not endorse the other candidates for the following reasons:

• Angela Swanson: She would be better off working outside of Lake Tahoe for the betterment of the basin or being an employee and not an elected official where there is a light continually illuminating her ethics, judgment and political aspirations. At some point she needs to take ownership for having said before the June supervisorial election that she would not seek to retain her council seat, for having taken money in a paper bag for a charity from someone who is now in prison, and for quitting her term on Lake Tahoe Unified School District and then immediately collecting a paycheck for her work as a consultant with the district.

• Tom Davis: His decisions are not rooted in good public policy. Look at past decisions on the Chateau project, redevelopment as a whole, and the plastic bag ban as examples. He is a follower and not a leader. He is not forward thinking. He can be argumentative and dismissive to the public.

• Matt Palacio: He needs to get more experience before jumping right onto the council. We can’t afford to wait for him to catch up to speed. At a candidate forum he mentioned the town doesn’t need another car parts store, which spoke volumes about his lack of knowledge of zoning and free market issues. He is good at pointing out a need for younger people on the council, but besides being in his 30s, we don’t see that he has anything else to bring to the table. He is lacking vision. And the fact he eliminated a question on LTN’s form (which we reinstated) instead of writing “no comment” or the like points to a character flaw of taking the easy road, or perhaps not being straight forward and honest.

• Bruce Grego: He was voted off the council in 2012. We believe the public has already spoken. He has done nothing in this time to change our opinion of him when we did not endorse him two years ago.