News from The Ski Bum

Miss me? I have been working for the last year on The Children’s Memorial Tree and I would like to take this opportunity to say Thank You to the community of South Lake Tahoe for their support in rebuilding the memorial. I wanted to keep the Skibum as well as my alter ego out of the publicity due to the fact that there would be resistance to the idea from those that do not always agree with my views and I wanted no distractions. We had to play good cop / bad cop with the city in order to push the memorial through and guess which role I played. The resistance I received from a certain city council person who didn’t have a clue was unbelievable and it was very hard not to write about how dysfunctional that person was and still is today with the absolutely clueless, insensitive and idiotic remarks made.

Fight the Cal-Fire Tax by paying the tax and filling out all three forms required to protest. Google the Howard Jarvis Cal Fire Tax protest and follow the instructions. Interesting note about one of the protest forms is they give several choices to choose from as to why you might have a valid protest and one of them is the fact that you can claim that you live within close proximity to a fire department station that has jurisdiction in your area. I sent in a protest claiming that I have three stations within 125 yards of my house in Meyers, I even drew a map with location and distance. Across the street I have the Lake Valley Fire station, the Forestry Fire department and a Cal Fire station with a total of 5 trucks and two ambulances on duty at all times. I got back a response that said it was not good enough and that I was being denied and that I had to pay the tax oops sorry, I mean assessment, but they would give me $35 buck discount. I got to say I don’t give a rat’s ass about other areas in the rural areas of the state where the fire protection is sparse, those folks chose to live in that area and that is what insurance is for. Use the defensible space program that is offered by the Fire departments or even better yet, take responsibility for yourself and clear the area around your home to protect it and get paid by the state like the El Dorado supervisor did down in Placerville. Just don’t expect in our area to get any help because the Nevada Fire Safe Council defensible space program went bankrupt and still owes about $3.2 million to our local Fire departments and contractors who did the job in good yet naïve blind faith that the government would pay.

Parking meters. The only folks who wanted parking meters were the council and the employees of the city whose budget depends on revenue that just isn’t there anymore. I do understand the reason behind trying to raise the revenue but I will still say and always say if you just had the cajones to go after a recreational tax on lift tickets you just might solve the budget and stop taking it out on the locals. News flash!! There are not enough of us left to pay the taxes required to run the city and pay for all the pensions, there is no middle class left in South Shore and we will always be a dump until we go after the big guys. Do you know why Vail looks like it does? The city of Vail receives millions in tax revenue from the resort which we don’t. We have a commercial vacancy rate of about 55% and the rest are just about a paycheck away from going under with all the taxes. I just don’t get it. The one council member who is against parking meters couldn’t vote on them and the city manager who is for them lives in the county and does not have a stake in the city. Just so no one gets panties in a bunch I think our CM is doing a great job and their heart is in the right place but all of the previous CMs lived in the city. Ever wonder where Attorneys go to retire? Tahoe. Seems like every City Attorney we have hired in the last couple of years is at the end of their career and only come here to get acquainted with our problems, sees how dysfunctional we really are then retires and we have to start over again with the same high priced consultants telling us the same thing they told us before then waiting two years to begin the progress all over again, talk about job security. Sort of like the chamber and marketing folks, same ole same ole.

This sequester thing is way out of whack when it comes to unemployment. The government cuts unemployment benefits from $450 to $371 per week because there is not enough money. Unemployment is taxable and counts as income. Try and follow this one. They give us less money so we are paying less taxes which pay for unemployment, with less money there is less money being spent in the economy which cause employers to lay folks off which collect less unemployment which lowers our annual income which lowers the taxes we pay to the government which pays the programs that are designed to help us not to mention pays government wages.

Live at Lakeview is a huge success and I thank the city for putting these on and I do see the Mayor using the parking meters, good for you. I saw at the food stand where the guy was advertising ice cream made “locally” I asked him if he knew that the ice cream is actually made in Minden and he told me that anything within 50 miles of Tahoe was considered local. He actually said this with a straight face and English accent and said he’s been here 5 years. Man, I learn something new every single day.

Sign Of The Month: Coming from Lake Tahoe Blvd. and turning right onto Highway 50 there is the new signal lights and a crosswalk complete with lights and a sign right next to the light that say’s “ No Stopping Anytime” and is level with the Red light. Surely there is a lawyer in town that will take my case when I don’t stop for a red light and hit someone. I am so confused.

Headline of the Month: Famous Atheists and their Beliefs (?)
As Usual: sltskbm@gmail.com FB Skibum
Later. Skibum.