tom davis

It was a changing of the guard during Monday's South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting. Wendy David moved from her position of mayor pro tem to mayor, and Austin Sass took over the second-in-command duties.

Councilmember Tom Davis, who has served as both mayor and mayor pro tem, was also interested in a fifth term in the pro tem spot but the nod went to Sass.

"South Lake Tahoe, you should be proud of yourself."

Those words, said by South Lake Tahoe Police Sgt. Brian Williams, were echoed throughout the evening as the City of South Lake Tahoe celebrated its first 50 years with a golden anniversary gala Saturday night.

Almost 300 people were at the Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel to share memories of the past, review of the present, and a look towards the future of a city that was formed because many of the residents were tired of being represented by a government in Placerville.

During a special meeting of the South Lake Tahoe City Council on Monday, October 19, JoAnn Conner was publicly censured, a first of its kind for the City. An overflowing crowd spent over three hours in Council Chambers as comments were made both supporting Conner, and against what they said was "abusive, bullying and intolerant behavior."

The South Lake Tahoe City Council narrowly approved a new temporary craft show ordinance and increased fee schedule during their meeting on Tuesday.

"Seems like overkill," said Councilwoman JoAnn Conner in her vote against the ordinance. "Its a tremendous amount of work for anyone who wants to come in and do an event and its a tremendous amount of work for staff."

Conner was speaking of the new ordinance which changes the rules for the eight temporary craft shows held annually in the city each year. She and Tom Davis were the two dissenting votes.

Two long time community members will share their tales of the history of South Lake Tahoe during the next Fireside Chat on Wednesday, July 15 at 7 p.m.

Roberta Mason will be talking about “How and Why Higher Education Made Its
Way to the South Shore.” Mason was instrumental in bringing Lake Tahoe Community College to town and was a long time member of their Board of Trustees.

Tom Davis will be sharing tales of “How Three Went Out and One Came Back – Boating on Lake Tahoe” and stories of celebrity entertainers who have visited the south shore.

The California Tahoe Conservancy announced today that construction of the first phase of the South Tahoe Greenway Shared Use Trail will begin on Monday, July 6, 2015. The new bike and pedestrian trail extends about a half of a mile between Herbert Avenue and Glenwood Way and is scheduled to be completed by August.

Twenty years and many meetings later, the Tahoe Valley Area Plan unanimously passed the first of two final hurdles at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

In the first reading to adopt the three resolutions which make up the plan, Mayor Hal Cole and the City Council thanked everyone who was part of the long process to start shaping things up at the "Y". "This plan will have an impact for years to come," said Cole.

The community is invited to an evening of celebration and honor, maybe a little roasting, and lots of good cheer for Joanne Shope, who has been the backbone of Christmas Cheer All Year for the past 20 years.

The celebration will take place at the Lake Tahoe Golf Course, located at 2500 Emerald Bay Road in South Lake Tahoe, CA.

You will soon be seeing this state of the art, high tech van traveling through the streets of South Lake Tahoe. Equiped with lasers, GPS, digital measuring tools and cameras, the van will be able to record the conditions of the city's infrastructure, thus allowing the gathered data to be evaluated to priorizie all maintenance.

Nationally it is estimated that there are $2 trillion of backlog mainenance to roads and other items in the infrastruce of cities and counties. Locally the number is estimated at $26 million.

It was a trip down 60 years of memory lane as the Tahoe Chamber celebrated their birthday on Wednesday night.

Over 150 people attended the mixer at Tep's Villa Roma, many who have been in South Lake Tahoe almost as long as the chamber.

Long time locals Bill Kingman, Tom Davis, Paul Middlebrook and Deb Howard shared the Trivia game hosting duties, trying to stump the crowd with questions from the community's past 60 years (and beyond).

There was no "open" sign in front nor was there any announcement that Wednesday would be the opening day for the new McP's Taphouse in the Stateline area of South Lake Tahoe. Yet, the bar was packed and the outside seating was starting to fill up by late afternoon.

Pete Joseph and business partner, former Navy Seal Greg McPartlin, put a lot of work into the 6,000 square foot found building at the end of the new Chateau and across the street from Harveys.

New South Lake Tahoe City Council members Wendy David and Austin Sass will join Hal Cole, Tom Davis and JoAnn Conner today as they begin their official first day of service after being sworn in this morning.

The 9 a.m. meeting begins with an inaugural ceremony and election on who will be the next Mayor of the city and the Mayor Pro Tem for 2015.

All committee assignments will be laid for for the year as well.

Also on the agenda are BevMo's request for a liquor license and South Tahoe Refuse's request for a rate increase starting January 1.

Twenty-one days after the election, the final results have now been certified by the El Dorado County elections department.

The closest race was for the three open seats for South Lake Tahoe City Council. The top vote getter was long time local Wendy David who had 18.05 % of the vote with 1727 residents feeling confident she'd represent them well. Coming in second was incumbent Tom Davis who received 1461 votes, or 15.52% of the vote. Austin Sass moved ahead of incumbent Angela Swanson and ended up with 1318 votes to Swanson's 1289, just .31% difference.

