1/09 Tahoe Mt. News unedited story:
Budget issues and lawsuits are forcing the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to rethink the way it conducts business.
Employees have been offered buyouts, with layoffs possible. The Stateline office will be closed Jan. 16, Feb. 13, March 20, April 10, May 22 and June 19 – and employees not paid those days. The Tahoe City office will be shuttered permanently as of Jan. 15.
The agency had canceled all North Shore meetings, but free office space was offered for 2009 so those can continue.
“The budget scenario we are operating under assumes the blue boating program and buoy permitting we are getting ready to start on will not happen,” said Dennis Oliver, TRPA spokesman. “We have to go with the worst case. The shorezone lawsuit by the League (to Save Lake Tahoe) and Sierra Club seeks full restraining order from implementing those programs that would benefit the Lake.”
It is anticipated the employees working on those programs will be redirected to other projects and will fill in the gaps left by people severing their ties with TRPA.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Puppy mill ordinance gains traction
1/09 unedited Tahoe Mt. News:
By Kathryn Reed
South Lake Tahoe is soon expected to have an ordinance on the books banning the sale of all cats and dogs through retail outlets.
City Attorney Cathy DiCamillo plans to bring back wording for the council to consider at its Jan. 27 meeting. In December the council reviewed options outlined by special counsel Larry Wiener who works for Richards-Watson-Gershon in Los Angeles.
Besides a total ban, the council could have opted to license the retail sale of puppies by pet stores or regulate the retail sale of puppy mill bred puppies. Private small dog breeder operations in the city would not be affected by the ordinance.
Councilman Hal Cole, who used to breed Malamutes, made the motion to ban all sales of dogs and cats, while Mayor Pro Tem Kathay Lovell, herself a dog breeder, seconded it. It passed unanimously.
City Manager Dave Jinkens said research is needed to find out how such an ordinance would affect Internet sales of animals within city limits.
Broc’s Puppies is the only store in the city selling puppies. A representative was at the Dec. 9 council meeting but had to leave before the item was heard. DiCamillo said if the council passes an ordinance to ban the sale of these animals, that Broc’s would be phased out of business.
As with all ordinances, it must have to readings where comment from the public is sought.
By Kathryn Reed
South Lake Tahoe is soon expected to have an ordinance on the books banning the sale of all cats and dogs through retail outlets.
City Attorney Cathy DiCamillo plans to bring back wording for the council to consider at its Jan. 27 meeting. In December the council reviewed options outlined by special counsel Larry Wiener who works for Richards-Watson-Gershon in Los Angeles.
Besides a total ban, the council could have opted to license the retail sale of puppies by pet stores or regulate the retail sale of puppy mill bred puppies. Private small dog breeder operations in the city would not be affected by the ordinance.
Councilman Hal Cole, who used to breed Malamutes, made the motion to ban all sales of dogs and cats, while Mayor Pro Tem Kathay Lovell, herself a dog breeder, seconded it. It passed unanimously.
City Manager Dave Jinkens said research is needed to find out how such an ordinance would affect Internet sales of animals within city limits.
Broc’s Puppies is the only store in the city selling puppies. A representative was at the Dec. 9 council meeting but had to leave before the item was heard. DiCamillo said if the council passes an ordinance to ban the sale of these animals, that Broc’s would be phased out of business.
As with all ordinances, it must have to readings where comment from the public is sought.
LTVA ready to change its ways
unedited 1/09 Tahoe Mt. News:
By Kathryn Reed
Lake Tahoe is about to be promoted in a whole new way. What exactly that will look like is yet to be determined.
Mering & Associates, the Sacramento firm that has been the ad agency for Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority since March 2003, is going away. The summer promotional campaign will be the last the agency does for the South Shore.
LTVA expects to hire a firm this spring. Reno and Bay Area companies have been submitting proposals. LTVA’s marketing committee will pick two or three to make detailed pitches to the board.
Mering introduced the original $2.5 million “Blue World” ad campaign that was met locally with mixed reviews.
The campaign revolutionized how the South Shore was marketed. It was suddenly about branding, using the Lake as the central theme. No longer was it strictly about losing money at casinos or schussing down ski slopes.
The destination visitor was the target audience. National magazines featured slick, glossy ads. Target marketing went by the wayside.
