"Why I love Lake Tahoe and support a vacancy tax"
LTE posted in an almost secret part of the Trib website here: https://www.tahoedailytribune.com/news/letters-to-the-editor-98/
To the Editor:
I moved to South Lake Tahoe in 1993 when I was 19 years old. I turned 50 this spring and I’m still stoked to live here 30 years later. I love South Lake, but I’m starting to wonder what it will look like in another 30 years. Our town is changing, and shrinking, and losing “the middle”, and if you don’t see it, or you don’t want to do anything about it, I am writing this to you.
I worked at Boulder Lodge in rental and retail in ’93 for my first Tahoe job. That job paid enough for me to rent a 2-bedroom apartment in a 4-plex on Eloise for 500 bucks a month with a buddy. The next year, I rented a 2-bedroom house that was easy to find among all the available rental choices in town. I rented all sorts of amazing houses in various neighborhoods for 10 years before I bought my house. I’ve worked for several ski resorts, restaurants, D.L. Bliss State Park, backcountry snowmobile tours, built million-dollar mansions in Glenbrook, and almost any other classic Tahoe job you can think of. I’ve loved every minute of it. And I want others to have at least a shot at half the options I had. We actually can increase the pool of rental choices available, and have some effect on the cost of those rentals as well, by passing the Tahoe Vacancy Tax.
A vacancy tax is not a magic bullet that will take us back in time to 1993 (or even 2019) and fix all our problems. But it is an actual step we can take right now to help the current and future people that will make up the community we love. I still work with 19-year-olds looking for housing in Tahoe, like I did. And it’s not remotely similar for them at all. Part of that is certainly inflation and general cost of living changes, but a big part of it is the 44% of homes now sitting vacant in South Lake. Our community has always had a stream of those 19-year-olds like me looking for a rental. Many of them leave after a few seasons, but the ones like me, who stay for good, help create the actual community that we love. The mountain town feel. That’s what’s changing; the 19-year-olds that turn into 50-year-olds are getting turned away. There are many things we need to do to keep our town from shrinking away. But a simple change that will make a real difference is clear; A tax on the homes sitting empty.
In addition to being a South Lake Tahoe local of 30 years, I’m also a second homeowner. I bought my family’s property in Boonville where I grew up in Mendocino County. And if I move back there and the vacancy tax passes, I will have the choice to rent my Tahoe house, or keep it empty. If I rent it, I contribute to the community by providing housing. If I keep it empty, I contribute to the community by paying the vacancy tax. Every second homeowner, just like me, has the choice of paying the tax or not. And if you really love South Lake Tahoe, as I do, why wouldn’t you want to kick in and help out when the town faces a problem so big that we’re all called on to help?
At the end of the day, it comes down to whether you are willing to acknowledge the problem we face. Do we stick our head in the sand/snow and pretend there’s nothing wrong? Do we wait until the town is 55% vacant? …60%? …65%?
Or do we do something now?
If there are any other solutions that actually address and affect the problem we face, I’m open to it. But so far, no one has put up any ideas that make any real difference. Except this. We have a serious problem that’s been building up for decades, and it’s now becoming very noticeable and affecting many aspects of our lives and our town. We need big moves to make a real dent in the problem. Everyone who supports this vacancy tax is telling you that we want to take real steps to keep our town from fading away. We support a vibrant South Lake Tahoe community, and we invite you to join us in that support.
C.T. Rowe
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