In response to The Past, Present, and Future of Wildfires in the West in the June print edition
Open Up Logging to Bidding
Honest question. Why can’t our forests go up for bid to be selectively logged by independent companies? It would save the taxpayers money and create a for-profit incentive to thin our forests that isn’t taxpayer funded.
~ Seth Nichols, via Instagram
In response to Time for America to Fight Back in the June print edition
Local Student Makes Truckee Proud
Elijah — so many people in your community are very proud of you. Stand tall! Negative comments from others are a sign that you are making a difference.
~ Andrea Batie, Truckee, via Facebook
Inspired by Protest Leadership
So proud and super inspired! This is exactly the kind of youth leadership that we need. The youth are our future. He will go very far in his life.
~ Ariana Jailine Ureña, Truckee, via Facebook
Mad Respect
Yeah, Elijah! Serious respect for your courage to speak up. We need people like you to become leaders who take our world in a positive direction.
~ Nicholaus Harris, via Instagram
Brainwashed
Oh wow, Truckee High School is turning out brainwashed communists, eh? Teachers shouldn’t be political activists. Indoctrination at its finest. Too bad Elijah didn’t learn how to see through propaganda and think for himself.
~ Tim Mack, Truckee, via Facebook
In response to Square Zero: Truckee Confronts Its Growing Pains in the June print edition
Town Doesn’t Care about Locals
It’s a fight you can’t win. The Town of Truckee only cares for tourists and part-timers. People who work in Truckee are pushed out to leave room for more vacation homes.
~ Dan Underwood, via Instagram
Keep Truckee Small
Hot take – why can’t affordable housing and economic development be integrated in a way that maintains Truckee’s small-town feel?
~ Sarah Rose, San Francisco, via Instagram
About the 39° North proposed development in Kings Beach
Local Government Doesn’t Listen to Public
With regards to the 39° North project, there have been calls by TRPA and Placer County for citizen involvement, of which there has been plenty. The problem is simple — TRPA and Placer County don’t listen and don’t care what the public thinks, says, or wants. They do what they please and what the developers ask for. The recent giveaway of TOT dollars and tax abatements to 39° North is just the latest in a series of public giveaways by our not-so-elected officials totally in the thrall to developers and big money. Anyone watching can see that their approach is to pretend that they are accepting input when in fact it has already been decided.
TRPA was supposed to provide environmental protection for the lake; instead, it has become enmeshed in development schemes and deals with little to no benefit to the local population and to the detriment of the environment and beauty of Lake Tahoe. It is clear by now (after the Palisades debacle, the Homewood rip-off/blackmail, and the Boulder Bay environmental catastrophe and lack of performance) that our officials have no idea how to proceed with infrastructure, planning, or redevelopment.
The small-scale projects that they have managed to approve are redevelopments like Sylva, Evo/Sierra Surf Club, and Basecamp. These were all limited to original site developments done with little public money and contribute to the ambiance of the small enclaves around the lake.
It’s way past time for everyone in the Tahoe Basin to wake up to the encroaching environmental catastrophe which will be the traffic, smog, and degradation of Lake Tahoe clarity if we do not band together, take these people to court, and demand better from our state and federal legislature. Everyone needs to get involved in the fight to save North Lake Tahoe and Lake Tahoe from vested interests and the agencies who should be controlling them.
~ Richard Beaty, Kings Beach, via email