A little history
Things certainly have changed in the last six years. In a February 2003 Sacramento Business Journal article, David Mering said, “Our goal is to make Tahoe a little less dependent on Northern California [for tourism dollars] and more of a national and international destination market.”
Bill Chernock was head of LTVA at the time and was a leading figure in trying to make South Shore a destination resort. The previous fall the two Marriott properties had opened. Two years before that Heavenly’s gondola started up.
Some began referring to South Shore as a company town, with those interests reigning supreme and the locals left in the dust with no say about the future.
Vail Resorts owns Heavenly. Two other out of town entities each own two of the four big casinos.
Today, Vail’s stock, like most, is in the toilet.
The parent company of MontBleu and Horizon is in bankruptcy. The land owner, Park Cattle of Minden, is likely to take over the Horizon when the lease expires. This will allow for more flexibility as Park develops a hotel-condo project at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course which is behind the casino.
Harrah’s Entertainment, which owns Harrah’s and Harveys at Stateline, was acquired by affiliates of private-equity firms TPG Capital and Apollo Global Management in January 2008. The Tahoe Mountain News has been told the financial situation is scary at the Las Vegas-based company and its South Shore casinos are in trouble.
Just a handful of years ago, the South Shore was all about high-end tourists. A few weeks ago vacancy signs dominated the landscape during what’s supposed to be the two busiest weeks of the year.
No one sought input from locals about how they wanted their town promoted. It wasn’t long ago that marketing gurus said buy-in from locals wasn’t important. The Blue World campaign rolled on without explaining it to anyone outside an LTVA or chamber meeting.
Suddenly the bread and butter of Tahoe – the Bay Area and Sacramento regions – played second fiddle to people living in Dallas, Atlanta and Florida.
During the Patrick Kaler years at LTVA and Tahoe Douglas Visitors Authority the message was convoluted with the casinos wanting to attract a young party crowd, others trying to promote the outdoors, and the whole country being the advertising target.
Carol Chaplin, who has been running the tourism agency since last summer, is one of the forces behind the change in ad firms. With a marketing background rooted in Lake Tahoe, she is firing-up LTVA’s marketing committee so it will be a critical component in what goes on here.
LTVA’s future
“You can’t have an effective marketing organization without community support and community outreach,” said John Wagnon, LTVA marketing committee chairman. “We can’t move forward until we have community support. We have to earn that. I think that will come as they see a consistent rollout of an effective marketing campaign. Our goal is to regain that confidence and put the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority right back in the front where it was years ago.”
He doesn’t want to repeat the Blue World fiasco, at least as defined by average locals. That group still doesn’t understand the Blue World, so it is hard to call it an effective ad campaign.
Blue World licensing agreements went nowhere. At one time Wells Fargo talked about issuing “blue dollars”. As the Blue World fades away we’re left with a sputtering bus system called BlueGo and a casino named MontBleu that is in financial turmoil.
Wagnon wants a community outreach plan in place by mid-year. He wants a forum for people to provide input and ask questions. He wants people who represent attractions, retail, restaurants and other components of the tourism industry to be part of LTVA’s planning process.
LTVA could also help its local image by creating a more diverse board of directors.
First, though, Wagnon’s priority is hiring an ad agency.
Wagnon envisions a consistent brand to market the area. He wants to identify the elements that make the South Shore unique and weave them into the brand platform.
“A lot of places struggle to figure out why they are unique. We need to put a stake in the ground and say this is who we are,” Wagnon said.
He doesn’t think it’s just one thing. It’s the outdoors, skiing, casinos, nightlife and the Lake.
Wagnon has resurrected the dormant public relations subcommittee, an arm of the marketing committee. Weidinger Public Relations will still write the press releases, but instead of working solely with the executive director of LTVA, the Stateline agency will have more people to bounce ideas off.
Something else different in the Chaplin era is that an 18-month strategic calendar is being developed. This will get people to look beyond the current season.
Promoting the shoulder seasons is a topic of discussion; with events at the top of the list.
The need for an ad campaign that allows for the message to be changed on short notice is likely to be a component in the next ad agency’s contract. This means instead of promoting skiing at Thanksgiving when the snow isn’t here, ads could go out boasting about great late fall hiking, cycling and hues of autumn still visible.
