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Help Our Law
And Fire Departments! Not Ted Long
The South Lake Tahoe City Counsel voted to
give $250,000 from the general fund to the
LAVA this year forgetting our law and fire
departments are under staffed and under paid.
South Lake Tahoe law and fire departments are
under the national average for wages and
benefits. Write the city counsel in protest to
be specific Ted Long, Mike Webber & Jerry
Birdwell. Don't forget the angora fire. Will
the LTVA put the fire out if your home burns
down or will there be there if your home is
vandalized? |
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Leave the local
government to those who care about locals
Ted Long's letter of apology is a
little too late. The damage has been done, and before we
can answer back, he says he's sorry? No way! The thought
of putting the power of eminent domain in his hands is
horrifying. He and his cronies' vision of redevelopment
should strike fear into the hearts of everyone who truly
cares about this town.
Repairing infrastructure is the city's responsibility,
and as City Councilman Bill Crawford has already
mentioned, it should have been done instead of phase one
redevelopment, which has done nothing except put the
city millions of dollars into debt and create a bankrupt
eyesore at Stateline. That's mismanagement.
Nobody is against upgrading infrastructure, as long as
it's done for the community and handled responsibly
without selling out the town. That's the problem.
Ted Long, you have totally lost your credibility within
this community, and the best way for you to serve this
town would be to resign. Your words and deeds are
dividing our town, and that's wrong. If we are lucky,
some of your fellows will follow suit, resign and leave
the local government in the hands of those who care
about the people that live and work here rather than the
hands of those eager to sell it to the highest bidder.
Putting eminent domain in the hands of Long and company
is like putting a machine gun in the hands of mass
murderers. Crawford was right when he stated that this
has split the community. Infrastructure improvements?
Yes. Ted Long and his cronies' agenda? No. Let's do it
right: educate, unite the town and then put it to the
vote. That is the only right answer.
Mick Clarke
South Lake Tahoe
Self-interest and self-absorption
on city council
South Lake
Tahoe City Council member Ted Long's recent guest column
("Councilman apologizes for 'arrogance and ego' ")
smacks of the sort of hubris that comes from a person
who hogs more camera time than all the other council
members combined in their televised meetings.
His crystal-ball claim that the convention center/hotel
will "reinvent our local economy and provide much-needed
jobs, especially ... for locals" made me choke on my
Pellegrino. It is more than likely that the convention
center, as it is now, will continue to provide profits
for off-the-hill corporations, add to the already $200
million redevelopment debt and - well, yes - create more
low-paying jobs with iffy benefits for local workers.
I might have missed the punchline in his joke of helping
to develop "quality affordable housing" to replace the
massive housing stock destroyed by the boondoggle of
redevelopment. When was the last time Long or any other
elected official in this community sought to rent a
place to live in this town?
And, most disturbingly, he mentions nothing of the murky
shadow cast upon him for his alleged malfeasance
relating to his role in the Clean Tahoe program.
Would it not be nice if we could use Clean Tahoe to rid
us of the litter of arrogance, ego, self-interest and
self-absorption that the South Lake Tahoe City Council -
Bill Crawford excluded, Jerry Birdwell highlighted -
represents?
Don Regis-Bilar
South Lake Tahoe
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