garbage

SnowGlobe, the annual outdoor music festival in South Lake Tahoe, has come to town over the New Year's Eve holiday since 2011, and now they want to add ten years to their contract that expires this year.

During Tuesday, August 15th's South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting, promoters will make a presentation to the City outlining their plans, showing how they think they can become the largest funding source of South Lake Tahoe projects and non-profits.

Littering in Tahoe is a big problem. Everywhere you go, there is trash and no one picks it up. People don't throw their trash in the garbage; they leave their trash on the ground and it makes its way into the lake. Other people who pass by it don't pick it up either. The problem started with the tourists who come to the beaches and throw their trash anywhere and they think that it won’t do anything to our lake. Tourists don’t take care of nature and our lake as much as the locals here. Some locals leave their trash everywhere as well.

You see it along the highway, clinging to the fences, wrapped around bushes or filling up culverts and blowing along the road. "It" is trash, an ever-growing and costly problem in California.

Last year, California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) spent $67 million on litter removal, collecting enough litter, trash, and debris from highways to fill almost 9,000 garbage trucks.

“That money would have been better spent fixing our roads,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty.

Cities around the country are having ongoing discussions and debates about single family homes in their community being used as short-term vacation rentals. South Lake Tahoe is not alone in this issue which has pitted home owners vs. home owners vs. community members. As with any divisive issue, there is no easy answer.

What has become an out-of-control, unsightly and all too common practice at Lake Tahoe snow play areas now has a champion to control abandoned sleds.

Tahoe Fund Executive Director Amy Berry brought several organizations together to discuss potential solutions to resolve this issue. It had been on their radar for some time, but with the rapid growth of discarded sleds covering the landscape, Berry and the Tahoe Care Team of the agency knew something had to be done immediately.

The roads around Lake Tahoe have been hard to navigate this week after several feet of snow fell in the basin after the last series of storms over the weekend. Many streets in South Lake Tahoe remain narrow and thick with snow, making it hard to drive through neighborhoods.

Just as residents struggle with all that snow left on their roofs, driveways and walkways, City snowplows are also struggling with what seemed at times as nonstop snow.

The vacation home rental (VHR) businesses in South Lake Tahoe have joined together in an effort to address, not only issues residents have with their homes, but to address their relationship with those who control and vote on their regulations.

"Our biggest fear is that the City has changed the intent of the ordinance without the council approval," said Josh Priou, Director of Product Development at Lake Tahoe Accommodations and a member of SLTVRA, South Lake Tahoe Vacation Rental Alliance.

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.

Brooke Laine, 52, Branch Manager, US Bank, Born and raised in SLT

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

Nevada wildlife biologists released a three-plus year old male black bear back into the forest near the top of Mt. Rose Summit on Monday morning after capturing him Sunday in Incline Village at Lake Tahoe.

Nevada Department of Wildlife trapped the young bear while attempting to trap another bear that had caused damage to a building, according to wildlife biologist Carl Lackey. The bear that was captured and then later released Monday wasn't the bear Lackey was looking for.

Lackey says that NDOW had handled the released bear once before in the mountains east of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Hundreds of volunteers hit the Lake Tahoe beaches on Tuesday to clean up after the holiday revelers who flocked to area beaches to celebrate the 4th of July.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe coordinated the trash pick up efforts at nine area beaches. Their volunteers gathered almost 1,600 pounds of trash which included 7,738 cigarette butts.

Single-use plastics were the second-most commonly found category of trash, following cigarette butts.

During Tuesday's El Dorado County Board of Supervisors meeting they quietly voted to change the ordinances regulating vacation homes in the Lake Tahoe portion of the county (Meyers and all unincorporated areas on the South Shore). Missing was the heated public comments from the Vacation Home Rental owners as seen at South Lake Tahoe City Council meetings.

The changes for VHRs in the Tahoe side of the County (the Board of Supervisors at a duly noticed meeting shall have the authority to impose additional standard conditions applicable to vacation home rentals as necessary):

The Fourth of July holiday period is the busiest time of year in the Lake Tahoe Basin. For those visiting during the holiday and attending one of the firework displays over the lake, expect extremely crowded conditions and excess traffic. Because of the Basin’s high elevation, expect intense sunlight during the day and much lower temperatures at night. Bring sunscreen, a jacket, and carry a flashlight. Don’t forget to drink plenty of water throughout the day to stay hydrated.

El Dorado County Sheriff's Office responds to calls throughout the county.

