In response to Homewood Will Not Open this Season: Here’s Why published online Oct. 14.
Homewood Should Join Ikon Pass
Even a couple of days from Epic or Ikon pass would make it work. Might sometimes be more crowded than homies would prefer, but better that than inaccessible altogether?
~ Jessica Panico, Truckee, via Facebook
Homewood Is a Failing Business
The fault is on the lack of business and being a terrible location. No sense in running a business that loses money year after year. But sure, “keep it local.” At a $20,000 season pass and $2,000 ticket, they could break even if they sold 10 times the amount of previous seasons. It’s going to become private, it’s only a matter of time. Not sure what the big deal about that is, since no one goes there, not even the locals. Lovely place, but utter failure of a business model.
~ Casey Jensen, Truckee, via Facebook
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
It is what is in this era of corporate materialism and the evolution of such. There are so few privately owned ski areas these days now due to the operating expenses, liability, and workers compensation insurance costs. So be grateful to those individual adventurous entrepreneurs who gave us all of this before all these ski areas were taken over by mega corporations whose only concern is the bottom-line profitability. Sad indeed, but change always happens in this thing called life on this planet. Have awareness that change happens and be inclined to be more greatly aware of the positive overall well-being of our lives we live here. We are not in war zones and our families and close relatives aren’t being killed or displaced on a daily basis as we currently see in other parts of this world. So, Homewood shut down for skiing, change happens, is what it is, out of our control, and small stuff overall.
~ Josh Givens, Granite Bay, via Facebook
In response to Coming Together to Tackle Tahoe’s Housing Crisis in the October print edition.
TRPA Misleads the Public on Tahoe’s Housing Crisis
This is TRPA’s first shot across the bow of more propaganda and PR speak to convince us that TRPA will now solve Tahoe’s lack of affordable housing. The most disappointing aspect of the piece and survey was the use of the term “workforce housing.” Don’t you want more workforce housing? Of course we do. But that’s not what they are talking about. The term “workforce housing” is becoming increasingly used in affordable housing circles, but what, exactly, does it mean? According to the Urban Land Institute, workforce housing is defined as housing affordable to households earning between 60 and 120% of area median income.
TRPA has received considerable criticism for creating the made-up, unique term “achievable housing” (no income cap), which is not necessarily affordable. A self-employed millionaire with a business license who claims to work 30 hours per week in Tahoe/Truckee would qualify. So now TRPA hides “achievable housing” in the term “workforce housing.” Darn right sneaky.
Is workforce housing really a red herring for more market-rate development? Don’t be fooled by TRPA’s survey at tahoeliving.org. Demand a clear definition and income caps when using workforce housing.
~ Ann Nichols, Brockway, via email
In response to Your Social Media Comments Are Fair Game published in the September print edition.
Own Your Comments
No one should post anything on social media that they do not want to own. Some people get very brave behind a keyboard. If you do not want to own it, do not post it! As the old saying goes, if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
~ Ronni Talmadge, Truckee, via email
