A California Highway Patrol officer driving by Emerald Bay on Tuesday came across a cyclist down in the road.

He immediately called for an ambulance. This was at 3:38pm June 13.

The woman, whose name, age and hometown have not been released, was flown by CalSTAR to Renown Medical Center in Reno with a serious head trauma.

It is not known if she was wearing a helmet, how long she had been down or if she had been struck by a vehicle.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

The tiki bar at Tahoe Beach Retreat is almost in compliance. Photo/LTN

The tiki bar is back at the Tahoe Beach Retreat; this time with the blessing of the South Lake Tahoe City Council.

The seasonal bar caused controversy last summer when it was partially on the public beach without approval.

The council the month said it would allow the bar with some conditions. This approval allows the hotel to obtain the necessary ABC license.

Councilmembers Jason Collin and Tom Davis recused themselves from the discussion.

This summer will be considered a test period for the tiki bar. Key rules include operation from noon-9pm, appropriate signage, and not allowing alcohol onto the public beach.

Hotel guests and others may access the bar.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Yordanis Cobos-Martinez

A 29-year-old South Lake Tahoe man was arrested Monday night on charges of carjacking and false imprisonment.

Yordanis Cobos-Martinez at about 6:30pm June 12 allegedly tried to physically remove a woman from her vehicle that was parked at the 7-Eleven on Pioneer Trail in South Lake Tahoe.

According to police officers, when the 29-year-old female victim resisted, the suspect then got into her car and attempted to steal it with her inside.

Bystanders pulled the man out of the car. He then ran across the street to his hotel room. That is where officers found him.

The victim told officers she first saw the suspect, who was naked, as she walked out of the convenience store. Cobos-Martinez, she said, appeared to make eye contact with her. She ran to her vehicle and tried to lock herself inside.

Anyone who witnessed this event and did not speak to officers is asked to call 530.542.6100.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Kathryn Reed

Four people on El Dorado County’s payroll in 2016 made more than $300,000 in wages and benefits. Two work for mental health and two for the sheriff’s department.

Another 43 workers have packages valued at more than $200,000. The 100 highest compensated employees in 2016 accounted for $20,202,036 of the budget.

This is in a county that has about 183,000 residents.

Auditor-Controller Joe Harn released the figures on June 12. Information for the past two years is available online.

The mental health director’s total compensation was $364,850, while in 2015 it was $412,523.

According to Harn, it is not unusual for mental health workers, psychiatrists in particular, to be the highest paid county employee. This is because throughout the United States there is a shortage of this specialty and they can command a higher wage. Doctors at county-run hospitals often have the highest salaries.

El Dorado is getting ready to adopt its next fiscal budget. The 2017-18 budget released by CAO Don Ashton is $536 million, with the General Fund being $284 million.

This is his first budget on his own; he came in last year having to pick up the pieces from the previous county leader.

While he boasts of eliminating 40 full-time positions, what wasn’t disclosed in a press release from his office is that the bulk of those are through attrition – either no one has been in the position for a while or those leaving are not being replaced.

The main real loss in terms of staffing in the next budget cycle is to senior legal. This disclosure came just weeks after Ashton was in South Lake Tahoe at a joint meeting with the city at the local senior center. At that time, he professed there would be no cuts affecting seniors.

Ashton in his June 6 column on Lake Tahoe News said residents – aka taxpayers – can expect services to be cut or taxes to increase: “If the residents of El Dorado County want increased discretionary services, e.g., libraries, veterans, better roads than what the state is willing to provide, and the high quality of service to our seniors, while maintaining the high quality of public safety provided in El Dorado County, we need to offer additional shopping venues – which typically requires larger populations obtained through residential development – or increase the tax rates. If we aren’t willing to do either, we must accept that the current level of services to our discretionary but essential services will be reduced.”

He has not offered to make a true reduction in county staff.

In looking at the stats Harn released, the top 100 highest paying positions in the county based on salary and benefits made at least $142,000 in 2016. Of those, the lowest salary alone was $108,508/year for the deputy director of information technologies.

