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The City of South Lake Tahoe is currently accepting applications for community
members to join the newly formed transformational change sub-committee. This committee is focused on developing second and third economies for Tahoe in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

The committee is proposing to bring together a diverse and innovative group of community stakeholders, thought leaders, and experts to implement policies, programs, and projects today that will have long term beneficial impacts for South Lake Tahoe over the next 50 years.

There are four people running for El Dorado County Supervisor for the 5th District on June 5: Incumbent Sue Novasel and challengers Kenny Curtzwiler, Norma Santiago and Jeffrey Spencer. The 5th District covers Pollock Pines to South Lake Tahoe and Tahoma.

South Tahoe Now asked each candidate the same questions, and here are all of their answers, exactly as they were presented to us.

Sue Novasel
Occupation: El Dorado County Supervisor – District V
Past political history:
2015 – Present: County Supervisor, District V

The City of South Lake Tahoe is creating a new design of Sierra Boulevard that will introduce Class 1 and Class 2 bike lanes, parallel parking spots, reduced lane size and lighted sidewalks. Called the Sierra Boulevard Complete Streets Project, work is expected to get underway on the .6 mile stretch of road in the summer of 2018, but not everyone is happy about it.

At the first of two community information meetings on Thursday night, City and NCE representatives gave an overview of the planned project, had a question and answer period and shared preliminary designs of Sierra Blvd.

What is Mammoth Lakes' loss will be Lake Tahoe's gain as the Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce (Tahoe Chamber) has selected their new Chief Executive Officer from the mountain resort community to the south.

Craig A. Schmidt, the current Executive Director of Chamber of Commerce in Mammoth Lakes, will take over his new position on the South Shore February 6.

The Chamber's Board selected Schmidt, an accomplished chamber professional with 22 years of experience in business, workforce and tourism development.

The focus of the 20th Anniversary of the Tahoe Summit is on the environment. And there is much to celebrate as lake clarity has improved; collaboration among agencies is strong and numerous restoration projects have been completed. But 20-20 hindsight also means that if only we had thought more about the impacts that focusing solely on the environment would have on our economy and community, we could have accomplished much more. Now, twenty years later, we find ourselves trying to play “catch up” on these other two areas.

If you live in Nevada, chances are you felt an earthquake in 2015. The University of Nevada, Reno's Seismological Laboratory said there were 17,500 earthquakes in the state during the year, 231 of those recently in south Reno.

South Tahoe High graduate Graham Kent in the director of the Nevada Seismological Lab. "While the Reno shaking is fresh in our minds, what's really bumping the number up from the background rates is the energetic sequence in far northwestern Nevada, the Sheldon sequence," he said.

Not only has the Tahoe Prosperity Center has been working on issues to create healthier communities around the lake, they have also been welcoming new members to their Board of Directors.

New to the board are locals John McLaughlin, Chief Financial Officer of Edgewood Companies and Ken Riley, Senior Vice President, Kiewit Infrastructure Group, Inc. They join 24 other community members on the board whose goal is to also promote regional sustainability through economic vitality and by being environmental stewards.

South Tahoe Now sent a questionnaire out to all of the candidates for El Dorado County Supervisor and Douglas County Sheriff. This is the last of the submitted responses. Candidates Sue Novasel, Kenny Curtzwiler and Angela Swanson were the only County Supervisor candidates to respond, and Douglas County Sheriff candidates Ron Pierini and Dave Brady were the only Sheriff candidates to respond. We thank those that took the time to reply.

1) What do you see as the Number 1 issue facing residents of District 5?

South Shore Lake Tahoe businesses and residents who are frustrated with their Internet service — whether it’s slow speeds, spotty service or high prices — now may have a mechanism to do something about it.

Christina Proctor, public relations professional, and Bev Ducey, a resource development expert with an extensive history in grant procurement, will be advancing the mission of the Tahoe Prosperity Center (TPC) in 2013. The TPC Executive Committee contracted with Proctor and Ducey after Mone´ Haen, former chief executive officer, announced her resignation in December. Proctor will be developing TPC materials, presentations and handling the daily administrative tasks of the organization. Ducey will focus on strengthening the TPC’s financial resources through grant development.

Barton Health's Telemedicine program, which was launched as part of a Rural Healthcare Pilot Program, received accolades this month from the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission who noted the South Lake Tahoe program aided in recent decisions made by the Commission to expand a broadband Telemedicine program nationally.