Sherry McConkey has joined the campaign asking local authorities, who are being accused of not doing enough about the disruption caused by the influx of tourists to Lake Tahoe, CA hotspots, to step up and make a difference.
Many long-time Lake Tahoe residents believe the appropriate authorities are not properly handling tourism and the traffic issues that coincide, and that these tourists are polluting the area with an overflow of trash that is being littered all over the place.
A number of protests were organized by residents around Lake Tahoe over the weekend, at Truckee, Meyers, Incline Village, and Kings Beach.
Sherry, the widow of legendary freeskier Shane McConkey, is begging Truckee Town Council to do something, and wrote her frustrations on a Facebook post, below:
Dear Truckee Town Council,
I’m sure you are sick of everyone’s emails about how much litter has been dumped in our community. Our roads are strewn with trash, our trees, boulders, and picnic tables are covered in graffiti and our Lakes have become dumping grounds. I am compelled to add to the growing chorus of voices.
I understand that it must be overwhelmingly hard to come up with solutions for everything our community is facing, I am asking you to make that difference now.
One of the most inspiring aspects of my position as Executive Director of the Shane McConkey Foundation is our annual Eco-Challenge. School kids from elementary on up, identify an environmental problem in their community, and work together to solve it. The kids are impassioned and they are brilliant and working together, they do make a difference. They have even presented problems and solutions to the Truckee Town Council.
I get sad when I see the kids so impassioned with executable ideas and nothing happens. They are trying so hard to give back to this community and to the world, but we adults just sit back smile, think they are cute and do nothing, while they beg our town leaders to do something about solvable issues such as plastic straws and bags, styrofoam, and trash.
Why are you doing nothing to address what is currently happening to our community? I’m sure there is a reason and If there are reasons, then please explain them to us so we have a better understanding of why it seems nothing is happening. It’s baffling that South Shore and other towns can make big changes and hold their visitors and community members accountable, but beautiful North Tahoe can’t.
PLEASE, I’m begging, we are all begging for you to do something. Show our kids what is possible. Make them proud that their hard work is paying off. Give them hope that these projects that they work on so hard can make the difference, not only in our local community but perhaps on a grander scale, and even help save this world.
If I, or my organization, or the kids involved with Eco-Challenge can help you in any way to make the difference that we need, please ask.
Thank you for understanding and hearing our plea.
Kind regards,
Sherry
Another resident posted the following on Facebook, along with images of graffiti in the area:
Truckee / Tahoe’s elected town leaders and council need to do something immediately to stop the trashing of Tahoe. Our community is at its breaking point with close to 100,000 people packed into completely unregulated short term rentals who are literally trashing Tahoe. Our community is not capable of handling this volume of tourists here which is on clear display at every park, beach, or natural gathering place in the Tahoe Truckee area.
Dave Polivy, Jessica Abrams, Tony Commendatore, Anna Klovstad why are you not acting on any of these issues?
Why does Truckee and Tahoe have no money in our community budget for litter clean up, trash control, citations for graffiti but $millions of dollars to bring tourists in and create thousands of new housing units in an area that’s already bursting at the seams.
Our elected officials’ priorities are completely out of whack with the environmental disaster going on in Tahoe and need to be held accountable to act like we need them to or voted out.
Trash will leave trash. They’re entitled.
The point is to do something positive as a community to try and prevent destruction of our area no matter who you are.
Agreed 100%. Trashing the place is horrible. But the “locals” need to stop verbally trashing the “tourists” and “2nd home owners” as well. We all just need to be nice and respectful to one another. We all need to be nice and respectful to the land as well.
It’s time to call out what is really going on. This is what happens when you give a whole bunch of people unemployment plus an extra $600 per week to not go to work. The lower demographic that another commenter referred to is spot-on. You’ve got people that have more money in their pocket than they’ve had in their entire life and they don’t even have to go to work to get it, so they have plenty of time on their hands to come bring their way of life to town. Get used to it because California and the whole country is sliding into Socialism and THIS is what it will look like folks! Enjoy! Sanity check: If I’m wrong the problem will begin to subside now that the big bucks aren’t rolling in. Not a political argument just reality.
Spot on!
Go Eddy! Thank you for being one of the brave souls willing to stand up and say something to the California liberal mob ruining our country!
100% political. I do not think lower income people can afford to rent a house here. $600 doesn’t go that far, check the rates.
We all live in a tourist town. What do you expect?
#1 Truckee is NOT Tahoe.
#2 You do not spend enough time on the South Shore.
#3 the lower demographics are camping or day trippers. Otherwise over crowding rental homes.
My family never had a problem with jobs since 1950. There will always be tourist. We don’t need any extra in a PANDEMIC!!!
I am sick and tired of so called “LOCALS” trashing visitors to the lake. Reality check- 90% of you have jobs that wouldn’t’ exist if it wasn’t for us second home owners and visitors. I have been a so called non permanent resident who comes here summer and winter for over 50 years straight and have had nothing but respect for the lake and the people who live here. Don’t put us all in some generalization to make yourself feel entitled. Yes Tahoe is being trashed. We sadly live in an “all about me” world now where regard for others is not a priority. In my opinion, social media is a major contributor.
My point is, don’t throw all of us under the bus. Damn near got my ass kicked yesterday by some tool on the dog beach near Timberland after I confronted him about leaving trash when he left.
I am a third generation Tahoe native and the problem is respecting nature. There is a huge surge of lower demographic people traveling into the basin. Most of the cities are closed for Covid, but not Tahoe. Apparently everyone is welcome with only one small community Hospital. All other supplies must be trucked in and then are depleated by all the visitors. Every special spot is being destroyed by trash and graffiti. There is no longer an escape for a local to go to enjoy where they live without getting over crowded by visitors. No parking, grocery stores are a nightmare and just forget trying to go to the beach. Residential streets are clogged with others visitors avoiding main stream traffic. You can’t even get to your own home after long day of work.
Time to move them
They can meter/stop traffic into Yosemite so they can do it coming into Tahoe too. Trash in the woods now includes masks. Amazingly people who buy houses and move to Tahoe -an masse- apparently don’t bring pathogens.
I think the pathogen problem already existed in the minds of local Tahoe residents who think they own giants swaths of land and vacant 2nd homes just cause no one else is around. Pull out your checkbook turbo and start buying.
The vast majority of Tahoe “locals” were transplants at some point in time. Love how you think you get to shut the door behind you after going in.
Well said. Where’s the complaints about the vast infrastructure and facility improvement’s? How do you think that was funded? Tourism and vacation rentals
Sellers market….vote with your feet.
Can we build a wall to keep away the bay?
They should defund the police
What is that going to solve?