LTVA’s budget was adopted late last year with 20 percent or $250,000 less to spend than the previous year. Chaplin said with room taxes declining, the chunk of cash LTVA gets from the Tourism Improvement District and TDVA is expected to be much less.
To cut costs, LTVA opted for upgrades to its website instead of a complete redesign. Because the convention center is on hold indefinitely the group sales team at LTVA has been thinned. Special events may be cutback or axed. Money has been saved by changing insurance carriers.
The board voted that any “extra” money will be used on advertising.
The board is made up of two lodging people, two from gaming, one from retail, one representing attractions (Edgewood is the current rep), one from skiing and one at-large rep. The latter is an employee of Sierra-Northstar ski resorts.
Tahoe’s summer campaign
Mering was supposed to unveil its full summer campaign at a Jan. 5 meeting. That meeting has been rescheduled to Jan. 30 At the LTVA board meeting in December a loose concept of Mering’s summer ideas was presented.
“The plan they presented was a blend of TV, print and online advertising in the drive market and closer-in destination market,” Wagnon said. “We haven’t seen any creative concepts.”
The summer campaign will be launched in late May or early June and go through August, including a Labor Day push.
People are booking rooms two weeks out, so the message needs to hit in that time frame. Plus, the drive-up market gets a dose of “retail” advertising instead of just “image” like the destination visitor gets.
Lodging packages, concerts and other events are part of that retail message. Pricing and details are more accurate the closer it is to the date of travel so that’s what will be delivered in the summer ad campaign.
A few facts
More people visit California than any other state. And it’s mostly Californians (85 percent) who are the tourists in the state. That’s why LTVA knows it’s important to keep getting the message out to the drive market. This is even more imperative when places like Monterey and Napa are competing for those same visitors.
However, because the Bay Area-Sacramento regions have a limited number of people, the destination guest will not be forgotten. The way marketing people see it, the only way to increase the number of heads in beds is to bring in the destination guest.
But economics is sabotaging that scenario. People aren’t flying as much. They aren’t spending as much. They are staying closer to home.
“What happens is as budgets change or economies or consumer behavior, you have to adjust your marketing strategy accordingly,” Wagnon said. “We are fortunate to have such a big drive market. We can shift our focus and turn up the energy on the Bay Area to get a bigger share of that drive-up market.”
Wagnon is vice president of the California tourism agency’s marketing committee and president of Ski Lake Tahoe. His day job is overseeing the marketing department at Heavenly Mountain Resort.
The California Travel and Tourism Commission says more than 300 million Americans and 7 million foreigners visit the state each year.
“While 2009 travel trends predict percentage of travel, disposable income and most aspects of travel to see reductions in 2009, the last quarter of 2009 shows an upswing in travel,” according to studies performed by Travel Industry Association and U.S. Department of Commerce.
A growing trend is green travel. PGAV Destination Consulting, a planning and design firm in the international entertainment, tourism and hospitality industries, did a survey that revealed that about 75 percent of people between 18 and 34 are “more likely to visit an attraction that is pursuing environmentally friendly practices.”
It went on to say, “Almost 60 percent of people under age 35 expect to pay more for green attractions, and they will pay over 10 percent more. Most of these consumers [nearly 65 percent] expect their spending on green products to increase over the next 12 months.”
The only South Shore lodging property claiming to be eco-friendly is 968 Park Spa Resort near Stateline. Lake Tahoe Community College has an Introduction to Eco-tourism class this quarter as well as Principles of Green Marketing class.
Time will tell if LTVA sees green beyond the dollars it spends and the greenbacks it hopes to bring to the community.
By Kathryn Reed
Lake Tahoe is about to be promoted in a whole new way. What exactly that will look like is yet to be determined.
Mering & Associates, the Sacramento firm that has been the ad agency for Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority since March 2003, is going away. The summer promotional campaign will be the last the agency does for the South Shore.
LTVA expects to hire a firm this spring. Reno and Bay Area companies have been submitting proposals. LTVA’s marketing committee will pick two or three to make detailed pitches to the board.
Mering introduced the original $2.5 million “Blue World” ad campaign that was met locally with mixed reviews.
The campaign revolutionized how the South Shore was marketed. It was suddenly about branding, using the Lake as the central theme. No longer was it strictly about losing money at casinos or schussing down ski slopes.
The destination visitor was the target audience. National magazines featured slick, glossy ads. Target marketing went by the wayside.
