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As full-time residents of South Lake Tahoe for almost 40 years, my
wife and I are growing more and more concerned about the possible
effects of the proposed vacancy tax on full time residents if it is passed and implemented.

Our neighborhood, like many in the area, is a mix of full-time
residents and vacation homes. The vacation homeowners, most of them
long-time owners, are our neighbors like any other and are a part of
our little community. We enjoy them when they are here and when they
are not, our neighborhood is even more quiet and tranquil. We keep an

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - For the past seven years, Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) has hosted Gift of Literacy, a program developed to foster a love of reading among young children while enhancing literacy rates in the community.

Through the support of community partnerships and generous donors, the program aims to involve every first grader on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe.

The Gift of Literacy seeks to inspire excitement for reading and learning through:

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The South Tahoe High School Junior Optimist Club is holding a fun field day for kids in grades K-8 on Saturday, June 8 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the South Tahoe High School softball and baseball fields.

Kids get to try out new things offered at the high school and in the community. There will be various activities, including softball, wrestling, cheer/dance, football, volleyball, arts and crafts, and Career Technical Education (CTE) classes like sports medicine. Heavenly Ski Patrol and many other community participants will also be at the event.

LAKE TAHOE, Nev. - The East Shore Express bus service returns beginning June 28, 2024, according to a Tahoe Transportation District (TTD) announcement Friday. This season, hourly paid parking will be available at the Tunnel Creek parking lot, located at 1102 Tahoe Blvd. at the Tahoe East Shore Trailhead. This strategic change is meant to enhance access and convenience for riders.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - This week's Home of the Week winner from the South Tahoe Association of Realtors:

Listing Agent: Sam Holmes
Listing Office: Coldwell Banker Select Real Estate
530.314.1092, sam.holmes@cbselectre.com
Property Address: 776 Anita Drive, South Lake Tahoe
MLS #: 140124

Bedrooms: 2
Baths: 2
Square Footage: 1,280 Sq Ft.
Price: $565,000

LAKE TAHOE, Nev. - Allison Steinmetz, M.D., a multi-board-certified internist at Lake Tahoe, has opened a new MDVIP-affiliated practice located at 212 Elks Point Road in Zephyr Cove, Nevada. Dr. Steinmetz is also board-certified in Pediatrics and Hospice and Palliative Medicine and is currently accepting patients who want a more direct and collaborative relationship with their primary care doctor.

MDVIP is the market leader in personalized healthcare with a network of over 1,100 physicians nationwide.

David and Gayle Woodruff offer history programs throughout Lake Tahoe, the Carson Valley, and Eastern Sierra covering several topics, many times bringing their characters to life in a Chautauqua performance.

This Saturday, June 1, they will be at Western Days in South Lake Tahoe in the museum complex. The event is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the Woodruffs take the stage at 1 p.m., assuming the characters of fictive characters Clive and Vivian Sterling, who worked at a Washoe Valley divorce Ranch in the 1940s, ‘50s, and ‘60s, in a living history presentation, “The Reno Cure.”

LAKE TAHOE, Nev. - Actor Jeremy Renner, who has a home near Mt. Rose at Lake Tahoe, has created a foundation to support foster youth in the Reno/Northern Nevada area. The RennerVation Foundation is holding a summer camp for those foster youth at the 4H Camp in Stateline from July 1-5, 2024, and camp counselors are still needed.

The biggest need is for male cabin counselors and high-school-age counselors in training. A cabin houses about 10-12 youths.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There were 16,800 seedlings planted this spring, a lot of little trees including sugar pines, Jeffrey pines, and white pines, according to the Sugar Pine Foundation.

They said there are now a lot of little trees to water this summer!

"Thanks to lucky timing of our planting events, we managed to stay mostly dry even though it rained and snowed quite a bit in April and May," said the Sugar Pine Foundation in a letter to supporters. "Of course, the precipitation was fantastic for watering our newly planted baby seedlings!"

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has completed its investigation into the shooting of a bear inside a South Lake Tahoe home. They said that, after a formal law enforcement investigation into the matter, the homeowner who shot the bear did nothing illegal and would not face any charges.

On Monday, May 27 at approximately 2:30 p.m., wildlife officers were called to a home off of Pioneer Trail in South Lake Tahoe after being notified a bear had been shot and killed by a homeowner.

