After reading the Tahoe Prosperity Center’s latest plans for the Tahoe area, I’m left with a question: prosperity for who? The residents of the Basin? No, they will see increased traffic, population growth, and a degradation of their quality of life as large new developments are put in place. Tourists? No, the peaceful quality of this unparalleled vacation destination will be replaced by traffic snarls and overcrowding. The Lake itself? No, of course not – clarity will continue to decline, pollution and invasive species will increase, and the fabled crystal clear waters will turn cloudy (as they already have in some areas)

The Tahoe Prosperity Center is a non-profit conceived in 2010 as a self-appointed entity to improve the prosperity of Lake Tahoe. A study commissioned by them in 2010 supported their assertion that investment in large-scale development was the way to fix Tahoe’s problems. That plan has not been successful or fixed Tahoe’s problems – far from it.  The 2012 TRPA Regional Plan allowing for significantly increased height, density, and coverage was based on that premise, but of course what regulations like this result in is more traffic, more high-end housing and less affordable housing, more fires and invasive species, more pollution – and less lake clarity.

Washoe County has already given the Tahoe Prosperity Center $30,000.  Who knows what Placer County has contributed.  We’ve asked–crickets.  The Prosperity Center took in over $300k in 2021.    In TPC’s “playbook” (https://ntpac.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c2651ac4497b4fa0886fa6f7f&id=045dda389d&e=05ca50f483), they are requesting a minimum $40 Million taxpayer-funded investment that includes:
* A first-year investment of $677,000
* $250,000 yearly for workforce housing programmatic costs
* $200,000 for marketing and branding
* $150,000 yearly for two part-time employees
* Then $10m for workforce housing activities and programs
* $10m for business start ups
* $20m YEARLY for mobility programs (cumulatively more than a billion dollars over 25 years)

The true beneficiaries of this colossal (and colossally out-of-scale) proposal for Lake Tahoe? Who knows. The efficacy of this self-appointed group? Who knows. Will Washoe County taxpayers benefit from the proposed reimagining of Lake Tahoe? Most decidedly not.

Changes this sweeping require thorough review and vetting by government officials who are not affiliated in any way with the TPC. We strongly encourage any County commissioner with ties to the Prosperity Center to recuse him- or herself from any discussion or vote regarding this matter.