Local Issues - Local Government
I seek the office of city council to advocate for the locals. The bartenders and baristas, nurses and retirees - the people who live here, work here, and play here. Our city continues to prioritize the interests of the casinos, developers, and resorts. This must change, and it can change.
It’s the locals who make Tahoe a great place to live, not just a great place to visit.
Housing
The biggest issue the city faces is affordable workforce housing. Tahoe is bleeding locals, and the actions of the city must meet the scale of this crisis.
In my first year I passed a resolution prioritizing affordable housing for existing locals. This year I cut the administration costs of the Lease-to-Locals housing program by half saving enough money to double funding for actual grants. Unfortunately the Council also took a big step backwards by re-introducing AirBnB’s into our residential neighborhoods - which we can and should eliminate by ordinance and honor the voters intention in Measure T.
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I will work to aggressively expand the city’s inclusionary housing funding law. This program assesses a fee on new construction to support affordable housing, but it only applies to large McMansions. Today, large AirBnB-condo developments, such as those around Heavenly Village are exempted. This can and should change.
We also need to make the development of new rental housing cost effective by amending our outdated residential zoning laws that incentivize the building of giant McMansions, but which currently outright prohibit even modestly sized duplex housing almost everywhere. Zoning changes are complex and expensive endeavors requiring environmental review and TRPA approval, meaning they must be prioritized in the city budget.
We should also expedite development of the affordable housing project at HW50 and Pioneer, and begin the long term development work for a new housing project at soon-to-be demolished fire station three (which is slated for replacement with a new fire station next door).
These efforts will need a council willing to put locals first.
Roads & Transit
In the past four years, the City Council has more than doubled road and stormwater funding to over $6M per year. In my first year on council we cut local taxpayer subsidies to the airport to zero, making the private jets pay for themselves. That funding shift alone enabled adding nearly half a million dollars per year to road maintenance.
In the last year I worked with the Tahoe Transportation District to improve bus service to 30-minute headways, and to expand Lake Link service to the “Y”. I also worked with El Dorado County to get measure G passed, providing stable funding for local bike trails, playgrounds, and ballfields.
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Road work is now the third largest city spending item, second only to police and fire. The scale of outstanding roadwork is immense, however, with a total backlog of nearly half a billion dollars. Far too many politicians and candidates are unwilling to level with the public about the realities of the challenge, but platitudes will not fund roadworks.
We can and should raise the Transient Occupancy Tourist Tax (TOT) from the current 12% to 16% (for comparison, San Francisco is at 14%) to fund necessary road repairs
At the same time, the city collects $3 million in Tourism District funding every year - nearly all of which is spent on advertising the existence of Lake Tahoe to residents of the bay area and Texas. Significant portions of this money can and should be redirected to fund transit services along highway 50 for tourists and locals alike, especially to provide express bus services from our downtown areas to the Nevada and California beaches, and efficient shuttle services to and from Reno Airport.
We also need to make the development of new rental housing cost effective by amending our outdated residential zoning laws that incentivize the building of giant McMansions, but which currently outright prohibit even modestly sized duplex housing almost everywhere. Zoning changes are complex and expensive endeavors requiring environmental review and TRPA approval, meaning they must be prioritized in the city budget.
We should also expedite development of the affordable housing project at HW50 and Pioneer, and begin the long term development work for a new housing project at soon-to-be demolished fire station three (which is slated for replacement with a new fire station next door).
These efforts will need a council willing to put locals first.
Fire
The Caldor Fire was a warning we cannot ignore. I’ve worked over the past two years to start the funding and designing of a new Fire Station 3, that will replace the existing aging building, supporting modern full-sized fire engines. I’ve also worked to support our individual firefighters by funding additional preventative physical and mental healthcare for all of the city’s first responders.
Our biggest local threat comes from overgrown fuels and insufficient defensible space on private residential property. Many owners, often elderly, cannot afford thinning services and most grant programs are designated for government only. This creates a gap that can and should be filled with funding from the region's largest resorts and tourist operations, who have the most to lose in the event of another wildfire.
The Tourism Economy
Currently the city collects $3 million a year for tourism improvement, nearly all of which is wasted on advertising the existence of Lake Tahoe in the Bay Area and Texas. Our visitor economy is our primary important source of jobs, business activity, and public revenue - we must end the mismanagement of this industry.