A little history
Things certainly have changed in the last six years. In a February 2003 Sacramento Business Journal article, David Mering said, “Our goal is to make Tahoe a little less dependent on Northern California [for tourism dollars] and more of a national and international destination market.”
Bill Chernock was head of LTVA at the time and was a leading figure in trying to make South Shore a destination resort. The previous fall the two Marriott properties had opened. Two years before that Heavenly’s gondola started up.
Some began referring to South Shore as a company town, with those interests reigning supreme and the locals left in the dust with no say about the future.
Vail Resorts owns Heavenly. Two other out of town entities each own two of the four big casinos.
Today, Vail’s stock, like most, is in the toilet.
The parent company of MontBleu and Horizon is in bankruptcy. The land owner, Park Cattle of Minden, is likely to take over the Horizon when the lease expires. This will allow for more flexibility as Park develops a hotel-condo project at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course which is behind the casino.
Harrah’s Entertainment, which owns Harrah’s and Harveys at Stateline, was acquired by affiliates of private-equity firms TPG Capital and Apollo Global Management in January 2008. The Tahoe Mountain News has been told the financial situation is scary at the Las Vegas-based company and its South Shore casinos are in trouble.
Just a handful of years ago, the South Shore was all about high-end tourists. A few weeks ago vacancy signs dominated the landscape during what’s supposed to be the two busiest weeks of the year.
No one sought input from locals about how they wanted their town promoted. It wasn’t long ago that marketing gurus said buy-in from locals wasn’t important. The Blue World campaign rolled on without explaining it to anyone outside an LTVA or chamber meeting.
Suddenly the bread and butter of Tahoe – the Bay Area and Sacramento regions – played second fiddle to people living in Dallas, Atlanta and Florida.
During the Patrick Kaler years at LTVA and Tahoe Douglas Visitors Authority the message was convoluted with the casinos wanting to attract a young party crowd, others trying to promote the outdoors, and the whole country being the advertising target.
Carol Chaplin, who has been running the tourism agency since last summer, is one of the forces behind the change in ad firms. With a marketing background rooted in Lake Tahoe, she is firing-up LTVA’s marketing committee so it will be a critical component in what goes on here.
LTVA’s future
“You can’t have an effective marketing organization without community support and community outreach,” said John Wagnon, LTVA marketing committee chairman. “We can’t move forward until we have community support. We have to earn that. I think that will come as they see a consistent rollout of an effective marketing campaign. Our goal is to regain that confidence and put the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority right back in the front where it was years ago.”
He doesn’t want to repeat the Blue World fiasco, at least as defined by average locals. That group still doesn’t understand the Blue World, so it is hard to call it an effective ad campaign.
Blue World licensing agreements went nowhere. At one time Wells Fargo talked about issuing “blue dollars”. As the Blue World fades away we’re left with a sputtering bus system called BlueGo and a casino named MontBleu that is in financial turmoil.
Wagnon wants a community outreach plan in place by mid-year. He wants a forum for people to provide input and ask questions. He wants people who represent attractions, retail, restaurants and other components of the tourism industry to be part of LTVA’s planning process.
LTVA could also help its local image by creating a more diverse board of directors.
First, though, Wagnon’s priority is hiring an ad agency.
Wagnon envisions a consistent brand to market the area. He wants to identify the elements that make the South Shore unique and weave them into the brand platform.
“A lot of places struggle to figure out why they are unique. We need to put a stake in the ground and say this is who we are,” Wagnon said.
He doesn’t think it’s just one thing. It’s the outdoors, skiing, casinos, nightlife and the Lake.
Wagnon has resurrected the dormant public relations subcommittee, an arm of the marketing committee. Weidinger Public Relations will still write the press releases, but instead of working solely with the executive director of LTVA, the Stateline agency will have more people to bounce ideas off.
Something else different in the Chaplin era is that an 18-month strategic calendar is being developed. This will get people to look beyond the current season.
Promoting the shoulder seasons is a topic of discussion; with events at the top of the list.
The need for an ad campaign that allows for the message to be changed on short notice is likely to be a component in the next ad agency’s contract. This means instead of promoting skiing at Thanksgiving when the snow isn’t here, ads could go out boasting about great late fall hiking, cycling and hues of autumn still visible.
