As some of you may have read, there is a meeting March 20 regarding the fate of the Kings Beach State Recreational Area.

If you haven’t read about it here is the link, it’s clean and vetted. What you have to do is answer the silly quiz thing and the article will show up. Oh, by the way, if you are worried about dirty links the best thing to do is run them through your browser. It will abort dirty links and connect you if its clean (just a tech tip):

http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/northshore/10262702-113/area-state-parks-beach

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Anyway, the article tells most of the story. What it only hints at is that State Parks wants NTPUD to foot the bill for the ADA compliance issues and for the delayed maintenance. However, State Parks refuses to give NTPUD a lease or a contract. I don’t know about you, but I sure wouldn’t put in that sort of capital improvements as a month-to-month tenant, would you?

If State Parks gets a seasonal closure, here are some of the potential impacts: 1) since the new road configuration takes away most (all) of the on-street parking, as does winter snow-removal rules, that effectively leaves the event center, Jason’s and the businesses with no parking; and 2) all the events we currently have on a regular basis as well as the community meetings, fundraisers, weddings and more would be hard pressed to find parking anywhere (think Jazzercise, Zumba, Soup Night and more).

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Would you park at Brook, or farther still at Fox, to go to a meeting or even to dinner in a snowstorm? We simply do not have enough off-the-highway parking to absorb this possible closure.

I know that some of you are thinking, “well the district is charging for parking in the winter (holidays & weekends), so what’s the difference?”

The difference is that the parking lot and bathrooms are open and available for use. And that parking is available from dusk to dawn. In addition, the event center is contracted by Placer County to respond during disasters — where would people park?

This winter, the lack of weather has made KBSRA a very popular place, especially for little kids and parents on the playground. We have no other public restrooms around either; it’s kind of nice to have those available (and warm and relatively clean).

Oh, the other thing — where would Tahoe Nalu go, or the car shows, or the craft shows, or Music on the Beach, or the Ironman? or the other events that might occurr during “seasonal closures.”

A seasonal closure or anything like it could truly destroy the fragile economy we currently have left. Businesses would not do well. But then again, maybe that’s what some are hoping?

Whether the state takes it back or the district gets a lease, we need to make sure that there are no “seasonal closures.” Personally, I think the district has done an excellent job of running the KBSRA on the limited resources they have had. I see no reason why the state should refuse a contract to NTPUD.

With that and a little financial collaboration to do the ADA upgrades, we can continue to have a nice place to meet and park. Isn’t it a great place to watch the sun set? Winter or summer?

Please everyone take the time to come support our Kings Beach State Recreation Area. There is a public meeting on March 20 at 6 p.m. at the North Tahoe Event Center about this issue.

And while you are arriving, consider where you would park for this meeting if the lot was gated.

Meera Beser is a longtime North Shore resident, founder of the North Tahoe Community Thanksgiving Potluck Celebration and coordinator of the North Tahoe Holiday Winter Clothing and Necessities Giveaway.