South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce

Keep Community First Launches Website: keepcommunityfirst.org

The South Tahoe Chamber, and our colleague organizations of Keep Community First, are pleased to announce the launch of our website at keepcommunityfirst.org.

Get information on this site about why our coalition of business and community organizations oppose the proposed residential Vacancy Tax (an initiative petition currently being circulated) and the City Council’s upcoming discussion of a proposed minimum wage standard of $23 per hour.

The proposals, individually or in combination, will completely upend our local economy, leading, among other consequences, to the loss businesses, jobs and existing City revenues. There will be no winners. The arguments proponents are using to advocate for these economic and community body blows are misleading and misguided.

Website sections include: What our Community Members are Saying, What We are Saying, and What Other Communities and Experts are Saying.

The members of our coalition are Tahoe Chamber, South Lake Tahoe Lodging Association, South Tahoe Restaurant Association, South Tahoe Association of REALTORS, South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce, and the Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association.

Please visit our site at keepcommunityfirst.org

Keep Community First – South Lake Tahoe Business Community for Taxing Tahoe Responsibly A coalition of business and community members advocating for thoughtful taxation policies that prioritize sustainable economic growth and community well-being in South Lake Tahoe.

YOU'RE INVITED!

REGISTER HERE: https://braverangels.org/event/depolarizing-within-in-person-12/

Bridging Divides: El Dorado and its partner Braver Angels, are pleased to offer a "bridging" event for South Lake Tahoe region's residents. The event, sponsored by the Tahoe Chamber & South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce, will take place on April 15 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm at the South Tahoe Association of Realtors at 2307 James Ave.

The Braver Angels website describes the "Depolarizing Within" workshop "to foster skills to help YOU lessen the effects of polarization when YOU encounter them in your political conversations." Regarding who can attend, "Anyone interested in examining their inner polarizer and learning strategies to disagree without condemning or ridiculing others." "Depolarizing Within" is ideal for organizations such as communities of civic associations, worship, social clubs, or educational institutions who want to reduce or avoid the divisiveness of political polarization."

REGISTER HERE: https://braverangels.org/event/depolarizing-within-in-person-12/

Awesome time at the City of South Lake Tahoe Government South Tahoe History Tree at City Hall today.

Thank you to everyone involved in this project. And the South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce still has 1 tree round to sell for $1k.

As of 12 noon road closures as follows:

Hwy 50 from Sly Park to Meyers due to flooding/mud slides.

Hwy 88 at Carson Spur (west of Kirkwood) due to avalanche control.

Kingsbury Grade due to semi spin out blocking road and other accidents.

Conditions can change quickly. Please stay off the roads if at all possible. If you need to travel, carry chains (even in 4x4/awd), have water and snacks handy, keep a blanket in your car, and make sure your gas tank is full before heading out on the Hwys when they open.

FYI for local businesses.

New rules for single use plastics within the City limits go into effect Jan 1.

We’re just a little over a week from the New Year and we wanted to remind restaurants and retailers that the ordinance prohibiting the retail distribution or sale of polystyrene will go into effect on January 1, 2023.

What does this mean?

The sale of polystyrene (Styrofoam) products is prohibited. There are no exceptions for polystyrene raw meat, fish, and food trays or for food prepared or packaged outside of South Lake Tahoe in polystyrene containers. In addition, plastic single-use foodservice ware, condiment cups, and packets may be provided to customers only upon request.

Also, in the ordinance is a ban on single-use plastic water bottles. The phase affecting commercial businesses will not go into effect until April 22, 2024, however, businesses can choose to take steps now to eliminate single-use plastic water bottles.

To learn more about the ordinance along with resources and tips, visit: www.cityofslt.us/plasticwaste.

To learn how single-use plastic water bottles and polystyrene impact our environment, visit:
https://takecaretahoe.org/success-stories/new-single-use-plastic-water-bottle-ban/

If you have questions regarding the City’s ordinance, please contact Sara Letton, Sustainability Coordinator, at [email protected] or (530) 542-6175.

Take Care Tahoe Keep Tahoe Blue

Reporting an Outage or Downed Wires - Residential - California Electric - Liberty Check to see if the power failure is limited to your home or business. If your neighbor's power is still on, check your circuit breaker panel or fuse box. If the problem is not a blown fuse or tripped circuit breaker, call Liberty at 1-844-245-6868.

Important info.

The City of South Lake Tahoe has opened a charging and warming station at the Senior Center, 3050 Lake Tahoe Blvd., on Monday, December 12 from 12-4pm. As Liberty Utilities continues to work to restore power, the City recognizes many have been without power for more than 24 hours and want to provide a safe and warm location to recharge devices. Staff will be onsite, but no other services will be provided.

Our Chamber would like to give a huge thank you to the City of South Lake Tahoe Government for providing the use of the Heavenly Village parking garage for our Trick or Treat event on Monday night.