LTVA’s budget was adopted late last year with 20 percent or $250,000 less to spend than the previous year. Chaplin said with room taxes declining, the chunk of cash LTVA gets from the Tourism Improvement District and TDVA is expected to be much less.
To cut costs, LTVA opted for upgrades to its website instead of a complete redesign. Because the convention center is on hold indefinitely the group sales team at LTVA has been thinned. Special events may be cutback or axed. Money has been saved by changing insurance carriers.
The board voted that any “extra” money will be used on advertising.
The board is made up of two lodging people, two from gaming, one from retail, one representing attractions (Edgewood is the current rep), one from skiing and one at-large rep. The latter is an employee of Sierra-Northstar ski resorts.
Tahoe’s summer campaign
Mering was supposed to unveil its full summer campaign at a Jan. 5 meeting. That meeting has been rescheduled to Jan. 30 At the LTVA board meeting in December a loose concept of Mering’s summer ideas was presented.
“The plan they presented was a blend of TV, print and online advertising in the drive market and closer-in destination market,” Wagnon said. “We haven’t seen any creative concepts.”
The summer campaign will be launched in late May or early June and go through August, including a Labor Day push.
People are booking rooms two weeks out, so the message needs to hit in that time frame. Plus, the drive-up market gets a dose of “retail” advertising instead of just “image” like the destination visitor gets.
Lodging packages, concerts and other events are part of that retail message. Pricing and details are more accurate the closer it is to the date of travel so that’s what will be delivered in the summer ad campaign.
A few facts
More people visit California than any other state. And it’s mostly Californians (85 percent) who are the tourists in the state. That’s why LTVA knows it’s important to keep getting the message out to the drive market. This is even more imperative when places like Monterey and Napa are competing for those same visitors.
However, because the Bay Area-Sacramento regions have a limited number of people, the destination guest will not be forgotten. The way marketing people see it, the only way to increase the number of heads in beds is to bring in the destination guest.
But economics is sabotaging that scenario. People aren’t flying as much. They aren’t spending as much. They are staying closer to home.
“What happens is as budgets change or economies or consumer behavior, you have to adjust your marketing strategy accordingly,” Wagnon said. “We are fortunate to have such a big drive market. We can shift our focus and turn up the energy on the Bay Area to get a bigger share of that drive-up market.”
Wagnon is vice president of the California tourism agency’s marketing committee and president of Ski Lake Tahoe. His day job is overseeing the marketing department at Heavenly Mountain Resort.
The California Travel and Tourism Commission says more than 300 million Americans and 7 million foreigners visit the state each year.
“While 2009 travel trends predict percentage of travel, disposable income and most aspects of travel to see reductions in 2009, the last quarter of 2009 shows an upswing in travel,” according to studies performed by Travel Industry Association and U.S. Department of Commerce.
A growing trend is green travel. PGAV Destination Consulting, a planning and design firm in the international entertainment, tourism and hospitality industries, did a survey that revealed that about 75 percent of people between 18 and 34 are “more likely to visit an attraction that is pursuing environmentally friendly practices.”
It went on to say, “Almost 60 percent of people under age 35 expect to pay more for green attractions, and they will pay over 10 percent more. Most of these consumers [nearly 65 percent] expect their spending on green products to increase over the next 12 months.”
The only South Shore lodging property claiming to be eco-friendly is 968 Park Spa Resort near Stateline. Lake Tahoe Community College has an Introduction to Eco-tourism class this quarter as well as Principles of Green Marketing class.
Time will tell if LTVA sees green beyond the dollars it spends and the greenbacks it hopes to bring to the community.
Upcoming Tahoe events
May – that’s when the next Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority event takes place.
The Sports Commission is coordinating the Masters Track Meet at South Tahoe Middle School. The May 30-31 event is expected to attract 500 participants.
June 13-14 will be the Summer Kick-off, formerly known as Opening Days Lake Tahoe. Because it seemed to shutdown the South Shore more than open it up to visitors, it has been renamed and restructured.
A food and wine festival will be staged in the Ski Run area that weekend. Other events are likely to be dispersed throughout the South Shore. Geogaching, an event LTVA has sponsored the last couple of years, will also take place that same weekend.
LTVA Executive Director Carol Chaplin gave an update to the South Lake Tahoe City Council on Jan. 6. She said the number of visitors to the website is staying constant, while people are perusing pages longer.
