TheTahoeWeekly.com
Overcrowded beaches in Kings Beach. | Courtesy Tahoe in Balance CONTINUED ON PAGE 9
“I think that we are definitely more impacted. Trash and traffic have been more of an issue,” says Carol Chaplin, president and CEO of Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, which markets tourism for the South Shore. “We are finding that everybody wants to get close to the water. We see the same on the hiking and biking trails. We are all a little bit overwhelmed by the day traffic. We don’t know how to measure it. We know the parking lots are full, the trails are packed, and we are seeing a lot of visitors who want to be outdoors.” Dan Canfield of California State Parks says that local state parks are also seeing increased visitation. “Public lands are pretty much the only recreation outlet currently available. Amusement parks, zoos, movie theaters, air travel to Hawaii/Mexico, dining out, are all closed or severely restricted to slow the spread. Visitation increases in our day-use areas are substantial, perhaps approaching a 50 percent increase over last year,” says Canfield. While Placer County is also seeing an increase in the use of its recreation facilities, 5th District Supervisor Cindy Gustafson says they don’t know where the
CONNECT Clean Up the Lake | cleanupthelake.org Keep Tahoe Blue | keeptahoeblue.org Keep Truckee Green | keeptruckeegreen.org Tahoe In Balance on Facebook Tahoe Truckee Litter Group on Facebook
VOLUNTEER Kings Beach clean up | Mondays 8-10 a.m. Tahoe Truckee Litter Group Kings Beach clean up | Sunday 8:15 p.m. Lady Luck Skate Shop on Facebook MOOP the Lake | Sept. 8-10 moopthelake.org Truckee Litter Corps | 1st Saturday of month, 8 a.m. keeptruckeegreen.org Truckee River Cleanup Day | Sept. 8, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Truckee River Cleanup on Facebook
Short-term Rental
COMPLAINTS City of South Lake Tahoe | (530) 542-7474 Douglas County | (775) 782-5126 Eldorado County | (530) 573-3300 Placer County | (530) 581-6234 or str@placer.ca.gov Truckee | (530) 448-8003 Washoe County | (775) 328-6106 10
increase is coming from. Her district represents a broad geographic area that stretches from Auburn to Donner Summit and includes large portions of the North and West shores of Lake Tahoe, as well as Northstar and Olympic Valley. “It certainly appears that in recreation locations, beaches and trails, we’re seeing increased use and I am hearing from a lot of constituents that they absolutely feel inundated,” says Gustafson. “Swimming pools that are closed, some beaches are limiting people and taking reservations for guests to use the beaches. Is that pushing more people onto some of the public spaces? “I don’t know if there are more visitors versus second homeowners versus locals. It’s hard to judge,” Gustafson says. “I know everybody says they’re all visitors. But occupancy numbers and TOT tracking isn’t showing more. It’s showing less. Now, are those people illegally renting, are they using a friend’s home, are they coming for more than 30 days? Are they second homeowners that have stayed all summer or invited friends up and others? “One of the things I’ve been saying to everybody is we need more data. People are making a lot of assumptions,” says Gustafson. “I will tell you that our traffic counts are down based on numbers [Tahoe Regional Planning Agency] collected on Highways 89 and 267. It’s down 8 percent on 267 and 6 percent on Highway 89 and that was for a two-week window the last two weeks in July, which was kind of our peak.” Gustafson says Placer County is working with a firm called StreetLight Data to monitor traffic using cell phone data in and out of the Tahoe Basin. She says she has been researching TOT data, occupancy data and talking to vacation property managers and hotels and all of those are trending down.
LOCALS ARE FED UP People are on edge and being in the midst of a global pandemic hasn’t helped matters. Garbage, graffiti, parking, traffic, wildfire danger, evacuation concerns, the impact of litter and tourism on wildlife, microplastics in Lake Tahoe and human waste are all underlying symptoms of one problem: too many visitors in a region that community members say doesn’t have enough regulation or enforcement. Community members are rising up and begging officials, agencies and municipalities to take responsibility for garbage, graffiti, traffic and noise. Many residents are upset by the impact of tourists and the region’s inability to maintain and deal with overburdened services. Local advocates are calling for more funding from local governments to mitigate the issues arising from so many visitors coming to the area. Truckee resident Court Leve started Truckee Tahoe Litter Group a few years ago when he became frustrated by the amount of garbage in the area. He’s been an activist and lightning rod for both the town and Tahoe at large to take action on the issues of trash and short-term rental regulations. Leve notes that the community feels there is a lack of leadership on the part of local officials to manage garbage, visitors and short-term rentals. “Government officials say it’s not so bad. Not so bad is not a standard I want to live with,” says Leve, who is not interested in shutting down tourism but finding solutions. Along with the garbage flooding local beaches and neighborhoods, Leve notes the need for more regula-
tions on short-term rentals in the region since many locals are citing noise issues, frequent parties late into the night and parking as major problems. “We need better use of TOT dollars for garbage, and I’d like to see more stringent regulations on short-term rentals,” says Leve. “Just talk to someone living next door to someone who rents out their home. They are fed up.” Each county and city sets its own regulations on shortterm rentals, which can vary widely. The Town of Truckee does not currently have any regulations on short-term rentals, but the town is working to develop them and looking to adopt them as early as Sept. 8, according to Polivy. “We have a pretty strict vacation rental ordinance,” says South Lake Tahoe’s Collin. “We enforce against noise, occupancy, parking and haven’t seen the numbers increase in the number of complaints or the number of violations. We’re seeing a lot of people coming up and hunkering down for the most part. They are spending more time in their second homes. We are definitely concerned. We need to be as vigilant as possible. We need to adapt. People do have rights to travel about. And we have no way of closing down.” Kings Beach resident and community advocate Cheri Sugal says the underlying problem is that the local economy relies too much on tourism. She wants to see officials work to move away from tourism, especially due to the pandemic as more workers move to permanent remote working. “The dependence on tourism is changing. It’s a false narrative. More people are living up here that have no connection with the tourism industry at all. They work from home or have jobs that are not connected with tourism,” says Sugal. “Let’s remember we are in the middle of a global pandemic. And it’s not just a question of is it too much tourism in general, is it too much tourism right now? Given the added health concerns that we’re all dealing with, the answer is so clearly yes, a resounding yes. I’m at the point where I see the need for very strong action to be taken to get the county to do things that will reduce the number of people coming here. We could clean up their garbage until we’re blue in the face.” Sugal also feels that the influx of visitors to the area this summer was predictable and somewhat preventable. She and other local advocates want officials to shut down shortterm rentals. “The rest of the state is closed. We have to fight to have more garbage dumpsters and get more trash cleanup. It is time put more regulations in place, although I would argue none of that has worked in Placer County,” she says. “So as far as enforcement goes, it just hasn’t worked. You’re still up all night when there’s a house party two doors down from you. And so, for me, it comes down to the question of what tools do we have in the toolbox to reduce the number of people coming here and there’s really only one tool and it’s through accommodations. I think it’s about getting rid of the short-term rentals.” Tahoe City resident and journalist Laura Read is also fed up. She felt putting her anger into action was the only way for her to make a difference and started the Tahoe in Balance Facebook page. “I thought, ‘Can I take my energy my efforts, raise awareness and pull together facts in such a way to perhaps help people make decisions more quickly and take action more quickly?’ ” says Read, who also wants to see more code enforcement on short-term rentals and to reallocate TOT taxes to address tourism impacts. Josh Lease of Meyers says he didn’t realize that his anger and frustration would spur a protest but once people
