SLT City Council candidate Trey Riddle

All candidates for South Lake Tahoe City Council were given the same questions. With just one day to go to the elections, we will be featuring their answers and a video of their interview with Tahoe Regional Young Professionals through the day.

Trey Riddle, 38 years old, Bartender, 3 years in South Lake Tahoe

Discuss your interest in serving on City Council. What is your prior experience in working with civic, community or governmental organizations?

In college I was a junior senator and president of the student body. As a former small business owner in Hermosa Beach I was an active member of the Chamber of Commerce. In 2001 I rode my bicycle over 4,000 miles from San Francisco to Washington DC to raise funds and awareness for children with disabilities.

I want to be the voice of the community. I believe residents feel like they’ve been marginalized and discouraged from participating in government. We only have about 2000 voters that turn out for elections out of more than 20,000 residents. The overwhelming complaint I get from people is that they go to city council meetings to voice their concerns and they feel like they fall on deaf ears. I believe City Council is there to serve the people. People are not here to serve the City Council.

Concerning the proposed Hwy 50 Revitalization Project, what is your stance and why?

I support democracy. Let the residents decide.

Do you believe there is a low income and affordable housing issue in SLT, and why? If you believe there is, what do you see your role as a council member to address it?

There is an affordable housing issue that is a direct result of low incomes.

When I hear elected officials say “affordable housing,” I hear them say, “Let’s round up all the poor people and stick them in one spot.” The only role the government should play in housing is making sure local residents are paid a fair wage and can afford housing that already exists. Then we wouldn’t be spending tax dollars on housing projects and residents would be able to buy more luxury items thereby generating more revenue for the city in sales tax dollars instead of costing the city money in project housing.

I believe the minimum wage for South Lake Tahoe Residents should always be 20% more than whatever the California minimum wage is at any given moment. I feel this way because we are a town that runs on tourism, which makes us unlike other towns. We’re not just moving money back and forth between our own residents; we have a large influx of money from outside of our city. The people who bring this money in also put a heavier burden on our infrastructure which our residents must pay for, and they also force businesses to hire more people in the busy seasons than they can support in the off season, so our residents face layoffs and reduced hours in the shoulder seasons. A lot of businesses are all too happy to charge resort prices for this destination location, but they don’t bother sharing that money with the people who make this town function.

Now some business owners may say, “We can’t afford that. We’ll have to close our business and people will lose their jobs.” But that’s just not true. The minimum wage wasn’t always $10 an hour and when discussions started about raising it to $10 an hour these same businesses said the same thing. But they’re still here and so are the jobs. By paying our residents more, they will have more money to spend instead of just scraping by to get through the shoulder seasons. This will actually improve the bottom line for businesses in the long run. I break this down even further on my website, www.treyriddle.info if you’d like to check it out.

If we want to address affordable housing, we need to look at it from a fresh perspective. We need to focus on making sure our workers are paid a truly livable wage so they can afford housing that already exists. South Lake Tahoe can do better than the California bare minimum.

Do you believe the Council should work as a team and collaborate to come to a solution as to what is best for the community? Explain your answer.

Absolutely. Teamwork makes the dream work! Ultimately the City Council is there to implement the will of the residents and that’s what each councilor should be striving towards.

A hot topic in the town are Vacation Home Rentals. The current Council and staff held public meetings on the subject and have come up with a new set of codes trying to address concerns. Do you think VHRs are a vital need to tourism in the community? What do you propose the next step should be since both sides of the issue are still concerned about the current direction?

I’m a big proponent of property rights. Government shouldn’t be telling people what they can and cannot do with their homes. VHR’s are here to stay and that’s something we need to accept. The growth and popularity of websites like airbnb and vrbo are proof that vacationers want something different. They’re over the big chain hotels. People want to feel like they’re a part of the community they’re visiting when they go on vacation. Our economy is based on tourism and recreation. We’re never going to be a big financial district, an auto industry, or become known as “Silicon Basin,” so we need to concentrate on fulfilling the needs of our customers. If we make it so difficult for people to rent out their homes to vacationers that everyone stops doing it, travelers aren’t suddenly going to start staying in all of the run down motels along Hwy 50, they’re just going to go somewhere else.

We all have noisy neighbors. Sometimes they’re vacationers, sometimes they’re long term renters, and sometimes they’re homeowner occupied. If we’re going to regulate spas, parking, noise, and trash, we need to do it equally across the board for everyone instead of singling out one type of homeowner.

One caveat to this that I will add is the so-called “megahome.” These 16 bedroom houses that are marketed and rented out as company retreats, etc. are not vacation homes. At some point houses cease to be VHR’s and become something else entirely. We should work to determine when a house goes from being a VHR to a business enterprise and regulate those accordingly through zoning.

What 3 achievable goals would you champion in the next 4 years?

Paying our workers a truly livable wage.
Safer roads for pedestrian and cyclists.
Reduction or elimination of excessive fees associated with residential and commercial construction.

What areas of South Lake Tahoe do you think present an opportunity for revitalization? What do you view as your role?

We need to put more money back into our neighborhoods. We can achieve positive growth in the private sector simply by cutting a lot of red tape and excessive fees and really just by getting out of the way. Our focus as council members should be to revitalize our neighborhoods through community projects and improved roads and sidewalks.

In 300 words or less, why should voters vote for you?

I’m a 38 year old working-man. I’m not a career politician, I’m not affiliated with or sponsored by any special interest groups, so I have no agenda to serve and I’m not in anyone’s pocket. I’m just a new father with a fresh perspective who wants to make South Lake Tahoe the best it can be for my newborn son.