We had around 2000 attendees made up of many local famines as well as those from Gardnerville, Minden, and even Carson City. Having FREE parking available was crucial to the success of the event and the City delivered!

Thank you especially to City Manager Joe Irvin and Counsel member Tamara Wallace who were the driving forces to make FREE parking happen. :)

Official statement from the 4 local/regional Chambers of Commerce in Tahoe & El Dorado County:

Our Chamber was honored to be part of this event.

We had over 1,000 attendees from South Lake Tahoe as well as Stateline, Zephyr Cove, Minden, Gardnerville, Markleeville, and Carson City.

Many parents commented to us that they were very thankful to have a safe place for their kids that had tons of candy and lots of fun events. One parent had a tear in her eye as she hugged our President, Amanda Adams and told her she was so relieved to have this option for her 4 and 6 yr old kids.

Thanks to all the groups and shops that participated. We are already planning for next year to make it even bigger and better for our local kids.

‘Exceeded expectations’: Inaugural Trick-or-Treat event a success in South Tahoe SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — The inaugural Heavenly Village Trick-or-Treat event drew thousands of creatively dressed kids, parents and even pets, event organizers said Tuesday.  The event consisted of face painting, multiple bounce houses, ice...

We had a blast at the Trick or Treat event at Heavenly Village tonight! Thanks to everyone for coming out, the turnout was HUGE!!!!!

And thanks to all the local businesses and organizations for being there and providing a safe fun place for our local kiddos (and kids at heart) on Halloween.

We are already planning for next year to make it even bigger and better.

There is information going around online that we feel requires a response.

The South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce would like to publicly state that we have NOT endorsed or offered monetary support of ANY political candidates this year. Even though some candidates are members of our chamber and some had received support from our chamber in the past, no offer of support was given to any candidate this election season.

While some Chambers have endorsed and supported candidates, and that is their individual decision, our board decided to focus on issues rather than candidates.

We continue to focus on the most important issues facing our South Tahoe community:

- Creating affordable workforce housing
- Making sure our local small business thrive
- Promoting healthy tourism
- Diversification of the local economy
- Working with local, state, and national government officials to promote and benefit our local business and residents in the community

With that said, please do your own research into the candidates and issues and VOTE!

FREE EVENT & PARKING!!!

We just got the good news that the City of South Lake Tahoe is covering the cost of the parking for the Heavenly Village Halloween event. So you can park in the parking garage for free during the event.

This is the must-do Halloween event this year for local families. With almost every business at Heavenly Village participating, a bounce house, costume contests, fire truck, and much more!

Our Chamber is proud to be a sponsor. Please stop by our table for your kiddos to spin our prize wheel for a chance to win a fun little gift.

Plus... for kiddos (and kids at heart) come to our booth to pose and take a pic with Ahsoka Tano and a lightsaber (our Chamber president will be dressed as Ahsoka).

GRAND OPENING!

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***ALERT***
The South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce wants to alert our local businesses that there is a man driving around town taking photos and videos of buildings, focusing on the access points (doors, ramps and walkways) and parking lot signage. The man said his name is “Alex”.

Years ago, the small businesses in our town were hit with multiple ADA lawsuits and complaints all coming from a Carmichael attorney Scott Johnson. He would send a letter to the local business stating it is not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and asking the recipient to bring the property up to code or provide him documents detailing the business’s ADA compliance. He then follows up with demands for money, usually between $4,500 and $12,000 for him to “go away”.

This is extortion, and our Chamber strongly recommends any business receiving such a letter reach out to legal council before responding. While we of course want to promote our local businesses to be ADA compliant to make our town more accessible to our disabled community and tourists, we strongly condemn this type of legal pressure and extortion which is almost always aimed at our small businesses.

Now is a good time to review your business’s ADA compliance plan. Having an ADA compliance plan in place and making progress on it before receiving a letter is the best way to avoid ending up in a lawsuit over accessibility issues according to a top ADA attorney who spoke to this issue back in 2010.

Here are some links for additional information:https://www.ada.gov/reachingout/smbusgd.pdf
https://www.cityofslt.us/121/ADA-Compliance-Information

ADA Compliance Information | South Lake Tahoe, CA - Official Website The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a program to determine compliance with state and federal regulations for making facilities accessible to people with disabilities. Newly constructed and remodeling projects in buildings to be made accessible for people with disabilities are required to me...

Thank you City of South Lake Tahoe Government for putting on the 2nd annual State of the City event last night.

It was great to get updates on everything from city wide road paving projects to the over 200 new affordable housing units being built at the Y. It is clear the City leadership, from the Counsel members to the manager and staff, are dedicated to our community.

