Tahoe Talks Lunch Series Continues March 18

A Tahoe Talks Brown Bag Lunch Series recently launched offers a monthly forum for people to discuss and learn more about ways to strengthen communities, make towns safer for bicyclists and pedestrians, and help protect Lake Tahoe’s amazing natural resources.

Lunches are held monthly at Lake Tahoe Community College. They cover topics ranging from transportation to the economy and the environment, and offer a comfortable, low-key setting for people to discuss and learn about those issues. The events are free to the public.

“Achieving economic vitality and environmental sustainability is doable, and there are a lot of great strategies available from within our own community and from other places,” said Karen Fink, Principal Transportation Planner at TRPA. “Tahoe Talks is a place to discuss ideas and get educated on what’s out there, what works, and what doesn’t.”

Steering committee agencies for the Tahoe Talks Brown Bag Lunch Series are Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Tahoe Metropolitan Planning Organization, Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition, League to Save Lake Tahoe, One South Shore, and Lake Tahoe Sustainability Collaborative Community Mobility Group.

The next Tahoe Talks Brown Bag Lunch is scheduled for Wednesday, March 18, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Lake Tahoe Community College Aspen Room. Jesse Patterson, Deputy Director of League to Save Lake Tahoe, will discuss volunteer monitoring programs and how they can facilitate change.

Patterson oversees the nonprofit environmental group’s Pipe Keepers Program, a volunteer program that monitors stormwater outfalls at Lake Tahoe. Patterson also helped launch Eyes on the Lake, a program that trains volunteers to identify and report aquatic invasive species they see while recreating on the Lake.

Upcoming topics for lunches this spring include a presentation on dealing with drought by John Rice, General Manager for Sierra-at-Tahoe; a panel discussion on the economic impact bicycling and walking have in Lake Tahoe’s communities; and two webinars on legal rights and issues for pedestrians and bicyclists offered in June as part of Tahoe Bike Month.

As TRPA and Tahoe Metropolitan Planning Organization prepare to update their transportation and bicycle and pedestrian plans and delve into other issues, such as highway corridor studies, the monthly lunch series will also be used as a way to better engage and inform people so they can effectively communicate to decision-makers what they want to see in their neighborhoods and communities.

The steering committee is open to suggestions for future discussion topics for the Tahoe Talks Brown Bag Lunch Series. “Anyone from the community is invited to submit ideas for topics or host a session, and we are all eager to work with other community groups to help strengthen the series,” Fink said.

To learn more about the Tahoe Talks Brown Bag Lunch Series, visit www.tahoempo.org/tahoetalks.aspx?SelectedIndex=1.