Letter: Support and empower fire department in keeping local lands safe

The following is a copy of a letter sent to City Council, USFS, Supervisor Sue Novasel, California Tahoe Conservancy Officers, and others, and shared with South Tahoe Now:

Dear Mayor David and Council Members:

I am writing to you as a follow-up to my letters of July 4, 2018 and July 26, 2018 to Fire Chief Meston. As the policy makers with overall responsibility for the safety, health and welfare of the people, businesses and environment inside the City limits, I am respectfully seeking your support and empowerment of the Fire Department to take the necessary steps to ensure all public lands within the City limits are fire safe.

Empower and Support our Fire Professionals
The City Council needs to demonstrate publicly its policy support for the Fire Department to seek the vigorous voluntary cooperation of Federal and State officials and agencies with property within the city limits to make their properties fire safe. The preference of course is to do so voluntarily. However, should these public organizations not move quickly to make their lands within the City limits fire safe, City government should take whatever legal action is needed and necessary to achieve the goal. The City of South Lake Tahoe, its people, its businesses, its tourists and its environment cannot accept non-compliance with fire safe practices on opublic lands. The City of South Lake Tahoe too that owns vast acreages needs to ensure that City-owned lands are made fire safe.

Examples of Unsafe or Soon to be unsafe conditions
Please let me illustrate my point as it relates to lands owned by the USFS, CTC and City in my neighborhood that I believe are characteristic of many parcels owned by these organizations within the City limits.

Royal and Whitney
While my hope is that the USFS, CTC and City have plans for making City lands fire safe before they become tinder boxes, I have seen no action to date nor heard of any plans to make it so. (See Photos)

Funding the Project
Typically public agencies claim that they do not have adequate funds to do things that are necessary. I am not suggesting that this common excuse is one you use or believe in. There are always funds that can be used for important safety measures and actions if the safety measures are given the importance for expenditures they deserve. The most costly option is to do nothing and suffer the consequences of fire conflagration by no action.

Conclusion
I am confident that with your action and support, our City and community can be made fire safe to the extent that it is humanly possible to do so. I am pleased to assist you in any advocacy role with other Basin organizations to achieve this safety objective. As you know, time is not our friend in these matters.

Sincerely,

David M. Jinkens, MPA
City Resident
Public Policy and Good Government Advocate