In the first quarter of this fiscal year that began Oct. 1, the South Lake Tahoe visitors center had 724 more visitors than the previous year, the Stateline center numbers increased by more than 1,000 and the Meyers center had 800 more than 2007.
LTVA board meetings have been moved to the second Thursday of the month at 3pm. January’s meeting has been canceled.
The Sports Commission is coordinating the Masters Track Meet at South Tahoe Middle School. The May 30-31 event is expected to attract 500 participants.
June 13-14 will be the Summer Kick-off, formerly known as Opening Days Lake Tahoe. Because it seemed to shutdown the South Shore more than open it up to visitors, it has been renamed and restructured.
A food and wine festival will be staged in the Ski Run area that weekend. Other events are likely to be dispersed throughout the South Shore. Geogaching, an event LTVA has sponsored the last couple of years, will also take place that same weekend.
LTVA Executive Director Carol Chaplin gave an update to the South Lake Tahoe City Council on Jan. 6. She said the number of visitors to the website is staying constant, while people are perusing pages longer.
In the first quarter of this fiscal year that began Oct. 1, the South Lake Tahoe visitors center had 724 more visitors than the previous year, the Stateline center numbers increased by more than 1,000 and the Meyers center had 800 more than 2007.
LTVA board meetings have been moved to the second Thursday of the month at 3pm. January’s meeting has been canceled.
SLT fired cop situation escalates
unedited 1/09 Tahoe Mt. News:
By Kathryn Reed
On a split vote in closed session, the South Lake Tahoe City Council agreed Jan. 6 to appeal an arbitration panel’s decision that said Johnny Poland should be reinstated as a city police officer.
It is likely to cost the city upward of $100,000 to fight the case in Superior Court. It is not known how much the city has paid outside counsel or the number of staff hours that have gone into this case.
The arbitration panel of former South Lake Mayor Tom Davis, ex-SLT Police Chief Don Muren and mediator-arbitrator Bill Reeves met for two days in August to interview people and review facts regarding Poland’s firing in June 2007 because of his actions in November 2006 when South Tahoe High School had to go on lockdown. It was a 3-0 vote last month for Poland to be given back his badge.
Four days after the Dec. 18 ruling was made, the City Council met behind closed doors to discuss anticipated litigation with its outside legal counsel.
City Manager Dave Jinkens and Police Chief Terry Daniels would not comment on this personnel issue.
Prior to this month’s closed session about the issue, Mayor Pro Tem Kathay Lovell consulted with City Attorney Cathy DiCamillo and the city’s special counsel about whether she should be a party to the discussions and if she should vote on the matter. Both attorneys ruled that even though Lovell’s son joined the police department after the 2007 firing occurred, no conflict exists. Nor is there a conflict with her husband, El Dorado County sheriff’s Lt. Les Lovell, being friends with the police chief.
But this isn’t good enough for Poland. He wants the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission to rule on whether Lovell has a conflict that should preclude her from voting on the matter.
The city had 90 days to appeal, reinstate the 10-year veteran or offer Poland a buyout.
The police officers’ union does not support the chief’s stance to keep fighting the case. Daniels was denied their support after he asked Officer Scott Willson, who was on the 2008 South Lake Tahoe Police Officers Association board, for the union’s support. (Willson took over the school resource officer position from Poland after the 2006 incident.)
A majority of the 2008 and 2009 board members met Dec. 31 to discuss the matter. A letter was written to the chief from the two boards that in part says, “If the city chooses to take further action against Officer Poland it will be without your requested support of the Association.”
A copy of that letter was attached to a letter to the city manager dated Jan. 5 and signed by Officer David Allen, secretary of the officers’ union, explaining their position.
However, this does mean Poland has the support of every officer.
Legally the city cannot release the arbitration findings. Poland could. He chooses not to until he gets back on the streets as an officer.
“I’ve read the report. It’s not like they ruled everything in my favor. It just said there is no way you are going to fire this guy,” Poland said. “I feel like I got a fair hearing and that’s all I wanted.”
Poland said his attorney told the city prior to the Jan. 6 meeting that he was not interested in a buyout – that he’s “not for sale.”
The 40-year-old said he would not take a buyout even if it’s in the quarter million dollar range. He said, “… it would defeat the whole purpose of what I did. Even if the money is good, how do I explain that to another agency?”