The undersheriff’s package was $515 more than his boss’ at $306,542. However, in 2015 the sheriff has the No. 2 spot on the list at $314,738 and the undersheriff was No. 3 at $298,279.

The chief investigator for the District Attorney’s Office compensation was $267,016, while the district attorney’s was $256,868.

“Posting the list to the county’s website is part of the ongoing effort to increase transparency in our county government,” Harn said. “The best government transparency involves placing all financial information online in a readily understandable manner. Government transparency allows taxpayers to see how our county is spending tax money, and gives El Dorado County citizens the ability to hold us accountable. The internet is a great place to enhance transparency.”

The woman who was pulled from the Upper Truckee River on June 7 in a paddleboarding accident has died.

Stephanie Waggoner, 49, of Minden died at Renown Medical Center in Reno on June 9.

She was with friends going down the rapid, frigid cold river when she hit a downed tree just before 1:30pm last Wednesday. Although she was wearing a life jacket, it was not enough because she was tethered to the board.

A passer-by and South Lake Tahoe police officer brought her to shore near the bridge where the river flows under Highway 50.

The exact cause of death has not been released.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Camalot Todd, Las Vegas Sun

In terms of harmful disruptions during the average childhood, the United States ranks 36th out of 172 countries, falling between Bosnia and Russia and lagging well behind France, Norway, the United Kingdom, Lithuania and Greece — some of which have experienced far more economic instability and a slower recovery from the recession than the U.S.

Domestically, Nevada is among the bottom 10 states (No. 42) where childhood is most threatened, according to Save the Children’s 2017 End of Childhood Report.

The report compares states across five societal problems — infant mortality, child suicide/homicide, child food insecurity, adolescent motherhood and failure to graduate from high school. Nevada ranks in the bottom half for four of these indicators.

Read the whole story

A substantive pothole on Texas Avenue in May is indicative of the condition of South Lake Tahoe’s roads. Photo/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

South Lake Tahoe voters in November will be asked whether they want to raise the sales tax by one-half percent for the sole purpose of having the funds raised go to fixing city streets.

The City Council this month agreed to place the question on the ballot, create a roads management authority and put in place a community oversight committee.

It’s expected about $2.5 million will be raised annually through this tax.

South Lake Tahoe roads on average have a score of 49 on a 0-100 scale, with 65 percent below 35. In other words, they are failing. A score of 60 to 65 is considered a good, drivable road.

The state sales tax rate today is 7.25 percent. It is 7.75 percent in South Lake Tahoe. Measure Q passed with 58 percent of the vote in November 2004 to increase the sales tax by one-half cent. Those dollars go to the General Fund. It would amount to 50 cents on every $100 worth of goods purchased.

Upon the consultant’s recommendation the council agreed to have the tax sunset after 15 years. The thinking is in that time the public will be able to see improvement – or not – and then be able to decide if the tax should be extended.

The roads authority is really just the council acting in a different capacity much like when the Redevelopment Agency existed.

The oversight committee is like what Lake Tahoe Unified School District and Lake Tahoe Community College have in place to monitor the spending of their multi-million dollar voter-approved bond initiatives. It will be comprised of seven to 11 community members.

The money collected will be a dedicated source for roads, something the city has not previously had. Still, the city manages to come up with money each year for limited road work. That General Fund money would essentially go toward other things and not be added to this pot of cash for roads.

By Meghan Herbst, Moonshine Ink Staff

On Feb. 4, constituents of California’s 4th congressional district spilled into the streets of Roseville to attend a much-anticipated town hall with Rep. Tom McClintock. Growing discontent over the Republican’s ultra-conservative policy positions surged after he began vocalizing his support of the Trump administration.

McClintock drew ire from town hall attendees for fielding only 12 questions and then receiving a police escort out of the building instead of engaging with attendees, who he later called “anarchists” to regional news sources.

The next congressional election for District 4 is in November 2018, but the turbulent political atmosphere is inspiring local Democrats to mobilize earlier than ever, and prospective candidates are already building momentum.