The following are calls that only pertain to the South Shore. There may be some missing calls due to sheriff's logs not being completed at press time and the story will be updated when provided.

5/22
7:13 p.m. - Grand Theft - Tionontati St - HEAVENLY AVALANCHE RESCUE DOG POSSIBLY STOLEN FROM UNSECURED BACKYARD.

5/23
3:12 p.m. - Missing Person - Elks Club Rd - R/P REPORTED A MISSING PERSON.

5/24

Just as it is when the topic of vacation rentals is on the South Lake Tahoe City Council agenda, a large, and at times, angry, crowd gathered.

The task at hand Tuesday was to review changes to the current Vacation Home Rental (VHR) Ordinance which included 11 changes which will take effect 30 days after the June 7 Council meeting if approved.

As a follow-up to their February 16 meeting, the South Lake Tahoe City Council Tuesday looked at proposed changes to the Vacation Home Rental Ordinance that are meant to streamline City Code, remove duplicate language and make it easier to read.

Hilary Roverud, the SLT Deputy Director of Development Services, made the presentation that covered self-limiting occupancy, parking standards and apartments being used as vacation rentals.

Recently, I had the chance to visit the much-hyped Tahoe: A visual History at the Nevada Museum of Art. Located in the hip, CalAve District wedged between downtown and midtown Reno, the museum offers locals to the region a taste of world-class art collections. During events like Art Town (a marathon of a hundred-or-so art related events in Reno during the month of July), the museum offers innumerable pieces from local and global artists alike.

For years I thawed my turkey, covered it with butter and herbs and foil, and popped it into the oven, always afraid to steer away from what I knew worked.

That was, until I watched Emeril Lagasse on Good Morning America about ten year ago. Now, its all about the brine!

The first year I tried the brine I had the recipe all written out and followed it closely, but since then I improvise with whatever is in the kitchen cupboards.

Since this is Tuesday there is still time to do a brine, but you need to hurry.

Tallac Historic Site, Kiva Beach, Valhalla and the Taylor Creek Visitor Center will all be closed on Wednesday so the U.S. Forest Service can conduct pesticide treatments to reduce the risk of plague. The Pope-Baldwin Bike Trail will remain open, but signs will be posted where the trail crosses closed sites.

The gates to these areas will close on Tuesday evening, September 15 at 7 p.m. and likely reopen on Thursday morning, September 17.

A large illicit marijuana grow in the mountains of Lincoln County, NV was eradicated after law enforcement found 6,476 marijuana plants in the remote area. The plants had an estimated street value of $17 million.

It appears that individuals had operated the site for several years and was capable of producing large quantities of illegal marijuana intended for sales and distribution. In addition to the marijuana plants, law enforcement personnel recovered and removed nearly two miles of black irrigation piping, along with various chemicals, used during the growing process

As people move into bear country the bears learn that people has tasty food, even if its not exactly what they should be eating. They also learn that people leave this tasty food out where they can easily find it, in trash cans in front of homes and in big dumpsters at restaurants, motels and timeshares.

The celebrities have been gone from South Lake Tahoe for over a week, back to their jobs and families. While they were the attraction of the American Century Golf Championship, the true stars were the volunteers who made it all happen.

Volunteers helped in many aspects. Soroptimists had their food tents and spent every day serving sandwiches, drinks, chips and snacks.

The Lake Tahoe Bike Coalition had a group out each day, manning the bike valet for the 200 cyclists that used their free services.

It may seem like lyrics from the Five Man Electrical Band: Sign, sign, everywhere a sign; Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind' Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?

Everyone wants to enjoy the South Lake Tahoe area on the 4th of July holiday weekend. In order to keep everyone safe there are rules and regulations in place to do so.

1. Portable Charcoal Grills Prohibited on All Forest Service Beaches. You can use the limited number of Forest Service provided grills.
2. Campfires are not permitted on National Forest beaches or in the general forest.

A Lake Tahoe casino employee has been arrested on suspicion of theft after police said he made off with a bundle of $100 bills totaling $10,000 that had been accidentally dropped by a gambler.

Douglas County sheriff's deputies say the gambler had won $70,000 and was walking to an elevator from the Harrah's Tahoe casino floor when he dropped the wad of cash early Wednesday.

Contract janitorial worker Richard Ferrer. 36, is accused of sweeping the money into a dustpan, then heading to the employee break room.

Now that Spring is here, Douglas County officials want to remind residents of the basic code requirements for their properties. Not only does keeping care of one's yard and surrounding property help maintain the attractiveness of the area, it also helps reduce fire danger in a very dry year.