WASHOE COUNTY, Nev. - The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has moved to implement a plan to move the mail processing operations in Reno to West Sacramento, affecting South Lake Tahoe, Carson City, Reno, and the region.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A sad event happened over the recent holiday weekend. A long-time local resident shot a bear in his kitchen, feeling his and his dog's safety was being threatened after the sub-adult bear entered his house through a door to the fenced backyard. Even more sad is the first news of this event that many people saw was a social media post filled with passion and pitchforks, but sans the actual facts of what happened.

After Tahoe’s celebrated July 4th festivities, our beaches and surrounding areas can become covered with trash, endangering wildlife and the Lake’s clarity. Each year on July 5th, Tahoe residents and visitors turn out for the largest cleanup of the year to remove litter from Lake Tahoe’s shores. You can help Keep Tahoe Blue by volunteering at a beach cleanup sites around the Lake!

Visit our website for more details and registration.
https://www.keeptahoeblue.org/events-activities-lessons/keep-tahoe-red-white-and-blue-beach-cleanup/

LAKE TAHOE, Nev. - Megastars Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, and Trevor Lawrence will be joining the field and making their initial appearance at the 35th annual American Century Championship, July 10-14 at Edgewood Tahoe. The celebrity spotlight will be shining even brighter when the threesome enhances an already star-studded field of 82 sports and entertainment personalities at celebrity golf’s leading tournament, airing on NBC Sports.

Akin to a student who has just taken their first economics class, Councilmember Robbins completely misses the mark in his latest op-ed published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune entitled “Change is needed in Tahoe.” He laments the changes in local demographics, business diversity, and housing affordability in the last 25 years, diagnoses these changes as a "Problem That Must Be Solved," and then goes on to call out the shadowy forces that seek to thwart his heroism.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A head-on collision between two motorcycles has resulted in the death of a 50-year-old man from Hayward, Calif.

On Monday, May 27 at approximately 5 p.m., Marcus Canizales was riding his 2007 Harley Davidson V-Rod west on SR-88, near Red Lake, at approximately 65-70 MPH. Heading east was a 2007 BMW K1200 GT motorcycle driven by a 52-year-old Gardnerville, Nev. man, also at 65-70 mph.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Join the Lake Tahoe Historical Society for the 3rd annual Western Days on Saturday, June 1 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the museum complex. Entry and activities are free.

There will be free tours of the museum, the 1930s log cabin, a peek into the 1860s Toll House, children's hands-on activities, horse-drawn carriage rides, craft vendors, music by the Cash Only Band and Whiskey Wolves, and western entertainment and storytelling by David and Gayle Woodruff.

I have been watching the District 1 Commissioner race with interest and just read Commissioner Tarkanian’s latest newsletter. He mentions that numerous county leaders are against him because he is not part of the “good old boys” club. In other newsletters, he has stated that he does not do “backroom” deals and he is transparent. Not true!

If the purported goal of the Vacancy Tax initiative is in fact to honestly increase the number of affordable housing units in the City of South Lake Tahoe, a noble goal indeed, and one that I do not believe anyone finds objectionable, I cannot help but see a potential issue with that expectation.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A coalition of South Lake Tahoe chambers, realtors, lodging and restaurant groups, small business owners, and residents are holding an anti-vacancy tax campaign kick-off on Thursday, May 30 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

There is a measure on the November ballot that would, if approved, tax homes vacant more than one-half year or more up to $6,000 per year in the city limits. The Tahoe Chamber and South Tahoe Chamber, along with the rest of their "Keep Community First" coalition.

TAHOMA, Calif. – For the past five decades, the Sierra State Parks Foundation has demonstrated unwavering commitment by partnering with California State Parks to address critical needs and projects through private philanthropy, volunteerism, and strong partnerships. This ongoing collaboration ensures that the local California Lake Tahoe – Donner Lake parks continue to benefit the community and visitors not only today but also for generations to come.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - South Lake Tahoe’s taxable receipts from October through December 2023 were six percent below the fourth sales period of 2022. Excluding reporting aberrations, actual sales were down 4.8 percent.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the United States. It’s a fun, social way for people of all ages to be active. But the recent boom in popularity has brought a rise in pickleball-related injuries. Here’s how to stay safe while enjoying yourself on the pickleball court.

Get in the Game

Now that the vacancy tax has been qualified for the November ballot, the City council is faced with the arduous task of trying to figure out how to make it all work. A difficult task at best and no doubt met with different opinions on what is a fair balance. A blanket policy is certainly not the answer, and I would suggest that there must be certain exemptions allowed if this initiative does indeed pass. I would like to suggest for consideration the following. Others may have additional issues to declare.