District 4 encompasses 10 counties from the Sierra to Fresno, all of El Dorado County, and portions of Placer and Nevada counties and the town of Truckee. Historically in this region of eastern California, Republican representatives have enjoyed a solid hold over the constituency — 44 percent of the district’s voters are registered as Republican. In contrast, the town of Truckee has the largest percentage of Democratic voters in the district: 43 percent of voters are registered as Democrats, while 22 percent are registered Republican. Area Democrats are looking to wield a greater influence on the 4th District.

Six potential Democratic candidates are campaigning across the district: Regina Bateson, Roza Calderon, Rochelle Wilcox, Jessica Morse, Chris Drew, and Charles Brown, who mounted a campaign against McClintock in 2008 in an uncommonly close race.

Read the whole story

By Scott Condon, Denver Post
 
A stockholder who filed a lawsuit June 2 to challenge the acquisition of Intrawest Resort Holdings Inc. by affiliates of Aspen Skiing Co. and KSL Capital Partners voluntarily dropped the litigation Wednesday.

A law firm for stockholder Edward Hyden filed a notice of dismissal in U.S. District Court in Denver. No explanation for the abrupt change of direction was provided.

The case was dismissed without prejudice, which means it can be filed again. That suggests no out-of-court settlement was reached.

Read the whole story

Publisher’s note: This is one in a series of stories about affordable housing in the Lake Tahoe-Truckee region. All articles may be accessed via the home page under Special Projects, 2017 Affordable Housing.

By Kathryn Reed

KINGS BEACH – Placer County knows it needs more housing that the “average” worker can afford to buy or rent. Getting more inventory is the problem.

In the last 10 years 400 new housing units have been built in eastern Placer County. The need is for 2,000 units in the North Lake Tahoe-Truckee area, according to officials.

The county is contemplating restructuring fees for those who build in the county. It could be that the eastern and western sides of the county would have different programs.

“The purpose of the studies is to establish the reasonable relationship – nexus – between new residential and non-residential development and the demand created for additional affordable housing, and to determine the maximum justifiable affordable housing fees and present options for possible adoption of fees,” according to the county.

Consultants looked at adding a 2 percent fee to all residential property that changes hands. Commercial property could face a fee too.

Cathy Donovan, housing specialist with the county, last week went over the draft of the Nexus-based Workforce Housing Fee Study that was prepared by MintierHarnish and Hansford, two consulting firms.

The Board of Supervisors in July is scheduled to hear a presentation on the report. Board action is possible in the fall. Right now staff does not know what it will recommend to the electeds.

What is being looked at is fees for market rate properties, but not those wanting to build work force-affordable housing.

“Right now only certain projects are required to pay for affordable housing,” Jennifer Merchant, Placer County deputy CEO based in Tahoe, said.

The Domus development is the newest affordable housing development in Kings Beach. Photo/LTN

People at the meeting expressed frustration with some projects that were built, but neglected to construct the mandated work force housing.

Consultants are trying to make a case that any new development impacts workforce housing.

Fees collected in the past were able to be used to help build the 77-unit Domus affordable housing complex on Highway 28.

In lieu fees have been part of the county’s culture for at least a dozen years. The current requirement on new development mandates building on-site or off-site employee housing, dedicating land for future affordable housing, or paying an in lieu fee.

What the study looked it is how there is an affordability gap between what people can pay and what it costs to build market rate housing. The gap equals the subsidy that would be required to build the project.

“The fee (charged to developers) would go to a housing trust fund and the county can leverage that,” Donovan said at the meeting in Kings Beach.

In this region the stats for the number of units sold in 2015 that were built in the last five years show there were zero at $500,000 or less, 13 in the $500,000-$1 million range, 30 in the $1 million-$2 million category, and 53 were greater than $2 million.

Clearly, housing for the worker making minimum wage or thereabouts is not part of the mix.

A real estate agent at the meeting said Kings Beach will lose about 100 affordable units in the next year because an investor is coming in to eliminate what exists and doesn’t plan to replace it with the same type of housing.

—-

Notes:

·      Comments on the study may be sent to Shawna Purvines at spurvine@placer.ca.gov.