On Sunday morning I picked up our weekly paper and with a foreboding sense of dismay, proceeded to read the headline article touting the “benefits” of the Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID). Ironically this came after the post-storm Saturday traffic debacle that kept both my son and his boss from getting to work on time, and for me, precipitated a 30+ minute four-mile round trip for a brief but necessary errand. With a building sense of disbelief, I read that “Funds would be primarily used for marketing, promotions, and special events.” On the other hand, “Other funding will be directed toward workforce housing, traffic mitigation and other issues facing the North Tahoe area.”

It seems TBID has its priorities skewed. If they want to serve the tourism business they hope to “improve” shouldn’t workforce housing and traffic mitigation claim the lion’s share of the budget? Said tourists are hard-pressed to get to those businesses, and when they arrive will there be employees to serve them? Or will the workforce be stuck in traffic, since they’re required to commute because they can’t afford to live in the area?

In addition, if TBID is allowed to proceed, they need to amend their proposed advisory committee to include non-business, community members from both Nevada and El Dorado counties. It seems folks need to travel through Truckee (Nevada County) or the southwest end of the Lake (El Dorado County) to get to and from the businesses for whom TBID will be advocating.

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I’m left to wonder; how much is enough? Haven’t they done a terrific job of marketing our area? There is something inherently wrong with a business community that isn’t willing or able to see beyond their own greed and identify that they’ve created a situation that will be their very undoing. However, I will proceed with a shred of optimism, and send my concerns to Ann Nichols at preserve@ntpac.org. I hope others realize “enough is enough” until we address the infrastructure crisis our business community has so recklessly created.

Kathee Hansen

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Truckee