Poland said the arbitration ruling means he is owed back pay for 16 months and two weeks. The panel also ruled he should be suspended without pay for six weeks for actions related to the November 2006 incident where he admittedly let a student leave campus with a BB gun in his vehicle.
Poland acknowledges it would be difficult to work for people who don’t want him to be an officer. He believes management would have a harder time.
While he waits for the appeal process to go forward, Poland continues to work as a security guard at Harrah’s-Harveys.
By Kathryn Reed
On a split vote in closed session, the South Lake Tahoe City Council agreed Jan. 6 to appeal an arbitration panel’s decision that said Johnny Poland should be reinstated as a city police officer.
It is likely to cost the city upward of $100,000 to fight the case in Superior Court. It is not known how much the city has paid outside counsel or the number of staff hours that have gone into this case.
The arbitration panel of former South Lake Mayor Tom Davis, ex-SLT Police Chief Don Muren and mediator-arbitrator Bill Reeves met for two days in August to interview people and review facts regarding Poland’s firing in June 2007 because of his actions in November 2006 when South Tahoe High School had to go on lockdown. It was a 3-0 vote last month for Poland to be given back his badge.
Four days after the Dec. 18 ruling was made, the City Council met behind closed doors to discuss anticipated litigation with its outside legal counsel.
City Manager Dave Jinkens and Police Chief Terry Daniels would not comment on this personnel issue.
Prior to this month’s closed session about the issue, Mayor Pro Tem Kathay Lovell consulted with City Attorney Cathy DiCamillo and the city’s special counsel about whether she should be a party to the discussions and if she should vote on the matter. Both attorneys ruled that even though Lovell’s son joined the police department after the 2007 firing occurred, no conflict exists. Nor is there a conflict with her husband, El Dorado County sheriff’s Lt. Les Lovell, being friends with the police chief.
But this isn’t good enough for Poland. He wants the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission to rule on whether Lovell has a conflict that should preclude her from voting on the matter.
The city had 90 days to appeal, reinstate the 10-year veteran or offer Poland a buyout.
The police officers’ union does not support the chief’s stance to keep fighting the case. Daniels was denied their support after he asked Officer Scott Willson, who was on the 2008 South Lake Tahoe Police Officers Association board, for the union’s support. (Willson took over the school resource officer position from Poland after the 2006 incident.)
A majority of the 2008 and 2009 board members met Dec. 31 to discuss the matter. A letter was written to the chief from the two boards that in part says, “If the city chooses to take further action against Officer Poland it will be without your requested support of the Association.”
A copy of that letter was attached to a letter to the city manager dated Jan. 5 and signed by Officer David Allen, secretary of the officers’ union, explaining their position.
However, this does mean Poland has the support of every officer.
Legally the city cannot release the arbitration findings. Poland could. He chooses not to until he gets back on the streets as an officer.
“I’ve read the report. It’s not like they ruled everything in my favor. It just said there is no way you are going to fire this guy,” Poland said. “I feel like I got a fair hearing and that’s all I wanted.”
Poland said his attorney told the city prior to the Jan. 6 meeting that he was not interested in a buyout – that he’s “not for sale.”
The 40-year-old said he would not take a buyout even if it’s in the quarter million dollar range. He said, “… it would defeat the whole purpose of what I did. Even if the money is good, how do I explain that to another agency?”
Poland said the arbitration ruling means he is owed back pay for 16 months and two weeks. The panel also ruled he should be suspended without pay for six weeks for actions related to the November 2006 incident where he admittedly let a student leave campus with a BB gun in his vehicle.
Poland acknowledges it would be difficult to work for people who don’t want him to be an officer. He believes management would have a harder time.
While he waits for the appeal process to go forward, Poland continues to work as a security guard at Harrah’s-Harveys.
Tahoe man goes after Google millions
unedited 1/09 Tahoe Mt. News:
By Kathryn Reed
Two million dollars – that’s the amount of money South Shore’s Garry Bowen hopes will come his way from Google through Project 10 to the 100th. The money would be used to bring his idea to fruition.
Bowen’s is one of more than 100,000 entries in Google’s quest “to change the world by helping as many people as possible.” The project is in conjunction with the Internet company’s 10th anniversary.