The results of the first wave of counting the approximate 13,000 absentee and provisional ballots from Tuesday's election were released this evening and just one vote separates two candidates from serving on the City Council or not.

Wendy David.......17.98%.......1271 votes
Tom Davis.........15.48%.......1094 votes
Angela Swanson....13.99%........989 votes
Austin Sass.......13.98%........988 votes
Brooke Laine......13.35%........939 votes
Matt Palacio......12.83%........907 votes
Bruce Grego.......12.22%........864 votes

100% of the ballots from polling locations have now been counted in the El Dorado County and City of South Lake Tahoe elections. The following is the result pending some absentee ballots that still need to be counted.

County Supervisor Area 5

Sue Novasel - 59.92% 3529 votes
Kenny Curtzwiler - 39.58% 2331 votes

City of South Lake Tahoe City Council
Top 3 win a seat

Wendy David 18.00% 1205 votes
Tom Davis 15.56% 1042 votes

Bears apparently found the food pantry at Christmas Cheer All Year too good to pass up on Monday night. Board Member Tom Davis reported that bears broke into the food pantry and helped themselves to the food used to feed those community members in need.

Christmas Cheer All Year is asking for the community’s support with food and monetary donations as they begin to restock their shelves.

Earlier this year the California Tahoe Conservancy (CTC) purchased three properties in order to provide open space, improve water quality and remove blight.

The first of these properties, the Alta Mira Building, was demolished this week.

"We hope these acquisitions will be just the first wave of our renewed
efforts to partner with the City in helping to revitalize South Lake Tahoe," Tom Davis said in May when the Conservancy Board voted to purchase the building for $2.5 million. He sits on both the Conservancy Board and South Lake Tahoe City Council.

The Medical Imaging Department at Barton Health has been awarded a three year term of accreditation by the American College of Radiology as well as the Gold Seal.

“Our radiology staff and facilities have endured a rigorous review process to confirm our medical excellence,” says Tom Davis, Barton’s director of Medical Imaging. “We are very fortunate to have a team of radiologists and staff who are both state and nationally certified and among the most elite in their field.”

With the filing deadline now passed, the list of candidates for South Lake Tahoe City Council and City Clerk, South Tahoe Public Utility Board and the Lake Tahoe Community College Board of Trustees is now known. These positions, along with the El Dorado County Supervisor for Area 5 will all be voted by local voters on during the November 4.

Voter will be voting for three City Council members, the City Clerk and City Treasurer on the November 4th ballot in South Lake Tahoe. The filing period opens on Monday, July 14 for all interested City residents who are interested in running for the open seats.

The terms of Council members Angela Swanson, Tom Davis and Brooke Laine will end this fall as well as that of City Clerk Susan Alessi and Treasurer David Olivo.

It's that time of year again. The county fair, full of funnel cakes, carnival rides, animals, music, exhibits, wheelbarrow races, wine and beer competition and good old fashioned fun.

The El Dorado County Fair opened on Thursday and runs through Sunday, Father's Day at the fairgrounds in Placerville. The theme this year is "Photos, Fathers and Fairs."

The County Sheriff's Office invites community members to stop by their booth and see the brand new state of art patrol vehicles. They'll have a new SUV and sedan on display so people can see inside and check out their new features.

If you weren't able to make it to Saturday night's Dancing With the Tahoe Stars, here is a video produced by John Durst and Fabulous Lake Tahoe! Tahoe Arts Project presented the second annual dancing event to raise funds that help bring the arts into the local schools.

JUDGES:
Marcia Sarosik of the Lake Tahoe Shining Stars Dance Troupe
Paul Middlebrook of KRLT radio
Don Bosson - realtor/musician

FEATURED PERFORMANCES
Liz Niven w/ Adam Hopkins Samba to "They Call Me Cuban Pete" by Desi Arnaz ( 2:15 )
Jodi Stewart and Lyndon Facey Hip-Hop to "Dirty South" ( 6:29 )

Final rehearsals were underway Thursday evening in the MontBleu Showroom as professional dancers and their South Lake Tahoe "stars" prepared for Tahoe Art Project's Dancing with the Tahoe Stars.

Ten local dancers will hit the stage for the Tahoe Arts Project's 2nd Annual Dancing With the Tahoe Stars on March 8 at 6:30 pm.

Watch former Mayor Tom Davis, STHS Theater Director Liz Niven, Realtor Klaus Utecht, Director of Tahoe Center for Orthopedics Chris Proctor, Tahoe Tot Spot owner Amy Thompson, Environmental Engineer Eric Taxer, Soroptimist Roberta Benvenuto, Jazzercise Instructor Jodi Stewart, Sierra at Tahoe Director Sean Sweeney and Dental Hygienist Frances Caro as they are paired with professional dancers in a fun competition.