If we want a better tourism economy, we must invest the money we already collect into a better tourism product, not waste our money on mismanaged advertising campaigns.
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Exactly none of our tourism district revenue goes to pay workers for beach cleanup after the 4th of July, none for proper Reno airport transit service, and none for a Bay-to-Tahoe ski bus to reduce traffic in winter. This funding could be used to subsidize low-interest loans for refurbishing our aging motels, or for workforce housing, or even simple sidewalk improvements. Instead, nearly every dollar is wasted on social media advertisements in the bay area and Texas.
The next council will have the opportunity to renegotiate the tourism district agreement. The city must not re-approve that agreement without significant spending changes and public oversight.
Our Environment
The exploitation of our local environment from relentless over-tourism is visible everywhere from the overflowing trash on our beaches and trails, to the endless miles of traffic choking our air and roads.
We cannot take our city’s talk about leadership on problem of long-term climate change seriously, when we simultaneously encourage visor traffic that results in jams that can reach into Placerville.
And a serious problem it is. We already face summers so hot and dry that Caldor-level wildfires have become the norm, not the exception, and we will soon begin to see winters too warm for consistent snow.
If we do nothing, if we cannot demonstrate leadership, if we cannot be taken seriously, then the children learning to ski in Tahoe today will be the parents of the last generation to ski in Tahoe, and our jewel in the Sierras will be lost for future generations of locals.
Economic Diversification
Our tourism economy is brittle. Service jobs tend to be low in pay, low in benefits, and low in stability. Tourism is seasonal and typically the first thing on hold during economic downturns.
This is, broadly, the nature of service sector jobs everywhere, but here, these issues are magnified by the high cost and unstable nature of our housing market, where locals must compete with VHR's, ski-leases, and second homeowners.
We need diversification in our economy. Our city can encourage and assist in the development of non-tourism industry business such as:
Continued expansion of Barton Hospital into a center of excellence for orthopedic, much like the Steadman Clinic in Vail, which brings in fellowships and patients from around the world.
Expansion of outdoor wilderness education programs through LTCC and to attract schools such as NOLS.
Improving wired internet service that supports the relocation of business to Tahoe which can operate locally, and serve clients remotely.
The expansion of local non-tourism industry will help our service economy, enlarging a customer base that lives, buys, and shops here year-round.
Tahoe will always be a tourist destination, but that need not be the only thing we are.
No New Sales Taxes
NO on Measure G
Our City Council continues to push tax hikes on locals, avoiding any new taxes on tourists. This summer, the council voted 4-0 to push a new permanent 6% sales tax on cannabis, replacing a temporary fees that were set to expire. This November, I’m voting No on measure G — no new taxes on locals.
This is the second time in the last two years this council has unanimously voted to push increased sales taxes on locals, while ignoring options that would tax only tourists. The council insists they need more money but has avoided any consideration of raising the tourist occupancy tax or developing a vacant second-home tax, options which would exclusively tax tourists instead of locals
Cannabis taxation in California is absurdly high, choking the very industry legalization was intended to foster, limiting both business and employment growth. Our leaders have made legal options so expensive that illegal, cartel-grown cannabis is often cheaper — a boon to criminals who pay no taxes at all. These cartels, armed to the teeth, hide grow operations in our forests bringing pollution and fire hazards. What’s worse, local police encounters can, and have, led to shoot-outs — one of which recently killed an El Dorado County sheriff’s deputy. A cop was killed because violent cartels can make money growing illegal weed in a state that voted to legalize it.
The actions of our City Council make this situation worse.
About Scott Robbins
Six years ago I prioritized my passion for the mountains and left the East Coast behind. After my first summer here, I started volunteering my time as a way to give back to this community.
I’ve worked with Tahoe Neighborhoods Group to pass Measure T, which eliminated vacation rentals in residential neighborhoods. I volunteer with the El Dorado County Economic Development Advisory Committee, and the South Tahoe Bicycle Advisory Committee.
I’ve advocated extensively in opposition to the Loop Road, which would demolish the Rocky Point neighborhood, and displace local families, all to better speed tourists to the Nevada casinos.
I have regularly engaged with the City Council and written on a wide range of local issues including over-tourism, and for reforming police protocols for handling of sexual assault victims.
I believe very strongly in the value of community and in volunteering to give back to this place which has given so much. It is the locals that are the heart and soul of this place we call home.