Last year Google solicited ideas relating to community, opportunity, energy, environment, health, education, shelter and everything else. Google employees will narrow the entrants to the top 100. Then it’s up to the public starting Jan. 27 to vote and select the best 20. An advisory board will choose the final five. Those five will share the $10 million Google has allocated for Project 10 to the 100th.
To learn more about the project and to vote for Bowen or others, go to www.project10tothe100.com.
Bowen’s proposal is about educating locals and tourists about the area. He’d like to create a kiosk for people to understand the science behind why the Lake is so clear and what needs to be done to keep it that way, as well as other environmental facts. But he wants it presented in a fun manner, not where people’s eyes glaze over. Water, soil, air, fire and other issues would be presented in an entertaining way.
“The information needs to be pretty solid if we are going to teach people about the world around us,” Bowen said. “I know there is a hunger for knowledge. We need to share with people why we are working on clarity. It’s for their benefit. A huge missing element here is public outreach and education.”
He envisions using Google’s hardware technology and Edwin Schlossberg’s ESI Design, which he calls the world’s premier interactive designer, for the software end.
Bowen would like to erect a yurt at the end of Linear Park on the old Shell station site next to Holiday Inn Express. He selected this site because it’s essentially a confluence of pedestrian-bicycle traffic, especially as Lakeview Commons and the South Tahoe Greenway bike path become realities.
This kiosk would be part of a trail network. Bowen envisions other kiosks being erected throughout the basin, ideally nowhere near a parking lot. He wants people to walk or bike to them so the environment is always a part of the learning process.
The kiosk would be in the yurt. No foundation would be needed, so no EIR needed because it would not impact the ground.
Bowen realizes the fine details like ownership, maintenance and information updates would need to be worked out. That can wait until he knows later this month if he made the top 100.
“I think Tahoe needs another attraction besides the Lake. It’s so politicized now. In some ways it’s so irrelevant to people,” Bowen said. “Why not build an attraction for them and put it in a place of natural beauty?”
By Kathryn Reed
Two million dollars – that’s the amount of money South Shore’s Garry Bowen hopes will come his way from Google through Project 10 to the 100th. The money would be used to bring his idea to fruition.
Bowen’s is one of more than 100,000 entries in Google’s quest “to change the world by helping as many people as possible.” The project is in conjunction with the Internet company’s 10th anniversary.
Last year Google solicited ideas relating to community, opportunity, energy, environment, health, education, shelter and everything else. Google employees will narrow the entrants to the top 100. Then it’s up to the public starting Jan. 27 to vote and select the best 20. An advisory board will choose the final five. Those five will share the $10 million Google has allocated for Project 10 to the 100th.
To learn more about the project and to vote for Bowen or others, go to www.project10tothe100.com.
Bowen’s proposal is about educating locals and tourists about the area. He’d like to create a kiosk for people to understand the science behind why the Lake is so clear and what needs to be done to keep it that way, as well as other environmental facts. But he wants it presented in a fun manner, not where people’s eyes glaze over. Water, soil, air, fire and other issues would be presented in an entertaining way.
“The information needs to be pretty solid if we are going to teach people about the world around us,” Bowen said. “I know there is a hunger for knowledge. We need to share with people why we are working on clarity. It’s for their benefit. A huge missing element here is public outreach and education.”
He envisions using Google’s hardware technology and Edwin Schlossberg’s ESI Design, which he calls the world’s premier interactive designer, for the software end.
Bowen would like to erect a yurt at the end of Linear Park on the old Shell station site next to Holiday Inn Express. He selected this site because it’s essentially a confluence of pedestrian-bicycle traffic, especially as Lakeview Commons and the South Tahoe Greenway bike path become realities.
This kiosk would be part of a trail network. Bowen envisions other kiosks being erected throughout the basin, ideally nowhere near a parking lot. He wants people to walk or bike to them so the environment is always a part of the learning process.
The kiosk would be in the yurt. No foundation would be needed, so no EIR needed because it would not impact the ground.
Bowen realizes the fine details like ownership, maintenance and information updates would need to be worked out. That can wait until he knows later this month if he made the top 100.
“I think Tahoe needs another attraction besides the Lake. It’s so politicized now. In some ways it’s so irrelevant to people,” Bowen said. “Why not build an attraction for them and put it in a place of natural beauty?”
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