A good old house cleaning

Nothing like a good old house cleaning to shed some light in the musty corners of city politics. In the past week it was announced the South Lake Tahoe City Attorney Patrick Enright will not seek to have his contract renewed. Following a string of questionable and ultimately expensive (for the city) decisions made  by Mr. Enright, this opens the door to bring in someone with a more focused and nuanced approach to guiding the city through the challenging but rife with opportunity times ahead.

On Nov. 28 it was reported in the LakeTahoe News.net that the newly minted (4 mos.) city finance director Michael Nakama will be leaving at the end of the year. Seems Mr. Nakama has never worked in the public sector and just didn't "fit". here. Would love to know the exact reasons for his departure.

Candidates for both these key positions can now thoroughly vetted and interviewed by a newly configured City Council and our sharp as a tack city manager Nancy Kerry. Time to shake of mantle of mediocrity and get busy with the task of transforming ourselves into the type of resort destination worthy of it's stunning environment.

Environmental community schism

Please take a moment to read the following article which appeared on the Lake Tahoe News.net website on Nov. 16. Please pay particular attention to the posts by Stephen Frisch as they are germane to the critical issue of finding solidarity behind a plan. Interesting how at this writing there are 16 posts on this topic and 26 posts about the demise of Twinkies. I weep for the future.
http://www.laketahoenews.net/2012/11/2-trpa-board-members-refuse-to-listen-to-public-comment/

Poor voter turnout in SLT

Well, the stats are in: Less than 53% of eligible voters in South Lake Tahoe actually bothered to vote. This is a sad commentary on citizen involvement. Are so many people just fed up with the mistakes of the past that they don't bother anymore? Do we now have a new demographic that is too self-absorbed, lazy or "busy" to familiarize themselves with the issues and vote? In any case, a very small majority made the decisions for the entire city. If you didn't vote, don't even THINK of complaining about the outcome if it's not to your liking!

Loop Road contiinues to dominate discussion

Well, the Loop Road issue continues to dominate the discussion on www.LakeTahoeNews.net as evidenced by the number of posts on the subject. It is also becoming a bit of a flashpoint in the City Council race in the up-coming election:

HTTP://WWW.LAKETAHOENEWS.NET/2012/11/ANTI-SASS-CAMPAIGN-ROOTED-IN-LOOP-ROAD/

As I re-read past posts on this issue going back to June of this year, I see the discussion becoming more focused and solution-oriented. This is EXACTLY what needs to happen as the community of South Lake Tahoe continues to weigh in and strive to find consensus behind a plan. It gives me hope that we as a community are making headway on achieving solidarity on how to move ourselves and our region into a model of sustainable tourism. The link to the following article is a good example of how the discussion is evolving as it continues to inform and shape peoples understanding of how we got to this juncture and how we might best proceed:

HTTP://WWW.LAKETAHOENEWS.NET/2012/11/PUBLIC-GIVEN-OPPORTUNITY-TO-COME-UP-WITH-LOOP-ROAD-IDEAS/

I look forward to continuing this discussion and taking part in the democratic process of soliciting for community sourced ideas on designing a sustainable future for our region.     Tom Wendell