Together we are strong. As Mayor Devin Middlebrook said we need to work together and make SLT a city that welcomes EVERYONE. Hate has no home in Tahoe!

We especially loved the talk about how our small businesses are our towns backbone, and the push to include the Washoe Tribe in more events and planning. The Washoe have called Tahoe home for 10,000 years and are the areas true original residents.

Getting the Candidates Speed Dating forum started. Very pleased to have 10 City Council Candidates in attendance and 40 members of the public getting to ask their own questions face to face.

We were so happy to participate in the City if South Lake Tahoe Multicultural Event today at Bijou Park.

All set up at the City of South Lake Tahoe Multicultural Event today.

Stop by for yummy food, great music, awesome dancing, and lots of fun arts and crafts for kids.

City Council Candidates Forum

Tuesday, Oct 4th at 5:30pm - 8pm (doors open at 5pm)
Located at the LTCC Aspen room

This will be a "candidate speed dating" format, which puts the public at a table with 2 of the candidates at a time. They will have approx 10 minutes to ask questions and get to know the candidates before we switch tables and they get 2 new candidates. This continues until all candidates have gone to all tables. If there is time left we will have an open question session for everyone.

We want to congratulate the recipients of the Bob Baunhauser "Excellence in Community Service" awards given out by Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe.

Sherri Acri
Laure Tolstad
Bob Harms
Ted Turner

Thank you all for your decades of volunteer service to the community of South Lake Tahoe.

Our Chamber was honored to support this ceremony and look forward to making it an annual event.

Thank you to Todd Cutler, the LTUSD board members and all of the public who attended the presentation on the new school bond this week.

For information on the Measure K, click here: https://www.ltusd.org/b_o_n_d_m_e_a_s_u_r_e_k

Please join us and the Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe in honoring some of our local "Unsung Heroes" on Sept 22nd.

RSVP to [email protected]

Our president Amanda Adams and CEO Duane Wallace are attending the 2022 Economic Summit in Tahoe City today.

We are also proud to be a sponsor for the event.

Always working for our small businesses and local community.

Voters to decide outcome of Measure K - $107M in bonds for Lake Tahoe Unified School District SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Voters will find Measure K on their ballots on November 8, a bond measure to raise $107M to upgrade aging facilities in Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD).

Community Broadband Meeting being held on Thursday, September 8, 5:30pm at the Recreation Center.

Join us as we discuss the findings from the Broadband Feasibility Study. The City is seeking input from community members and businesses based on the results and recommendations shared at the meeting.

Can't make it in person?
Attend via Zoom on Tuesday, September 13, 12pm or Thursday, September 15, 5:30pm.

For more details, go to: https://www.cityofslt.us/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1859.

The City of South Lake Tahoe has partnered with NeoConnect and Tahoe Prosperity Center to improve our local broadband services. The City recognizes the importance of high-speed broadband to improving employment, educational, and economic development opportunities in our community. They are seeking resident and business feedback about your experience with internet and how that impacts your day-to-day. Help us improve this critical community infrastructure!

To take the survey, go to the following links. Please note there are both Business and Residential links to different surveys.

English Business Survey - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SLT-Business

Spanish Business Survey - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SLT-BusinessSP

English Residential Survey - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SLT-Residential

Spanish Residential Survey - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SLT-ResSP

We'd like to extend thanks to the people who have reached out asking how to help Markleeville's small businesses. The road closure on CA-89, severing Markleeville from the Carson Pass corridor, is creating yet another brutal hit to the economy. Here are a few ways you can help:

1. Send a donation of your choosing to our Markleeville Business Resilience Fund: https://gofund.me/15312fac

2. Add to our tab for first responders and residents at any of these local businesses: Cutthroat Brewing Company, Markleeville General Store, Out West Cafe, J. Marklee Toll Station, Carson River Resort.

3. Continue to visit Markleeville via Monitor Pass and/or Ebbetts Pass. It's a beautiful drive!

“Our businesses are the backbone of our community. Their resilience in the face of adversity should be recognized. Please consider spending your money where it counts the most. Support for our businesses is the best vector for recovery.” JT Chevallier – Economic Development Director, Alpine County

Please help our neighbors to the south in Markleeville Alpine County California.

After being saved physically yet devastated financially from the Tamarack Fire less than a year ago, the businesses in Markleeville are once again dealing with a tragedy.

Last week the main road from the north, Hwy 88, was ruined due to flooding and washout from the Tamarack Fire burn scar after a powerful thunderstorm rolled over the area. Almost all of their employees and patrons use that road to get to their businesses.

We as that you click the link and donate what you can to help these local family owned businesses survive until the road is fixed in a couple weeks.

Markleeville Business Resilience Fund, organized by Alpine County Chamber On August 3, 2022 - just over a year after the Tamarack Fire of 2021 - th… Alpine County Chamber needs your support for Markleeville Business Resilience Fund