January 26 is the County Commission Strategic Planning Meeting. That meeting really outlines what we want to go over for the entire year. We did this when I first started on the County Commission in January of last year.
I’m pushing affordable housing that I hope will be an initiative that will extend up to Incline Village. We’ll finish that action plan from the study we’ve commissioned as well as the community members who worked with the Tahoe Prosperity Center. I’ll be balancing those two meetings and hopefully you’ll be able to log on to both. I’ll also put in my newsletter that if there are initiatives you want to see tackled for the next year, I’d love to hear from you on those.
The TTD Board met Wednesday and reviewed options for regional funding for public transportation. There were a lot of Incline and Crystal Bay folks who had concerns about some of the ways our consultants were looking at making the regional funding puzzle work. There is not an appetite for the State to proceed with a basin entry fee. Some of those other ways are sales tax, property transfer tax—which was taken off of the options because it’s not a fair way to balance those public transportation needs. So, I did want to get that on the record. I’m really not for the local community paying for public transportation in Tahoe because impacts are day users. I think that TOT tourism tax could be part of the solution because visitors pay that. But we want to take another stab at doing a basin entry fee because we could fill the gap on public transportation and have that free, frequent public transportation. We won’t have those empty buses because people can rely on it. And we can have a lot of different types of transportation. I know a lot of you experienced the micro-transit this summer, which was a big success. We’ll be looking at those things as well. We’re looking at perhaps doing a survey of the Tahoe community. Also we’ll work with the states on how we can take another stab at a Basin entry fee, so we can also reduce traffic in the Basin. Even if we look at these other funding sources, it won’t stop the vehicles from entering the basin. A Basin entry fee will probably help with that and reduce the Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), which we’re all looking to do. Additionally, with TTD, if you missed the CAB on Monday, there will be opportunities for folks to get involved in choosing our consultant to do the Alternative Site Study on the mobility hub. And also look at what the mobility hub will look like. So we’ll have applications out I’m hoping this month for folks to fill out and apply. And then those folks will be selected in a public meeting in Incline and Crystal Bay. I received a concern from constituents, “Oh, you’re going to fill the committee with people who love the transportation hub.” That’s not what we’re going to do. We actually want to put folks who are skeptical of the hub, because we want you to help us to reach out to community members and also help us find those alternatives. I’m looking forward to that.
We’re closing escrow on the site between TTD and the WCSD I think next week. Very soon.
Regarding the Constables Office, in addition to what Captain Solferino said, I have emailed folks who had questions about the Constable’s Office … and general direction that the Board gave to a 1st and 2nd reading to abolish the office in Incline Village. This is something that was not my initiative, and was something I wasn’t expecting to see on the Commission’s agenda. But I do want the group to know when the 1st and 2nd readings will be held: the 1st on Jan 25 and the 2nd on February 8. I voted against it, because I need to get more information about how this will work with the budget, and whether this is a good program change, and just see an overall picture that was not supplied to the community or me. I also wanted to see community outreach so the community wasn’t concerned if there was a change. And to show that there was still a commitment by Washoe County to have resources in Incline Village, and have a Court. I will say even folks who voted for the Constable’s office to be abolished still want a Court in Incline Village. It’s just, how it’s done—that’s the disagreement. So I want to see what the plan will be and what that will look like moving forward. So those are my updates. I’m happy to address questions.
The East Shore Trail parking lots have not been cleared of snow. I know there were concerns about that on Next Door that Denise had pointed out to me. I looked into who manages those lots and and who owns them. The County owns the lots and TTD manages them. However, the way that those were created was to ensure snow removal wouldn’t be required because it has this permeable surface that won’t allow snowblowers on it. Apparently it’s supposed to melt the snow better. I haven’t been up to Incline recently. I assume it’s still a problem. I don’t know why it was done that way, but that’s how the procedure was put in place for those lots.
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