neighborhoods

The City of South Lake Tahoe promised to hire a company to provide a socio-economic study on the impacts of vacation home rentals (VHRs) on the city. Michael Baker Incorporated, a company that has studied the same impacts at Big Bear Lake, Morro Bay, Monterey and Avalon on Catalina Island, was hired to do the job.

Wednesday night, representatives from Michael Baker had stations around a room at the Senior Center to determine what the almost 100 people who were at the meeting thought was important, and not important, of several aspects of both the study and VHRs.

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?

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.

Dan McLaughlin, 66, Sales Manager for Lake Tahoe Television, has lived in Lake Tahoe for 43 years.

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

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?

Registered voters at Stateline, the Y and Bijou don't normally vote in elections but those living in Montgomery Estates, the Tahoe Keys, Gardner Mountain and parts of Sierra Tract do, according to a new research project at U.C. Davis.

Every new parent in Tahoe knows that finding quality childcare is a struggle. Facilities have long waiting lists; and only a few can offer State subsidies to low-income families.

According to Choices for Children a healthy childcare vacancy rate is 15%. That gives parents choice in where to put their child based on location, costs or personal preferences. Here in Tahoe our vacancy rate is just 5% and as our population continues to grow that percentage is likely to decrease further.

For a 90-day trial period, the City of South Lake Tahoe will hire an outside security firm to assist with enforcement of the Vacation Home Rental (VHR) ordinance.

Many complaints have been voiced at City Council meetings about the lack of enforcement and the fact that part of the justification of the increase in fees for the vacation home permits was to go to staffing that department.

2016 is the 26th year that the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has handed out its "Best in the Basin" award for projects in the Lake Tahoe basin that demonstrate exceptional planning and implementation and compatibility with Lake Tahoe’s environment and communities.

During Wednesday's TRPA board meeting in Kings Beach, the nine winners for the year were honored.

The City of South Lake Tahoe was one of those recipients for the Bijou Bike Park project, a collaborative effort between the City and Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe will host the 19th annual Tahoe Forest Stewardship Day on Saturday, September 10 in South Lake Tahoe. Community members will gather for this fun, all-ages, hands-on restoration day at the Angora Burn Area.

The Village in Squaw Valley, a proposed redevelopment proponents say will reestablish the resort as a premier mountain resort destination and ensure its sustainable future, in on the agenda of the Placer County Planning Commission on Thursday, August 11.

8:30 p.m. update 7/4/16: Firefighters working on the Trailhead Fire in El Dorado County gained a lot of ground Monday, getting a containment line around 50 percent of the fire. So far, 5,444 acres have burned.

Many people find law enforcement officers intimidating and unapproachable, so the South Lake Tahoe CHP office is holding "Coffee with a Cop" on Friday, June 24 starting at 9:00 a.m. at Alpina Coffee Cafe on Emerald Bay Road.

All community members are invited to stop by and chat, discuss community issues, have coffee, and build relationships.

Coffee with a Cop provides a unique opportunity for community members to ask questions and learn more about the Department’s work in El Dorado County’s neighborhoods.

There’s talk of expansion in South Lake Tahoe, but this town must be mindful of its beloved nature. However, it has the capability of evolving into a prosperous city through tactful ways of expanding and changing. The awareness of the League to Save Lake Tahoe, the city's plans for airport reconstruction, and the growing tourism industry in California show that expansion for South Lake Tahoe is beneficial, or at least manageable, for everyone.

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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.

Join other South Lake Tahoe residents on Thursday, May 12, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. at the South Lake Tahoe Community College and learn how to keep your home and neighborhood safer in the event of a wildfire.

Firefighters and community safety personnel need the public to help protect their neighborhoods from catastrophic wildfire. They are holding the two-hour long seminar as a new effort to help those living in Lake Tahoe in protecting their homes.

The Sheriff’s Team of Active Retirees (S.T.A.R.) Program in El Dorado County is looking to bolster their volunteer corps. STAR is comprised of senior citizens who are utilized to enhance vital crime prevention services in the community. The STARs conduct patrols in specially marked STAR vehicles, functioning as the eyes and ears of the Sheriff’s Department, reporting any suspicious activity observed. The S.T.A.R. Program is a Crime Prevention Program exercising proactive law enforcement principles.

Winter has been welcomed back to the Lake Tahoe basin after a few years of drought and less-than-average snowfall, but a resurgence of winter brings with it not only more visitors to enjoy the snow, but poor traveling conditions for the driver.

There is snow on the ground and a chill in the air, perfect conditions for the thousands of music fans in South Lake Tahoe for SnowGlobe 2015.

Lines of young men and women, some dressed in costume or wearing wild hats, eagerly awaited the begin of the three day music festival. Anticipation had been growing for weeks as the social media hype was on.

The South Lake Tahoe Fire Department is accepting applications for the 2016 Winter session of STAT: South Tahoe Action Teams.

This program is designed to incorporate trained citizens in the field with the South Lake Tahoe Fire Department and other first responders during times of crisis.

Police Department 50th Anniversary As you might expect, once the City was incorporated in 1965, it took some time to create a police department. On July 1, 1967 the police department began providing police services to the City. In 2017,we’ll plan a small public 50th celebration at the police department. Our initial plans include hosting and honoring some of the department’s original members. Over the years there have been many changes. Some points of interest include:

Deputies from the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office were called out to the neighborhood of Minniconiou and Susquehana Drives on Wednesday morning to reports an aggressive 700-800 pound bear.

The bear had reportedly been disrupting the neighborhood for several weeks by breaking into multiple residences.

Deputies located the bear and attempted to get the bear to move away from the residential area, using loud noises and less lethal bean bag rounds. In most cases these types of tactics are very successful and result in the bear leaving the area.

Sometime in the future, one will be able to hop on a bike at Van Sickle Bi-State Park and travel on Class 1 trails to Sierra Tract, and hopefully beyond.

The concept for the trail where people would walk and bike safely off the main roads actually began in 1985. Caltrans owned land through the middle of neighborhoods where a highway was proposed, but when it was apparent that would never be built, the California Tahoe Conservancy (CTC) joined Caltrans in discussions to obtain the land.

Much like the lake side of El Dorado County and the west slope don’t always see eye to eye, the Douglas County portion at the lake, and the valley residents are in the same situation.

The topic currently at the forefront is Buckeye Creek Reservoir, located in the eastern portion of Douglas County. BLM has most of the land in this undeveloped area, and the Douglas County Sewer Improvement District (DCSID) owns 1,001 of those acres.

Pipe Keepers is a citizen science program to address the threat of stormwater pollution entering Lake Tahoe. Runoff from rain storms and snowmelt is the largest source of pollution that degrades Lake clarity. League staff will train you to survey local neighborhoods and collect stormwater samples during rain and snowmelt events.